Experimental Physiology will no longer require authors to complete a statistical summary document as part of the publication process. This follows a recent consultation of our authorship and Editorial Board for feedback on the statistics policy we adopted two years ago, following its introduction in The Journal of Physiology. This change has come into force with immediate effect.
Our author base (88% of respondents) and editors were overwhelmingly supportive of the need for the maintenance of a strict policy, and the vast majority of the existing policy’s elements met with approval. However, there was a general consensus that the ‘duplication’ of work required to complete and check this summary document was an unnecessary burden on both time and resources, that did not provide significant benefit.
As a journal we are committed to listening to the feedback of our community. Authors must still meet our statistics policy’s requirements within their manuscript, meaning the level of statistical rigour demanded is not diminished. We also remain committed to reducing publication biases through other means, including data sharing statements and use of data file repositories, and our Registered Reports article format, in which a proposed study’s methods and analyses are peer reviewed prior to formal experimentation. By committing to adopt and modify best practice, we hope to continue to serve and shape our research community, and better the discipline of physiology.
For more information on this change, please read our Editorial.