In April 2026 we held an internal Springer Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Festival. Across a series of keynote presentations, town halls, panel discussions, lightning talks, quizzes, and social events, we celebrated our rich HSS research output in book and journal article form, and our heritage, highlighting the impact and value of what we publish. This series of short videos, with accompanying blog posts, is developed from a group of initial lightning talks that were delivered by Springer Nature colleagues during the festival. They build on individual experience to tell compelling stories about what we publish and why we value our work with academic communities in the varied disciplines that comprise the Humanities and the Social Sciences.  

Over the past decade, concerns about the reliability of findings in the social and behavioural sciences prompted intense scrutiny of research practices. Early large-scale replication studies reported low replication rates, raising fundamental questions about the robustness of published articles. However, the field has not stood still - there has been a concerted effort to reform scientific practices and Nature Human Behaviour has been a key actor in these efforts.

Since our launch in 2017, we have been advocating for rigour, transparency, and reproducibility, championing robust research regardless of outcome. We took an active stance towards publishing null results (results that do not reach the threshold for statistical significance) [2]. Unfortunately, it is still a widely held belief that such null findings are not informative and thus not publishable. As a result, they often end up in the “file drawer” and contribute to publication bias and a distorted evidence base. To address this, Nature Human Behaviour supports the publication of results regardless of their direction, while encouraging analytical approaches—such as Bayesian methods and equivalence testing—that better quantify the evidence for or against an effect and improve the interpretability of findings. 

Another important way in which we promote credible and reproducible science is Registered Reports. As one of the first interdisciplinary journals to do so, Nature Human Behaviour adopted the Registered Reports format in 2017 [2]. Registered Reports differ from traditional empirical articles in that authors submit their protocol to the journal before data collection. The protocol is then evaluated by reviewers and revised following their input. Once all concerns are addressed, the study is accepted in principle and the authors can begin their data collection. As long as authors adhere to the protocol that was accepted in principle, publication of the final manuscript is certain – regardless of the direction of the findings. This format shifts the focus of evaluation from results to research questions and methodology, helping to minimise selective reporting and publication bias.

These efforts are important but one might now ask: what about the research that we have published – is it reproducible? is it replicable? To answer this question, in 2024, we began a collaboration with the Institute for Replication (I4R) to reproduce and replicate research published in the journal starting from 2023 [3]. The I4R is an independent institute dedicated to the systematic reproduction and replication of research findings published in leading academic journals to encourage transparency and improve trust in social science research. As part of the collaboration with the journal, the institute has led the reproduction of dozens of our published articles, using the same datasets as in the original studies and carrying out the same analyses.  We are now expecting to receive a research article that reports on the Institute’s efforts at reproducing our papers.  

Ensuring reproducibility and credibility of research is not a unidimensional process. Advances in open data, code sharing, study preregistration, improved statistical reporting, and collaborative replication efforts are reshaping how research is conducted and evaluated. At Nature Human Behaviour, we have adopted these reforms with a view to building a more reliable and trustworthy evidence base for scientists, policymakers and laypeople.

References

1. https://replicationindex.com/2020/01/05/replication-crisis-review/
2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-016-0034
3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-01818-7