Improving the global reach of psychological research

Abstract

As a scientific discipline, psychology has a history of publication bias toward western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries (WEIRD countries). For example, 96% of participant samples in the top six psychology journals derive from western countries. The sampling bias has resulted in (1) non-English speaking authors being rejected at significantly higher rates than native English speakers; (2) editorial boards consisting mostly of Caucasian editors in chief; and (3) the potential over-rejection of research from non-western samples that have failed to replicate core psychological findings. The lack of diverse samples within psychological research calls into question the validity, reliability, generalizability, and robustness of seminal psychological research. Discover psychology aims to reduce these biases by encouraging submissions from non-English speaking countries and culturally diverse samples. By reducing biases in publications, we can help increase the number of racially diverse samples and authors within psychology.