Are We Becoming More Transparent? Survey Reporting Trends in Top Journals of Social Sciences

Abstract

Transparency is essential for objectively evaluating or replicating any study’s findings. Although several reporting standards and guidelines exist for survey research, these standards are not adopted or enforced by most academic journals, and thus, transparency in survey research has been relatively low. This study documents and compares trends in transparency in survey research. We reviewed 899 articles that used 1,237 original surveys and were published in top journals in the fields of political science, sociology, and public opinion research between 2011 and 2021. The results show small changes in reporting different survey characteristics during the observed period. Nevertheless, we found that the majority of the articles did not provide responses or other rates, and a strong decrease was observed in transparency regarding response rates. Our results underscore the importance of promoting reporting standards and enforcing rules more rigorously.