# Registered reports for cancer biology: the plan is peer-reviewed before the result

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-preclinical-registered-reports/  
OnCo record `idea-tr2-preclinical-registered-reports` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Journals agree to publish a study based on the quality of the question and plan, before anyone knows the answer. That removes the pressure to make results look positive.

## Summary

Registered reports, adopted by over 300 journals mostly in psychology and neuroscience, reduce positive-result bias dramatically (around 44% positive results versus over 90% in conventional articles in one analysis). Cancer biology journals have barely adopted the format. A concerted push by the major cancer journals to offer registered reports for confirmatory preclinical studies (the last experiment before an investigational new drug application, for instance) would change the incentive at the point where it matters most for translation.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: Registered reports in cancer biology will report a positive-result rate below 60%, compared with above 85% in matched conventional articles, and their findings will replicate at a higher rate.
- Rationale: The format directly removes the mechanisms of bias: outcome switching, selective reporting and publication bias.
- Proposed test: Three cancer journals launch the format; compare positive-result rates and replication of the first 100 registered reports with matched conventional papers.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: research

## Sources

- Registered Reports (Center for Open Science): https://www.cos.io/initiatives/registered-reports

## Connected records

- ideas: [A funder-backed, indexed journal of negative and inconclusive cancer results](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-negative-results-journal/), [Pre-register biomarker validation studies the way trials are registered](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-biomarker-study-registry/), [Time-stamped electronic lab notebooks submitted with the paper](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-timestamped-eln/)
- bottlenecks: [Failures are hidden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/), [Preclinical results do not reproduce](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-reproducibility/)

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