Mission Statement

The Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) brings together scholars working to improve methods and practices in psychological science. Anyone interested in improving psychological research is welcome to join, regardless of experience. SIPS is a service organization aiming to make psychological science higher quality and more cumulative by pursuing activities including:

  • Improving the training and research practices of psychological scientists
  • Improving institutional policies and norms to incentivize better scientific practices (e.g., journals, societies, departments, and universities)
  • Conducting empirical tests of the current state and reforms of scientific practices, and
  • Conducting outreach within and outside psychology to achieve a broad, diverse, and inclusive community working on improving cultural and personal research practices.

SIPS affirms a set of key values, which are core to the society:

Self-improvement. Science is a process of continuous improvement and refinement of knowledge. SIPS seeks to assess and improve the rigor of psychological methods and the accuracy of empirical claims.

Transparency and openness. Scientific knowledge is independently verifiable; veracity relies only on content, not source. SIPS supports free and open sharing of the process of conducting research (e.g., preregistration), for content generated during research (e.g., code, data, materials), and of reported findings (e.g., open access).

Critical evaluation. Science self-corrects by being skeptical and critical of its own processes, findings, and conclusions. SIPS fosters an atmosphere in which skepticism and criticism are encouraged as a necessary part of scientific discourse.

Civil dialogue. Supporting skepticism and criticism does not imply supporting incivility, which interferes with scientific progress by turning scientific critique into personal attacks and has inordinate impacts on those with less power. SIPS promotes critical evaluation with civility and mutual respect.

Inclusivity. SIPS strives for inclusivity of individuals and groups with diverse personal backgrounds, especially those who have been historically underrepresented in science. SIPS also recognizes that many activities contribute to the mission of advancing knowledge, including mentorship, pedagogy, and research.