FAQ

The GLES datasets are provided via the GESIS Data Catalogue. A one-time registration is required before the data can be downloaded. All datasets which are part of the GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 are released for academic research and teaching purposes. The datasets will be released in November and December 2021.

Registered Reports are limited to two survey data due to the necessary scheduling of the review processes and data publication. These data allow for examining dynamics during the election campaign but can be used for more all kinds of analyses concerning political attitudes and behavior. Registered Reports must be based on either GLES Cross-Section, Pre-Election 2021 or the GLES Rolling Cross-Section 2021.

We published the pre-releases of questionnaires right before the beginning of the field period. The items with placeholders have not yet been finalized to have the possibility to react to political and social processes that might happen until the start of data collection. As soon as the final decision on these items is made, we will upload an updated version of the questionnaires.

Questionnaires might be subject to minor adjustments until field start due to unforeseen events and developments between the publication of questionnaires and field start. This will primarily concern the addition of questions. Any changes to the questionnaires will be communicated, questionnaires updated as early as possible, and researchers will be allowed to adjust their Stage 1 Manuscripts if additional questions are included.

Registered Reports are a format of empirical research article in which study methods and proposed analyses are pre-registered and reviewed before results are known. Manuscripts are assessed in two stages, before data is published (Stage 1) and after (Stage 2). By in principle accepting manuscripts before results are known, the format is designed to eliminate publication bias and various forms of reporting bias, while also allowing complete flexibility to conduct exploratory (unregistered) analyses and report serendipitous findings.

The Special Issue will be published in English.

Via DEAL, Springer publishes its journals (and thus also the PVS) in an open access format free of charge for the authors. There are only two requirements that have to be met:

1) The authors must click on the button indicating that they want to publish their article open access.

2) At least one of the authors must belong to a DEAL-eligible institution. This is usually not a problem, since all German universities are such institutions. Only in the case of groups of authors who are not completely active in Germany, the affiliation to DEAL would have to be checked again in detail.

Important: If some authors in an author team belong to DEAL-eligible institutions and others do not, then the authors of the DEAL institutions must be corresponding authors (from the very beginning)! This has explicitly nothing to do with the order of the authors. Corresponding authors can also be second or third authors.

The editorial decision on the final version of the manuscript is planned to be made in June 2022, roughly one year after the pulication of the questionnaires and the start of the pre-registration process.

We were pleased to receive 32 submissions, which is a great sign for the movement towards an open and transparent research and publication process in electoral research and beyond.

All submitted abstracts were read and evaluated by at least two members of the editorial team, of which at least one person was blind to the identity of the authors (in many cases both editors were blind). Based on the evaluations by these editors, abstracts were categorized into one of three possible categories: 1 = very promising abstract, 2 = promising with some question marks, and 3 = low fit and likelihood of being included in the Special Issue. In addition, the editors had the possibility to give specific feedback on the proposal.

Of the 32 submissions, 6 were assigned to category 1 (very promising abstract), 11 were assigned to category 2 (promising with some question marks), and 14 were assigned to category 3 (low fit and likelihood of being included in the Special Issue).

Please register your analysis plan on an established and regognized public registry for pre-analysis plans (e.g. OSF, EGAP). Please link the pre-registration in this registry in the Stage 1 Manuscript that you submit through the Editorial Manager.

The submission of an abstract is a mandatory step for the review process of your planned analyses. Should unforeseen societal or political developments emerge between the abstract submission deadline and Stage 1 Manuscript, initial Stage 1 Manuscript might be permitted in exceptional cases as well as necessary changes in manuscripts. Please contact the editorial board via e-mail if you consider submitting a Stage 1 Manuscript without having previously submitted an abstract.

If the pre-registered protocol is altered after IPA due to unforeseen circumstances, authors must consult the editors for advice; minor changes may be permitted without leading to a rejection of the manuscript at Stage 2. Substantial changes may require the submission of a tracked-change version in addition to the clean version.

You are allowed to conduct and report analyses that were not pre-registered within a specific section of your Stage 2 Manuscript.

Yes. It is crucial that results of all pre-registered analyses are reported.

That is fine! The strength of your paper should rest on the importance of the research question and quality of the research design (assessed in Stage 1 of the review process).

Yes. Previous research (registered or not) can be incorporated in a registered report in the same way it would be in a traditional paper as part of the state-of-the-art review.

Yes. We recommend that the author(s) explain in the cover letter how the pre-analysis plan (and thus study) was modified in light of reviews from Stage 1.

Yes, for sure. The continuous collection of GLES Data on the 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 German federal election offers a great opportunity to analyze changes over time. However, it is important for participation in the GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 that the preregistered hypotheses can be falsified on the basis of the 2021 GLES data.

Yes, for sure. You can use other data sources for explorative analysis or you can link the GLES data with contextual information. However, it is important for participation in the GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 that the preregistered hypotheses can be falsified on the basis of the 2021 GLES data.