Facts Are More Important Than Novelty: Replication in the Education Sciences

Impact Factor:2.963 | Ranking:Education & Educational Research 7 out of 219Source:2013 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2014)
Despite increased attention to methodological rigor in education research, the field has focused heavily on experimental design and not on the merit of replicating important results. The present study analyzed the complete publication history of the current top 100 education journals ranked by 5-year impact factor and found that only 0.13% of education articles were replications. Contrary to previous findings in medicine, but similar to psychology, the majority of education replications successfully replicated the original studies. However, replications were significantly less likely to be successful when there was no overlap in authorship between the original and replicating articles. The results emphasize the importance of third-party, direct replications in helping education research improve its ability to shape education policy and practice.

Received July 31, 2013. Revision received October 14, 2013. Revision received April 10, 2014. Revision received June 4, 2014. Accepted June 26, 2014.

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