Written Communication Jan 2019 OA PDF

Registered Reports: Genre Evolution and the Research Article

Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher University of Waterloo

Abstract

The research article is a staple genre in the economy of scientific research, and although research articles have received considerable treatment in genre scholarship, little attention has been given to the important development of Registered Reports. Registered Reports are an emerging, hybrid genre that proceeds through a two-stage model of peer review. This article charts the emergence of Registered Reports and explores how this new form intervenes in the evolution of the research article genre by replacing the central topoi of novelty with methodological rigor. Specifically, I investigate this discursive and publishing phenomenon by describing current conversations about challenges in replicating research studies, the rhetorical exigence those conversations create, and how Registered Reports respond to this exigence. Then, to better understand this emerging form, I present an empirical study of the genre itself by closely examining four articles published under the Registered Report model from the journal Royal Society Open Science and then investigating the genre hybridity by examining 32 protocols (Stage 1 Registered Reports) and 77 completed (Stage 2 Registered Reports) from a range of journals in the life and psychological sciences. Findings from this study suggest Registered Reports mark a notable intervention in the research article genre for life and psychological sciences, centering the reporting of science in serious methodological debates.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2019-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088318804534
Open Access
OA PDF Bronze
Topics
empirical research multimodality scientific writing revision

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (8)

  1. Pérez-Llantada et al. (2025)
    Women Scientists’ Digitally Mediated Activity, Genres and Digital Tools: A Cros…
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  2. Fahnestock (2025)
    The Controversy behind the Controversies: Scientific Discourse in the Twenty-Fi…
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  3. Zerbe et al. (2025)
    The Rhetoric of Science in (Times of) Crisis
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  4. Mehlenbacher et al. (2025)
    Misinformation As Genre Function: Insights on the Infodemic from a Genre-Theore…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Wickman (2023)
    Genre and Metagenre in Biomedical Research Writing
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 8 →
  1. Pérez-Llantada (2022)
    Online Data Articles: The Language of Intersubjective Stance in a Rhetorical Hybrid
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  2. Watts (2021)
    Rethinking Graduate School Research Genres: Communicating With Industry, Writin…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Tham et al. (2020)
    Reading Born-Digital Scholarship: A Study of Webtext User Experience
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    Written Communication
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Written Communication
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CrossRef global citation count: 21 View in citation network →

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