The necessity of data transparency to publish

"Even though The Journal of Social Psychology was one of the first psychology journals to adopt open science badges (J. E. Grahe, 2014), and the first to require Research Materials Transparency (J. Grahe, 2018), we have resisted requiring Data Transparency. The reasons for this have varied across the years, but most recently we paused for two reasons which I will present momentarily. However, our reasons were generally concerned that early adoption would drive away too many authors and we needed to wait. In the early spring of 2020, the editors once again discussed adopting Data Transparency as a requirement for publication, but again demurred. Though our other concerns were again discussed, the onset of the CV-19 pandemic was our primary caution. In short, we recognized that this decision will require a transition as authors grapple with a new reality of sharing their data as a condition of publication, and we were waiting until the time was right to implement the new rules. Well, the time has come, and this editorial is the announcement that Data Transparency will now be required for publication in The Journal of Social Psychology. Along with a short explanation of the timing, this editorial also describes what is required versus recommended in our new data sharing policy."