02507nas a2200337   4500000000100000008004100001260001500042653000800057653000800065653000800073653002300081653002500104100001500129700001900144700002700163700002100190700002600211700002500237700002400262700001800286700001600304700002100320700001600341700001600357700001900373700002400392700001800416245004900434856004900483520163700532       2026                            d  c2026-09-0810aCOS10aNSF10aRCT10aRegistered Reports10aRegistered Revisions1 aNoah Haber1 aGeorge C Banks1 aNicholas D, PhD Bowman1 aKevin R Carriere1 aFranco M Impellizzeri1 aKatharina Fellnhofer1 aDon van Ravenzwaaij1 aKarl Wennberg1 aPaul Whaley1 aAshleigh Blersch1 aShaun Wiley1 aMacie Daley1 aJennifer Lueck1 aTimothy M Errington1 aBrian A Nosek00aRegistered Revisions Meta Trial Pilot Report  uhttps://osf.io/preprints/metaarxiv/j64ct_v1/3 aThe Registered Revisions Pathfinder Pilot was designed to pilot both a new journal policy for peer review and a new framework for randomized evidence generation in science policy. The Registered Revisions policy, a precommitment policy comparable to Registered Reports, enables authors to respond to editor comments implying a change to analysis by providing a Revision Plan for approval before conducting those new analyses. If the plan and other revisions and responses are approved, the manuscript is given an in-principle acceptance. The author enacts the plan, and the manuscript is presumed accepted regardless of the results. This policy aims to focus review on methodological quality while lessening uncertainty, questionable research practices, and publication biases that may occur in late stage peer review.

To evaluate the Registered Revisions policy among an array of journals, we have designed and piloted a “meta trial.” This combines multi-center individually-randomized trial design with prospective meta-analysis. Each journal runs its own randomized trial supported by a centralized backbone design and infrastructure. The results are combined in a planned and predesigned meta analysis.

At the time of this writing, neither the Registered Revisions policy nor the meta trial design have been implemented. This Pathfinder Pilot was designed to develop the materials and iteratively test practical implementations of both to support a scaled implementation.

This document describes the project history through the end of the Pathfinder Pilot, including redesigns, mistakes made, and successes along the way.