In a pre-registration, scientists formally document their research ideas, hypotheses, scientific methods and how they will analyze their data before they conduct the actual study. The goal of a pre-registration is to ensure openness and transparency about how a study was intended. Thus, a pre-registration provides proof about the hypothesis of a study before the results are known. Preregistrations have been argued to increase trust in the interpretation of a study even for researchers themselves who might unwittingly change the way they treat their data in light of what it tells them.
defined by Oliver Genschow