Toward a replicable, reproducible, and robust sociology

Abstract

By emphasizing the integration of theory and empirics, open science, and the separation of research from activism, Aksoy et al. (2026) present a scientific vision for sociology. I argue that such a vision also requires taking the scientific principles of replicability, reproducibility, and robustness seriously. Yet little is said about how sociology currently performs on these three principles. Based on recent large-scale audits, we can estimate that there is only a fifty-fifty chance that a sociological study is replicable, reproducible, or robust. This is lower than neighboring disciplines such as psychology, political science, and economics. I therefore argue that improving on these aspects should be a central priority for sociology in the upcoming years, and offer some recommendations to this end.