Caucasus Survey: Caucasus Barometer Research Pre-Acceptance Special Issue

The Caucasus have been contested by large powers for centuries. Today is no exception, and common opinion has it that Georgians are predominantly pro-Western, while Armenians favor Russia. Although elite preferences are clear, with Georgia signing onto DCFTA and Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Customs Union, how do the Georgian and Armenian publics see the current state of affairs? For example, has the West or Russia maintained or lost their appeal among publics in the region, and what are the correlates of appeal? How justified are the stereotypes of “pro-Western Georgia” and “pro-Russian Armenia”? Do people bring the geopolitical into their everyday interactions, and if so under what circumstances, in what theatres, and on what issues? Do people separate personal identity from geopolitical narrative? What type of variation exists within Armenia and Georgia among population sub-groups?

To answer questions such as these, Caucasus Survey is adopting a pre-registration model of article acceptance using Caucasus Barometer data for one Special Issue. The Special Issue addresses questions relating to Perceptions of the Caucasus in the World, a broad theme dealing with questions of how publics in the Caucasus view their position in the world. Article pre-acceptance is when authors write an article, prior to obtaining the data (based on the questionnaire only), submit their paper to peer review without results, and it is accepted or rejected based on the merits of the research question and research design without reference to the actual results of the analyses. The special pre-acceptance mechanism is currently accepting thematic papers only. Papers must deal in some manner with how residents of the Caucasus view their place in the world using Caucasus Barometer data.

The Caucasus Barometer, a cross-national representative survey of the population of the Southern Caucasus, is carrying out Wave 10 of the survey in Fall 2017. CRRC has already released pre-test questionnaire and will release the final Caucasus Barometer 2017 questionnaire over three months before the data itself is released in early February 2018. Only data from Armenia and Georgia will be released for this special issue. The survey has questions specifically designed for this competition and the thematic area. During this time scholars will have the opportunity to design research based on the Caucasus Barometer questionnaire and submit their design and an accompanying article to Caucasus Survey without results.

We particularly encourage young and emerging scholars to participate in this competition. Articles selected for publication come with a 500 USD reward and the opportunity to win a 1,000 USD reward the Open Science Framework (OSF).

You can submit an article to the pre-acceptance competition before December 15, 2017. To do so, the following steps should be taken:

1. Pre-register your research using the Open Science Framework (OSF).
  1. 1. Go to https://osf.io/prereg (login required)
  1. 1. Start a new pre-registration. We have provided suggestion here (https://goo.gl/NEVuKa) to draft your pre-registration, as we have indicated which fields you do not need to fill out. When ready, submit the pre-registration for review on the last page of the online form. (optional step to compete in OSF pre-registration challenge, which has prize money)
  1. 1. Once the pre-registration is complete, you will receive an email from the OSF.

1. Submit your article to Caucasus Survey via the normal Editorial Manager submission mechanism before DECEMBER 15, 2017. Make sure you let the editors know that this is a contribution to the special edition and include a link to your OSF registration.

1. If you are granted a revise and resubmit or conditional acceptance, conduct any revisions deemed necessary before the data is released. We will also send you instructions about how to update your OSF registration in this case.

1. After the data is released, conduct your pre-registered analyses and any other analyses you wish to conduct, making sure you distinguish between the two in the prose. Submit your final article by June 15, 2018.

If you have any questions, please write Aaron Erlich at aaron.erlich@mcgill.ca.

FAQ

How methodologically sophisticated should my article be?

We hope to receive methodologically sophisticated articles, but the bulk of the statistical sophistication should be placed in the appendices in order to make the articles as accessible as possible to readers interested in the region without advanced quantitative training. A graphic should be substituted for regression tables showing relevant quantities of interest from any statistical model, so long as it does not make the text less clear.

How do I write a pre-registration?

Please see some examples of a similar competition that was run with the American National Election Surveys (ANES). You must identify the CB questions you will analyze and how you will code them. You must also pre-specify which type of statistical tests and regression models you will implement. Here is one example.

Can I add supplementary data to my analysis of CB?

Of course. Supplementary qualitative and quantitative data sources are most welcome. Again, you must prespecify these sources and how you plan on using them. However, the article word length is expected to be 8,500 or below.

Where can I find out more about pre-acceptance?

Read Brendan Nyhans’ paper. You can also refer to other competitions that used this methodology, including Comparative Political Studies, the Election Research Preacceptance Competition, and the Italian Political Science Review.