How to Publish?

You have developed and validated a measurement instrument (items, scale, questionnaire, test, index) and would like to publish it visibly, permanently available, and citable in the long term? This is possible in ZIS, even if you have already published or made available your instrument elsewhere (e.g., in a journal or book, or on your own website). You can publish your instrument in ZIS for free under the following conditions:

• Availability. Free use for non-commercial research purposes.
• Relevance. Relevant for research in the social sciences.
• Integrity. Information on the development and the validation is available.
• Topicality. Empirically tested on at least one current and heterogeneous sample.

The five steps of publication

1. Documentation. Document your measurement instrument using the materials provided.
2. Submission. Submit the documentation of your measurement instrument via the submission portal. In the spirit of Open Science, we ask you to publish your data and codes in the GESIS datorium.
3. Feedback. You will receive feedback from the ZIS team within four weeks. In an internal review-like process, we work with you to ensure that your documentation meets established quality standards.
4. Licensing. Define rights of use for your publication. The copyright remains with you. You can choose between these CC-BY license agreements. Please send us the signed usage agreement as a scan by e-mail.
5. DOI Registration. Your measurement instrument and its documentation is published on the ZIS website and registered by us with a DOI at the da|ra. This makes your publication permanently accessible, and citable in the long term.

Cachet (TBS-DTK Transparency Certification)

For documentation of measurement instruments measuring human experience and behavior, you can apply for a cachet for the quality of the documentation, the TBS-DTK Transparency Certification of the Board of Assessment and Testing (DTK) of the Federation of German Psychologists' Associations (in German: Diagnostik- und Testkuratorium (DTK) der Föderation Deutscher Psychologenvereinigungen) (see DTK, 2018). You can apply for the certification at any time after the measurement instrument is published. With this certification your documentation is advertised as follows:

"The documentation of the test (name of the test) complies with the quality requirements of the Diagnostik- und Testkuratorium (DTK) in terms of information and documentation that is required for instruments measuring human experience and behavior. According to the DTK, the test (name of the test) therefore meets the prerequisites to be submitted to quality inspection. An actual quality inspection of the test (name of the test) has not been performed by the DTK."

You can find a ZIS documentation with a TBS-DTK Transparency Certification here.

To obtain the TBS-DTK Transparency Certification, fill out the English-language version of the DIN SCREEN Checkliste 1, Version 3 (note that all must criteria listed in the checklist must be met) and submit a written self-declaration. Templates for both documents can be found under Guideline & Materials. Please complete and sign both documents and send them together with the ZIS documentation of your measurement instrument (procedural information) to the chairperson of the DTK (currently Prof. Dr. Martin Kersting Martin@Kersting-internet.de). The DTK will inform you about the award of the certification by e-mail and send you the certification. You will then send the received certification, the completed and signed self-declaration (as a scan), and the DIN SCREEN Checklist 1, Version 3 (English version), to ZIS by e-mail. In ZIS, the TBS-DTK Transparency Certification will be added to the documentation of your measurement instrument.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the ZIS Team.