Abstract
The Journal Editor and SAGE Publishing hereby issue an expression of concern for the following articles:
Eysenck, H. J. (1955). Psychiatric Diagnosis as a Psychological and Statistical Problem. Psychological Reports, 1(1), 3–17. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1955.1.g.3 Eysenck, S. B. G., & Eysenck, H. J. (1964). “Acquiescence” Response Set in Personality Inventory Items. Psychological Reports, 14(2), 513–514. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1964.14.2.513 Eysenck, H. J. (1956). Diagnosis and Measurement: A Reply to Loevinger. Psychological Reports, 2(3), 117–118. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1956.2.3.117 Eysenck, S. B. G., & Eysenck, H. J. (1967). Physiological Reactivity to Sensory Stimulation as a Measure of Personality. Psychological Reports, 20(1), 45–46. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1967.20.1.45 Sartory, G., & Eysenck, H. J. (1976). Strain Differences in Acquisition and Extinction of Fear Responses in Rats. Psychological Reports, 38(1), 163–187. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1976.38.1.163 Bruni, P., & Eysenck, H. J. (1976). Structure of Attitudes—An Italian Sample. Psychological Reports, 38(3), 956–958. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1976.38.3.956 Eysenck, H. J. (1976). Structure of Social Attitudes. Psychological Reports, 39(2), 463–466. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1976.39.2.463 Eysenck, S. B. G., White, O., & Eysenck, H. J. (1976). Personality and Mental Illness. Psychological Reports, 39(3), 1011–1022. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1976.39.3.1011 Eysenck, H. J. (1958). The Nature of Anxiety and the Factorial Method. Psychological Reports, 4(2), 453–454. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1958.4.h.453 Hewitt, J. K., Eysenck, H. J., & Eaves, L. J. (1977). Structure of Social Attitudes after Twenty-Five Years: A Replication. Psychological Reports, 40(1), 183–188. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1977.40.1.183 Eysenck, S. B. G., & Eysenck, H. J. (1977). Personality Differences between Prisoners and Controls. Psychological Reports, 40(3_suppl), 1023–1028. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1977.40.3c.1023 Eysenck, H. J. (1977). National Differences in Personality as Related to ABO Blood Group Polymorphism. Psychological Reports, 41(3_suppl), 1257–1258. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1977.41.3f.1257 Hewitt, J. K., Fulker, D. W., & Eysenck, H. J. (1978). Effect of Strain and Level of Shock on the Behaviour of Rats in PSI Experiments. Psychological Reports, 42(3_suppl), 1103–1108. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1978.42.3c.1103 Eysenck, S. B. G., & Eysenck, H. J. (1978). Impulsiveness and Venturesomeness: Their Position in a Dimensional System of Personality Description. Psychological Reports, 43(3_suppl), 1247–1255. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1978.43.3f.1247 Eysenck, H. J. (1979). Personality Factors in a Random Sample of the Population. Psychological Reports, 44(3_suppl), 1023–1027. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1979.44.3c.1023 Eysenck, H. J. (1980). Psychology of the Scientist: XLIV. Sir Cyril Burt: Prominence versus Personality. Psychological Reports, 46(3), 893–894. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1980.46.3.893 Eysenck, H. J. (1980). Personality, Marital Satisfaction, and Divorce. Psychological Reports, 47(3_suppl), 1235–1238. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1980.47.3f.1235 Eysenck, H. J. (1959). Comments on a Test of the Personality-Satiation-Inhibition Theory. Psychological Reports, 5(2), 395–396. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1959.5.h.395 Eysenck, H. J. (1959). Personality and Verbal Conditioning. Psychological Reports, 5(2), 570–570. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1959.5.h.570 Eysenck, H. J. (1959). Personality and Problem Solving. Psychological Reports, 5(3), 592–592. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1959.5.3.592 Eysenck, H. J. (1982). The Biological Basis of Cross-Cultural Differences in Personality: Blood Group Antigens. Psychological Reports, 51(2), 531–540. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1982.51.2.531 Eysenck, H. J. (1987). Comments on “the Orthogonality of Extraversion and Neuroticism Scales.” Psychological Reports, 61(1), 50–50. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1987.61.1.50 Eysenck, H. J., & Barrett, P. (1993). The Nature of Schizotypy. Psychological Reports, 73(1), 59–63. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1993.73.1.59 Eysenck, H. J. (1995). Some Comments on the Gough Socialization Scale. Psychological Reports, 76(1), 298–298. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1995.76.1.298 Eysenck, H. J., Eysenck, S. B. G., & Barrett, P. (1995). Personality Differences According to Gender. Psychological Reports, 76(3), 711–716. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1995.76.3.711
SAGE and the Editor have published this expression of concern to alert readers of the articles listed above to a review conducted by King’s College London of certain other publications authored by Hans J. Eysenck with Ronald Grossarth-Maticek on the subject of personality and certain health outcomes. The King’s College London report recommended retraction of the articles in their review based on the following findings:
Concerns with the validity of the datasets, including the “recruitment of participants, administration of measures, reliability of outcome ascertainment, biases in data collection, absence of relevant covariates, and selection of cases analysed in each article.” The results reported by Eysenck and Grossarth-Maticek were implausible and incompatible with modern clinical science and the understanding of disease processes.
While the King’s College London review did not specifically name the above-listed articles this expression of concern relates to as problematic, after consideration of the serious nature of the concerns that were identified by the College, the Editor and SAGE believed it was appropriate to alert readers to the report and its findings for awareness.
The King’s College London report may be read here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/statements/hans-eysenck
The Editor and SAGE strive to uphold the very highest standards of publication ethics and are committed to supporting the high standards of integrity of Psychological Reports. Authors, reviewers, editors and interested readers should consult the ethics section of the SAGE website and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) website for guidelines on publication ethics.