Sixty Years of Studying the Sacred: Auditing and Advancing the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

Objective: This bibliometric study audits three key psychology of religion/spirituality (R/S) journals and draws on results to advance the psychology of R/S field broadly. Method: We identified all English-language articles published in Archive for the Psychology of Religion (APR; 1962-2022, k = 370), International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (IJPR; 1991-2022, k = 845), and Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (PRS; 2008-2022, k = 587) through March 1, 2022. For those 1,802 articles, we coded article features, citation counts, and utilized open science practices. Results: Collectively, 63% were empirical articles (37% nonempirical). The median sample size (average N-pact factor) was 263 and median citation count was 1 in PsycINFO and 11 in Google Scholar. Among the 1,509 empirical studies, 90% used a quantitative-only analytic method (6% qualitative-only, 4% mixed-methods), 76% utilized a cross-sectional design (14% experimental, 10% longitudinal or longitudinal/experimental), 43% recruited student samples (52% community-adult, 6% clinical, 9% youth-inclusive samples), and 57% were conducted solely in the United States (36% elsewhere, 7% internationally). Power analyses indicated the average psychology of R/S study was higher powered than the average study in premier social-personality, clinical psychology, and sport-exercise psychology journals. Like many journals, these psychology of R/S journals demonstrated recently accelerating utilization of most open science practices (preregistration, open data, and open materials) but not open access publishing. Conclusion: The psychology of R/S field is poised to make significant scientific and societal contributions, especially as it embraces open science practices; increased geographical, cultural, and methodological diversity; and enhanced scientific quality and rigor.