Call for Papers: Special issue “When Creativity Happens and When It Doesn’t: What Can We Learn from Non-Significant Findings”

2025-12-01

Creativity research has long sought to explain the conditions under which novel and useful ideas emerge. Decades of research have established that creativity flourishes under reliably supportive conditions. For example, high intrinsic motivation and a sense of autonomy in one’s work, positive affective states, and extensive domain-specific expertise are all known to facilitate creative performance (Damian & Simonton, 2015; Lubart & Thornhill-Miller, 2019). Yet as the field matures, it is increasingly evident that creative processes do not always behave as our theories predict. Despite robust traditions of empirical inquiry ranging from classic componential models (Amabile, 1996) to systems-oriented approaches (Montuori, 2011) there remain numerous instances in which anticipated effects fail to materialize.

However, the literature is skewed by the underreporting of non-significant findings: studies that find no effect often remain unpublished (the classic “file-drawer” problem; Rosenthal, 1979). Subsequently, null, attenuated, or inconsistent findings remain underreported, despite their substantial value for cumulative science (Ferguson & Heene, 2012). Bias toward publishing solely significant results can mislead theory development by overstating effects and hiding important boundary conditions. Embracing null results is thus essential for building stronger, more accurate creativity theories, as reporting these “unsupportive” findings allows researchers to refine models, identify the limits of creative phenomena, and avoid the inadvertent canonization of false positives (Scargle, 2000).

This special issue therefore invites rigorous empirical contributions that explore non-significant findings or findings that do not align with the literature.

We particularly welcome manuscripts that:

  • Present empirical work—qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods—that includes both significant and non-significant results, especially when grounded in transparent research practices such as preregistration and open data
  • Highlight boundary conditions, clarifying why specific variables (e.g., mood, autonomy, group dynamics, constraints) promote creativity in some circumstances but not others
  • Compare different operationalizations of creativity, such as divergent thinking tasks, insight problems, creative self-beliefs, and real-world creative achievements
  • Offer methodological or theoretical perspectives on how null or inconsistent findings can refine, qualify, or redirect existing creativity theories
  • Demonstrate the value of negative evidence for understanding creativity in educational, organizational, or cultural contexts.

 

1. The special issue welcomes papers on, but would not be limited to:

  • Creativity across diverse domains and disciplines: studies of creativity in the arts, design studies, sciences, business, management, technology, education, and other fields or everyday contexts, and interdisciplinary perspectives.
  • Diverse research methodologies in creativity studies: Research employing experimental designs, correlational studies, qualitative approaches, mixed-methods, meta-analyses, etc., to investigate creativity
  • Multiple levels of analysis: Investigations ranging from individual creative cognition and personality, to team or group creativity and collaboration, to organizational innovation and broader cultural or cross-cultural influences on creativity

 

2. Submission

Only one paper per author is allowed.

Articles are expected to be in length of around 20 double-spaced pages – no longer than 6000 words without abstract, including tables and references for single-study quantitative papers. For multistudy papers, or papers reporting the results of qualitative or mixed-method research, word limit is 8000 words without abstract, including tables and references.

Please refer to https://journals.savba.sk/index.php/studiapsychologica for additional instructions.

Submissions to this journal are through the on-line submission system here: https://journals.savba.sk/index.php/studiapsychologica

Please visit the author guidelines to read the full submission details for the Studia Psychologica journal at: https://journals.savba.sk/index.php/studiapsychologica/about/submissions

Please ensure you select this special issue from the relevant dropdown menu on page 1 of the submission process.

 

3. Schedule

Call for papers: December 1st, 2025.

Deadline for submission of full manuscripts: April 13, 2026.

Publication: Issue 1/2027.

 

4. Special Issue Editors

Kamila Urban, Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Margaret Mangion, Edward de Bono Institute for Creative Thinking and Innovation, University of Malta

Marek Urban, Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences

 

References:

Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in Context. Westview Press.

Damian, R. I., & Simonton, D. K. (2015). Four Psychological Perspectives on Creativity. In R.A. Scott & S.M. Kosslyn Emerging (Eds.), Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0134

Ferguson, C. J., & Heene, M. (2012). A vast graveyard of undead theories. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(6), 555–561.

Lubart, T., & Thornhill-Miller, B. (2019). Creativity: An Overview of the 7C’s of Creative Thought. In R. J. Sternberg & J. Funke (Eds.), The Psychology of Human Thought: An Introduction (pp. 277-305). Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.470.c6678

Montuori A. (2011). Systems Approach. In: Runco MA, and Pritzker SR (eds.), Encyclopedia of Creativity, Second Edition (vol. 2, pp. 414-421). San Diego: Academic Press.

Rosenthal, R. (1979). The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results. Psychological Bulletin, 86(3), 638–641. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.86.3.638

Scargle J. D. (2000). Publication bias: the “File-Drawer” problem in scientific inference. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 14(1), 91–106.