Disconnected psychology and neuroscience—implications for scientific progress, replicability and the role of publishing

There has been a fascination for centuries surrounding drivers of human behavior and the relationship between the ‘mind’ and the brain. However, there is an ongoing disconnection between different research communities aiming to provide a mechanistic understanding about what underlies behavior, psychology and neuroscience. This comment outlines why this is a problem for scientific progress and replicability in brain sciences and considers how publishers can play a central role to help overcome the disconnect between, what should be, joint scientific communities. In this comment, Professor Christian Beste discusses the disconnection between psychology and neuroscience and the effects this can have on the progress of both fields and reproducibility. He also considers the role that publishers can play in strengthening the connections between the disciplines.