Statements and resources

The Academy of Sociology represents the position of analytical-empirical sociology in debates about social science, and engages with scientific organisations in Germany. Among other things, it takes a position on questions of research methodology and practice, on dealing with data in the social sciences and on teaching and studying, and makes recommendations in these areas. The Academy of Sociology also supports analytical-empirical sociology by providing resources that are useful for research and teaching.

The papers of the Academy for Sociology can be found here in chronological order.

On January 13, 2022, the general meeting of the Academy of Sociology adopted the “Code of Ethics of the Academy of Sociology” at its regular meeting (online). The code formulates central principles that sociologists must observe when searching for scientific knowledge and when disseminating and assessing research results. This code is now available in English and can be found here. (Oct. 6, 2024)

This document provides a checklist for quantitative social science articles. A good article will achieve most of the items in this checklist. Go through all items and check whether your article fulfills them. Be aware that not all items may apply to your article. A second purpose is to standardize the reporting in social science articles. Studies showed that many published articles in the Social Sciences do not fulfill even minimal reporting standards. With this document we intend to contribute towards such minimal reporting standards.
This document is a Academy of Sociology resource paper  – compiled by Josef Brüderl (LMU München), Christoph Bühler (University of Hannover) and Henriette Engelhardt-Wölfler (University of Bamberg).

Download paper here (external website osf.io)

In Constance on September 25th, 2019 the General Assembly of the Academy of Sociology adopted “Guidelines for Handling Research Data”. The academy takes the position that research data and the associated documentation collected in sociology should, in principle, be made available to the specialist public and scientific community for reproduction (and if possible also for secondary use and teaching). The position paper formulates guidelines for the archiving and subsequent use of social science research data. These guidelines will be incorporated into the further discussion process within the social sciences.
You can find the Guidelines here. (25.09.2019)

At its Gounding Assembly in 2017, the Academy of Sociology adopted a paper on the standardised understanding of analytical-empirical sociology. These principles of the Academy for Sociology have now been revised with significant contribution from the membership, and were approved and adopted at the general meeting on September 25, 2019 in Konstanz.
The current version of the principles can be found here. (20.10,2019)

“Scientific data are not private property of individual researchers, but a collective good. The provision of research data for reuse and replication must also be the norm in sociology.”
Statement by the Executive Board of the Academy of Sociology on the reuse of research data (January 2019). You can find the statement here. (24.01.2019)