Expanding the scope of questionable research practices in applied linguistics

Questionable research practices (QRPs) comprise a gray area of researcher decisions that may be reasonable in some situations but dubious in others. Recent works in this area have sought to catalog and estimate the presence of QRPs in applied linguistics (e.g., Isbell et al., 2022; Larsson et al., 2023). Building on those studies, we reintroduce the notion of QRPs in this introductory article to the present special issue, linking recent work in this area to related movements toward research ethics, open science, and methodological reform. We then outline the remainder of the special issue that follows. In doing so we highlight the ways in which these papers — both individually and in the aggregate — expand and advance the conceptual and methodological scope of research on QRPs. We conclude by reflecting on and considering next steps for this vibrant research agenda.