Dear colleagues,

We are conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis with two research questions:

1. Does holistic face processing differ between same-race and cross-race faces??

We are interested in studies with the following characteristics:

• Participants: Non-clinical adults
• Task: Measures of holistic or configural face processing, including but not limited to: composite face task, part-whole task, face inversion task, or another task explicitly intended to measure holistic or configural face processing.
• Stimuli: Both same-race and cross-race faces.

2. Does holistic processing predict the magnitude of the cross-race recognition deficit (i.e., other-race effect, own-race bias)?

For this question, we are looking for studies that meet the aforementioned criteria and additionally include:

• A recognition-memory task that separately measures performance for same-race and cross-race faces, such as old/new recognition, forced-choice recognition, or race-specific face-memory tests.

We welcome null, inconclusive, pilot, and otherwise unpublished findings, regardless of the direction or statistical significance of the results, provided that the study meets the criteria above.

The preregistered protocol for this systematic review and meta-analysis is available on Researchbox at [https://researchbox.org/9450 (CODE: WGSKOS)].

We are seeking unpublished data that meet these criteria, including:

• Unpublished datasets

• Unpublished manuscripts or papers currently under review

• In-press papers

• Student theses or dissertations

• Conference papers or presentations

• Completed pilot studies; and

• Additional unpublished data or analyses associated with published studies.

We would also be grateful if you could circulate this call to colleagues, students, or research groups who may have relevant work.

Please submit only de-identified participant data. Raw participant-level data and unpublished materials will be accessible only to the review team and will be used solely for this project. The public meta-analytic dataset on OSF will contain only derived, non-identifiable summary statistics, unless contributor explicitly authorize broader sharing. Contributors may also indicate how they would prefer unpublished studies or datasets to be cited.

How to submit data: Email the data to Marta Barros (martaganso@edu.ulisboa.pt), using the subject line “Meta unpublished data”.

The easiest option is to send a manuscript, thesis, presentation, preregistration, or a study description (i.e., methods including detailed participant, stimuli, and procedure information) together with de-identified raw data and a short codebook, in whatever format the data are currently stored. 

If raw data cannot be shared, you may use the optional Excel template available on Reseachbox at [https://researchbox.org/9450 (CODE: WGSKOS)] to provide the relevant condition-level results, statistical tests, effect estimates, or correlations. Please complete only the fields that apply to your study. Researchers do not need to calculate new standardised effect sizes specifically for this meta-analysis.

Please send any relevant unpublished data by 30th of October, 2026.

We aim to make this review as comprehensive as possible, and any additional relevant data would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Kind regards,

Marta Barros, Tomás Palma, Francisco Cruz, Balbir Singh, Joshua Correll, Leonel Garcia-Marques, and Brandon Cohen