Tracking Research:

Goal:

This database helps researchers discover the existing published work that substantively relates to either institutional betrayal and/or institutional courage.

Our Process:

Inclusion Criteria: Our list comprises peer-reviewed articles or other published studies, books, chapters, news pieces, dissertations, theses, and when feasible, abstracts from conferences or academic posters. In each work, institutional betrayal or institutional courage are either a variable, finding, focus, or are thematically important.

History:  We published the initial version of our “Tracking Research” page in August 2023.  Our first update was published in April 2024. In March 2025 we updated the list to over 300 articles and then added about 50 more in April 2025. In February 2026, we updated the database with works through December of 2025, with a current total of 527.

Search Time-frame and Approach: Our original search spanned from April to July 2023. We used the search string [“institutional betrayal” OR “institutional courage”] in the following databases: Google Scholar, Psych Info, Academic Search Complete, Anthropology Plus, Communication and Mass Media Complete, Educational Administration Abstracts, Health Source, Legal Collection, MEDLINE, Military and Government Collection, Newswires, Newspaper Source Plus, Education Research Complete, and archives of dissertations supervised by Dr. Freyd. Following an influx of works published after 2024, we changed our search strategy and inclusion criteria to be more stringent. Now, we search in Google Scholar and Psych Info, with our most recent update including relevant work published in 2025.

Analysis: Data were gathered from publication abstracts, results, participant, and discussion sections as available and appropriate. They include the category of the institution and the context of harm; whether or not institutional betrayal or institutional courage are the focus; the broad method type; a summary of the method and variables; a summary of participant characteristics; a summary of results or thematic overview; the publication type; and a full citation. We also have a section to delineate whether publications or presentations were funded by Courage.

Notable Trends as of April 2026 (for articles through December 2025):

• 527 articles are entered into this current update.

• Trends in institutional contexts:

  • Education continues to be the most studied institutional context at 186 papers, with 82 papers related to sexual violence, and 40 involving more than one context of harm.

  • Healthcare is the next most studied institutional context at 71, primarily focusing on medical IB/IC towards patients and communities (32) and medical IB towards workers (11).

  • There are currently 66 papers that focus on more than one institutional context and 62 on a military context, with the remaining contexts each including 25 or fewer studies.

• Trends in contexts of harm:

  • Sexual assault and harassment is the most prevalent context of harm across the database, with 174 instances. Education and military are the most prevalent institutions this is being studied in.

  • 111 papers focus on more than one context of harm, and 68 focus on discrimination (including racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination).

  • There are 59 papers that focus on “other contexts of harm.”

  • The remaining contexts of harm (e.g., intimate partner violence, colonialism, bullying) have each been the focus of 16 or fewer studies.

• Trends in coverage of institutional betrayal and courage:

  • All but 8 papers focus on institutional betrayal (519).

  • 98 papers focus on institutional courage.

• Trends in publication type:

  • Most papers are peer reviewed publications (279).

  • 132 are either dissertations or theses.

  • 23 are “other published studies,” indicating that they were published without being peer reviewed.

  • 32 are book chapters, and 8 are books.

  • 15 are news articles; 12 are editorials; 11 are newsletters, magazine articles, or blog posts; 7 are essays posted online and 7 are other forms of online printed media.

• Methodological trends:

  • 198 studies are either fully qualitative or include a qualitative component, including interviews, focus groups, case study/series, ethnographic, and/or content analysis-based methods.

  • 155 studies are fully or partially cross-sectional.

  • 49 studies are mixed-methods.

  • 43 papers are an expert opinion, perspective piece, or commentary.

  • 42 papers are theoretical.

  • 34 papers review an area of literature or a specific work.

  • 32 are case studies or case series.

  • Fewer than 20 papers each utilize any of the remaining methods (e.g., experimental, meta-analysis, systematic or other rigorous review, longitudinal, community-engaged or participatory methodologies, and program interventions, training, or intervention guides).