diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index e78c17015..a9490cf11 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ orbs:
 references:
   restore_keys: &restore_keys
     keys:
-      - python-env-v7-{{ arch }}-{{ .Environment.CIRCLE_JOB }}-{{ checksum "setup.py" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-dev.txt" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-precommit.txt" }}-{{ checksum ".pre-commit-config.yaml" }}
+      - python-env-v7-{{ arch }}-{{ .Environment.CIRCLE_JOB }}-{{ checksum "setup.py" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-test.txt" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-precommit.txt" }}-{{ checksum ".pre-commit-config.yaml" }}
 
   save_key: &save_key
-    key: python-env-v7-{{ arch }}-{{ .Environment.CIRCLE_JOB }}-{{ checksum "setup.py" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-dev.txt" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-precommit.txt" }}-{{ checksum ".pre-commit-config.yaml" }}
+    key: python-env-v7-{{ arch }}-{{ .Environment.CIRCLE_JOB }}-{{ checksum "setup.py" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-test.txt" }}-{{ checksum "requirements-precommit.txt" }}-{{ checksum ".pre-commit-config.yaml" }}
 
 jobs:
   pre-checks:
@@ -70,9 +70,9 @@ jobs:
             if [[ "${CIRCLE_JOB}" != *"pypy"* ]]; then
               sudo apt update -qq && sudo apt install -y -qq libhdf5-dev
             fi
-            ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U pip==20.2
+            ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U pip>=20.3
             ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U codecov
-            ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U -e . -r requirements-dev.txt
+            ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U -e . -r requirements-test.txt
 
       - save_cache:
           <<: *save_key
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ jobs:
           name: Install dependencies
           command: |
             ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U codecov
-            ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U -e . -r requirements-dev.txt
+            ${PYTHON} -m pip install --progress-bar off -U -e . -r requirements-test.txt
       - run:
           name: Run tests
           command: |
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ jobs:
             . test_env/bin/activate
             python --version
             python -m pip install --progress-bar off -U codecov
-            python -m pip install --progress-bar off -U -e . -r requirements-dev.txt
+            python -m pip install --progress-bar off -U -e . -r requirements-test.txt
             python -m pytest --cov=signac --cov-report=xml tests/ -v
             codecov
 
diff --git a/.circleci/deploy.bash b/.circleci/deploy.bash
index 37dc772b3..65bd85d03 100755
--- a/.circleci/deploy.bash
+++ b/.circleci/deploy.bash
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 set -e
 set -u
 
-python -m pip install --progress-bar off --user -U -r requirements-dev.txt
+python -m pip install --progress-bar off --user -U -r requirements-test.txt
 python -m pip install --progress-bar off --user -U twine wheel setuptools
 
 # PYPI_USERNAME - (Required) Username for the publisher's account on PyPI
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index c4811e941..b8a878e3c 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,19 @@
 repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
-    rev: 'v3.3.0'
+    rev: 'v3.4.0'
     hooks:
       - id: end-of-file-fixer
         exclude: 'setup.cfg'
       - id: trailing-whitespace
         exclude: 'setup.cfg'
+      - id: check-builtin-literals
+      - id: check-executables-have-shebangs
+      - id: check-json
+      - id: check-yaml
       - id: debug-statements
+      - id: requirements-txt-fixer
   - repo: https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade
-    rev: 'v2.7.3'
+    rev: 'v2.7.4'
     hooks:
       - id: pyupgrade
         exclude: '(?:configobj/.*)'
diff --git a/.zenodo.json b/.zenodo.json
index 40eba5562..588fe1b9d 100644
--- a/.zenodo.json
+++ b/.zenodo.json
@@ -124,5 +124,5 @@
         "id": "http://www.opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause"
     },
     "title": "signac",
-    "version": "1.5.0"
+    "version": "1.5.1"
 }
diff --git a/CITATION.cff b/CITATION.cff
index 5c8fa4a7d..e9ae65bbc 100644
--- a/CITATION.cff
+++ b/CITATION.cff
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 ---
 cff-version: "1.0.3"
 title: signac
-version: 1.5.0
+version: 1.5.1
 abstract: |
     The signac framework helps users manage and scale file-based workflows, facilitating data
     reuse, sharing, and reproducibility. It provides a simple and robust data model to create
diff --git a/benchmark.py b/benchmark.py
index e392007d3..832f55a3a 100755
--- a/benchmark.py
+++ b/benchmark.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def calc_project_metadata_size(project):
 
 def get_partition(path):
     path = os.path.realpath(path)
-    candidates = dict()
+    candidates = {}
     for partition in psutil.disk_partitions(all=True):
         mp = os.path.realpath(partition.mountpoint)
         if path.startswith(mp):
diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index 45ae016b2..6faed04b9 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ The **signac** package follows `semantic versioning <https://semver.org/>`_.
 Version 1
 =========
 
-next
-----
+[1.5.1] -- 2020-12-19
+---------------------
 
 Added
 +++++
diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index cae31a643..362ed2c80 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -80,9 +80,9 @@ def __getattr__(cls, name):
 # built documents.
 #
 # The short X.Y version.
-version = "1.5.0"
+version = "1.5.1"
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = "1.5.0"
+release = "1.5.1"
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.
diff --git a/doc/requirements.txt b/doc/requirements.txt
index 0125d97bf..e70d764f3 100644
--- a/doc/requirements.txt
+++ b/doc/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-nbconvert
-nbsphinx>=0.3
+deprecation>=2
 IPython
 jupyter_client
-deprecation>=2
+nbconvert
+nbsphinx>=0.3
 sphinxcontrib-programoutput
diff --git a/doc/support.rst b/doc/support.rst
index a40c066e6..f9cd03720 100644
--- a/doc/support.rst
+++ b/doc/support.rst
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ Then clone your fork and install the package from source with:
 .. code-block:: bash
 
     (signac-dev) ~ $ cd path/to/my/fork/of/signac
-    (signac-dev) signac $ pip install -e . -r requirements-dev.txt
+    (signac-dev) signac $ pip install -e .
 
 The ``-e`` option stands for *editable*, which means that the package is directly loaded from the source code repository.
 That means any changes made to the source code are immediately reflected upon reloading the Python interpreter.
diff --git a/requirements-benchmark.txt b/requirements-benchmark.txt
index 045219b53..91e22149c 100644
--- a/requirements-benchmark.txt
+++ b/requirements-benchmark.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 click>=7.0
-numpy==1.19.4
 gitdb2==4.0.2
 GitPython==3.1.11
+numpy==1.19.4
 pandas==1.1.4; implementation_name=='cpython' --no-binary :none:
 psutil==5.7.3
diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-test.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from requirements-dev.txt
rename to requirements-test.txt
index c68ef1088..e92550c7e 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-test.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ h5py==3.1.0; implementation_name=='cpython'
 numpy==1.19.4
 pandas==1.1.4; implementation_name=='cpython'
 pymongo==3.11.1; implementation_name=='cpython'
-pytest-cov==2.10.1
 pytest==6.1.2
+pytest-cov==2.10.1
 ruamel.yaml==0.16.12
 tables==3.6.1; implementation_name=='cpython'
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index b4da3ca3b..76c54c4f1 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 1.5.0
+current_version = 1.5.1
 commit = True
 tag = False
 message = Bump up to version {new_version}.
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ python-tag = py3
 [flake8]
 max-line-length = 100
 exclude = configobj
-# Use select to ignore unwanted flake8 plugins
 select = E,F,W
-# Specify errors to ignore by default
 ignore = E123,E126,E203,E226,E241,E704,W503,W504
 
 [pydocstyle]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 69a645c89..3db3c96af 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name="signac",
-    version="1.5.0",
+    version="1.5.1",
     packages=find_packages(),
     zip_safe=True,
     maintainer="signac Developers",
diff --git a/signac/__main__.py b/signac/__main__.py
index c29f4205f..6e90342b5 100644
--- a/signac/__main__.py
+++ b/signac/__main__.py
@@ -635,7 +635,7 @@ def _main_import_interactive(project, origin, args):
         with _prepare_import_into_project(
             origin, tmp_project, args.schema_path
         ) as data_mapping:
-            paths = dict()
+            paths = {}
             for src, copy_executor in tqdm(
                 dict(data_mapping).items(), desc="Import to temporary project"
             ):
@@ -671,7 +671,7 @@ def _main_import_non_interactive(project, origin, args):
     from .contrib.import_export import _prepare_import_into_project
 
     try:
-        paths = dict()
+        paths = {}
         if args.sync:
             with project.temporary_project() as tmp_project:
                 _print_err("Prepare data space for import...")
@@ -738,7 +738,7 @@ def main_export(args):
     project = get_project()
     jobs = [project.open_job(id=job_id) for job_id in find_with_filter(args)]
 
-    paths = dict()
+    paths = {}
     with tqdm(total=len(jobs), desc="Export") as pbar:
         try:
             for src, dst in export_jobs(
@@ -919,7 +919,7 @@ def main_config_set(args):
             args.value = args.value[0]
     sec = cfg
     for key in keys[:-1]:
-        sec = sec.setdefault(key, dict())
+        sec = sec.setdefault(key, {})
     try:
         sec[keys[-1]] = args.value
         _print_err(f"Updated value '{args.key}'='{args.value}'.")
@@ -959,7 +959,7 @@ def main_config_host(args):
         cfg = config.get_config(fn_config)
 
     def hostcfg():
-        return cfg.setdefault("hosts", dict()).setdefault(args.hostname, dict())
+        return cfg.setdefault("hosts", {}).setdefault(args.hostname, {})
 
     if sum((args.test, args.remove, args.show_pw)) > 1:
         raise ValueError(
diff --git a/signac/common/crypt.py b/signac/common/crypt.py
index 6522e17d4..9db4516b3 100644
--- a/signac/common/crypt.py
+++ b/signac/common/crypt.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class SimpleKeyring:
     """Simple in-memory keyring for caching."""
 
     def __init__(self):
-        self._cache = dict()
+        self._cache = {}
 
     @classmethod
     def _encode(cls, msg):
diff --git a/signac/common/host.py b/signac/common/host.py
index 61e616c3b..baa3f8722 100644
--- a/signac/common/host.py
+++ b/signac/common/host.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 
 SESSION_PASSWORD_HASH_CACHE = SimpleKeyring()
-SESSION_USERNAME_CACHE = dict()  # type: ignore
+SESSION_USERNAME_CACHE = {}  # type: ignore
 
 """
 THIS MODULE IS DEPRECATED!
diff --git a/signac/contrib/collection.py b/signac/contrib/collection.py
index 2f078bdfd..aded5b45a 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/collection.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/collection.py
@@ -450,9 +450,9 @@ def __init__(self, docs=None, primary_key="_id", compresslevel=0, _trust=False):
         self._compresslevel = compresslevel
         self._requires_flush = False
         self._dirty = set()
-        self._indexes = dict()
+        self._indexes = {}
         self._next_default_id_ = None
-        self._docs = dict()
+        self._docs = {}
         if docs is not None:
             for doc in docs:
                 if self._primary_key not in doc:
diff --git a/signac/contrib/filesystems.py b/signac/contrib/filesystems.py
index 205fd22bf..c23b39461 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/filesystems.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/filesystems.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
     GRIDFS = True
 
 GRIDFS_LARGE_FILE_WARNING_THRSHLD = int(1e9)  # 1GB
-FILESYSTEM_REGISTRY = dict()
+FILESYSTEM_REGISTRY = {}
 
 """
 THIS MODULE IS DEPRECATED!
diff --git a/signac/contrib/filterparse.py b/signac/contrib/filterparse.py
index dc0163d3c..c58c5a0cd 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/filterparse.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/filterparse.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def parse_filter_arg(args, file=sys.stderr):
         else:
             return _with_message(_parse_simple(args[0]), file)
     else:
-        q = dict()
+        q = {}
         for i in range(0, len(args), 2):
             key = args[i]
             if i + 1 < len(args):
diff --git a/signac/contrib/import_export.py b/signac/contrib/import_export.py
index d80afb963..d0b6e380e 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/import_export.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/import_export.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def _make_schema_based_path_function(jobs, exclude_keys=None, delimiter_nested="
     jsi = _build_job_statepoint_index(exclude_const=True, index=index)
     sp_index = OrderedDict(jsi)
 
-    paths = dict()
+    paths = {}
     for key_tokens, values in sp_index.items():
         key = key_tokens.replace(".", delimiter_nested)
         if exclude_keys and key in exclude_keys:
@@ -548,7 +548,7 @@ def _convert_schema_path_to_regex(schema_path):
     # in the schema path.
     re_key_type_field = r"\{(?P<key>[\.\w]+)(?::(?P<type>[a-z]+))?\}"
     schema_regex = ""  # the return value
-    types = dict()  # maps values to their designated types
+    types = {}  # maps values to their designated types
     index = 0
     while True:
         m = re.search(re_key_type_field, schema_path[index:])
@@ -948,7 +948,7 @@ def read_sp_manifest_file(path):
     else:
         raise TypeError("The schema variable must be None, callable, or a string.")
 
-    mappings = dict()
+    mappings = {}
     skip_subdirs = set()
 
     dirs = {os.path.dirname(name) for name in names}
@@ -1097,7 +1097,7 @@ def read_sp_manifest_file(path):
     else:
         raise TypeError("The schema variable must be None, callable, or a string.")
 
-    mappings = dict()
+    mappings = {}
     skip_subdirs = set()
 
     dirs = [member.name for member in tarfile.getmembers() if member.isdir()]
diff --git a/signac/contrib/indexing.py b/signac/contrib/indexing.py
index 803aeb4c0..a682fc9af 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/indexing.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/indexing.py
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ class RegexFileCrawler(BaseCrawler):
         MyCrawler.define('.*\/a_(?P<a>\d+)\.txt', 'TextFile')
     """
     "Mapping of compiled regex objects and associated formats."
-    definitions = dict()  # type: ignore
+    definitions = {}  # type: ignore
 
     @classmethod
     @deprecated(
@@ -302,8 +302,9 @@ def process(self, doc, dirpath, fn):
         :param fn: The filename.
         :type fn: str
         :returns: An index document, that means an instance of mapping.
-        :rtype: mapping"""
-        result = dict()
+        :rtype: mapping
+        """
+        result = {}
         for key, value in doc.items():
             if value is None or isinstance(value, bool):
                 result[key] = value
@@ -430,7 +431,7 @@ def __init__(self, root):
         from .project import get_project
 
         root = get_project(root=root).workspace()
-        self._statepoints = dict()
+        self._statepoints = {}
         return super().__init__(root=root)
 
     def _get_job_id(self, dirpath):
diff --git a/signac/contrib/job.py b/signac/contrib/job.py
index b9e3800a9..96fe021a0 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/job.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/job.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ def __init__(self, project, statepoint, _id=None):
         self._stores = H5StoreManager(self._wd)
 
         # Prepare current working directory for context management
-        self._cwd = list()
+        self._cwd = []
 
     @deprecated(
         deprecated_in="1.3",
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ def reset_statepoint(self, new_statepoint):
         self._fn_doc = dst._fn_doc
         self._document = None
         self._data = None
-        self._cwd = list()
+        self._cwd = []
         logger.info(f"Moved '{self}' -> '{dst}'.")
 
     def _reset_sp(self, new_sp=None):
diff --git a/signac/contrib/linked_view.py b/signac/contrib/linked_view.py
index b0dfe019c..1a96e3e38 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/linked_view.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/linked_view.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def create_linked_view(project, prefix=None, job_ids=None, index=None, path=None
 
     path_function = _make_path_function(jobs, path)
 
-    links = dict()
+    links = {}
     for job in jobs:
         paths = os.path.join(path_function(job), "job")
         links[paths] = job.workspace()
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ class _Node:
     def __init__(self, name=None, value=None):
         self.name = name
         self.value = value
-        self.children = dict()
+        self.children = {}
 
     def get_child(self, name):
         """Get child node corresponding to the name passed.
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ def _get_branches(root, branch=None):
 
     """
     if branch is None:
-        branch = list()
+        branch = []
     else:
         branch = list(branch) + [root]
     if root.children:
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ def _find_dead_branches(root, branch=None):
 
     """
     if branch is None:
-        branch = list()
+        branch = []
     else:
         branch = list(branch) + [root]
     if root.children:
diff --git a/signac/contrib/project.py b/signac/contrib/project.py
index 0d9fce619..8d3ac5eb8 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/project.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/project.py
@@ -230,8 +230,8 @@ def __init__(self, config=None, _ignore_schema_version=False):
                 raise
 
         # Internal caches
-        self._index_cache = dict()
-        self._sp_cache = dict()
+        self._index_cache = {}
+        self._sp_cache = {}
         self._sp_cache_misses = 0
         self._sp_cache_warned = False
         self._sp_cache_miss_warning_threshold = self._config.get(
@@ -1158,7 +1158,7 @@ def write_statepoints(self, statepoints=None, fn=None, indent=2):
         except OSError as error:
             if not error.errno == errno.ENOENT:
                 raise
-            tmp = dict()
+            tmp = {}
         if statepoints is None:
             job_ids = self._job_dirs()
             _cache = {_id: self._get_statepoint(_id) for _id in job_ids}
diff --git a/signac/contrib/schema.py b/signac/contrib/schema.py
index 1a9883649..a524e3784 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/schema.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/schema.py
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class ProjectSchema:
 
     def __init__(self, schema=None):
         if schema is None:
-            schema = dict()
+            schema = {}
         self._schema = schema
 
     @classmethod
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ def __call__(self, jobs_or_statepoints):
             Schema of the project.
 
         """
-        s = dict()
+        s = {}
         iterators = itertools.tee(jobs_or_statepoints, len(self))
         for key, it in zip(self, iterators):
             values = []
diff --git a/signac/contrib/utility.py b/signac/contrib/utility.py
index d738de96a..662351701 100644
--- a/signac/contrib/utility.py
+++ b/signac/contrib/utility.py
@@ -389,13 +389,13 @@ def _dotted_dict_to_nested_dicts(dotted_dict, delimiter_nested="."):
         A mapping instance with nested dicts, e.g. {'a': {'b': 'c'}}.
 
     """
-    nested_dict = dict()
+    nested_dict = {}
     for key, value in dotted_dict.items():
         tokens = key.split(delimiter_nested)
         if len(tokens) > 1:
-            tmp = nested_dict.setdefault(tokens[0], dict())
+            tmp = nested_dict.setdefault(tokens[0], {})
             for token in tokens[1:-1]:
-                tmp = tmp.setdefault(token, dict())
+                tmp = tmp.setdefault(token, {})
             tmp[tokens[-1]] = value
         else:
             nested_dict[tokens[0]] = value
diff --git a/signac/core/dict_manager.py b/signac/core/dict_manager.py
index 60ebd3443..d2f845e22 100644
--- a/signac/core/dict_manager.py
+++ b/signac/core/dict_manager.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ def __init__(self, prefix):
             self.suffix is not None
         ), "Subclasses of DictManager must define the suffix variable."
         self._prefix = os.path.abspath(prefix)
-        self._dict_registry = dict()
+        self._dict_registry = {}
 
     @property
     def prefix(self):
diff --git a/signac/core/jsondict.py b/signac/core/jsondict.py
index b09ef7a6c..c97bb59af 100644
--- a/signac/core/jsondict.py
+++ b/signac/core/jsondict.py
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@
 _BUFFERED_MODE_FORCE_WRITE = None
 _BUFFER_SIZE = None
 _BUFFER_LOAD = 0
-_JSONDICT_BUFFER = dict()
-_JSONDICT_HASHES = dict()
-_JSONDICT_META = dict()
+_JSONDICT_BUFFER = {}
+_JSONDICT_HASHES = {}
+_JSONDICT_META = {}
 
 
 class BufferException(Error):
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ def _load(self):
             # Just load from disk
             blob = self._load_from_disk()
 
-        return dict() if blob is None else json.loads(blob.decode())
+        return {} if blob is None else json.loads(blob.decode())
 
     def _save(self, data=None):
         assert self._filename is not None
diff --git a/signac/core/synceddict.py b/signac/core/synceddict.py
index 45f2f43c0..3e30e800c 100644
--- a/signac/core/synceddict.py
+++ b/signac/core/synceddict.py
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ def __init__(self, initialdata=None, parent=None):
         self._parent = parent
         super().__init__()
         if initialdata is None:
-            self._data = dict()
+            self._data = {}
         else:
             self._data = {
                 self._validate_key(k): self._dfs_convert(v)
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ def _convert_to_dict(cls, root):
             # checks instead of isinstance() to avoid catching NumPy values.
             return root
         elif type(root) is cls:
-            ret = dict()
+            ret = {}
             with root._suspend_sync():
                 for k in root:
                     ret[k] = cls._convert_to_dict(root[k])
diff --git a/signac/version.py b/signac/version.py
index 36dcc481d..3a0649bc1 100644
--- a/signac/version.py
+++ b/signac/version.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 """Define signac version."""
 
 
-__version__ = "1.5.0"
+__version__ = "1.5.1"
 
 SCHEMA_VERSION = "1"
 
diff --git a/tests/test_indexing.py b/tests/test_indexing.py
index fdacde50d..63521f6c9 100644
--- a/tests/test_indexing.py
+++ b/tests/test_indexing.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def close(self):
 
 class _TestFS:
     name = "inmemorytestgrid"
-    files: Dict[str, Dict] = dict()
+    files: Dict[str, Dict] = {}
 
     class FileExistsError(IOError):
         pass
diff --git a/tests/test_job.py b/tests/test_job.py
index 8be19f3bc..0855b3010 100644
--- a/tests/test_job.py
+++ b/tests/test_job.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 
 def builtins_dict():
     random.shuffle(BUILTINS)
-    d = dict()
+    d = {}
     for b in BUILTINS:
         d.update(b[0])
     return d
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ class A:
                 job.sp[key] = "test"
             with pytest.raises(KeyTypeError):
                 job.sp = {key: "test"}
-        for key in ([], {}, dict()):
+        for key in ([], {}):
             with pytest.raises(TypeError):
                 job.sp[key] = "test"
             with pytest.raises(TypeError):
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ class A:
                 job.doc[key] = "test"
             with pytest.raises(KeyTypeError):
                 job.doc = {key: "test"}
-        for key in ([], {}, dict()):
+        for key in ([], {}):
             with pytest.raises(TypeError):
                 job.doc[key] = "test"
             with pytest.raises(TypeError):
diff --git a/tests/test_jsondict.py b/tests/test_jsondict.py
index cddd70060..241b44b2a 100644
--- a/tests/test_jsondict.py
+++ b/tests/test_jsondict.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def test_set_get_explicit_nested(self):
         jsd = self.get_json_dict()
         key = "setgetexplicitnested"
         d = self.get_testdata()
-        jsd.setdefault("a", dict())
+        jsd.setdefault("a", {})
         child1 = jsd["a"]
         child2 = jsd["a"]
         assert child1 == child2
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ class A:
         for key in (0.0, A(), (1, 2, 3)):
             with pytest.raises(KeyTypeError):
                 jsd[key] = self.get_testdata()
-        for key in ([], {}, dict()):
+        for key in ([], {}):
             with pytest.raises(TypeError):
                 jsd[key] = self.get_testdata()
 
diff --git a/tests/test_project.py b/tests/test_project.py
index 759efe3f8..23e383faf 100644
--- a/tests/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_project.py
@@ -578,13 +578,13 @@ def test_signac_project_crawler(self):
         for sp in statepoints:
             self.project.open_job(sp).document["test"] = True
         job_ids = {job.id for job in self.project.find_jobs()}
-        index = dict()
+        index = {}
         for doc in self.project.index():
             index[doc["_id"]] = doc
         assert len(index) == len(job_ids)
         assert set(index.keys()) == set(job_ids)
         crawler = signac.contrib.SignacProjectCrawler(self.project.root_directory())
-        index2 = dict()
+        index2 = {}
         for doc in crawler.crawl():
             index2[doc["_id"]] = doc
         for _id, _id2 in zip(index, index2):
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ def test_signac_project_crawler(self):
             with open(job.fn("test.txt"), "w") as file:
                 file.write("test\n")
         formats = {r".*" + re.escape(os.path.sep) + r"test\.txt": "TextFile"}
-        index = dict()
+        index = {}
         for doc in self.project.index(formats):
             index[doc["_id"]] = doc
         assert len(index) == 2 * len(job_ids)
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ def process(self_, doc, dirpath, fn):
         for p, fmt in formats.items():
             with pytest.deprecated_call():
                 Crawler.define(p, fmt)
-        index2 = dict()
+        index2 = {}
         for doc in Crawler(root=self.project.root_directory()).crawl():
             index2[doc["_id"]] = doc
         assert index == index2
diff --git a/tests/test_sync.py b/tests/test_sync.py
index 3297ba919..f6bd713a1 100644
--- a/tests/test_sync.py
+++ b/tests/test_sync.py
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ def test_create_backup_dryrun(self):
 class TestFileModifyProxyDocBackup:
     @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
     def setUp(self):
-        self.doc = dict()
+        self.doc = {}
 
     def test_create_doc_dict(self):
         proxy = _FileModifyProxy()