Journals in Psychology
Journals in Psychology
Elsevier's Psychology collection is vital for students and psychologists, providing a thorough understanding of the mind and behavior. Covering human thought, development, personality, emotion, and motivation, it offers insights into both theoretical and practical aspects. Through topics like cognitive, developmental, and clinical psychology, it equips researchers and students to address real-world challenges and advance their understanding of the field.
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
The Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science is the official journal of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS).Contextual Behavioral Science is a systematic and pragmatic approach to the understanding of behavior, the solution of human problems, and the promotion of human growth and development. Contextual Behavioral Science uses functional principles and theories to analyze and modify action embedded in its historical and situational context. The goal is to predict and influence behavior, with precision, scope, and depth, across all behavioral domains and all levels of analysis, so as to help create a behavioral science that is more adequate to the challenge of the human condition.Contextual behavioral science is a strategic approach to the analysis of human behavior that proposes the need for a multi-level (e.g. social factors, neurological factors, behavioral factors) and multi-method (e.g., time series analyses, cross-sectional, experimental) exploration of contextual and manipulable variables relevant to the prediction and influence of human behavior.The journal considers papers relevant to a contextual behavioral approach including:Empirical studies (without topical restriction - e.g., clinical psychology, psychopathology, education, organizational psychology, etc.)Brief reports on preliminary, but still impactful findings (e.g., pilot studies, cross-sectional research on psychological flexibility processes)Reviews (e.g., scoping reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses)Concep... and philosophical papers on contextual behavioral sciencePractical innovations (descriptions of practical innovation applying contextual behavioral science)Commentaries... reportsWe are particularly interested in:Papers that examine theories and interventions based in CBS (e.g., process-based therapy, acceptance & commitment therapy, relational frame theory, functional analytic psychotherapy, compassion-focused therapy, etc...) to novel research areas with rigorous methodologies. We currently are especially interested in increasing the number of published articles on basic CBS research and translational research.Papers bridging different approaches (e.g., connecting behavioral approaches with cognitive views; or neurocognitive psychology; or evolutionary science)Papers that challenge a contextual behavioral science approach from an informed perspectivePapers that are written from the perspective of and/or report data collected from diverse, underrepresented, and minoritized individuals.The journal welcomes papers written by researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians from different intellectual traditions. What is distinctive is not a narrowly defined theory or set of applied methods but whether the methodology, conceptualization, or strategy employed is relevant to a contextual behavioral approach.JCBS has been receiving an increasing number of submissions that compete for limited space for publication. A notable portion of submissions to JCBS are cross-sectional survey studies on psychological flexibility-related processes (e.g., validating these measures, testing their relation to mental health and related outcomes). In order to balance research on these topics with other important methodologies and research areas of CBS, we are unfortunately only able to accept especially innovative and rigorous research using cross-sectional survey designs, and typically only when submitted as a brief report.Special IssuesThe Journal welcomes suggestions for Special Issues. Proposals for a themed Special Issue should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief, Baljinder K. Sahdra at baljinder.sahdra@acu... and should include suggested Executive, Advisory or Guest Editors, a proposed call-for-papers, 6-10 provisional authors and topics (specific titles or general areas), a proposed timeline for submission, peer-reviewing, revision and publication. All manuscripts in a special issue will be subject to the normal process of peer-review.- ISSN: 2212-1447
Clinical Psychology Review
Clinical Psychology Review publishes substantive reviews of topics germane to clinical psychology. Papers cover diverse issues including: psychopathology, psychotherapy, behavior therapy, cognition and cognitive therapies, behavioral medicine, community mental health, assessment, and child development. Papers should be cutting edge and advance the science and/or practice of clinical psychology.Reviews on other topics, such as psychophysiology, learning therapy, experimental psychopathology, and social psychology often appear if they have a clear relationship to research or practice in clinical psychology. Integrative literature reviews and summary reports of innovative ongoing clinical research programs are also sometimes published. Reports on individual research studies and theoretical treatises or clinical guides without an empirical base are not appropriate.- ISSN: 0272-7358
Learning and Motivation
Learning and Motivation publishes research that advances fundamental understanding of learning, cognition, and motivation in humans and animals. The journal prioritizes studies offering clear empirical and/or theoretical contributions, characterized by methodological rigor, conceptual innovation, and relevance to both the scientific community and broader society.We welcome manuscripts addressing topics such as associative and non-associative learning, applied behavior analysis, relational frame theory, self-determination theory, cognitive and motivational mechanisms, comparative and evolutionary approaches, neural and biological underpinnings, and the roles of emotion and affect in learning and motivation.Both basic and applied research are welcome, provided that applied studies, in areas such as clinical and educational settings, advance theoretical understanding and offer substantive theoretical or empirical insights into learning and/or motivation, beyond the description of phenomena or evaluation of interventions. Interdisciplinary work drawing on neuroscience, computational modeling, developmental, or evolutionary frameworks is encouraged when it enhances understanding of learning and motivation.The journal publishes a range of article types, including integrated series of experiments, original empirical reports, theoretical and review papers, short reports, and commentaries. Experimental studies may employ group-based or well-controlled single-case designs, while reviews may include meta-analytic syntheses. Qualitative work is considered, typically within a mixed-methods framework.Learning and Motivation does not consider purely methodological papers, clinical case studies, or work focused solely on educational or organizational interventions. Descriptive or correlational studies are generally outside the journal’s scope, unless they yield substantial theoretical insight.- ISSN: 0023-9690
Journal of Research in Personality
Emphasizing experimental and descriptive research, the Journal of Research in Personality presents articles that examine important issues in the field of personality and in related fields basic to the understanding of personality. The subject matter includes treatments of genetic, physiological, motivational, learning, perceptual, cognitive, and social processes of both normal and abnormal kinds in human and animal subjects.Features: • Papers that present integrated sets of studies that address significant theoretical issues relating to personality. • Theoretical papers and critical reviews of current experimental and methodological interest. • Single, well-designed studies of an innovative nature. • Brief reports, including replication or null result studies of previously reported findings, or a well-designed studies addressing questions of limited scope.The Journal of Research in Personality (JRP) publishes both theoretical and empirical work in the traditional areas of personality (including both trait and dynamic process-oriented approaches) and in related areas central to the study of personality. These areas include, but are not limited to, genetic, physiological, motivational, cognitive, cross-cultural, developmental, and social processes relevant to understanding both normal and pathological aspects of personality. JRP publishes integrated sets of studies addressing important theoretical or conceptual issues, as well as theoretical and methodological review articles that have the potential to advance the field. JRP also solicits, in a brief report format, theoretically grounded, well-executed replication and null result studies. Such studies-though often difficult to publish-play a crucial role in building a cumulative knowledge base within any discipline and in fostering valid generalized casual inferences, especially through meta-analysis.In addition to encouraging substantively and theoretically novel papers, JRP encourages submissions that use strong and innovative methodologies, such as longitudinal studies, diary studies, experiments, or quasi-experiments, as well as those that use non-self-report data (e.g., other reports, implicit methods, narratives). To broaden the base of published research, JRP further encourages studies that include non-college students as participants.Cross-s... self-report studies conducted among convenience samples can make important contributions to the literature. However, such studies are also relatively easy to conduct and have some important limitations. Although single-study papers that use these methods will be considered at JRP, we have somewhat higher expectations regarding the size and the novelty of the contribution that such studies can make. Papers that rely solely on cross-sectional designs and self-report questionnaire methods among convenience samples are often rejected without review.In short, JRP seeks to continue its tradition of publishing top tier, traditional personality research, while establishing a lively forum in which well-done studies of a slightly riskier nature will find a comfortable home.- ISSN: 0092-6566
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
A Journal of Experimental PsychopathologyThe Journal welcomes contributions to the understanding and treatment of psychopathology. Such contributions may stem from various theoretical perspectives. The Journal primarily focuses on (quasi)experimental tests of psychological approaches to psychopathology, though contributions from medicine, biology, sociology, or epidemiology may be considered. The same holds for non-experimental approaches (e.g., prospective approaches), which may occasionally be published if deemed relevant for the field of experimental psychopathology. Papers to be published generally focus on:Theoretically or clinically relevant differences between specific patient groups and other groups, if experimentally tested;(Transdiagnos... mechanisms that cause, perpetuate or reduce disorders;Diagnostic or therapeutic proceduresParticipan... in the studies may be patients, healthy subjects, or animals, depending on the relevance of the subject characteristics for the question to be answered. We encourage the investigation of transdiagnostic constructs. Relatedly, we strongly encourage studies testing hypotheses on characteristics of a disorder to not only include a non-patient control group, but also at least one appropriate clinical control group, to assess the specificity of the effect. We cannot guarantee acceptance of studies missing an appropriate clinical control group.Pre-registrati... of all studies is strongly encouraged and justification of statistical power required. We ask authors who submit studies that were not pre-registered to provide a motivated justification in their cover letter. Clinical trials (RCTs and others) should be registered in an official trial register and the registration number should be reported. These studies should include a flow diagram according to the most recent CONSORT guidelines and a CONSORT checklist should accompany the submission. See http://www.consort-s... for the guidelines and forms. Any changes in the submitted study as compared to the pre-registered study (e.g., intended sample size, primary and secondary outcome variables, method) should be stated explicitly in the manuscript.Case studies, open trials, and pilot studies may be considered for publication in the Journal if they are unusually innovative Consecutive case series with appropriate designs (i.e., contrasting at least two conditions; e.g. multiple baseline design) and appropriate statistical analyses are considered for publication.Theoreti... contributions on topics relevant to the field of experimental psychopathology are also considered as well as systematic reviews and meta-analyses, given that they meet the appropriate guidelines for reporting. Replications are essential in science and are, to the present editors' opinion, often undervalued. Short reports of attempts to replicate experimental studies, whether successful or failed, and whether applied or fundamental, are considered for publication, if appropriately powered. The maximum number of words is 2500 for these reports.All submissions will first be screened on the degree to which they match the Aims and Scope of the Journal.- ISSN: 0005-7916
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology publishes articles that make important theoretical contributions in any area of cognition, including memory, attention, perception, language processing, categorization, thinking, and reasoning. The development and decline of cognitive processes as a function of maturation and aging are also relevant topics. Cognitive Psychology specializes in longer, more integrative articles that have a major impact on theories of cognition. We welcome submissions that use modeling or neuroscientific approaches, literature reviews, or incisive experiments to provide a substantial theoretical advance. Authors are strongly encouraged to use open science practices and should be prepared to share their data, model code, and analysis scripts.- ISSN: 0010-0285
Cognitive Development
Cognitive Development publishes empirical and theoretical work on the development of cognition including, but not limited to, perception, concepts, memory, language, learning, problem solving, metacognition, and social cognition. Articles will be evaluated on their contribution to the scientific debate, innovation and substance of the argument, sufficient sample size and methodological rigor.- ISSN: 0885-2014
Personality and Individual Differences
The Official Journal of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID)Personality and Individual Differences is primarily devoted to the publication of articles (experimental, correlational, theoretical, expository/review) which enhance our understanding of the structure of personality and other forms of individual differences, the processes which cause these individual differences to emerge, and their practical applications. Accessible methodological contributions are also welcome. The Editors invite papers that focus on the genetic, biological, and environmental foundations of individual differences, and possible interaction effects. While we recognize the importance of questionnaires for the measurement of individual differences, we encourage their link to experimental and behavioural measures. Ultimately the editors of PAID view human beings as bio-social organisms and that work on individual differences can be most fruitfully pursued by attending to both these aspects of our nature.We consider studies involving cross-sectional mediation/moderation analyses of self-reported data only when these directly test a theory.- ISSN: 0191-8869
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Early Childhood Research Quarterly (ECRQ) publishes research on early childhood education and development from birth through 8 years of age. ECRQ publishes only empirical research (quantitative or mixed methods) on issues of interest to early childhood development, theory, and educational practice.The journal also occasionally publishes significant, rigorous meta-analytic reviews of research. It will no longer publish non-quantitative reviews, such as systematic or scoping reviews. As an applied research journal, we are interested in work that has social, policy, and educational relevance and implications and work that strengthens links between research and practice.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• Children's social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, language, and motor development applied to early childhood settings.• Center- and home-based care, program quality, and children's transition to school• Program evaluations related to early intervention, prevention or interventions that will influence early childhood education practice and policy• Implementation science related to early childhood education initiatives• Public policy, early childhood education, and child development• Best classroom practices and effective early childhood curricula• Caregiver professional development and training and well-being• Relationships between early childhood education and family or parental engagement• The larger contexts and systems including schools, neighborhoods and communities in which early childhood education programs take place.- ISSN: 0885-2006
Mental Health and Physical Activity
Mental Health and Physical Activity is an international forum for scholarly reports on any aspect of relevance to advancing our understanding of the relationship between mental health and physical activity. Please note that papers which focus exclusively on mental health, or exclusively on physical activity, will not be considered. Manuscripts will be considered for publication which deal with high quality research, comprehensive research reviews, and critical reflection of applied or research issues. The journal is open to the use of diverse methodological approaches. Reports of practice will need to demonstrate academic rigour, preferably through analysis of programme effectiveness, and go beyond mere description.The aims of Mental Health and Physical Activity are:To foster the inter-disciplinary development and understanding of the mental health and physical activity field;To develop research designs and methods to advance our understanding; To promote the publication of high quality research on the effects of physical activity (interventions and a single session) on a wide range of dimensions of mental health and psychological well-being (e.g., depression, anxiety and stress responses, mood, cognitive functioning and neurological disorders, such as dementia, self-esteem and related constructs, psychological aspects of quality of life among people with physical and mental illness, sleep, addictive disorders, eating disorders), from both efficacy and effectiveness trials; To promote high quality research on the biophysical and psychosocial mechanisms involved to help our understanding of the link between physical activity and mental health, and guide intervention development; To provide an evidence-based source for professionals working in the field of mental health and a forum to consider service delivery issues.Notice to Authors Wishing to Submit to MENPA Mental Health and Physical Activity (MENPA) is becoming increasingly competitive. We continue to receive many more manuscripts than we can possibly publish. Therefore, in order to reduce any delay in publishing the best science, the following guidelines should be considered prior to submitting a manuscript, in addition to guidance from EQUATOR (https://www.equator... types of studies given the highest priority are the following:Etiologic or experimental studies testing a specific hypothesis or highlighting a specific mechanism relating physical activity or inactivity to mental health.Prospective or longitudinal studies.Randomised controlled trials, or related protocol papers which follow CONSORT guidelines. All submitted manuscripts reporting data from randomized controlled trials must include data on adherence to the trial intervention(s). Manuscripts that do not report adherence data will not be considered. We highly recommend that both intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses are included.Studies that are truly innovative and involve in-depth or novel data collection and analysis (including both quantitative and qualitative methods), or advance research methods.High quality, novel systematic reviews (based on quantitative and qualitative studies) that follow PRISMA guidelines.The following types of manuscripts will be given the lowest priority and are the most likely to be rejected without review:Small, cross-sectional, descriptive studies without any innovative features.Studies having no control or reference group, unless they are clearly part of a step in testing, using mixed methods, the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention within a larger program of study.Studies that involve statistical hypothesis testing of intervention effects when there is no justification for the sample size.Studies consisting of non-clinical samples, unless they clearly add to our understanding of the physical activity and well-being relationship.Studies in which physical activity is only a covariate of interest.Studies with no recognized measure of physical activity.- ISSN: 1755-2966
