Psychology of Music
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
Psychology of Music publishes peer-reviewed papers directed at increasing the scientific understanding of any psychological aspect of music. The journal is issued bi-monthly, and includes studies on listening, performing, creating, memorising, analysing, describing, learning, and teaching, as well as applied social, developmental, attitudinal and therapeutic studies. Psychology of Music was established in 1973 as the journal for the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE), and has been published by Sage since 2003.
"Without doubt, Psychology of Music is the pre-eminent journal in the field. Its reputation as the source of some of the most sophisticated and elegant research in music psychology has long been unparalleled." Professor Robert Walker
"... absorbing, well-researched and tidily presented, frequently thought-provoking and stimulating. The range of topics and educational levels covered is wide and varied. Journals like this serve an admirable purpose to make readily available reliable up-to-date research to support and encourage all musicians and teachers in their joint pursuits." Colin Touchin
As of January 2025, the journal now accepts manuscripts which are either original empirical investigations containing systematic qualitative or quantitative analyses of relevant data, or theoretical critical papers. Special emphasis is placed on studies carried out in naturalistic settings, and contributions which address the interface between music psychology and music education. Our Research Spotlights series include collections of free-to-access articles from the archive organised around key topics and themes. These are curated by individuals across the field, and include an introduction to the topic or theme.
View the institutional subscription rates: An institutional subscription to Psychology of Music includes a subscription to Research Studies in Music Education (two issues a year, also published by Sage on behalf of SEMPRE). All issues of Psychology of Music are available online. Subscriptions are available in various formats (combined print and online, print only and e-access only).
Psychology of Music and SEMPRE provide an international forum for researchers working in the fields of psychology of music and music education. Individual SEMPRE Membership rates are modest and include a subscription to Psychology of Music. Contact the SEMPRE membership secretary for more information: membership@sempre.org.uk.
Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pom.
As a journal of SEMPRE, Psychology of Music shares the Society’s aim of providing an international forum for researchers working in the fields of psychology of music and music education. The scope of the journal embraces work directed at increasing the scientific understanding of any psychological aspect of music. This includes rigorous and systematic studies on listening, performing, creating, memorising, analysing, describing, learning, and teaching, as well as applied social, developmental, attitudinal and therapeutic studies.
Special emphasis is placed on studies carried out in naturalistic settings, and contributions which address the interface between music psychology and music education.
Psychology of Music publishes high quality research for an international community of researchers, educators, and practitioners. The journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We depend on the generous work of specialist peer-reviewers, and an editorial team including expert Associate and Consulting editorial board members who kindly provide this service alongside their main professional commitments.
We invite submissions of up to 6000 words in one of two formats:
a) Original empirical investigations containing systematic qualitative or quantitative analyses of relevant data. Special emphasis is placed on studies carried out in naturalistic settings, and contributions which address the interface between music psychology and music education; or
b) Theoretical critical papers which stimulate intellectual discourse and further research through engagement with existing concepts, models, or frameworks. Within the broad submission format of a Theoretical critical paper, contributors may offer critical, methodological, conceptual, or systematic review papers, where these constitute a rigorous, structured approach to evaluating and advancing theoretical knowledge.
We do not publish conference reports and no longer accept book reviews. However, contributors keen to offer these are welcome to contact the Editors-in-Chief, who may be able to advise on publication routes in their capacity as SEMPRE committee members.
The submission process requires authors to demonstrate their compliance with ethical research practices. Original empirical investigations should meet the standards outlined in the APA Ethics and Code of Conduct. The submission process further asks authors to report on the availability of their underlying data. Our current journal policy encourages all authors to follow FAIR principles to make their research accessible, discoverable and citable. Contributors and reviewers can find detailed advice on journal policy within the manuscript preparation section of the Psychology of Music Submission Guidance pages. For further information and FAQs, visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
The Editors-in-Chief welcome queries from authors on any aspect of ethics (Michelle Phillips) or open data (Nikki Moran). Queries on scope or methodology may be addressed to either Michelle or Nikki. Questions regarding the submission process should be directed to psychologyofmusicjournal@gmail.com.
| Nikki Moran | Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Michelle Phillips | Royal Northern College of Music, UK |
| Karen Wise | Guildhall School of Music & Drama, UK |
| Katerina Drakoulaki | Mount Holyoke College, MA, USA |
| Mayumi Adachi | Hokkaido University, Japan |
| Paolo Ammirante | Ryerson University, Canada |
| Richard Ashley | Northwestern University, USA |
| Jennifer Blackwell | Northwestern University, USA |
| Arielle Bonneville-Roussy | Université de Québec à Montreal, Canada |
| Hugo Cogo-Moreira | Østfold University College, Norway |
| Annabel J. Cohen | University of Prince Edward Island, Canada |
| Caroline Curwen | Durham University, UK |
| Jane Davidson | University of Melbourne, Australia |
| Genevieve Dingle | University of Queensland, Australia |
| Tuomas Eerola | University of Durham, UK |
| Karen Goodman | Monclair State University, USA |
| Alinka Greasley | University of Leeds, UK |
| Jenny Groarke | University of Galway, Ireland |
| Martin Hartmann | University of Jyväskylä, Finland |
| Beatriz Ilari | Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, USA |
| Kelly Jakubowski | Durham University, UK |
| Elaine King | University of Hull, UK |
| Amanda Krause | James Cook University, Australia |
| Gunter Kreutz | Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg, Germany |
| Fang Liu | University of Reading, UK |
| Raymond MacDonald | University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Kathryn Marsh | University of Sydney, Australia |
| Adrian C. North | Curtin University, Australia |
| Katherine O'Neill | University of York, UK |
| Susan O'Neill | Institute of Education, University College London, UK |
| Adam Ockelford | University of Roehampton, UK |
| Ioulia Papageorgi | University of Nicosia, Cyprus |
| Landon Peck | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Michelle Phillips | Royal Northern College of Music, UK |
| Dawn Rose | Lucerne University of Applied Arts and Sciences, Switzerland |
| E. Glenn Schellenberg | University of Toronto, Canada |
| Emery Schubert | The University of New South Wales, Australia |
| Neta Spiro | Royal College of Music, UK |
| Jonna Vuoskoski | University of Oslo, Norway |
| Graham Welch | University College London, UK |
| Clemens Wöllner | University of Music Freiburg |
| Margaret S. Barrett | Monash University, Australia |
| Pamela Burnard | University of Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| Eugenia Costa-Giomi | Ohio State University, USA |
| Ian Cross | University of Cambridge, UK |
| Jane Ginsborg | Royal Northern College of Music, UK |
| David J. Hargreaves | Roehampton University, UK |
| Patrik N. Juslin | Uppsala University, Sweden |
| Don Knox | Glasgow Caledonian University, UK |
| Mats Küssner | Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany |
| Siw Graabræk Nielsen | Norwegian Academy of Music, Norway |
| Mark Reybrouck | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium |
| Renee Timmers | University of Sheffield, UK |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Psychology of Music
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pom to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Psychology of Music will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplementary material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 SAGE Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to Psychology of Music, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Psychology of Music publishes research articles of typically 4,000-6,000 words and shorter research notes. Other types of format (e.g. theoretical critical papers, position papers, discussions, and reviews) are also welcomed providing they make a novel contribution to the field. The journal also publishes book reviews. Concise contributions are particularly welcome to facilitate timely publication. Space is reserved for short and timely research articles (max. 3,000 words) that are identified as meriting more rapid publication which will be fast-tracked through the review process; the editorial board will identify such articles at submission, or authors may wish to flag them in their cover letter.
The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Psychology of Music operates a strictly anonymous peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author and, the author’s name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for both identities to remain concealed. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, and an editorial decision is generally reached within three months of submission.
As part of the submission process you will be asked to provide the names of X peers who could be called upon to review your manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below:
- The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
- The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
- Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted
Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
Psychology of Music requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Psychology of Music encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.
SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Psychology of Music and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Psychology of Music offers optional open access publishing via the SAGE Choice programme. For more information please visit the SAGE Choice website. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit SAGE Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted article.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.
Psychology of Music adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using SAGE Language Services. Visit SAGE Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Psychology of Music is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pom to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process SAGE is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities ensuring that their work is recognised.
We encourage all authors to add their ORCIDs to their SAGE Track accounts and include their ORCIDs as part of the submission process. If you don’t already have one you can create one here.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. Please note that if there are any changes to the author list at this stage all authors will be required to complete and sign a form authorising the change.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
SAGE provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice. In addition, SAGE is partnered with Kudos, a free service that allows authors to explain, enrich, share, and measure the impact of their article. Find out how to maximise your article’s impact with Kudos.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Psychology of Music editorial office as follows:
Andrea Creech (andrea.creech@mus.ulaval.ca)