Studies in Psychology

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Studies in Psychology

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/redp/default2.aspx to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

Sage disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Studies in Psychology will be reviewed.

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, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, 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. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Studies in Psychology will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper to a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the Journal. If your paper is accepted, you will need to contact the preprint server to ensure the final published article link is attached to your preprint. Learn more about our preprint policy here.

If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal.

1. What do we publish?
   1.1 Aims & Scope
   1.2 Article types
   1.3 Writing your paper
2. Editorial policies
   2.1 Peer review policy
   2.2 Authorship
   2.3 Acknowledgements
   2.4 Funding
   2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
   2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
   2.7 Research data
3. Publishing policies
   3.1 Publication ethics
   3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
   3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Formatting
   4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   4.3 Identifiable information
   4.4 Supplemental material
   4.5 Reference style
   4.6 English language editing services
   4.7 Publication languages
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Information required for completing your submission
   5.3 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Translations
   6.2 SAGE Production
   6.3 Online First publication
   6.4 Access to your published article
   6.5 Promoting your article
7. Further information
   7.1 Appealing the publication decision

 

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Studies in Psychology, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope below:

Aims and Scope

Studies in Psychology aims to be a showcase for ground-breaking trends within psychology and its sub-disciplines, and will give priority to articles that raise issues of scientific and cultural relevance, and that spring from under-used theoretical approaches, present theory-based innovative methodological approaches and/or alternative empirical research models. Articles from other scientific disciplines will also be considered if they deal with topics related to psychology and the understanding of human activity, culture and the human psyche. Special consideration will be given to papers that approach psychology from a bio-historical-cultural perspective, relating (1) the development of the individual psyche to the (2) biological development of the human species and the (3) social development of cultures, and that consider future prospects in all three areas. Studies in Psychology will incline away from articles that refer only superficially to theory, or that provide only empirical data on the verification or validation of concepts or constructs without theoretically considering the explanatory processes behind the phenomena involved in the study, or research whose methodological design is not explicitly based on solid theoretical grounds.

Studies in Psychology is aimed at researchers and students of psychology and related disciplines, as well as psychologists in both academic and applied fields, who are looking for topics, theories, methods and research of relevance to human development and future.

1.2 Article types

Studies in Psychology publishes the following types of articles:

1.2.1 Empirical research articles. Reports on original and unpublished empirical studies with broad relevance for the field of psychology. Given Studies in Psychology’s emphasis on in-depth approaches to the study of psychology, the Journal welcomes submissions based on diverse and ground-breaking theoretical approaches, and the methodologies derived from it. Consequently, research arising from varied data sources are welcome, but we aim to prioritize articles that do not use questionnaires as their sole source of data. Likewise, articles that replicate previous research and/or present results that are already known in the field, as well as test validation articles, will not be considered.

1.2.2 Theoretical articles. Articles that contribute to deepening understanding and knowledge in any field of psychology and related disciplines, by presenting theories, concepts, analyses, arguments, perspectives, and/or critiques that lead to subsequent theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical developments.

1.2.3 Commentaries or debate articles. Articles that comment on articles published previously on the journal, and that provide new or updated information on the same topic as the original paper, with relevance to psychological theory or practice. Commentaries should include the author’s intentions and goals in the first page, and may use well-grounded theoretical arguments, empirical data, or other sources of evidence to support the intended point. Commentaries may be sent to the original article’s author for a counter-replica.

1.2.4 Future perspectives. Articles that specifically and intentionally target possible future developments of human psychology. This type of article may spring from review articles (scoping reviews, systematic reviews, meta-synthesis, meta-analysis, etc.), but Studies in Psychology will only publish such reviews inasmuch as authors offer their views on how the results of existing research may impact the future (of humanity at large or of a given community or specific population) from a psychological standpoint, or how the research itself (whether theoretical or empirical) is influencing the development of psychological science. Discussions on scientific paradigms (or lack thereof), and their direct and indirect influence on human culture and psychology, are particularly welcome.

1.2.5 In memoriam. Manuscript submissions for the “In Memoriam” section are by invitation only. Candidates for obituaries are selected by the journal Editor. Individuals are encouraged to contact the Editor with recommendations, noting that a recommendation is not a guarantee that an obituary will be commissioned.

Length. There is no upper bound on the length of any of the article types described above. However, authors who submit papers with texts longer than 8,000 words will be asked to justify the need for their length.

Language. Manuscripts are accepted in English or Spanish. A native speaker level of written expression is expected for all manuscripts in any of both languages. Authors who wish to improve the use of English or Spanish in their manuscripts should consider using professional editing services. Upon acceptance, all articles are translated and published in both English and Spanish: see 4.7 Publication languages and 6.1 Translations below.

Proposals for special thematic sections or special issues. Thematic sections or full issues devoted to a particular topic are of special interest to the journal. A special thematic section (STS) of the journal may contain three or four articles on a single theme, and a special issue (SI) will dedicate a full issue (usually 7-8 articles) to a single theme.

Proposals for STSs or SIs should describe their scope and explain why the section or issue is timely and relevant, and what specific contributions it would make to psychological science. Proposals may include proposed paper topics and/or potential authors.

Proposals are first reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief. Proposals may also be sent to two or three Editorial Board members or other experts for review.

If accepted, individuals proposing a STS or a SI will be named Invited Editors, and will take the leading part in 1) developing open calls for papers, 2) selecting abstract proposals for papers, 3) reviewing manuscripts of papers selected, 4) liaising with the Editor to accept final papers, and 5) participating in the revision of the accepted articles during Production.

Please contact the Journal (see 7. Further information below) to request specific instructions to submit a STS or SI proposal.

1.3 Writing your paper

Visit the Sage Author Gateway for general advice on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance your article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.

Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.
• The author has recommended the reviewer.
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).

The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Studies in Psychology utilizes a double-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer and authors’ names and information are withheld from the other. Reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Associate Editor who then makes the final decision.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

Studies in Psychology is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Web of Science (previously Publons). Web of Science is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Studies in Psychology can opt in to Web of Science in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Web of Science website.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the        submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

2.2 Authorship

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.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

2.3 Acknowledgements

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.]

Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.

2.3.1 Third party submissions

Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding

Studies in Psychology 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

Studies in Psychology encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

If applicable, authors are required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent.

Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for participant information and images to be published was provided by the participant(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the participant’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the participant’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

2.7 Research data

The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• Include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
• Cite this data in your research

Peer reviewers may be asked to peer review the research data prior to publication.

• Peer reviewers may be asked to assess compliance with the research data policy
• Peer reviewers may be asked to assess research data files

If you need to anonymize your research data for peer review, please refer to our Research Data Sharing FAQs for guidance.

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3. Publishing policies

3.1 Publication ethics

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

Studies in Psychology 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 plagiarized 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

Studies in Psychology offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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4. Preparing your manuscript

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted.

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.

As explained in 4.7 Publication languages and 6.1 Translations below, all accepted articles are translated, including tables and figures. The Journal thus kindly requests from authors to provide in editable format all figures that have text inside.

4.3 Identifiable information

Where a journal uses double-anonymised peer review, authors are required to submit:

1. A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymized. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
2. A version of the manuscript which has full author details. This version will not be sent to the peer reviewers.
3. A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymised material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.
4. Cover letter.

See https://www.sagepub.com/Manuscript-preparation-for-double-anonymized-journal for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.

4.4 Supplemental material

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 supplemental files.

4.5 Reference style

Studies in Psychology adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.

4.6 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.

4.7 Publication languages

To facilitate knowledge transfer and reach out to wider audiences, Studies in Psychology publishes all contents in both English and Spanish. Authors may submit their work in either of the two languages. Upon acceptance, articles are translated into the other language by translators appointed by the journal (free of charge for the authors). Authors native in the language to which the article is to be translated may also translate their own accepted manuscripts (in such case, appointed translators conduct quality checks prior to publication).

For more information about Translation, see 6.1. Translations below.

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5. Submitting your manuscript

Studies in Psychology is hosted on Editorial Manager®, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by Aries Systems. Visit https://www.editorialmanager.com/redp 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. 

5.1 ORCID

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 unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, 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 recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this Journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

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. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. 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).

5.3 Permissions

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.

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Translations

Once your manuscript has been approved for publication by the journal Editor, it will be considered “pre-accepted”: the work has been accepted from a scientific and editorial standpoint; however, because Studies in Psychology is a bilingual publication (every article will be translated and published in both English and Spanish), for the paper to be finally and totally accepted for publication, we need authors’ collaboration throughout the translation process.

The Journal’s aim is to publish completely equivalent versions of the articles: language particularities notwithstanding, both versions must be completely equal and parallel. Authors must collaborate with the Journal’s Translation Manager and Translators to ensure such equivalence.

Proficiency in the language to which the article is being translated is not needed - questions will be sent to authors in the language in which the article was written.

Authors native in the language to which the article is to be translated may also translate their own accepted manuscripts (in such case, appointed translators conduct quality checks prior to publication). Upon acceptance, eligible authors will be contacted by the Journal’s Translation Manager to ask them if they wish to carry out their own translation, or if they wish to use the translation services provided by the Journal.

If authors opt for the Journal’s translation services, the article will be translated into the other language by translators appointed by the journal (free of charge for the authors).

Translated content includes: title, abstract, keywords, article text, tables, figures (please provide them in editable format as per 4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics above), endnotes, appendices, and acknowledgements / authors’ notes / funding / data availability statement / declaration of conflicting interests / author contributions.

Non-translated content includes: references, supplemental files.

Translation workflow

The Journal carries out the translation: 1. Translation Manager assigns article to relevant Translator; 2. Translator sends translated file to the Translation Manager; 3. Translation Manager sends author the translated file for review, along with any comments or questions by the translator; 4. Authors send their review of the translation to the Translation Manager; 5. Translation Manager liaises with Translator to ensure all author changes are incorporated into the article; 6. Translation Manager sends authors a Final Bilingual File with both language versions for a final check (at this point, authors may request minor changes on the Final Bilingual File if needed); 8. Author approves final bilingual file; 9. Article is sent to Production (see 6.2 SAGE Production below).

Authors carry out the translation: 1. Translation Manager sends a file pre-edited for translation to authors; 2. Authors send the Translation Manager the translated article; 3. Translation Manager sends authors a Final Bilingual File with both language versions for a final check; 4. Author approves final bilingual file; 5. Article is sent to Production (see 6.2 SAGE Production below). The Translation Manager may choose to send an appointed translator the authors’ translation for review (between steps 2 and 3 above).

Please contact Fundación Infancia y Aprendizaje’s translations services if you have any questions regarding the translation process: translations@fia.es.

6.2 SAGE Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production

6.3 Online First publication

  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.

  6.4 Access to your published article

  Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

  6.5 Promoting your 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.

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7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Studies in Psychology editorial office as follows:

Amelia Álvarez, Editor

a.alvarez@fia.es

Miguel del Río, Managing Editor

studiesinpsychology@fia.es

7.1 Appealing the publication decision

Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.

If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com

 

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