Psychological Science Submission Guidelines Updates and Additions

While many of us spent the summer catching rays on the beach or hanging out on the couch, the editors of Psychological Science were hard at work updating the journal’s submission guidelines.

Some of the changes affect the reporting of statistics and fMRI data. The journal now requests that authors report their test statistics to two decimal points (e.g., t(25) = 8.23) and p values to three decimal points when they are between .001 and .249. Outside of that range, values should be described as “p<.001” or “p>.250.”

The updated guidelines also clarify the journal’s policies and procedures concerning issuing corrections to published articles and the submission of material previously presented in conference proceedings. Authors who wish to submit manuscripts that contain material previously appearing in a conference proceedings collection may do so providing the manuscript meets certain conditions regarding the length, scope, and availability of the conference proceedings. Authors must also include their proceedings material in their submissions.

In order to expedite the publication process, the journal has instituted a new policy regarding acceptance dates: The official date of acceptance is no longer the day on which the final decision letter is sent but the day on which the journal’s editorial office has all the necessary material, including the Contributor Agreement, the Open Practices Disclosure form, any permissions documentation, and production-quality figure files.

More information on these changes is available at www.psychologicalscience.org/r/ps-submissions.