American Psychologist (2024)

Instruction to article submitters

Prior to submission, please carefully read and follow the submission guidelines detailed below. We realize that there are numerous guidelines, however, please note that manuscripts that do not conform to these submission guidelines upon receipt will be returned without review.

Submission procedures

Please submit manuscripts electronically via the American Psychologist^® Manuscript Submission Portal.Manuscripts should use the Microsoft Word (.docx) or LaTex (.tex) word processing program submitted as a zip file with an accompanying Portable Document Format (.pdf) of the manuscript file.

Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association using the 7^th edition. Manuscripts may be copyedited for bias-free language (see Chapter 5 of the Publication Manual). APA Style and Grammar Guidelines for the 7^th edition are available.

Submit Manuscript

Keep a copy of the manuscript to guard against loss. Do not submit manuscripts via mail, fax, or email. Because institutional spam filters may occasionally capture files from the APA and Editorial Manager, please take the following steps to facilitate communication with our editorial office:

• provide an alternative email address that we can use to contact you in the event of technical difficulties with email communication using your primary address;
• add “apa.org” to your list of “safe” addresses and consider asking your IT administrators to add it to their “white list”, and
• contact the editorial office if you do not receive confirmation of your submission within three business days or an editorial decision letter within three months.

General correspondence may be directed to the editorial office.

Be aware that American Psychologist uses a software system to screen submitted content for similarity with other published content.

Submission cover letter

The cover letter should:

• indicate that the authors have read and followed the American Psychologist (AP) instructions to authors;
• include a statement that the paper has been seen and approved by all authors and that they agree on the order of authorship;
• confirm that the manuscript has not been published, is not currently submitted elsewhere, and that it does not contain data that are currently submitted or published elsewhere;
• describe why the paper is consistent with the mission of AP. It is important to highlight the significance and novel contribution of the work; and
• disclose whether the authors feel the research is eligible for open science badges (described below).

Reviewer recommendations

On the submission portal you will be asked to provide contact information for three scholars who are qualified to serve as unbiased reviewers for your paper. These individuals:

• must have published peer-reviewed work in a relevant field;
• must be without any real or perceived conflict of interest with any authors;
• should not have previously read or provided feedback on drafts of the paper; and,
• cannot be at the same institution as any author, cannot be a coauthor on any publications, and must not be a former or current trainee, advisor, or mentor, etc.

Synchronous Review, Duplicate, and Piecemeal Publication

Synchronous Review, Duplicate, and Piecemeal Publication APA policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications (see Section 1.20, Conflict of Interest, Publication Manual, 7^th Edition)

APA policy prohibits publication of any manuscript that has already been published in whole or substantial part elsewhere. Authors have an obligation to consult journal editors if there is any question concerning prior publication of part or all of their submitted manuscripts.

In light of changing patterns of scientific knowledge dissemination, APA requires authors to provide information on prior dissemination of the data and narrative interpretations of the data/research appearing in the manuscript (e.g., if some or all were presented at a conference or meeting, posted on a listserv, shared on a website or through social media, including academic social networks like ResearchGate, etc.). This information (2–4 sentences) must be provided as part of the Author Note.

Authors who have posted their manuscripts to preprint archives, such as PsyArXiv, prior to submission should include a link to the preprint in the Author Note.

When a manuscript contains data that are part of a larger study, the cover letter should describe the larger study and provide references for other study papers. Authors must be prepared to provide copies of related manuscripts when requested as part of the editorial review process. Authors should clarify the relationship between their paper and others from the same study, including detailed specification of the overlap in participants, measures, and analysis. The value-added scientific contribution of their study must be clearly stated in the cover letter.

When a manuscript contains data that are part of a larger study, authors should describe the larger study and provide references for other study papers. Authors must be prepared to provide copies of related manuscripts when requested as part of the editorial review process. Authors should clarify the relationship between their paper, including detailed specification of the overlap in participants, measures, and analysis, and others from the study. The value-added scientific contribution of their study must be clearly stated in the cover letter.

All research involving human participants must describe oversight of the research process by the relevant Institutional Review Boards and should describe consent and assent procedures briefly in the Method section. All statistical tests should include effect size whenever possible.

First-person language ("I", "we") should be avoided. Terminology should be sensitive to the individual who has a disease or disability. The journal endorses the concept of "people first, not their disability." Terminology should reflect the "person with a disability" (e.g., children with diabetes, persons with HIV infection, families of people with cancer) rather than the condition as an adjective (e.g., diabetic children, HIV patients, cancer families). Nonsexist language should be used.

It is important to highlight the significance and novel contribution of the work.

Manuscript submission types

AP considers submissions of the following types, described below:

• original scholarship
• empirical studies
• historical scholarship
• topics in focus
• commentaries
• reports of APA boards, committees, and task forces
• in memoriam

Original scholarship

AP considers manuscripts on all aspects of psychology, including manuscripts on national and international policy issues. Topics should be current, timely, and of interest to the broad APA membership. Manuscripts should be written in a style that is accessible and of interest to all psychologists, regardless of area of specialization.

Empirical studies

AP publishes high-impact empirical studies with broad relevance for the field of psychology. Successful papers should contain original results of rigorous empirical research studies with implications for psychological theory and/or practice. Examples include results of large multi-site intervention trials, data-driven reports that advance the theory or practice of psychology, and meta-analyses on topics of broad relevance to the field.

Replications: To promote replication of empirical research, AP will consider manuscripts reporting on replications of empirical studies previously published in AP, subject to standard peer review. The title of such submissions should indicate that the study is a replication.

Historical scholarship

AP publishes high-quality historical scholarship on topics of broad interest to psychologists. Successful historical papers should make an original argument, engage appropriate historical methods, and elaborate the implications of the historical analysis for the understanding of the topic, event, figure, or development under discussion. View additional guidelines.

Topics in focus

American Psychologist occasionally receives manuscripts on topics that can be viewed by psychologists from multiple perspectives. These topics can lead to varying interpretations regarding the evidence and its implications for psychological theory, practice, and training. Manuscripts covering topics of this nature are evaluated using the same criteria as regular submissions.

In the spirit of transparency and the collegial exchange of ideas, comments, and reactions to topics in focus articles and a response from the article’s authors will be published along with the article. Articles appearing as topics in focus will be chosen at the discretion of the editors, as will the invited commenters. This does not preclude continued discussion of topics in focus articles in the comments section of the journal.

Commentaries

Commentaries on articles recently published inAmerican Psychologistwill be considered and are subject to peer review. Commentaries should provide new and important information on the same topic as the original paper. The goal of the comment should be clearly stated in the first paragraph. Commentaries may present data or other evidence in support of their intended point(s).

A commentary should be submitted no later than 3 months from the online posting date of the article to which it responds. If submitted later, authors must present a strong rationale for considering a comment beyond the standard time frame.

Commentaries on APA board, committee, and task force reports also will be considered for publication regardless of whether the report or a summary has been published in American Psychologist. These must be submitted within three months of the website update on which the report first appeared and provide new and important information related to the topic of the report.

American Psychologist will also consider commentaries meeting the above criteria on more general issues related to the operation of APA’s publishing practices (e.g., journal article reporting standards, APA Style). These need not be related to particular published articles and should not be related to the disposition of particular manuscripts.

Commentaries must be limited to 1,000 words (about five double-spaced text pages). Up to 10 references should be provided and are not included in the word count. Comments should include an abstract and keywords. The title of the commentary should consist of a brief content-related title followed by a subtitle that identifies the target article, as in "Brief Content-Related Title: Commentary on Authors (20xx)." Commentaries should follow APA style. Authors of comments must disclose in their cover letter any real or perceived conflicts of interest with any of the authors of the original paper. Commentaries are customarily handled by the action editor for the original manuscript.

Commentary submissions that meet journal standards for further consideration will be peer reviewed. Authors may be asked to revise the commentary. If a commentary is deemed acceptable for publication, authors of the original submission are typically given the opportunity to reply to the commentary. Commentaries are published in the earliest possible issue of the journal.

Reports of APA boards, committees, and task forces

Many of the association reports traditionally published in AP have relocated to the APA website. Task force and committee reports may be considered for publication but should be adapted to follow AP manuscript guidelines and, like other manuscript submissions, are subject to external peer review. Practice guidelines that have been adopted as APA policy by the Council of Representatives are published in AP within journal manuscript length guidelines.

In memoriam

Manuscript submissions for the “In Memoriam” section are by invitation only. Candidates for obituaries are selected by the associate editor for historical scholarship with the input of the AP Obituary Advisory Committee. Individuals are encouraged to contact the associate editor for historical scholarship and chair of the Obituaries Advisory Committee, Joshua Clegg, PhD, with recommendations, noting that a recommendation is not a guarantee that an obituary will be commissioned. Recommendations should be submitted using this form.

Proposals for special sections or special issues

Feature sections devoted to a particular topic are one means of fulfilling the journal’s mission. A special section of the journal may contain three or four papers on a single theme, and a special issue may contain somewhat more papers, depending on the content area.

Proposals for special sections or special issues should describe their scope and provide a rationale (including why such a section or issue is timely and what contribution it would make to the literature). If there are proposed paper topics and/or potential authors, please indicate these. Potential authors should not be recruited until a proposal is accepted.An open call is expected for all special issues, and all papers will undergo a selection process.

Proposals for special sections or issues should be submitted to the AP editor prior to developing manuscripts. Please use the form found at the following link and submit this to the editor with CVs of prospective guest editors:

• American Psychologist Proposal for a Special Section or Special Issue Form (PDF, 16KB)

Those proposals of interest will proceed through a multiple-step review process. Proposals are first reviewed by the editor-in-chief. Proposals may be circulated to two or three individuals for review.

Among the factors used in considering a proposal are:

• length of time since this topic was last addressed in AP;
• amount of new research conducted since the topic’s earlier appearance;
• whether the range of topics covered in the individual articles appears appropriate; and
• whether ethnic, racial, gender, and other types of diversity are reflected in the content and population within topic areas. Proposers of special sections or special issues should also consider diversity in the selection of the proposed manuscript authors.

If a proposal is approved, an APassociate editor will be assigned as an advisory editor of the package. The proposal author will be responsible for recruiting authorsthrough an open call for papers requesting letters of intent, from which guest editors will select qualified papers to be developed and submitted. Editorial decisions about each manuscript in a special package are made separately.

Author contribution statements using CRediT

TheAPA Publication Manual (7th ed.), which stipulates that "authorship encompasses…not only persons who do the writing but also those who have made substantial scientific contributions to a study."In the spirit of transparency and openness, American Psychologist has adopted the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT) to describe each author's individual contributions to the work. CRediT offers authors the opportunity to share an accurate and detailed description of their diverse contributions to a manuscript.

Submitting authors will be asked to identify the contributions of all authors at initial submission according to the CRediT taxonomy. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the CRediT designations will be published as an author contributions statement in the author note of the final article. All authors should have reviewed and agreed to their individual contribution(s) before submission.

CRediT includes 14 contributor roles, as described below:

• Conceptualization: Ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims.
• Data curation: Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later re-use.
• Formal analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
• Funding acquisition: Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication.
• Investigation: Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing the experiments, or data/evidence collection.
• Methodology: Development or design of methodology; creation of models.
• Project administration: Management and coordination responsibility for the research activity planning and execution.
• Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools.
• Software: Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.
• Supervision: Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution, including mentorship external to the core team.
• Validation: Verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research outputs.
• Visualization: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically visualization/data presentation.
• Writing—original draft: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation).
• Writing—review and editing: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work by those from the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary or revision: including pre- or post-publication stages.

Authors can claim credit for more than one contributor role, and the same role can be attributed to more than one author. Not all roles will be applicable to any particular scholarly work.

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts should be prepared according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association using the 7th edition.

Manuscripts must not exceed 35 double-spaced pages in length, including the title page, abstract, references, tables, and figures. Requests may be made for a small and specific number of additional pages when a strong rationale is presented (e.g., multiple studies, particularly complex new methodology). Requests must be made to the editor prior to submission.

All regular submissions must include an abstract containing no more than 250 words typed on a separate page. After the abstract, the submitting author should supply (a) up to five keywords or brief phrases and (b) a public significance statement (for Guidelines, see section on public significance statements below).

Authors are expected to avoid bias in their writing (see Chapter 5 of the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual). Manuscripts may be copyedited for bias-free language.

Journal Article Reporting Standards

Authors should review the APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Updated in 2018, the standards offer ways to improve transparency in reporting to ensure that readers have the information necessary to evaluate the quality of the research and to facilitate collaboration and replication.

The new JARS:

• recommend the division of hypotheses, analyses, and conclusions into primary, secondary, and exploratory groupings to allow for a full understanding of quantitative analyses presented in a manuscript and to enhance reproducibility;
• offer modules for authors reporting on replications, clinical trials, longitudinal studies, and observational studies, as well as the analytic methods of structural equation modeling and Bayesian analysis; and
• include guidelines on reporting on of study preregistration (including making protocols public); participant characteristics (including demographic characteristics; inclusion and exclusion criteria) psychometric characteristics of outcome measures and other variables, and planned data diagnostics and analytic strategy.

JARS-Qual offers guidance to researchers using qualitative methods such as narrative data, grounded theory, phenomenological, critical, discursive, performative, ethnographic, consensual qualitative, case study, psychobiography, and thematic analysis approaches.

The guidelines focus on transparency in methods reporting, recommending descriptions of how the researcher’s own perspective affected the study, as well as the contexts in which the research and analysis took place.

Authors should also review the new Journal Article Reporting Standards for Race, Ethnicity, and Culture (JARS–REC). Meant for all authors, regardless of research topic, JARS–REC include standards for all stages of research and manuscript writing, on, for example:

• Using the title, abstract, and keywords to identify race and ethnicity of participants without signaling Whiteness as default;
• Discussing the applicability of the theoretical approach to populations for which it was not developed;
• Addressing limits on generality, recognizing that generalizability is always constrained and is not the primary purpose of every study; and
• Considering whether findings could be misused to cause harm to members of historically excluded groups.

For more, see the Guidance for Authors sections of the table (PDF, 184KB).

Human and non-human participants

All research involving human and non-human participants must describe oversight of the research process by the relevant Institutional Review Boards. For human participants, the consent and assent procedures should be described briefly in the method section.

Bias-free language

Authors should also use language that is free of bias, or the implied or irrelevant evaluation of the individual, groups, or groups the authors are writing about. A discussion of the use of descriptors involving age, disability, gender participation in research, race and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality can be found in Chapter 5 of the Publication Manual.

First-person language ("I", "we") should be avoided.

Participant description and informed consent

The abstract and method section of each empirical report must contain a detailed description of the study participants, including (but not limited to) the following:

• age
• gender
• ethnicity
• race (optional)
• nativity or immigration history
• SES
• clinical diagnoses and comorbidities (as appropriate)
• any other relevant demographics (e.g., sexual orientation)

The method section also must include a statement describing how informed consent was obtained from the participants (or their parents/guardians) and indicate that the study was conducted in compliance with an appropriate Internal Review Board.

Effect sizes

All statistical tests should include effect size whenever possible.

Constraints on generality

In a subsection of the discussion titled "Constraints on generality," authors should include a detailed discussion of the limits on generality (see ). In this section, authors should detail grounds for concluding why the results are may or may not be specific to the characteristics of the participants. They should address limits on generality not only for participants but for materials, procedures, and context. Authors should also specify which methods they think could be varied without affecting the result and which should remain constant.

Public significance statements

To promote the accessibility of article content to broad and diverse audiences, authors should provide two to three brief sentences regarding the relevance or public health significance of the manuscript. The statement should be written in language that is easily understood by the public.

Please read theGuidance for Translational Abstracts and Public Significance Statementsin preparing this statement.

The public significance statement should be included within the manuscript on the abstract/keywords page.

Prior to acceptance and publication, public significance statements will be reviewed for accuracy and adherence to these standards.

References

List references in alphabetical order. Each listed reference should be cited in text, and each text citation should be listed in the references section.

Examples of basic reference formats:

Journal article

McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review, 126(1), 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126

Authored book

Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000

Chapter in an edited book

Balsam, K. F., Martell, C. R., Jones. K. P., & Safren, S. A. (2019). Affirmative cognitive behavior therapy with sexual and gender minority people. In G. Y. Iwamasa & P. A. Hays (Eds.), Culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy: Practice and supervision (2nd ed., pp. 287–314). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000119-012

All data, program code and other methods should be cited in the text and listed in the References section:

Data set citation

Alegria, M., Jackson, J. S., Kessler, R. C., & Takeuchi, D. (2016). Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001–2003 [Data set]. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20240.v8

Software/Code citation

Viechtbauer, W. (2010). Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package. Journal of Statistical Software, 36(3), 1–48. https://www.jstatsoft.org/v36/i03/

Wickham, H. et al., (2019). Welcome to the tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(43), 1686, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01686

Tables

Use Word’s Insert Table function when you create tables. Using spaces or tabs in your table will create problems when the table is typeset and may result in errors. Each table should be presented on a separate page following the Reference list.

Figures

Preferred formats for graphics files are TIFF and JPG, and preferred format for vector-based files is EPS. Graphics downloaded or saved from web pages are not acceptable for publication. Multipanel figures (i.e., figures with parts labeled a, b, c, d, etc.) should be assembled into one file. When possible, please place symbol legends below the figure instead of to the side.

Resolution

• All color line art and halftones: 300 DPI
• Black and white line tone and gray halftone images: 600 DPI

Line weights

• Adobe Photoshop images
  • Color (RGB, CMYK) images: 2 pixels
  • Grayscale images: 4 pixels
• Adobe Illustrator Images
  • Stroke weight: 0.5 points

APA offers authors the option to publish their figures online in color without the costs associated with print publication of color figures.

The same caption will appear on both the online (color) and print (black and white) versions. To ensure that the figure can be understood in both formats, authors should add alternative wording (e.g., “the red (dark gray) bars represent”) as needed.

For authors who prefer their figures to be published in color both in print and online, original color figures can be printed in color at the editor's and publisher's discretion provided the author agrees to pay:

• $900 for one figure
• An additional $600 for the second figure
• An additional $450 for each subsequent figure

Display equations

Authors are strongly encouraged to use MathType (third-party software) or Equation Editor 3.0 (built into pre-2007 versions of Word) to construct your equations, rather than the equation support that is built into Word 2007 and Word 2010. Equations composed with the built-in Word 2007/Word 2010 equation support are converted to low-resolution graphics when they enter the production process and must be rekeyed by the typesetter, which may introduce errors.

To construct your equations with MathType or Equation Editor 3.0:

• Go to the Text section of the Insert tab and select Object.
• Select MathType or Equation Editor 3.0 in the drop-down menu. If an equation has already been produced using Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 and authors have access to the full version of MathType 6.5 or later, they can convert this equation to MathType by clicking on MathType Insert Equation. Copy the equation from Microsoft Word and paste it into the MathType box. Verify that the equation is correct, click File, and then click Update. The equation has now been inserted into your Word file as a MathType Equation. Use Equation Editor 3.0 or MathType only for equations or for formulas that cannot be produced as Word text using the Times or Symbol font.

Computer code

Because altering computer code in any way (e.g., indents, line spacing, line breaks, page breaks) during the typesetting process could alter its meaning, we treat computer code differently from the rest of the article in the production process. Supply separate files for computer code.

In online supplemental material

Runnable source code should be included as supplemental material to the article. For more information, visitsupplementing your article with online material.

In the text of the article

If authors would like to include code in the text of the published article, submit a separate file with your code exactly as it should appear, using Courier New font with a type size of 8 points. An image will be made of each segment of code in your article that exceeds 40 characters in length. (Shorter snippets of code that appear in text will be typeset in Courier New and run in with the rest of the text.) If an appendix contains a mix of code and explanatory text, please submit a file that contains the entire appendix, with the code keyed in 8-point Courier New.

Academic writing and English language editing services

Authors who feel that their manuscript may benefit from additional academic writing or language editing support prior to submission are encouraged to seek out such services at their host institutions, engage with colleagues and subject matter experts, and/or consider several vendors that offer discounts to APA authors. Please note that APA does not endorse or take responsibility for the service providers listed. It is strictly a referral service.

Use of such service is not mandatory for publication in an APA journal. Use of one or more of these services does not guarantee selection for peer review, manuscript acceptance, or preference for publication in any APA journal.

Supplemental materials

APA can place supplemental materials online, available via the published article in the APA PsycArticles^® database. Please see supplementing your article with online material for more details.

Permissions

Authors of accepted papers must obtain and provide to the editor on final acceptance all necessary permissions to reproduce in print and electronic form any copyrighted work, including test materials (or portions thereof), photographs, and other graphic images (including those used as stimuli in experiments). On advice of counsel, APA may decline to publish any image whose copyright status is unknown.

• Download Permissions Alert Form (PDF, 13KB)

Review policy

The AP review process is handled by the editor-in-chief (EIC) and associate editors. All papers are read initially by the EIC or an action editor and a determination is made regarding whether to initiate peer review for the paper. Considerations include the fit of the manuscript with the AP Editorial Coverage Statement including sufficient breadth and potential significance and impact, adherence to the instructions to authors, and the written quality of the paper. Papers that are sent for peer review are read by members of the editorial board and ad hoc reviewers selected by the action editor for the paper.

Masked review

As a matter of policy, the identities of authors and reviewers are kept anonymous. Manuscripts that are peer-reviewed are circulated without their title pages to keep the identity of the authors unknown to reviewers. Each copy of a manuscript should include a separate title page with authors’ names and affiliations, and these should not appear anywhere else on the manuscript. Footnotes that identify the authors should be typed on a separate page.Authors are to make every effort to see that the manuscript itself contains no clues to their identities, including grant numbers, names of institutions providing IRB approval, self-citations, and links to online repositories for data, materials, code, or preregistrations (e.g., Create a View-only Link for a Project).

Openness and transparency

Authors should state all sources of financial support for the conduct of the research (e.g., “This research was supported by Award XX from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health and Human Development”) in the Author Note. If the funding source was involved in any other aspects of the research (e.g., study design, analysis, interpretation, writing), then clearly state the role. If the funding source had no other involvement other than financial support, then simply state that the funding source had no other role other than financial support.

Authors should also provide a conflict of interest statement in the Author Note disclosing any real or potentially perceived conflict(s) of interest, including financial, personal, or other relationships with other organizations or companies that may inappropriately impact or influence the research and interpretation of the findings. If there are no conflicts of interest, this should be clearly stated.

Transparency and Openness Promotion

APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines developed by the Center for Open Science (Nosek et al., 2015). The TOP guidelines cover eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting that can be followed at three levels of compliance:

• Level 1: Disclosure—The article must disclose whether or not the materials are posted to a trusted repository.
• Level 2: Requirement—The article must share materials via a trusted repository when legally and ethically permitted (or disclose the legal and/or ethical restrictions when not permitted).
• Level 3: Verification—Third party must verify that the standard is met.

Empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to American Psychologist must at least meet the “requirement” level for seven of the eight aspects of research planning and reporting.Data transparency must meet the “disclosure” level. Authors should include a subsection in their methods description titled “Transparency and Openness.” This subsection should detail the efforts the authors have made to comply with the TOP guidelines.

For example:

We report how we determined our sample size, all data exclusions (if any), all manipulations, and all measures in the study, and the study follows JARS (Appelbaum, et al., 2018). All data, analysis code, and research materials are available at [stable link to permanent repository]. Data were analyzed using R, version 4.0.0 (R Core Team, 2020) and the package ggplot, version 3.2.1 (Wickham, 2016). This study’s design and its analysis were not pre-registered.

Data, materials, and code

• All data have been made publicly available at the [trusted repository name] and can be accessed at [persistent URL or DOI].
• Materials and analysis code for this study are not available [because of legal or ethical reason].
• The code behind this analysis/simulation has been made publicly available at the [trusted repository name] and can be accessed at [persistent URL or DOI].

Preregistration of studies and analysis plans

Preregistration of studies and specific hypotheses can be a useful tool for making strong theoretical claims. Likewise, preregistration of analysis plans can be useful for distinguishing confirmatory and exploratory analyses. Investigators are encouraged to preregister their studies and analysis plans prior to conducting the research via a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., OSF, ClinicalTrials.gov, or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network). There are many available templates; for example, APA, the British Psychological Society, and the German Psychological Society partnered with the Leibniz Institute for Psychology and Center for Open Science to create Preregistration Standards for Quantitative Research in Psychology (Bosnjak et al., 2022).

Articles must state whether or not any work was preregistered and, if so, where to access the preregistration. Preregistrations must be available to reviewers; authors may submit a masked copy via stable link or supplemental material. Links in the method section should be replaced with an identifiable copy on acceptance.
For example:

• This study’s design was preregistered; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
• This study’s design and hypotheses were preregistered; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
• This study’s analysis plan was preregistered; see [STABLE LINK OR DOI].
• This study was not preregistered.

Design and analysis transparency (reporting guidelines)

Many journals include the following section referring authors to JARS (and some refer to CONSORT et al.):

Authors must adhere to the JARSfor quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. The standards offer ways to improve transparency in reporting to ensure that readers have the information necessary to evaluate the quality of the research and to facilitate collaboration and replication.

The JARS:

• Recommend the division of hypotheses, analyses, and conclusions into primary, secondary, and exploratory groupings to allow for a full understanding of quantitative analyses presented in a manuscript and to enhance reproducibility;
• Offer modules for authors reporting on replications, clinical trials, longitudinal studies, and observational studies, as well as the analytic methods of structural equation modeling and Bayesian analysis; and
• Include guidelines on reporting on of study preregistration (including making protocols public); participant characteristics (including demographic characteristics; inclusion and exclusion criteria) psychometric characteristics of outcome measures and other variables, and planned data diagnostics and analytic strategy.

JARS-Qual offers guidance to researchers using qualitative methods such as narrative data, grounded theory, phenomenological, critical, discursive, performative, ethnographic, consensual qualitative, case study, psychobiography, and thematic analysis approaches.
The guidelines focus on transparency in methods reporting, recommending descriptions of how the researcher's own perspective affected the study, as well as the contexts in which the research and analysis took place.

Another option would be:Manuscripts must report (1) how the sample size was determined, (2) all data exclusions, (3) all manipulations, and (4) all study measures. See Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn (2012).for details; include the following statement in the Method section:

We report how we determined our sample size, all data exclusions (if any), all manipulations, and all measures in the study.

Replication

[Journal] encourages/publishes direct replications [particularly of research published in this journal]. Submissions should include “A Replication of XX Study” in the subtitle of the manuscript as well as in the abstract.

Masked review

Make sure that the manuscript itself contains no clues to the authors’ identity, including grant numbers, names of institutions providing IRB approval, self-citations, and links to online repositories for data, materials, code, or preregistrations (e.g., Create a View-only Link for a Project).

Open science badges

Articles are eligible for open science badges recognizing publicly available data, materials, and/or preregistered plans and analyses. These badges are awarded on a self-disclosure basis.

At submission, authors must confirm that criteria have been fulfilled in a signed badge disclosure form (PDF, 42KB) that must be submitted as supplemental material. If the editorial team confirms that all criteria have been met, the form will then be published with the article as supplemental material.

For all badges, items must be made available on an open-access repository with a persistent identifier in a format that is time-stamped, immutable, and permanent. For the preregistered badge, this is an institutional registration system.

Data and materials must be made available under an open license allowing others to copy, share, and use the data, with attribution and copyright as applicable. Available badges are:

Open Data:
All data necessary to reproduce the reported results that are digitally shareable are made publicly available. Information necessary for replication (e.g., codebooks or metadata) must be included.

Open Data: Protected Access:
A "PA" (Protected Access) notation may be added to open data badges if sensitive, personal data are available only from an approved third-party repository that manages access to data to qualified researchers through a documented process. To be eligible for an open data badge with such a notation, the repository must publicly describe the steps necessary to obtain the data and detailed data documentation (e.g. variable names and allowed values) must be made available publicly. View a list of approved repositories .

Open Materials:
All materials necessary to reproduce the reported results that are digitally shareable, along with descriptions of non-digital materials necessary for replication, are made publicly available.

Preregistered:
At least one study’s design has been preregistered with descriptions of (a) the research design and study materials, including the planned sample size; (b) the motivating research question or hypothesis; (c) the outcome variable(s); and (d) the predictor variables, including controls, covariates, and independent variables. Results must be fully disclosed. As long as they are distinguished from other results in the article, results from analyses that were not preregistered may be reported in the article.

Preregistered+Analysis Plan:
At least one study’s design has been preregistered along with an analysis plan for the research — and results are recorded according to that plan.

Note that it may not be possible to preregister a study or to share data and materials. Applying for open science badges is optional.

Other open science policies and open access

For additional information regarding these and other APA policies and support for open science practices, potential authors should visit Open Science Badges. APA journals also have an array of options for authors who want their articles to be available to readers free of charge. These options can be found by visiting open access for APA journals authors.

Ethical Principles

It is a violation of APA Ethical Principles to publish "as original data, data that have been previously published" (Standard 8.13). In addition, APA Ethical Principles specify that "after research results are published, psychologists do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis and who intend to use such data only for that purpose, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and unless legal rights concerning proprietary data preclude their release" (Standard 8.14). APA expects authors to adhere to these standards. Specifically, APA expects authors to have their data available throughout the editorial review process and for at least 5 years after the date of publication. Authors are required to state in writing that they have complied with APA ethical standards in the treatment of their sample, human or animal, or to describe the details of treatment.

• Download Certification of Compliance With APA Ethical Principles Form (PDF, 26KB)

The APA Ethics Office provides the full Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct electronically on its website in HTML, PDF, and Word format. You may also request a copy by emailing or calling the APA Ethics Office (202-336-5930). You may also read "Ethical Principles," December 1992, American Psychologist, Vol. 47, pp. 1597–1611, amended in 2010 (AP, Vol. 65, p. 493) and 2016 (AP, Vol. 71, p. 900).

Submission of artistic images

AP considers art images for the cover in all media including but not limited to paint, photography, sculpture, mosaic, collage, fabric. Images must be original.

Submission

Artists should submit three to six images electronically for consideration to the managing editor. The artist’s name, phone number, email address, and website should be provided, if available. If any of the works are held by museums, galleries, or private individuals other than the artist, indicate that information as well. Provide the title of the artwork for each piece of artwork submitted.

If images are owned by galleries or private individuals, the person submitting must obtain and provide permission from the copyright holder before submission.

The AP art review process is handled initially by the art coeditors. Final selection is made by the APeditor-in-chief. Among factors used in considering artwork are appropriateness of the content and title; bright color; crisp image; visually engaging; and availability of the artist for an interview as the basis for the "On the Cover" essay.

Editorial decisions also take into account the diversity of artists, images, and media. AP seeks to present a wide variety of art and artists to stimulate the eye and mind.

Change of subscription mailing address

To change the mailing address at which you receive the American Psychologist and other mail from APA, please send information to the subscriptions department or to

American Psychological Association
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Other information

See APA’s Publishing Policies page for more information on publication policies, including information on author contributorship and responsibilities of authors, author name changes after publication, the use of generative artificial intelligence, funder information and conflict-of-interest disclosures, duplicate publication, data publication and reuse, and preprints.

Visit the Journals Publishing Resource Center for more resources for writing, reviewing, and editing articles for publishing in APA journals.

Editor-in-chief

Harris Cooper, PhD
Duke University, United States

Associate editors

Belinda Borrelli, PhD
Boston University, United States

Joshua Clegg, PhD
City University of New York, United States

Lillian Comas-Díaz, PhD
Transcultural Mental Health Institute, Washington, DC, United States

Nancy Eisenberg, PhD
Arizona State University, United States

Nancy E. Hill, PhD
Harvard University, United States

Rick Hoyle, PhD
Duke University, United States

Yo Jackson, PhD, ABPP
Pennsylvania State University, United States

Annette La Greca, PhD, ABPP
University of Miami, United States

Kristin Naragon-Gainey, PhD
University of Western Australia, Australia

Michelle G. Newman, PhD
Pennsylvania State University, United States

Philip Zelazo, PhD
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States

Editorial fellows

Hongjian Cao, PhD
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Natalia Zarzeczna, PhD
University of Essex, United Kingdom

Consulting editors

Leslie B. Adams, PhD, MPH
Johns Hopkins University, United States

Candice A. Alfano, PhD
University of Houston, United States

Mark S. Aloia, PhD
National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado, United States

Jeffrey Arnett, PhD
Clark University, United States

Ximena Arriaga, PhD
Purdue University, United States

Daniel Bagner, PhD
Florida International University, United States

Jacques Barber, PhD
Adelphi University, United States

Annie Bernier, PhD
University of Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Sunil Bhatia, PhD
Connecticut College, United States

Michael Borenstein, PhD
BioSTAT, Addison, Texas, United States

Stephanie Carlson, PhD
University of Minnesota, United States

Jonathan S. Comer, PhD
Florida International University, United States

Pim Cuijpers, PhD
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Christopher Cushing, PhD
University of Kansas, United States

Ron Dahl, PhD
University of California, Berkeley, United States

Junhua Dang, PhD
Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

Joanne Davila, PhD
Stony Brook University, United States

Sarah Depaoli, PhD
University of California, Merced, United States

Alice Eagly, PhD
Northwestern University, United States

Michelle Eakin, PhD
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, United States

Spencer C. Evans, PhD
University of Miami, United States

Erika Felix, PhD
University of California, Santa Barbara, United States

Michelle Fine, PhD
City University of New York, United States

Phil Fisher, PhD
Stanford University, United States

Christoph Flückiger, PhD
University of Kassel, Germany

Miriam K. Forbes, PhD
Macquarie University, Australia

Alexandra M. Freund, PhD
University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Daniel Fulford, PhD
Boston University, United States

Joseph P. Gone, PhD
Harvard University, United States

Oscar I. Gonzalez, PhD
Uniformed Services University

Kathy Grant, PhD
DePaul University, United States

June Gruber, PhD
University of Colorado Boulder

Perry N. Halkitis, PhD, MS, MPH
Rutgers School of Public Health

Peter Hegarty, PhD
The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Janet Helms, PhD
Boston College, United States

Clara E. Hill, PhD
University of Maryland, United States

Mark Hilsenroth, PhD
Adelphi University, United States

Grayson N. Holmbeck, PhD
Loyola University Chicago, United States

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, PhD
University of Southern California, United States

Nicholas C. Jacobson, PhD
Dartmouth University, United States

Linda Juang, PhD
University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

Christopher Kahler, PhD
Brown University, United States

Alan Kazdin, PhD
Yale University, United States

Rex B. Kline, PhD
Concordia University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Teresa Davis LaFromboise, PhD
Stanford University, United States

Jennifer Lansford, PhD
Duke University, United States

Spike W. S. Lee, PhD
University of Toronto, Canada

Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, PhD
University of Arizona, United States

Heidi Levitt, PhD
University of Massachusetts, Boston, United States

Hector I. Lopez-Vergara, PhD
University of Rhode Island, United States

Tina Malti, PhD
University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Ann Masten, PhD
University of Minnesota, United States

Katie McLaughlin, PhD
Harvard University, United States

Elizabeth McQuaid, PhD
Brown University, United States

Alicia E. Meuret, PhD
Southern Methodist University, United States

Rashmita Mistry, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles, United States

Alexandre Morin, PhD
Concordia University, Canada

Arthur M. Nezu, PhD, ABPP
Drexel University, United States

Peter J. Norton, PhD
Cairnmillar Institute, Australia

Lisa M. Oakes, PhD
University of California, Davis, United States

Bunmi O. Olatunji, PhD
Vanderbilt University, United States

Nisha Gottfredson O'Shea, PhD
RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States

Jolynn Pek, PhD
The Ohio State University, United States

Armando A. Piña, PhD
Arizona State University, United States

Lisa M. Quintiliani, PhD
Boston University, United States

Sara Rimm-Kaufman, PhD
University of Virginia, United States

Douglas B. Samuel, PhD
Purdue University, United States

Shannon Sauer-Zavala, PhD
University of Kentucky, United States

Wendy Silverman, PhD, ABPP
Yale University, United States

Kathleen Slaney, PhD
Simon Fraser University, Canada

Michael Southam-Gerow, PhD
Virginia Commonwealth University, United States

Gregory Strauss, PhD
University of Georgia, United States

Idia Binitie Thurston, PhD
Northeastern University, United States

Erin Tooley, PhD
Roger Williams University, United States

Pratyusha (Usha) Tummala-Narra, PhD
Boston University, United States

Jeffrey Valentine, PhD
University of Louisville, United States

Paul H. White, PhD
University of Utah, United States

Andrew Winston, PhD
University of Guelph, Canada

Dawn Witherspoon, PhD
The Pennsylvania State University, United States

Laura Wray-Lake, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles, United States

Nur Hani Zainal, PhD
Harvard University, United States

Sigal Zilcha-Mano, PhD
University of Haifa, Israel

Antonio Zuffiano, PhD
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Art editors

Anne E. Kazak, PhD, ABPP
Nemours Children’s Health Center, Wilmington, Delaware

Walter Heinrichs, PhD
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Managing editor

Susan J. Harris, PhD
American Psychological Association, United States

Peer review coordinator

Efrem Tuquabo
American Psychological Association, United States

Obituary advisory committee

Joshua Clegg (Chair)

Hortensia Amaro

David Baker

Barney Beins

Glorisa Canino

Dorothy Cantor

Robin Cautin

Michael Connor

Florence Denmark

Donald Dewsbury

Thomas fa*gan

Raymond Fancher

Uwe Gielen

Christopher Green

Beverly Greene

John Hogan

Debra Kawahara

Arthur Kovacs

Frederick Leong

John Norcross

Stephanie Shields

Bonnie Strickland

Danny Wedding

Andrew Winston

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• Dismantling Racism in the Field of Psychology and Beyond:

  Special issue of APA's journal American Psychologist, Vol. 79, No. 4, May-June 2024. This special issue examines the ways in which the field of psychology has perpetuated racial hierarchy and harm toward communities of color.

• Ethical Challenges in the Use of Digital Technologies in Psychological Science:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 79, No. 1, January 2024. This special issue is to highlights cutting-edge research showcasing applications of the alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD) to threat assessment and to suggest directions for future research and application using this model.

• Foundational Contributions of Black Scholars in Psychology:

  Special issue of APA's journal American Psychologist, Vol. 78, No. 4, May-June 2023. This special issue intervenes on anti-Black racism at the epistemic level by honoring the past and present contributions of Black scholars to psychology.

• How Psychologists Can Help Achieve Equity in Health Care:

  Special issue of APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 78, No. 2, February–March 2023. This issue provides examples of existing equity work and inspires ALL psychologists to engage for the first time or deepen existing health equity work with renewed vigor and reimagined possibilities.

• Public Psychology:

  Special issue of APA's American Psychologist, Vol. 76, No. 8, November 2021. This special issue addresses a range of interconnected themes, including: (a) centering social problems, (b) engaging diverse publics in knowledge creation, (c) communicating and democratizing psychological knowledge, and (d) rethinking what constitutes psychology.

• Psychological Perspectives on Culture Change:

  Special issue of APA's American Psychologist, Vol. 76, No. 6, September 2021. The special issue draws together cutting-edge research and theory that addresses what one might think of as “the What,” the “Why,” and the “How” of cultural change.

• Rendered Invisible:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 76, No. 4, May–June 2021. The goal of this special issue is to highlight challenges in AAPI psychology including invisibility and the model minority stereotype, and to chart a new course for redressing these challenges.

• Adverse Childhood Experiences:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 76, No. 2, February-March 2021. The articles reflect the continuum of critical work on adverse childhood experiences being conducted in research, practice, intervention and prevention programs, and public policy and serve to synthesize the growing body of empirical evidence.

• Expanding the Reach of Psychological Science Through Implementation Science:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist in Psychological Science, Vol. 75, No. 8, November 2020. This special issue highlights expanding the reach of psychological science through implementation science.

• Psychology’s Role in Addressing the Dual Crises in Chronic Pain and Opioid-Related Harms:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 75, No. 6, September 2020. This special issue highlights state-of-the-art psychological research that addresses the combined issues of chronic pain and harms associated with opioids.

• Rethinking Adult Development:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 75, No. 4, May-June 2020. The primary goal is to draw attention to aspects of adult development that are currently changing in fascinating and unprecedented ways and to present new theoretical ideas that will inspire the next generation of research and policy.

• Obesity:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 75, No. 2, February–March 2020. Articles highlight contributions by psychologists to understanding the development, prevention, and treatment of obesity in children, adolescents, and adults.

• Fifty Years Since Stonewall:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 74, No. 8, November 2019. The articles expand the existing narratives about the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender psychology that are centered in the United States, focused primarily on sexual orientation.

• Multidisciplinary Research Teams:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 74, No. 3, April 2019. The issue consists of 10 articles that cover a range of research areas within the discipline of psychology. The authors of the articles describe the content of the research conducted by their teams and the ways in which the teams operate.

• Racial Trauma:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 74, No. 1, January 2019. The articles introduce new conceptual approaches, research, and healing models to challenge racial trauma.

• Cardiovascular Disease:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 73, No. 8, November 2018. The purpose of the issue is to highlight innovative psychological research in cardiovascular health promotion, disease prevention, and management.

• New Directions in Developmental Science With Youth Experiencing Marginalization:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 73, No. 6, September 2018. The articles provide an analysis of current conditions faced by youth experiencing marginalization and offer new avenues to advance developmental sciences.

• The Science of Teamwork:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 73, No. 4, May–June 2018. The articles demonstrate the importance of teamwork in a wide variety of workplace settings and what we know so far about team functioning.

• 125th Anniversary of the American Psychological Association:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 72, No. 8, November 2017. Articles discuss APA's 125-year history, issues of policy involvement, relations with the media, involvement with the courts, and developments related to social justice, education, science, practice, and publications.

• Close Family Relationships and Health:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 72, No. 6, September 2017. The articles focus on interpersonal mechanisms, cultural specificity, personality and emotion regulation, couples dynamics in chronic disease, and the biological mechanisms involved in linking relationships to health outcomes.

• Psychology of Terrorism:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 72, No. 3, April 2017. The articles showcase new conceptual, theoretical, and empirical advances in our understanding of terrorism.

• Patient-Centered Medical Homes:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 72, No. 1, January 2017. Articles highlight the role of psychologists in patient-centered medical homes, evidence that their inclusion results in improved health outcomes, emphasize opportunities for more effective coordination, and address challenges inherent in making fundamental changes to how health care is delivered.

• Diabetes and Psychology:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 71, No. 7, October 2016. Articles address psychological and social aspects of diabetes, including psychosocial factors in self-management, comorbid psychological conditions, neurocognitive consequences, telemedicine and other technology, and behavioral interventions.

• Aging in America:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 71, No. 4, May–June 2016. The issue reviews the current and potential contributions of psychological science to the well-being of older Americans, including promoting healthy cognition, preventing dementia, confronting ageism, recognizing the role of family members in long-term care and ensuring retirement security, both financial and emotional.

• Undergraduate Education in Psychology:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 71, No. 2, February–March 2016. Includes articles about curriculum and assessment; guidelines for the undergraduate psychology major; teaching introductory psychology; and internationalization.

• The Emergence of Mindfulness in Basic and Clinical Psychological Science:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 70, No. 7, October 2015. Includes articles about mindfulness and meditation; mindfulness-based intervention; ethics and historical perspectives; and neurocognitive perspectives.

• School Bullying and Victimization:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 70, No. 4, May–June 2015. The articles address bullying, victimization, psychological sequela and consequences, ethical, legal, and theoretical issues facing educators, researchers, and practitioners, and effective prevention and intervention efforts.

• Cancer and Psychology:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 70, No. 2, February–March 2015. The articles review the contributions of psychological science to cancer research, screening, medical adherence, prevention and quality of life, among other related topics.

• Primary Care and Psychology:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 69, No. 4, May–June 2014. It describes the most common emerging models of integrated primary care, the roles of psychologists within those models, and how certain important subsets of patients are cared for in primary care.

• Chronic Pain and Psychology:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 69, No. 2, February–March 2014. Includes articles about pain management approaches, racial/ethnic disparities, pediatric pain, neurophysiology, and persistent pain in older adults.

• Peace Psychology:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 68, No. 7, October 2013. Includes articles about war, intergroup conflict, terrorism, reconciliation after genocide, and positive psychology.

• HIV/AIDS: Social Determinants and Health Disparities:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 68, No. 4, May–June 2013. Includes articles about HIV/AIDS in terms of social disadvantage; prevention and care; stigma and racial/ethnic disparities; gender and ethnicity; infection among people who inject drugs; and prevention among ethnic minority youth.

• 9/11: Ten Years Later:

  Special issue of APA's journal American Psychologist, Vol. 66, No. 6, September 2011. Articles discuss psychological issues regarding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including PTSD; social psychological impacts; political responses; growing up after the attacks; psychological science and national security; and intelligence gathering and management.

• Psychology and Global Climate Change:

  Special issue of APA's journal American Psychologist, Vol. 66, No. 4, May–June 2011. Articles discuss psychological aspects of global climate change, including human behavioral contributions; coping with threat and environmental impacts; and barriers to mitigation and adaptation.

• Comprehensive Soldier Fitness:

  Special issue of APA's journal American Psychologist, Vol. 66, No. 1, January 2011. Articles discuss various aspects of the U.S. Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, including resilience, assessment, posttraumatic growth, and family issues.

• Diversity and Leadership:

  Special issue of APA's journal American Psychologist, Vol. 65, No. 3, April 2010. Articles address issues regarding diversity and leadership, including gender and culture; race; work and family issues; and sexual orientation.

• Charles Darwin and Psychology, 1809–2009:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 64, No. 2, February–March 2009. Includes articles about the influence of Charles Darwin on functionalism; comparative psychology and ethology; race, gender, and culture; emotion expression; emotions and emotional disorders; and the emergence of evolutionary psychology.

• Obedience — Then and Now :

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 64, No. 1, January 2009. The articles discuss Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments, including the impact on personality and social psychology, historical perspectives, and change over time.

• Eating Disorders:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 62, No. 3, April 2007. Includes articles about eating disorder diagnoses; risk factors; psychological treatment; Medicare reimbursem*nt for weight loss interventions; and effective obesity treatments.

• Leadership:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 62, No. 1, January 2007. Includes articles about the challenges of leadership in the modern world; trait-based perspectives; the role of the situation; promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory-building; and a systems model of leadership.

• Genes, Race, and Psychology in the Genome Era:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 60, No. 1, January 2005. Includes articles about race and ethnicity; the social construction of race; the meaning of race in psychology; intelligence, race, and genetics; the impartial treatment of genetic and environmental hypotheses of racial differences; race and IQ; use of race variables in genetic studies of complex traits; and controversies in biomedical, behavioral, and forensic sciences.

• Fifty Years On: Brown v. Board of Education and American Psychology, 1954–2004:

  Special issue of the APA journal American Psychologist, Vol. 59, No. 6, September 2004. Includes articles about the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, specifically the scientific attacks on the decision; the effects of segregation and consequences of desegregation; intractable self-fulfilling prophecies; social science research; and increasing the number of African American PhDs in the sciences and engineering.

Transparency and Openness Promotion

APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines developed by the Center for Open Science (Nosek et al., 2015). The TOP guidelines cover eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting that can be followed at three levels of compliance:

• Level 1: Disclosure—The article must disclose whether or not the materials are posted to a trusted repository.
• Level 2: Requirement—The article must share materials via trusted repository when legally and ethically permitted (or disclose the legal and/or ethical restriction when not permitted).
• Level 3: Verification—Third party must verify that the standard is met.

Empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to American Psychologist must at least meet the “requirement” level for seven of the eight aspects of research planning and reporting. Data transparency must meet the “disclosure” level.

Authors should include a subsection in their methods description titled “Transparency and Openness.” This subsection should detail the efforts the authors have made to comply with the TOP guidelines.

The list below summarizes the minimal TOP requirements of American Psychologist for empirical research, including meta-analyses. Please refer to the manuscript submission instructions for more information.

• Citation Standards: Level 2, Requirement
• Data Transparency: Level 1, Disclosure
• Analytic Methods (Code) Transparency: Level 2, Requirement
• Research Materials Transparency: Level 2, Requirement
• Design and Analysis Transparency (Reporting Standards): Level 2, Requirement
• Preregistration of Study: Level 2, Requirement
• Preregistration of Analysis Plans: Level 2, Requirement
• Replication: Level 2, Disclosure

Other open science initiatives

• Open science badges: Offered
• Public significance statements: Offered
• Author contribution statements using CRediT: Required
• Registered Reports: Published
• Replications: Published

Explore open science at APA.

Journal equity, diversity, and inclusion statement

The science of psychology must be applicable to all people. And the efficacious application of psychological knowledge is dependent on its scientific foundations. To accomplish these ends, psychological science must recognize intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, and cultural influences on an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior. As APA’s flagship journal, American Psychologist is committed to employing policies and procedures that recognize the multiplicity in human experience.

To act on this commitment, the editors of American Psychologist strive to promote equity and inclusivity of people of all intersectional identities and from all backgrounds across the lifespan, especially individuals from groups that have experienced historical and ongoing inequities including people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and individuals with socioeconomic and geographical diversity—through the policies we follow and the content we publish.

Specific actions include (a) inviting editorial board members and manuscript reviewers with a wide range of areas of expertise who are racially and ethnically diverse, gender-diverse, and at different career stages, (b) explicitly recruiting studies by and for communities of color and other underrepresented groups, (c) providing public significance statements at the beginning of published articles, and (d) expanding opportunities for people of color and individuals of historically excluded groups to participate in editorial mentorships through guest editorships, co-reviewing opportunities, and editorial fellowships, and (e) giving particular consideration to manuscript and special issue topics that address and mitigate inequalities in society.

To promote broad representation of diverse populations in the research presented in the journal, manuscripts presenting empirical data are evaluated (a) for completeness of reporting using the requirements for sample descriptions contained in APA’s Journal Article Reporting Standards .and, in particular, (b) as part of the peer-review process, using an explicit criterion that is an assessment of the appropriateness of the sample for drawing inferences about diverse populations.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are issues of social justice. They also influence our trust in science. A true science of psychology can progress in no other way.

Inclusive study designs

• Collaborative research models
• Diverse samples

Definitions and further details on inclusive study designs are available on the Journals EDI homepage.

Inclusive reporting standards

• Bias-free language and community-driven language guidelines (required)
• Author contribution roles using CRediT (required)
• Data sharing and data availability statements (required)
• Impact statements (required)
• Year(s) of data collection (recommended)
• Participant sample descriptions (required)
• Sample justifications (recommended)
• Constraints on Generality (COG) statements (required)

More information on this journal’s reporting standards is listed under the submission guidelines tab.

Pathways to authorship and editorship

Editorial fellowships

Editorial fellowships help early-career psychologists gain firsthand experience in scholarly publishing and editorial leadership roles. This journal offers an editorial fellowship program for early-career psychologists from historically excluded communities.

Reviewer mentorship program

This journal encourages reviewers to submit co-reviews with their students and trainees. The journal likewise offers a formal reviewer mentorship program where graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from historically excluded groups are matched with a senior reviewer to produce an integrated review.

Editor mentorship

American Psychologist ensures that guest editors for special issues are mentored by an associate editor.

Other EDI offerings

Masked peer review

This journal offers masked peer review (where both the authors’ and reviewers’ identities are not known to the other). Research has shown that masked peer review can help reduce implicit bias against traditionally female names or early-career scientists with smaller publication records (Budden et al., 2008; Darling, 2015).

Announcements

• Call for editorial fellow nominations

Editor Spotlight

• Read the opening editorial by Editor Harris Cooper
• Meet the editorial board ofAmerican Psychologist
• Read an interview with Editor Harris Cooper

From APA Journals Article Spotlight^®

• How psychologists can help achieve equity in health care: Advancing innovative partnerships and models of care delivery
• Public psychology: Cultivating socially engaged science for the 21st century
• The psychology of American racism and how to work against it
• Fifty years since Stonewall: The science and politics of sexual orientation and gender diversity
• American Psychologistspecial issue on Racial Trauma and Healing
• Updating maps for a changing territory: Redefining youth marginalization