American Psychologist

American Psychologist ® , established in 1946, is the flagship peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the American Psychological Association. As such, American Psychologist publishes current and timely high-impact papers of broad interest. These papers include empirical reports, meta-analyses, and other types of scholarly reviews. Topics cover psychological science, practice, education, and policy. Contributions often address issues of national and international significance, both with regard to the profession of psychology and its relationship to society at large. Published articles are written in a style that is accessible to all psychologists and the public.

American Psychologist welcomes submissions. Please refer to the submission guidelines section for details on types of submissions and editorial requirements.

Disclaimer: APA and the editors of the American Psychologist ® assume no responsibility for statements and opinions advanced by the authors of its articles.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion

American Psychologist supports equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in its practices. More information on these initiatives is available under EDI Efforts.

Calls for papers

Open science

The APA Journals Program is committed to publishing transparent, rigorous research; improving reproducibility in science; and aiding research discovery. Open science practices vary per editor discretion. View the initiatives implemented by this journal.

Editor’s Choice

Each issue of American Psychologist will highlight one article by selecting it as an “Editor’s Choice” paper. The chosen manuscript will be included in a newsletter sent to APA members and nonmembers alike. The articles will be made available free of charge for 30 days to newsletter recipients. The selection of Editor’s Choice articles is at the discretion of the editors, based on their determination that the paper has great potential to impact the future direction of psychological science and science-based practice.

Author and editor spotlights

Explore journal highlights: free article summaries, editor interviews and editorials, journal awards, mentorship opportunities, and more.

expand all Submission Guidelines

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.

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.

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:

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:

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:

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

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 in American Psychologist will 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:

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:

If a proposal is approved, an AP associate editor will be assigned as an advisory editor of the package. The proposal author will be responsible for recruiting authors through 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

The APA 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:

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.

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:

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:

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 Simons, Shoda, & Lindsay, 2017). 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.

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

Line weights