Journal of Experimental Psychology: General®
The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General® publishes articles describing empirical work that bridges the traditional interests of two or more communities of psychology.
The work may touch on issues dealt with in JEP: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, JEP: Human Perception and Performance, JEP: Animal Behavior Processes, or JEP: Applied, but may also concern issues in other subdisciplines of psychology, including social processes, developmental processes, psychopathology, neuroscience, or computational modeling.
Articles in JEP: General may be longer than the usual journal publication if necessary.
Brief reports will also be accepted (up to 3,000 words, excluding title, references, author affiliations, acknowledgments, figures and figure legends, but including the abstract). Brief reports will be rejected without review by editors at a higher rate than longer articles and the Journal will only accept the most innovative and significant empirical and theoretical contributions, with a preference for work that impacts more than one area of psychology.
Editor
Isabel Gauthier
Vanderbilt University
Associate Editors
Joshua Buckholtz
Harvard University
Tim Curran
University of Colorado at Boulder
Klaus Fiedler
University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
David Z. Hambrick
Michigan State University
Ran Hassin
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
Michael Inzlicht
University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alejandro Lleras
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Bob McMurray
University of Iowa
Bob Rehder
New York University
Jennifer J. Richler
Vanderbilt University
Amy Shelton
John Hopkins University
Max Weisbuch
University of Denver
Melody Wiseheart
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Consulting Editors
Daniel Algom
Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
Erik M. Altmann
Michigan State University
Galen Bodenhausen
Northwestern University
Gene A. Brewer
Arizona State University
Norman R. Brown
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Daniel Casasanto
University of Chicago
Eran Chajut
The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel
Molly Crockett
University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Ruud Custers
University College London, London, United Kingdom
Jan De Houwer
Ghent University
Marci DeCaro
University of Louisville
Gary S. Dell
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Mieke Donk
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Paul E. Dux
University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia
Lisa Feigenson
Johns Hopkins University
Kimberly Fenn
Michigan State University
Melissa Ferguson
Cornell University
Fernanda Ferreira
University of South Carolina
W. Tecumseh Fitch
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Daryl Fougnie
Harvard University
Kentaro Fujita
Ohio State University
Simona Ghetti
University of California, Davis
Bradley Gibson
University of Notre Dame
Dawn Gondoli
University of Notre Dame
June Gruber
Yale University
Michael Hautus
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
William G. Hayward
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Evan Heit
University of California, Merced
William Hirst
The New School for Social Research
Wilhelm Hofmann
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Andrew Hollingworth
University of Iowa
Lori L. Holt
Carnegie Mellon University
Crystal Hoyt
University of Richmond
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
University of Southern California
Rachael Jack
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Amishi Jha
University of Miami
Katherine D. Kinzler
University of Chicago
Iring Koch
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
John K. Kruschke
Indiana University
Mark Landau
University of Kansas
Hakwan Lau
Columbia University
Rebecca Lawson
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Alison Ledgerwood
University of California, Davis
Kristen Lindquist
University of North Carolina
Ottmar V. Lipp
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Vanessa LoBue
Rutgers University
Robert H. Logie
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Juan Lupianez
Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Chad J. Marsolek
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
E.J. Masicampo
Wake Forest University
Mara Mather
University of Southern California
Nicole McNeil
University of Notre Dame
Kateri McRae
University of Denver
Wendy B. Mendes
University of California, San Francisco
Jeffrey O. Miller
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Karen J. Mitchell
Yale University
Akira Miyake
University of Colorado at Boulder
Stephen Monsell
University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
Lynne Nygaard
Emory University
Elizabeth Page-Gould
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Thomas J. Palmeri
Vanderbilt University
Timothy J. Pleskac
Michigan State University
Alison Preston
University of Texas at Austin
Stephanie D. Preston
University of Michigan
Valerie Purdie-Vaughns
Columbia University
Katherine Rawson
Kent State University
Jennifer A. Richeson
Northwestern University
Jane Risen
University of Chicago
Henry L. Roediger, III
Washington University in St. Louis
Caren M. Rotello
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Christoph Scheepers
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Brandon Schmeichel
Texas A&M University
Norbert Schwarz
University of Michigan
Lisa S. Scott
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Sarah Shomstein
George Washington University
Jeanine Stefanucci
University of Utah
Diana Tamir
Stanford University
Maya Tamir
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
Jan Theeuwes
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Yaacov Trope
New York University
Julie Van Dyke
Haskins Laboratories
Timothy J. Vickery
University of Delaware
Kathleen Vohs
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
Jacquie Vorauer
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Edward A. Wasserman
University of Iowa
Linda Wheeldon
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Jessica K. Witt
Colorado State University
John T. Wixted
University of California, San Diego
Eunice Yang
University of California, Berkeley
Andrew P. Yonelinas
University of California, Davis
Chen-Bo Zhong
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Editorial Associate
Jennifer J. Richler
Vanderbilt University
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Prior to submission, please carefully read and follow the submission guidelines detailed below. Manuscripts that do not conform to the submission guidelines may be returned without review.
Although not a central part of its mission, the Journal values replications and may publish them when the work clearly contributes to its mission. This includes contributions with interdisciplinary appeal that address theoretical debate and/or integration, beyond addressing the reliability of effects.
The Journal preference is for replication plans to be submitted to the Journal before data collection begins. A proposal should provide a strong motivation for the study in the context of the relevant literature, details of the design, sample size, and planned analyses.
The editorial team may encourage a replication project, based on external guidance. Final manuscripts will be evaluated through further external review.
Replication articles will be published online only and will be listed in the Table of Contents in the print journal.
Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal.
The file format should be Microsoft Word Format (.doc or .docx), or PDF (.pdf).
If authors wish to do so for review, to facilitate readability, they can include tables, figures and figure legends as appropriate in the manuscript close to where they would appear in the published article. Note however that when a paper is accepted, a file will need to be promptly submitted that must exactly copy, in all respects and in a single Word file, the complete APA-style printed version of the manuscript.
In a cover letter, provide the following information:
- a brief paragraph summarizing how the work might appeal to more than one traditional area of psychology
- a list of 3–5 appropriate reviewers with no conflict of interest, explaining what their relevant expertise is
- a list of non-preferred reviewers (no explanation is necessary but is welcomed)
On the first page of the manuscript, provide a word count for the text excluding title, references, author affiliations, acknowledgments, figures and figure legends, but including the abstract.
Articles in the Journal will be evaluated for the quality of the research designs, in particular their ability to provide strong tests of broadly important theoretical hypotheses.
Articles will also be evaluated for the soundness of their statistical claims. Authors are urged to consider reporting effect sizes (and confidence intervals around them) and to discuss their practical and theoretical implications. The editorial team believes precision of estimation can at times be more important than the dichotomous statistical decisions of null hypothesis significance testing.
We also encourage authors to explain their sample sizes, ideally using power analyses based on effect sizes calculated from their own prior studies, other prior work, or when available, meta-analyses. This is particularly important when samples sizes are relatively small, or vary greatly from one experiment to the next, in which case the stopping rule for data collection should be clearly stated.
Graphs and tables should include error bars that are clearly labeled in the figure legend, and tables should also provide clearly labeled measures of variability (the use of confidence intervals is encouraged, and ranges may be more appropriate for small samples).
In addition to mailing addresses and phone numbers, please supply email addresses and fax numbers for potential use by the editorial office and later by the production office.
Keep a copy of the manuscript as a guard against loss.
General correspondence may be directed to Editor's Office.
Masked Review Policy
Masked reviews are optional. If you want a masked review, indicate that in the cover letter. Do not include authors' names and affiliations on the title page. Instead, place this information in the cover letter, which is not seen by reviewers.
Footnotes that identify the authors should also be removed from the manuscript and can be included in the cover letter. Authors should make every effort to see that the manuscript itself contains no clues to their identities.
If your manuscript was mask reviewed, please ensure that the final version for production includes a byline and full author note for typesetting.
Related Journals of Experimental Psychology
For the other JEP journals, authors should submit manuscripts according to the manuscript submission guidelines for each individual journal:
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Manuscript Preparation
Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). Manuscripts may be copyedited for bias-free language (see Chapter 3 of the Publication Manual).
Review APA's Checklist for Manuscript Submission before submitting your article.
Double-space all copy. Other formatting instructions, as well as instructions on preparing tables, figures, references, metrics, and abstracts, appear in the Manual.
Below are additional instructions regarding the preparation of display equations, computer code, and tables.
Display Equations
We strongly encourage you 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 you have an equation that has already been produced using Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 and you have access to the full version of MathType 6.5 or later, you 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 your equation is correct, click File, and then click Update. Your 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 your article in our production process. To that end, we request separate files for computer code.
In Online Supplemental Material
We request that runnable source code be included as supplemental material to the article. For more information, visit Supplementing Your Article With Online Material.
In the Text of the Article
If you would like to include code in the text of your published manuscript, please submit a separate file with your code exactly as you want it to appear, using Courier New font with a type size of 8 points. We will make an image 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.
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.
Submitting Supplemental Materials
APA can place supplemental materials online, available via the published article in the PsycARTICLES® database. Please see Supplementing Your Article With Online Material for more details.
Abstract and Keywords
All manuscripts must include an abstract containing a maximum of 250 words typed on a separate page. After the abstract, please supply up to five keywords or brief phrases.
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:
Hughes, G., Desantis, A., & Waszak, F. (2013). Mechanisms of intentional binding and sensory attenuation: The role of temporal prediction, temporal control, identity prediction, and motor prediction. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 133–151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028566 - Authored Book:
Rogers, T. T., & McClelland, J. L. (2004). Semantic cognition: A parallel distributed processing approach. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. - Chapter in an Edited Book:
Gill, M. J., & Sypher, B. D. (2009). Workplace incivility and organizational trust. In P. Lutgen-Sandvik & B. D. Sypher (Eds.), Destructive organizational communication: Processes, consequences, and constructive ways of organizing (pp. 53–73). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
Figures
Graphics files are welcome if supplied as Tiff or EPS files. Multipanel figures (i.e., figures with parts labeled a, b, c, d, etc.) should be assembled into one file.
The minimum line weight for line art is 0.5 point for optimal printing.
For more information about acceptable resolutions, fonts, sizing, and other figure issues, please see the general guidelines.
When possible, please place symbol legends below the figure instead of to the side.
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
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.
Publication Policies
APA policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications.
See also APA Journals® Internet Posting Guidelines.
APA requires authors to reveal any possible conflict of interest in the conduct and reporting of research (e.g., financial interests in a test or procedure, funding by pharmaceutical companies for drug research).
Authors of accepted manuscripts are required to transfer the copyright to APA.
- For manuscripts not funded by the Wellcome Trust or the Research Councils UK
Publication Rights (Copyright Transfer) Form (PDF, 83KB) - For manuscripts funded by the Wellcome Trust or the Research Councils UK
Wellcome Trust or Research Councils UK Publication Rights Form (PDF, 34KB)
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.
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.
Other Information
Here you'll find guidelines for submitting proposals, calls for papers, tips for preparing manuscripts, APA policies, and more