I am proud to announce that in March, APAGS will publish its first issue of the new scientific journal Translational Issues in Psychological Science (TPS). This journal will be a new benefit for APAGS members and is included with your 2015 dues.
TPS is a unique journal in a number of ways:
- Each issue is a special issue, focusing on a particular topic in psychological science.
- The journal gives graduate students and early career psychologists experience in the journal process by allowing them to serve as associate editors.
- The journal seeks to have a senior author and at least one student author working together on each paper published.
- Articles are intended to be brief, 10- to 12-page reviews that summarize a line of research and its implications to science, practice or the public.
- Each article will relate its findings to the broad field of psychological science and describe how it might affect other areas within or outside of psychology.
This journal is a result of the hard work of the APAGS Science Committee and the APAGS Full Committee. The Science Committee developed the idea, met numerous times with staff from the APA Journals Office and wrote several versions of draft proposals. The APAGS Full Committee presented the idea to APA's Council of Representatives and advocated for its approval. A working group consisting of members of the Science Committee and the APAGS Committee has developed the policies and procedures for this journal and helped craft its initial issues.
One aspect of this journal that I am incredibly proud of is the opportunity for students to serve as reviewers. APAGS members with experience with peer review are eligible to serve as a reviewer for TPS. Working group members developed training materials to teach potential reviewers about the reviewing process and how to provide constructive reviews. Graduate students do not always have opportunities to review scientific articles, so this is an opportunity to get valuable mentoring in a process that is so important to academia. In addition, serving as a reviewer can often improve one's ability to write academic papers.
Topics for 2015 are the science of sleep; how psychological science can improve our classrooms; psychological and neuroscientific advances in obesity; and current perspectives in prejudice and discrimination.
The topics for 2016 include the psychology of humor and new insights into incentives. If you conduct research related to these topics, I encourage you to talk to your research mentors and consider submitting an article. This is a great way to add a publication to your vitae, as well as support an important new APA journal. Go to the TPS website for information on how to submit papers.
In the meantime, watch for the first issue of TPS to come to your inbox; you'll receive an email from APA that will give you instructions for accessing the journal's articles electronically. You will need to log in through MyAPA, so if you haven't created your account there yet, it's a good time to do so. Having a MyAPA account allows you to access APA's electronic newsletters, all of which are available for free to APAGS affiliates. When you're creating your account and are prompted for your member ID, you can find your ID number on the label of this issue of gradPSYCH magazine.
I'm eagerly awaiting the first issue of Translational Issues in Psychological Science, and I hope you get a chance to peruse the articles and enjoy this new member benefit.