Editor Spotlight

Daniel J. Weiss, PhD, is a professor of psychology and linguistics at Pennsylvania State University.

Tell us a bit about your background: What is your area of research? What is your most recent journal-editing experience?

My research concerns the mechanisms underlying language acquisition, with a focus on statistical learning (tracking probabilistic regularities in speech and visual inputs). In particular, I have been trying to approach the issues of early language acquisition from the perspective of bilingual learners who may need to acquire more than one set of regularities and rules. Recently, I have also been studying language and motor sequence production, with an eye toward better understanding which aspects might be domain general. A unique quality of my research is that it is comparative: My studies have included many species of nonhuman primates (from bonobos to tamarins), as well as human infants and adults.

My recent editing experience consists largely of serving as a guest editor for special issues at several journals, including one in 2017 for Translational Issues in Psychological Science (TPS). I am also a standing member of two editorial boards.

Why is this journal important for the field? What is its relevance to society/public health?

One of the most important contributions of TPS is demystifying the practice of peer review for psychologists in training (graduate students and postdocs). TPS offers emerging scholars a look behind the curtain at the process of publishing papers. As a journal of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS), one of the unique features of TPS is that trainees are involved in every aspect of the publishing process. All submissions must include at least one author who is a psychologist in training.

TPS is published quarterly, and each issue is dedicated to a single theme that is selected by the Science Committee of APAGS in consultation with the editor and editorial board. As editor, part of my job is finding faculty guest editors who are leaders in their respective fields, as well as dedicated mentors. Each guest editor has up to three associate editors, all of whom are psychologists in training. This affords trainees an incredible opportunity to understand the peer review process from the other side of the desk at a much earlier stage in their careers, relative to the norm. Working with the guest editor and editor, the associate editors shepherd the manuscripts through the entire review process, experiencing the challenges of finding reviewers, adjudicating between reviews, and whatever other issues that arise. These early experiences give trainees insights that can help inform their own research programs as they advance in their career.

TPS also aspires to address the capriciousness of the peer review process. The persistence of this phenomenon across generations of researchers speaks to a real gap in graduate and postgraduate training. Therefore, one of the most critical contributions of TPS is to provide guidance in the oft-neglected best practices for peer review. We have recently expanded the scope of this training to extend to those who are not members of APAGS (though we certainly encourage students to join).

Of course, another important goal of TPS is to address issues in translational research in psychology. The journal adopts a very broad view of translational research to include different content areas. Translational research can be viewed as a continuum (a wonderful editorial on this topic was published by Grisso and colleagues in 2019 in TPS). This spans basic pretranslational research that paves the way for future translational outcomes, through the direct application of research to inform clinical, educational, professional, or policy outcomes. Thus, the journal strives to be at the cutting edge of contemporary translational issues across many subdisciplines within psychological science.

Briefly, what are your main priorities? For example, how will you grow readership, what type of scholarship would you like to see in the journal, and what kind of content are you hoping to attract?

Given that the journal is still relatively new, my top priority is to continue to serve the dual mission effectively while also expanding the journal’s inclusiveness and visibility. I would like to expand access for members of underrepresented groups by providing opportunities for training, reviewing, and publishing, and also in the content we publish. Some of the founding members of the Spark Society (an organization dedicated to providing tools for scientists of color to succeed in cognitive science) have agreed to edit an upcoming issue on race and psychology (due out in 2021). The content is timely, and I hope it will lead to a more lasting relationship between members of Spark and TPS. I would like to continue to explore avenues and opportunities with additional organizations that have congenial missions.

I hope to continue raising the profile of the journal and further establish TPS as a leading voice for translational research. TPS already enjoys the second largest distribution of all APA journals. Nevertheless, I hope to expand the reach of the journal by increasing its presence on social media and using timely press releases. We are also on the cusp of receiving our first impact factor from the Institute for Scientific Information, which will provide a useful benchmark for measuring our trajectory.

What challenges, if any, lie ahead for the journal?

Because the journal has a training mission, there is a lot of turnover as psychologists in training transition in their careers. This makes continuity more challenging. I am grateful to have Dr. Jacklynn Fitzgerald, who has a long history with the journal, serving as an associate editor to help with general topics and commentary articles.

Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Are you making any changes?

TPS publishes four special issues per year, and I’m very excited about the lineup for 2021 and 2022. We will cover pressing contemporary issues, such as the effect of race on psychology, as well as translational issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, global health, and the opioid epidemic. We also have a slew of great topics that have been attracting a lot of attention, such as creativity research, socioecological approaches to psychology, and the intersection of psychology and public policy. Moreover, the guest editors are all highly visible leaders within their own disciplines.

Just before the start of my term, TPS added two new publication types: general topics submissions and commentaries on previous issues. This should really expand the scope of the journal. Therefore, before attempting any format changes, I’d like to gauge how many submissions these new publication types elicit. Down the road, I would like to introduce target articles that address contemporary topics with translational implications specifically for graduate training and the future directions of our field and solicit commentaries that would accompany the article.

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