Submission guidelines

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.

Submissions are handled only through our Editorial Manager platform, and the only official journal website is through APA. If you believe you interacted with a fraudulent website for this journal, please email APA Journalsopens in new window. Review our resource for authors for more information on identifying predatory journals.

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 Manuscriptopens in new window

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 officeopens in new window 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 officeopens in new window.

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

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).

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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 .

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 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.

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.

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. Nominators are encouraged to contact the associate editor for historical scholarship and chair of the Obituaries Advisory Committee, Joshua Clegg, PhDopens in new window, with recommendations, noting that a recommendation is not a guarantee that an obituary will be commissioned. Including a brief description of the deceased’s contributions to the field of psychology will aid consideration by the committee.

Note: Consideration of special issues proposals for American Psychologist are paused until January 1, 2027, as special issues in development for the current editorship are at capacity.

Journal issues and 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 more papers, depending on the content area.

Proposals for special sections or special issues should (a) describe their proposed scope and (b) provide the rationale for 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 for papers is expected for all special issues, and all papers will undergo a selection process.

Please request the form for proposing special issues from the AP editor. The form should be completed and returned with the CVs of all prospective guest editors.

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 (typically associate editors) for review.

In addition to the proposals rationale and timeliness, 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 AP associate editor will be assigned as an advisory editor for the issue. The proposal authors 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.

The APA Publication Manual (7th ed.opens in new window) 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, this journal has adopted the Contributor Roles Taxonomyopens in new window (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 prompted to select one or more contributor roles for each author at initial submission. All authors should have reviewed and agreed to their individual contribution(s) before submission. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, an Author Contributions Statement will be generated during the typesetting process and published in the author note of the final article. It is not necessary for authors to provide a written Author Contributions Statement upon 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 reuse.
• 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.

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 editoropens in new window 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.

Authors should review the APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) for 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. 

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 used or misused to cause harm. 

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

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.

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 Projectopens in new window).

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.

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.

Authors must state whether data, code, and study materials are posted to a trusted repository and, if so, how to access them, including their location and any limitations on use. For materials and code, if they cannot be made available, authors must state the legal or ethical reasons why they are not available. Trusted repositories adhere to policies that make data discoverable, accessible, usable, and preserved for the long term. Trusted repositories also assign unique and persistent identifiers. Recommended repositories include APA’s repositoryopens in new window on the Open Science Framework (OSF), or authors can access a full list of other recommended repositoriesopens in new window.

In a subsection titled “Transparency and Openness” at the end of the method section, specify whether and where the data and materials are available or note the legal or ethical reasons for not doing so. For submissions with quantitative or simulation analytic methods, state whether the study analysis code is posted to a trusted repository, and, if so, how to access it (or the legal or ethical reason why it is not available).

For example:

• 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 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., OSFopens in new window, 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 Psychologyopens in new window (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.

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

Authors must adhere to the JARSopens in new window for quantitativeopens in new window, qualitativeopens in new window, and mixed methodsopens in new window. 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).

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)opens in new window 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 repositoriesopens in new window .

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.

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.

It is a violation of APA Ethical Principles to publish “as original data, data that have been previously published” (Standard 8.13).

APA Ethical Principles also state 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 make their data available if asked during the editorial process and for at least five years after the date of publication.

If the manuscript is accepted, the corresponding author is required to sign and submit a Certification of Compliance with APA Ethical Principles (PDF, 26KB).opens in new window

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.

Artists should submit three to six images electronically for consideration to the managing editoropens in new window. 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 AP editor-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.

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

American Psychological Association
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Washington, DC 20002-4242

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.