Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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.

Submissions to PAC are handled only through our Editorial Manager platform, and the only official PAC website is through APA. If you believe you interacted with a fraudulent website for this journal, please email APA Journals. For more information on identifying predatory journals, please review our article in the Monitor on Psychology.

Submission

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 Manuscript

Laura K. Taylor, PhD
University College Dublin, Ireland

General correspondence may be directed to the editor's office.

In addition to addresses and phone numbers, please include email addresses and fax numbers for use by the editorial office and later by the production office. The majority of correspondence between the editorial office and authors is handled by email, so a valid email address is important to the timely flow of communication during the editorial process.

Keep a copy of the manuscript to guard against loss. Manuscripts are not returned.

All parts of the manuscript should be double-spaced, with margins of at least one inch on all sides.

Number manuscript pages consecutively throughout the paper.

Authors should supply a shortened version of the title suitable for the running head, not exceeding 50 character spaces.

The journal only publishes original research. Manuscripts that have previously been published as a Working Paper are not eligible, unless substantially changed. Such changes should be explicitly acknowledged in the cover letter and main text.

Masked review policy

The journal has a masked review policy, which means that the identities of both authors and reviewers are masked. Authors should make every effort to see that the manuscript itself contains no clues to their identities. However, all detailed information for any blinded citations or links should be included in the cover letter to the editor.

Authors should never use first person (I, my, we, our) when referring to a study conducted by the author(s) or when doing so reveals the authors' identities, e.g., "in our previous work, Johnson et al., 1998 reported that..." Instead, references to the authors' work should be in third person, e.g., "Johnson et al. (1998) reported that...."

The authors' institutional affiliations should also be masked in the manuscript.

Include the title of the manuscript along with all authors' names and institutional affiliations in the cover letter. The first page of the manuscript should omit the authors' names and affiliations, but should include the title of the manuscript and the date it is submitted.

Responsibility for masking the manuscript rests with the authors; manuscripts will be returned to the author if not appropriately masked. If the manuscript is accepted, authors will be asked to make changes in wording so that the paper is no longer masked.

Please ensure that the final version for production includes a byline and full author note for typesetting.

Regular articles

Regular articles are limited to 8,000 words (including references, but not including tables and figures). In exceptional circumstances, word-length may be relaxed upon request of the author and approval of the Editor prior to manuscript submission. Please contact the editor's office.

Brief reports

Brief reports may contain up to 1,500 words, up to 3 tables or figures, a 150 word abstract, and up to 10 references. However, the Editor may provide specific requirements for individual papers.

Book reviews

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology^® regularly publishes book reviews. Correspondence regarding a book of potential interest to the journal may be directed to the journal's Book Review Editor, Herbert Blumberg.

Publishers should forward any queries or one copy of a book (or a description of a book) for review consideration to:

Herbert H. Blumberg
Department of Psychology
Goldsmiths College
University of London
London SE14 6NW, England

Manuscript preparation

Review APA's Journal Manuscript Preparation Guidelines before submitting your article.

If your manuscript was mask reviewed, please ensure that the final version for production includes a byline and full author note for typesetting.

Double-space all copy. Other formatting instructions, as well as instructions on preparing tables, figures, references, metrics, and abstracts, appear in the Manual. Additional guidance on APA Style is available on the APA Style website.

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.

Author contribution statements using CRediT

The APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) 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, Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 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 this 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:

• 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.

Academic writing and English language editing services

Authors who feel that their manuscript may benefit from additional academic writing or language editing support prior to submission are encouraged to seek out such services at their host institutions, engage with colleagues and subject matter experts, and/or consider several vendors that offer discounts to APA authors.

Please note that APA does not endorse or take responsibility for the service providers listed. It is strictly a referral service.

Use of such service is not mandatory for publication in an APA journal. Use of one or more of these services does not guarantee selection for peer review, manuscript acceptance, or preference for publication in any APA journal.

Submitting supplemental materials

APA can place supplemental materials online, available via the published article in the APA 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.

Public significance statement

Authors submitting manuscripts to Peace and Conflict are required to provide a short statement of one to two sentences to summarize the article's findings and significance to the educated public (e.g., understanding human thought, feeling, and behavior and/or assisting with solutions to psychological or societal problems). This description should be included within the manuscript on the abstract/keywords page.

• View Guidance for Translational Abstracts and Public Significance Statements

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

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

• All color line art and halftones: 300 DPI
• Black and white line tone and gray halftone images: 600 DPI

Line weights

• Adobe Photoshop images
  • Color (RGB, CMYK) images: 2 pixels
  • Grayscale images: 4 pixels
• Adobe Illustrator Images
  • Stroke weight: 0.5 points

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.

• Download Permissions Alert Form (PDF, 13KB)

Publication policies

For full details on publication policies, including use of Artificial Intelligence tools, please see APA Publishing 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).

• Download Full Disclosure of Interests Form (PDF, 41KB)

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.

• Download Certification of Compliance With APA Ethical Principles Form (PDF, 26KB)

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

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.

Editor

Laura K. Taylor
University College Dublin, Ireland

Associate editors

Islam Borinca, PhD
University of Gronigen

Fouad Bou Zeineddine, PhD
Universität Innsbruck, Austria

Huseyin Cakal, PhD
Keele University, UK

Hugo Canham, PhD
University of South Africa, South Africa

Sabina Cehajic-Clancy, PhD
Stockholm University, Sweden

Philip T. Dunwoody, PhD
Juniata College, USA

Urmitapa Dutta, PhD
University of Massachusetts - Lowell, USA

Efraín García Sánchez, PhD
Universidad de Granada, Spain

Borja Martinović , PhD
Utrecht University, Netherlands

Shelley McKeown Jones, PhD
University of Bristol, UK

Annabella Osei-Tutu, PhD
University of Ghana, Ghana

Grant J. Rich, PhD
Walden University, USA

Patricio Saavedra, PhD
Universidad de O’Higgins, Chile

Gabriel Velez, PhD
Marquette University, USA

Bibliographer and book review editor

Herbert H. Blumberg, PhD
Goldsmiths College, University of London, United Kingdom

Editorial board members

Julia Chaitin, PhD
Sapir College, Israel

Daniel Christie, PhD
The Ohio State University, USA

Dinka Corkalo Biruski, PhD
University of Zagreb, Croatia

Roxane de la Sablonnière, PhD
Université de Montréal, Canada

Bertjan Doosje, PhD
University of Amsterdam Netherlands

Norman Duncan, PhD
University of Pretoria, South Africa

Michelle Fine, PhD
City University of New York, USA

Brandon Hamber, PhD
University of Ulster, UK

Yayah Khisbiyah, PhD
Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Indonesia

Kathleen Kostelny, PhD
Columbia Group for Children in Adversity, USA

Siew Fang Law, PhD
University of Melbourne, Australia

Timothy Luke, PhD
University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Bernadette Paula Luengo Kanacri, PhD
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile

Clark McCauley, PhD
Bryn Mawr College, USA

Cristina Montiel, PhD
Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Michael Wessells, PhD
Columbia University, USA

Peter Hegarty, PhD
Open University, UK

Winnifred Louis, PhD
University of Queensland, Australia

Gordon Sammut, PhD
University of Malta, Malta

Hema Preya Selvanathan
The University of Queensland, Australia

Brady Wagoner, PhD
Aalborg University, Denmark

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• Refugee Integration:

  Special issue of the APA journal Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 3, August 2018. The focus is on the ways in which policies of refugee settlement at the international, national, regional, and local level support or hinder integration by affecting the social context.

• Social Movements and Political and Social Transformation:

  Special issue of the APA journal Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 1, February 2018. The articles address the broad theme of understanding the relationship between social movements and social transformation, with five specific research questions centering on the relationships between collective action, structural violence, direct violence, and peace.

• Psychology and Human Rights:

  Special issue of the APA journal Peace and Conflict, Vol. 21, No. 1, February 2015. Includes articles about attitudes to human rights, human rights in cultural and political contexts, and human rights in the practice of psychology and professional work of psychologists.

• Museums as Sites for Historical Understanding, Peace, and Social Justice:

  Special issue of the APA journal Peace and Conflict, Vol. 19, No. 4, November 2013. Each article focuses on one of three Canadian museums (the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the Canadian War Museum) and its relevance to peace and conflict.

• Continuous Traumatic Stress:

  Special issue of the APA journal Peace and Conflict, Vol. 19, No. 2, May 2013. The 11 conceptual and empirical articles address the nature, effects, and clinical responses to chronic exposure to conflict, violence, and war.

• Of Narratives and Nostalgia:

  Special issue of the APA journal Peace and Conflict, Vol. 18, No. 3, August 2012. Includes articles about the roles of nostalgia, memories, and personal narratives in terms of apartheid and racism.

Journal equity, diversity, and inclusion statement 

In 2021, we broadened our editorial board representation, including geography, career stage, methodology, disciplinary home, and gender. Maintaining a representative editorial board assures integrity in the scientific review and publication process. Journal content must reflect the full composition of the communities the journal looks to serve. Representative editorial boards, therefore, ensure that journal submissions addressing the needs of historically excluded communities are more likely to receive a fair and equitable review. We welcome suggestions for editorial board members that complement and expand our commitment to global representation. We further aim to diversify our reviewer pool; if you would like to review for PAC, please contact us.

PAC values collaborative research models, such as participatory action research and community-based participatory research, which promote the democratization of the research process and the equitable involvement of communities in their own research.

PAC asks authors to provide a detailed method section that includes the year that data were collected, as well as much specific information related to age, disability status, sex, gender identity, racial and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and the intersectionality of participants.

PAC encourages authors to submit a “Public Significance Statement.” Such statements allow authors to emphasize the intention and importance of their work, in addition to affording them more control over how their work is interpreted, making this information available to a wider, more diverse audience that spans across disciplines and to the general public.

Inclusive study designs 

• Collaborative research models  
• Diverse samples 

Inclusive reporting standards 

• Bias-free language and community-driven language guidelines (recommended)
• Reflexivity (recommended)
• Data sharing and data availability statements (required)
• Impact statements (recommended)
• Year(s) of data collection (recommended)
• Participant sample descriptions (recommended)

More information on this journal’s reporting standards is listed under the submission guidelines tab.

Other EDI offerings

ORCID reviewer recognition

Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID) Reviewer Recognition provides a visible and verifiable way for journals to publicly credit reviewers without compromising the confidentiality of the peer-review process. This journal has implemented the ORCID Reviewer Recognition feature in Editorial Manager, meaning that reviewers can be recognized for their contributions to the peer-review process.

Masked peer review

This journal offers masked peer review (where both the authors’ and reviewers’ identities are not known to the other). Research has shown that masked peer review can help reduce implicit bias against traditionally female names or early-career scientists with smaller publication records (Budden et al., 2008; Darling, 2015).

Announcements

• Guidelines for reviewers
• Follow PAC on Twitter

Editor Spotlight

• Read an interview with Incoming Editor Laura K. Taylor

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