Psychology and Aging

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.

Submission

To submit to the editorial office of Hannes Zacher, PhD, please submit manuscripts electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal in Word Document format (.docx) or LaTex (.tex) as a zip file with an accompanied 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 Manuscript

Hannes Zacher, PhD
Leipzig University

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

In addition to postal addresses and phone numbers, please supply email addresses for potential use by the editorial office and later by the production office.

Psychology and Aging^® is now using a software system to screen submitted content for similarity with other published content. The system compares the initial version of each submitted manuscript against a database of 40+ million scholarly documents, as well as content appearing on the open web. This allows APA to check submissions for potential overlap with material previously published in scholarly journals (e.g., lifted or republished material).

Editor’s Choice

Psychology and Aging will highlight one manuscript each issue as an “Editor’s Choice” paper. Criteria for selection are: (a) theoretical significance, (b) significance for practical application, (c) methodological rigor, (d) expanding knowledge of adult development and aging across diverse populations, and (e) potential for inspiring important future directions in research adult development and aging.

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, Psychology and Aging 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. Not all roles will be applicable to a particular scholarly work.

Masked review policy

Author names and affiliations should appear in the cover letter but not anywhere on the manuscript. Authors should make every reasonable effort to see that the manuscript itself contains no clues to their identities, including their names, affiliations, grant titles and numbers, names of institutions providing IRB approval, “in press” or other potentially identifying self-citations (e.g., insert “[authors, blinded for review]” instead), and links to non-anonymous online repositories for data, materials, code, or preregistrations(e.g., create an anonymous view-only link for a project). Manuscripts not in masked format will be returned to authors for revision prior to being reviewed. Grant titles and numbers, names of institutions providing IRB approval, self-citations, and non-anonymous links to online repositories can either be inserted in the final version for production or in the proof that will be sent to authors during production.

Authors have the opportunity to suggest reviewers for their submitted manuscripts. We encourage authors to recommend reviewers who are members of our board of consulting editors. Suggested reviewers should have expertise related to the theories and methods used in the submission, but should be individuals free of potential (or perceived) conflicts (e.g., coauthors of a paper in the past five years, current collaborators, mentors, students).

Original use of data

APA requires that all data in their published articles be an original use. Along with determining the appropriateness of any submission, the editorial team (editor and reviewers) also have a role in determining what constitutes "original use." Key to this determination is the extent to which reported data and results serve to promote cumulative knowledge and insight to the literature.

In order to preserve masked review, authors should include a data transparency statement and/or table in both the cover letter and Data Transparency Statement/Table item which detail how and where the data collected were (or potentially will soon be) used (please see link below for examples). Any previous, concurrent, or near future use of data (and/or sample) reported in a submitted manuscript must be brought to the editorial team's attention (i.e., any paper(s) previously published, in press, or currently under review at any journals, as well as any paper(s) that foreseeably will be under review before an editorial decision is made on the current submitted manuscript). This includes variables that overlap as well as those that may not overlap with those in the submitted article. Authors may also put in any other clarifying information they wish in the manuscript, as long as it can be done anonymously. Any identifying information, such as authors' names or titles of journal articles that the authors wish to share can be included in the cover letter where only the editorial staff will see it.

When providing information in the Data Transparency Statement/Table item, authors should ensure there is enough detail for the editorial team (editor and reviewers) to assess whether data presented constitute original use and unique knowledge and insights. Psychology and Aging discourages scientific data overuse, which has been defined as “the repeated and excessive use of a single dataset, giving rise to many published findings that are not independent of one another” and which “creates dependency among published research papers giving the false impression of independent contributions to knowledge by reporting the same associations over multiple papers” (Mroczek et al., 2022, p. 141).

For more information on APA's data policies, please see "Duplicate and Piecemeal Publication of Data," APA Publication Manual (Section 1.16, 7th Edition, p. 17–20).

Access examples of data transparency statements and table.

Mroczek, D. K., Weston, S. J., Graham, E. K., & Willroth, E. C. (2022). Data overuse in aging research: Emerging issues and potential solutions. Psychology and Aging, 37(1), 141–147. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000605

Journal Article Reporting Standards

Authors must adhere to the APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS). 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;
• Include guidelines on reporting 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.

Participant description, sample justification, and informed consent

Authors must include a detailed description of the study participants in the Method section of each empirical report, including the following:

• Age
• Sex / Gender
• Racial identity / Ethnicity

Authors are encouraged to include any other relevant demographics (e.g., nativity or immigration history; socioeconomic status; clinical diagnoses and comorbidities) as appropriate.

Authors are encouraged to justify their sample demographics and discuss the diversity of their study samples and the generalizability of their findings in the discussion section of the manuscript, and to appropriately temper conclusions in the abstract. If Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) or all-White samples are used, authors should justify their samples and describe their sample inclusion efforts (see Roberts, et al., 2020 for more information on justifying sample demographics). If age groups substantially differ in sample demographic, authors should discuss limitations to internal validity.

The method section also must include a statement describing how informed consent was obtained from the participants (and/or guardians), including for secondary use of data if applicable, and indicate that the study was conducted in compliance with an appropriate Internal Review Board.

Transparency and openness

APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines developed by a community working group in conjunction with the Center for Open Science (Nosek et al. 2015). Reports of empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to Psychology and Aging must at least meet the “disclosure” level for all eight aspects of research planning and reporting, and the “requirement” level for Citation and for Transparency in Data, Design and Analysis, Analytic Code, and Research Materials. Thus, authors must make materials, deidentified data, and analytic code available via trusted repositories (e.g., APA’s repository on the Open Science Framework (OSF), or authors can access a full list of other recommended repositories), or explain the legal and/or ethical reasons that they cannot be provided. 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.

We encourage investigators to preregister their research designs and analytic plans prior to conducting the research, but this is not required; if the study and analytic plans were not preregistered, this should be reported. There are many available preregistration forms (e.g., the APA Preregistration for Quantitative Research in Psychology template, ClinicalTrials.gov, or other preregistration templates available via OSF); completed preregistration forms should be posted on a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., OSF, ClinicalTrials.gov, or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network). The list below presents the eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting, the TOP level required by Psychology and Aging. Authors are encouraged to use the Psychology and Aging TOP Checklist to verify adherence to these standards before submission.

• Citation: Level 2, Requirement—All data, program code, and other methods developed by others must be cited in the text and listed in the references section.
• Data Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states whether the raw and/or processed data on which study conclusions are based are posted to a trusted repository and either how to access them or the legal or ethical reasons why they are not available.
• Analytic Methods (Code) Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states where computer code or syntax needed to reproduce analyses is posted to a trusted repository and how to access it. The legal or ethical reason for any exception must be explained in the article.
• Research Materials Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states where materials described in the method section are posted to a trusted repository and how to access it. The legal or ethical reason for any exception must be explained in the article.
• Design and Analysis Transparency (Reporting Standards): Level 2, Requirement—The article must report 1) how the sample size was determined, 2) the gender and racial distribution of the sample as a function of age, 3) all data exclusions, 4) all manipulations, and 5) all study measures (see the APA Journal Article Reporting Standards; JARS and Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn, 2012).
• Study Preregistration: Level 1, Disclosure—Article states whether the study design and hypotheses were preregistered and, if so, how to access them. For masked submissions, authors may provide a masked version via a stable link or supplemental material.
• Analysis Plan Preregistration: Level 1, Disclosure—Article states whether any of the work reported preregistered an analysis plan and, if so, how to access it. For masked submissions, authors may provide a masked version via stable link or supplemental material.
• Replication: Level 1, Disclosure—The journal publishes replications.

Authors should include an introductory subsection in the method section titled “Transparency and openness.” This subsection should include a statement that materials, deidentified data, and analytic code are available—or an explanation of the legal and/or ethical reasons for any exceptions. This subsection should also include a statement as to whether or not the design and/or analytic plan were preregistered. Some examples of transparency and openness statements are as follows.

• We report how we determined our sample size, and describe all data exclusions, manipulations, and all measures in the study, and we follow the JARS (Appelbaum et al., 2018). All data, analysis code, and research materials are available. 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.
• We report how we determined our sample size and describe all manipulations and measures that were collected, as described in our pre-registration. No data met our a priori exclusion criteria (described below), so analyses reported are based on all data that were collected. Deidentified data and analysis code are available. Stimulus materials are copyright protected and cannot be provided.

Manuscript preparation

Prepare manuscripts according to the 7th edition of the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, paying attention to the use of bias-free language (see Chapter 5). Additional guidance can be found in APA's Journal Manuscript Preparation Guidelines and on the APA Style website.

Double-space all copy. Other formatting instructions, as well as instructions on page numbering, preparing tables, figures, references, metrics, and the abstract, appear in the Manual.

Prior to submission, download the Editorial Submission Checklist for Psychology and Aging. Complete this checklist and copy-paste into the cover for the submission.

Length

Articles

Articles do not typically exceed 8,000 words, excluding references, tables, and figures. Shorter manuscripts are equally welcome.

Articles exceeding the 8,000 word limit may be considered if they offer an especially novel theoretical framework, or complex methodology or statistical approach that requires more extensive exposition.

Psychology and Aging publishes direct replications. Submissions should include “A Replication of XX Study” in the subtitle of the manuscript as well as in the abstract.

Brief Reports

The Brief Report format is reserved for particularly "crisp," theoretically noteworthy contributions that meet the highest methodological standards.

Brief reports are typically no longer than 3,500 words, excluding references, tables, and figures, and include no more than two tables or figures.

Papers in this format differ in length from regular articles, but not in rigor.

Below are additional instructions regarding the preparation of display equations, computer code, and tables.

Title page

The first manuscript page is a title page, which includes a title of no more than 12 words, the author byline and institutional affiliation(s) where the work was conducted, a running head with a maximum of 50 characters (including spaces), and the author note.

Abstract, Public Significance Statements, and keywords

All manuscripts must include an abstract, Public Significance Statement, and up to five keywords or brief phrases, typed on a separate page after the title page.

The abstract provides a balanced summary of the paper’s objectives, methods, findings, and conclusions (cf. APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards) and should be comprehensible to a general audience of psychological scientists. Abstracts are no longer than 250 words.

The Public Significance Statement describes the most central finding(s) that will be easily understood by the larger public (e.g., practitioners, educators, policy makers, and news media), as well as the implications for theory, application, and/or policy. The Public Significance statement is typically one to three sentences in length and 30 to 70 words long (further guidance and examples can be found here).

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

All data, program code, and other methods must be cited in the text and listed in the references section.

Data set citation

Alegria, M., Jackson, J. S., Kessler, R. C., & Takeuchi, D. (2016). Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001–2003 [Data set]. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20240.v8

Software/Code citation

Viechtbauer, W. (2010). Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package.  Journal of Statistical Software, 36(3), 1–48. https://www.jstatsoft.org/v36/i03/

Wickham, H. et al., (2019). Welcome to the tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(43), 1686, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01686

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

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.

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.

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)

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, including academic social networks like ResearchGate, etc.). This information (2–4 sentences) must be provided as part of the Author Note.

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

Hannes Zacher, PhD
Leipzig University, Germany

Associate editors

Julie D. Henry, PhD
The University of Queensland, Australia

Patrick L. Hill, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, United States

Gizem Hülür, PhD
University of Bonn, Germany

Moshe Naveh-Benjamin, PhD
University of Missouri, United States

Julia Spaniol, PhD
Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

Sharda Umanath, PhD
Claremont McKenna College, United States

David Weiss, PhD
Martin-Luther-University of Halle Wittenberg, Germany

Yujie (Jessie) Zhan, PhD
Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

Editorial fellows

Nichol Castro, PhD
University at Buffalo, United States

Yi Lin, PhD
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Melissa Troyer, PhD
University of Nevada Las Vegas, United States

Consulting editors

Lise Abrams, PhD
Pomona College, United States

Stephen Aichele, PhD
Colorado State University, United States

Mareike Altgassen, PhD
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Tarek Amer, PhD
University of Victoria, Canada

Andrew Aschenbrenner, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, United States

Phoebe E. Bailey, PhD
University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Sarah J. Barber, PhD
Georgia State University, United States

Meaghan A. Barlow, PhD
Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

Margaret E. Beier, PhD
Rice University, United States

Walter R. Boot, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine, United States

Holly Bowen, PhD
Southern Methodist University, United States

Nadia M. Brashier, PhD
University of California San Diego, United States

Wändi Bruine de Bruin, PhD
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Karen L. Campbell, PhD
Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Brittany S. Cassidy, PhD
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, United States

Alan Castel, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles, United States

Eric S. Cerino, PhD
Northern Arizona University, United States

Susan T. Charles, PhD
University of California, Irvine, United States

Rebecca Charlton, PhD
Goldsmiths University of London, United Kingdom

Alison L. Chasteen, PhD
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sheung-Tak Cheng, PhD
The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Johanna Drewelies, PhD
Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

Audrey Duarte, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin, United States

Natalie C. Ebner, PhD
University of Florida, United States

Myra Fernandes, PhD
University of Waterloo, Canada

Denis Gerstorf, PhD
Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

Paolo Ghisletta, PhD
University of Geneva, Switzerland

Jean K. Gordon, PhD
University of Rhode Island, United States

Sarah A. Grainger, PhD
The University of Queensland, Australia

Claudia M. Haase, PhD
Northwestern University, United States

William E. Haley, PhD
University of South Florida, United States

Jutta Heckhausen, PhD
University of California, Irvine, United States

Thomas M. Hess, PhD
North Carolina State University, United States

Karen Hooker, PhD
Oregon State University, United States

Christiane Hoppmann, PhD
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Sebastian Horn, PhD
University of Zürich, Switzerland

Oliver Huxhold, PhD
German Center of Gerontology, Berlin, Germany

Derek M. Isaacowitz, PhD
Northeastern University, United States

Anna E. Kornadt, PhD
University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Arthur F. Kramer, PhD
Northeastern University, United States

Beatrice G. Kuhlmann, PhD
University of Mannheim, Germany

Ute Kunzmann, PhD
Leipzig University, Germany

Lia Kvavilashvili, PhD
University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Lewina O. Lee, PhD
National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Boston University, United States

Kin-Kit Li, PhD
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Leah L. Light, PhD
Pitzer College, United States

Gloria Luong, PhD
Colorado State University, United States

Justin Marcus, PhD
Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey

Rui Mata, PhD
University of Basel, Switzerland

Elizabeth A. Maylor, PhD
University of Warwick, United Kingdom

Shannon T. Mejía, PhD
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States

Lisa M. Soederberg Miller, PhD
University of California, Davis, United States

Elizabeth Muñoz, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin, United States

Dana R. Murphy, PhD
Nipissing University, Canada

Takeshi Nakagawa, PhD
Osaka University, Japan

Jana Nikitin, PhD
University of Vienna, Austria

Nancy A. Pachana, PhD
The University of Queensland, Australia

Barton W. Palmer, PhD
University of California San Diego, United States

Kevin B. Paterson, PhD
University of Leicester, United Kingdom

Didem Pehlivanoglu, PhD
University of Florida, United States

Yisheng Peng, PhD
George Washington University, United States

M. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller, PhD
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Nilam Ram, PhD
Stanford University, United States

Antje Rauers, PhD
Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

Rachel (Shelly) S. Rauvola, PhD
DePaul University, United States

George W. Rebok, PhD
Johns Hopkins University, United States

Michaela Riediger, PhD
Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

Klaus Rothermund, PhD
Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

Cort W. Rudolph, PhD
Wayne State University, United States

Michael K. Scullin, PhD
Baylor University, United States

Jacob Shane, PhD
Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, United States

Brent J. Small, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

Mitchell S. Sommers, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, United States

Yannick Stephan, PhD
University of Montpellier, France

Antonio Terracciano, PhD
Florida State University, United States

Courtney von Hippel, PhD
The University of Queensland, Australia

Chris Wahlheim, PhD
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, United States

Mo Wang, PhD
University of Florida, United States

Markus Wettstein, PhD
Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

Katherine K. White, PhD
Rhodes College, United States

Cornelia Wieck, PhD
Leipzig University, Germany

Bettina S. Wiese, PhD
RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Robert S. Wilson, PhD
Rush University Medical Center, United States

Tim Windsor, PhD 
Flinders University, Australia

Maria Wirth, PhD
Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany

Emily C. Willroth, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, United States

Carsten Wrosch, PhD
Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Cornelia Wrzus, PhD
Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg, Germany

Laura Zahodne, PhD
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States

Xin Zhang, PhD
Peking University, China

Abstracting and indexing services providing coverage of Psychology and Aging^®

• Abstracts In Social Gerontology
• Academic OneFile
• Academic Search Alumni Edition
• Academic Search Complete
• Academic Search Elite
• Academic Search Index
• Academic Search Premier
• Academic Search Research & Development
• Ageline
• ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts
• Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Psychology
• Current Abstracts
• Current Contents: Social & Behavioral Sciences
• EBSCO MegaFILE
• Embase (Excerpta Medica)
• Ergonomics Abstracts
• ERIH (European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences)
• Expanded Academic ASAP
• General OneFile
• InfoTrac Custom
• Journal Citations Report: Social Sciences Edition
• MEDLINE
• Mosby's Nursing Consult
• NSA Collection
• OCLC
• OmniFile Full Text Mega
• PASCAL
• Professional ProQuest Central
• ProQuest Central
• ProQuest Discovery
• ProQuest Platinum Periodicals
• ProQuest Psychology Journals
• ProQuest Research Library
• ProQuest Social Science Journals
• Psychology Collection
• PsycInfo
• PsycLine
• RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
• SafetyLit
• SCOPUS
• Social Sciences Abstracts
• Social Sciences Citation Index
• Social Sciences Full Text
• Social Work Abstracts
• TOC Premier

• Adult Age Differences in Language, Communication, and Learning from Text:

  Special issue of APA's journal Psychology and Aging, Vol. 39, No. 3, May 2024. The articles in this special issue illustrate the great variety of language used through the adult lifespan.

• Prosociality in Adult Development and Aging:

  Special issue of APA’s journal Psychology and Aging, Vol. 36, No. 1, February 2021. This special issue encompasses research examining developmental change and stability in prosociality that collectively cuts across levels of analysis to inform theories in both adult development and aging and prosociality more generally.

• Aging and Inhibition:

  Special issue of the APA journal Psychology and Aging, Vol. 35, No. 5, August 2020. This special issue includes articles by top researchers in the field of cognitive aging and contributes to the understanding of how and when age differences in inhibitory control are observed and the wider implications (both positive and negative) for cognition.

• The Role of Historical Change for Adult Development and Aging:

  Special issue of the APA journal Psychology and Aging, Vol. 34, No. 8, December 2019. Includes articles about cognitive aging, life outcomes, metamemory, control beliefs, narcissism, personality across the lifespan, loneliness, and friendship.

• Age-Related Differences in Associative Memory:

  Special issue of the APA journal Psychology and Aging, Vol. 33, No. 1, February 2018. The articles provide new findings on different aspects of associative memory, including patterns of decline and sparing, heterogeneity in older adults' associative memory performance, and cognitive and noncognitive factors that may potentially improve older adults' associative memory performance.

• The Role of Time and Time Perspective in Age-Related Processes:

  Special issue of the APA journal Psychology and Aging, Vol. 31, No. 6, September 2016. The eight manuscripts advance the time perspective and aging literature both theoretically and methodologically.

Transparency and Openness Promotion

APA endorses the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines by a community working group in conjunction with 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 by journals and authors at three levels of compliance.

For example:

• 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 restriction when not permitted).
• Level 3: Verification—A third party must verify that the standard is met.

Empirical research, including meta-analyses, submitted to Psychology and Aging must, at a minimum, meet Level 1 (Disclosure) for all eight aspects of research planning and reporting, and Level 2 (Requirement) for Citation and for Transparency in Data, Design and Analysis, Analytic Code, and Research Materials. Thus, authors must make data, materials, and code available via trusted repositories (e.g., APA’s repository on the Open Science Framework (OSF)), or explain the legal and/or ethical reasons that they cannot be provided. 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.

We encourage investigators to preregister their studies and to share protocols and analytic plans prior to conducting the research, but this is not required; if the study and analytic plans have been preregistered, this must be reported. There are many available preregistration forms  (e.g., the APA Preregistration for Quantitative Research in Psychology template, ClininalTrials.gov, or other preregistration templates available via OSF); completed preregistration forms should be posted on a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., OSF, ClinicalTrials.gov, or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network). The list below presents the eight fundamental aspects of research planning and reporting, the TOP level required by Psychology and Aging.

Authors should include an introductory subsection in the methods section titled “Transparency and openness.” This subsection should include a statement of adherence to transparency guidelines and/or explanation of any exceptions.

Please contact the editor (Hannes Zacher, PhD) with any further questions.

• Citation: Level 2, Requirement—All data, program code, and other methods developed by others must be cited in the text and listed in the references section.
• Data Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states whether the raw and/or processed data on which study conclusions are based are posted to a trusted repository and either how to access them or the legal or ethical reasons why they are not available.
• Analytic Methods (Code) Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states where computer code or syntax needed to reproduce analyses is posted to a trusted repository and how to access it. The legal or ethical reason for any exception must be explained in the article.
• Research Materials Transparency: Level 2, Requirement—Article states where materials described in the method section are posted to a trusted repository and how to access them. The legal or ethical reason for any exception must be explained in the article.
• Design and Analysis Transparency (Reporting Standards): Level 2, Requirement—The article must report 1) how the sample size was determined, 2) the gender and racial distribution of the sample as a function of age, 3) all data exclusions, 4) all manipulations, and 5) all study measures (see the APA Journal Article Reporting Standards; JARS and Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn, 2012).
• Study Preregistration: Level 1, Disclosure—Article states whether the study design and hypotheses were preregistered and, if so, how to access them. For masked submissions, authors may provide a masked version via a stable link or supplemental material.
• Analysis Plan Preregistration: Level 1, Disclosure—Article states whether any of the work reported preregistered an analysis plan and, if so, how to access it. For masked submissions, authors may provide a masked version via stable link or supplemental material.
• Replication: Level 1, Disclosure—The journal publishes replications.

A list of participating journals is also available from APA.

Other open science initiatives

• Open Science badges: Not offered
• Public significance statements: Offered
• Author contribution statements using CRediT: Required
• Registered Reports: Not published
• Replications: Published

Explore open science at APA.

Journal equity, diversity, and inclusion statement

Psychology and Aging is committed to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in scientific research. The journal strives to promote:

1. the development of scientific principles that are appropriately contextualized with respect to empirically supported generalizability;
2. an understanding of how adult development and aging varies with individual differences (e.g., sex, gender identity, racial and ethnic identity, socioeconomic status) and variation in historical, economic, and sociocultural context;
3. the application of scientific knowledge to promote equity;
4. openness and transparency in research practices so as to allow for more equitable scientific processes and outcomes; and
5. the inclusion of a diverse community of authors, readers, and reviewers.

Inclusive study designs

• Diverse samples
• Registered Reports

Definitions and further details on inclusive study designs are available on the Journals EDI homepage. We encourage submissions based on samples that extend beyond the population of Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) individuals (Henrich, et al., 2010).

Inclusive reporting standards

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

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

Pathways to authorship and editorship

Reviewer mentorship program

Reviewers are encouraged to engage their students and trainees in mentored co-reviewing. 

For more information about pathways to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in scientific research, see the APA Publishing EDI framework.

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).

• Reviewer guidelines and mentored coreview

Announcements

• Call for editorial fellowship nominations
• New editor appointed

Editor Spotlight

• Read an interview with Editor Hannes Zacher, PhD

From APA Journals Article Spotlight^®

• Does better memory help to maintain physical health?
• Was everything better in the good old days?
• Age-related differences in associative memory: Empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives
• Food for happy thought: Glucose helps older adults retain a positive mindset
• Special issue on the role of time and time perspective in age-related processes