International Journal of Play Therapy

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

The Association for Play Therapy (APT) contracts with APA to market, technically edit, publish, and distribute its quarterly, peer-reviewed International Journal of Play Therapy^®.

Please submit manuscripts electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal in Microsoft Word format (.doc) 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

Sarah D. Stauffer, PhD, LPC, NCC, NCSC, RPT-S^TM, Psychologue-Psychothérapeute FSP
Association ESPAS and Private Practice, Lausanne, Switzerland
Email

Please provide email addresses and telephone and fax numbers for use by the APA editorial office and later by the production office. Most correspondence is conducted by email. Please also provide your email address in your cover letters and keep a copy of the manuscript to guard against loss. Manuscripts are not returned.

Categorize your submission as one of the following options:

• Research, Case Studies, or Theoretical Applications. Theoretical, philosophical, and research articles, case studies, and literature reviews. Priority is given to play therapy research manuscripts. Manuscripts, including references, must not exceed 25 pages.
• Current Practices. Articles regarding beneficial play therapy practices, current issues, and concerns related to play therapy that include theoretical underpinnings for practices and/or issues. Manuscripts, including references, must not exceed 20 pages.

The Journal publishes and disseminates reports of original research, theoretical articles, and substantive reviews of topics germane to play therapy on behalf of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, school counselors, marriage and family therapists, and other mental health professionals.

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.

Continuing education

If accepted, in order to offer continuing education for each article, authors should also include:

• A minimum of 5 references from peer-reviewed publications/journals, that are no older than 5 years;
• 3 learning objectives written in behavioral learning terms with the verb listed in present tense (e.g., "Recognize which factors contribute and which do not contribute to the use of play therapy among elementary school counselors"); and
• 10 exam questions with a minimum of 8 questions in multiple-choice format and up to 2 true-or-false questions.

Authors of accepted manuscripts will be asked to provide a file with the following information: the highest degree held by each author, each author's Association for Play Therapy's credentials (e.g., RPT, RPT-S, or SB-RPT) if any, and the primary phone number for the corresponding author.

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.

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.

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.

By submitting a manuscript, authors agree that once an article is accepted, then the copyright is immediately assigned to the APT, which thereafter enjoys the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article and strictly prohibit its reproduction, storage, or transmission in any form or by any means without its expressed permission in writing.

APT policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications. Authors are required to indicate this in the cover letter provided at submission.

Conflict of interest

APT 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)

Posting articles on the web

If a paper is unpublished, the author may distribute it on the Internet or post it on a website but should label the paper with the date and with a statement that the paper has not (yet) been published. (Example: Draft version 1.3, 1/5/99. This paper has not been peer reviewed. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission.)

Upon submitting the paper for publication, the author is obligated to inform the editor if the paper has been or is posted on a website. Some editors may consider such a Web posting to be prior publication and may not review the paper.

Authors of articles published in the APT journal may post a copy of the final manuscript, as a PDF only on their website or their employer's server after it is accepted for publication.

The following conditions would prevail:

• The posted article must carry an APT copyright notice and include a link to the APT journal home page.
• Further, the posted article must include the following statement: "This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APT journal. It is not the copy of record."
• APT does not permit archiving with any other non-APA repositories.
• APT does not provide electronic copies of the APA published version for this purpose, and authors are not permitted to scan in the APA published version.

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

Sarah D. Stauffer, PhD, LPC, NCC, NCSC, RPT-S^TM, Psychologue-Psychothérapeute FSP
Association ESPAS and Private Practice, Lausanne, Switzerland

Associate editors

Kimberly Jayne, PhD, LPC, LPCC, RPT-S^TM
Saybrook University, Pasadena, California

CEO

Kathryn Lebby, MS, CAE, CMP 
Association for Play Therapy, Fresno, California

Editorial advisory board

Sinem Akay-Sullivan, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM
Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas

Rachel Altvater, PsyD, RPT-S^TM
Creative Psychological Health Services, Baltimore, Maryland

Mary M. Bennett, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM

Private Practice, Austin, Texas

Gloria M. Cockerill, MA, LCSW, RPT-S^TM
Private Practice, Oak Park, Illinois

Kristy Donaldson, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM
Private Practice, Waco, Texas

Linda Homeyer, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM
Texas State University (retired), Canyon Lake, Texas

Edward Franc Hudspeth, PhD, LPC, NCC, ACS, RPT-S^TM
Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut

Laura Hutchison, PsyD, RPT-S^TM
Private Practice, Farmington Hills, Michigan

Eric Jett, PhD, LPC-S, NCC, RPT-S^TM
Southern New Hampshire University, Hooksett, New Hampshire

Yung-Wei Dennis Lin, PhD
New Jersey City University, Jersey City, New Jersey

Krystyne Mendoza, PhD, LPC, NCC, RPT^TM
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Private Practice, Louisville, Colorado

Debra Olson-Morrison, PhD, LCSW, RPT-S^TM
Park University, Parkville, Missouri

Kristie Opiola, PhD, LCMHC, RPT^TM
University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina

Maggie Parker, PhD, LPC, RPT-S^TM
George Washington University, Vienna, Virginia

MaryAnne Peabody, EdD, LCSW, RPT-S^TM
University of Southern Maine, Lewiston, Maine

Kristi Perryman, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Michelle Pliske, DSW, LCSW, RPT-S^TM
Firefly Institute of Research and Education, Hillsboro, Oregon

TJ Schoonover, PhD, LPC, NCC, RPT^TM
Northern Illinois University, Aurora, Illinois

Marilyn Snow, PhD, LPC, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM
Private Practice, Madison, Georgia

Jose Tapia, Jr., PhD, CRC, LPC, RPT^TM, NCCUniversity of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Robyn Trippany-Simmons, EdD, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM
Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia

Renee Turner, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S^TM
Private Practice, San Antonio, Texas

Amy Williams Long, PhD, LPC, RPT-S^TM
AspenPointe Health Services, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Abstracting and indexing services providing coverage of International Journal of Play Therapy

• Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Psychology
• Mosby's Nursing Consult
• OCLC
• PsycInfo
• PsycLine
• SafetyLit
• SCOPUS

• Play Therapy With Military Families:

  Special issue of APA’s journal International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 30, No. 4, October 2021. The special issue offers articles focused on play therapy with military families and the four manuscripts, over a 30-year period, demonstrate the need for more research and writing exploring play therapy applications with children of servicemembers and veterans as well as their families.

• Supporting the Mission of International Journal of Play Therapy Through Manuscripts About Play Therapy Ethics, Assessment, Supervision, and Application:

  Special issue of APA's International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 25, No. 4, October 2016. Includes articles about ethical issues relevant to play therapy; sandtray as a play therapy supervision technique; semantic clarity in play therapy; play therapy with selective mutism; problems in families faced with military deployment; and systems for analyzing story stems.

• International Journal of Play Therapy's 25th Anniversary: Play Therapy Applications With Diverse Cultures:

  Special issue of APA's International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2016. The articles offer evidence about how play therapy is beneficial in various cultural settings, during periods of grief, and in the aftermath of trauma.

• International Journal of Play Therapy's 25th Anniversary: Play Therapy in Schools:

  Special issue of APA's International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 25, No. 2, April 2016. Includes articles about play therapy with culturally diverse populations; students with externalizing behaviors and poor social skills; children with autism; children of immigrants; and interprofessional opportunities.

• International Journal of Play Therapy's 25th Anniversary: Integrating Neuroscience and Play Therapy:

  Special issue of APA's International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 25, No. 1, January 2016. Articles focus on neuroscience influences on optimal growth and development, interpersonal process, and therapeutic powers of play.

• Clinical Supervision in Play Therapy:

  Special issue of APA's International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 24, No. 2, April 2015. The issue includes two qualitative studies, one correlational study, and three practice-application based articles about play therapy supervision.

• The Future Direction of Play Therapy Research:

  Special issue of APA's International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 19, No. 1, January 2010. It includes two articles that provide an overview and critique of the current state of research; three other articles provide commentary.

Inclusive reporting standards

• Bias-free language and community-driven language guidelines (required)

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

Other EDI offerings

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).

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