Journal scope statement
The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology® is devoted to fostering discussion at the interface of psychology, philosophy, and metatheory. The journal addresses ontological, epistemological, ethical, and critical issues in psychological theory and inquiry as well as the implications of psychological theory and inquiry for philosophical issues.
In keeping with the journal's interdisciplinary mission, both psychology and philosophy are construed broadly to encompass a diversity of forms of inquiry such as conceptual, speculative, theoretical, empirical, clinical, historical, literary, and cultural research. The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology encourages and facilitates the informed, innovative, and critical exploration and discussion of psychological ideas and practices in both their scientific and philosophical dimensions and interrelationships. The journal welcomes original articles and commentaries with philosophical or metatheoretical import from all disciplines concerned with human psychology.
Note that submissions should clearly engage with scholarship in theoretical and philosophical psychology, broadly conceived. That is, successful manuscripts usually engage in some kind of current issue linked to ongoing scholarship or clearly engage some kind of social or cultural discussion or disciplinary debate. Manuscripts that pontificate on a particular idea or theory without making clear to readers the necessity of the discussion usually do not go for peer review. As such, authors are encouraged to be familiar with scholarship in theoretical and philosophical psychology prior to submission. Authors without access to journals or specific articles in the field are welcome to reach out to the editor-in-chief for support.
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.
Equity, diversity, and inclusion
Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology supports equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in its practices. More information on these initiatives is available under EDI Efforts.
Call for papers
Editor's Choice
One article from each issue of the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology will be highlighted as an “Editor’s Choice” article. Selection is based on the recommendations of the associate editors, the paper’s potential impact to the field, the distinction of expanding the contributors to, or the focus of, the science, or its discussion of an important future direction for science. Editor's Choice articles are featured alongside articles from other APA published journals in a bi-weekly newsletter and are temporarily made freely available to newsletter subscribers.
Author and editor spotlights
Explore journal highlights: free article summaries, editor interviews and editorials, journal awards, mentorship opportunities, and more.
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
Normally articles are 25–35 manuscript pages, but may be as long as 40 pages depending on the topic. We do not consider manuscripts longer than 40 pages.
To submit to the editorial office of James Cresswell, please submit manuscripts electronically through the Manuscript Submission Portal in Word Document format (.doc).
Starting June 15, 2020, all new manuscripts submitted should be prepared according to the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. APA Style and Grammar Guidelines for the 7th edition are available.
James Cresswell, PhD
Department of Psychology
Ambrose University
Calgary, AB T3H 0L5
Canada
General correspondence may be directed to the editor's office.
Please supply email addresses and fax numbers for use by the editorial office and later by the production office. Most 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.
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, Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical 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 PsycArticles® database. Please see Supplementing Your Article With Online Material for more details.
Author note
As part of your author note, please provide the details (two to four sentences) of prior dissemination of the ideas and data appearing in the manuscript (e.g., if some or all of the data and ideas in the manuscript were presented at a conference or meeting posted on a listserv, shared on a website, etc.).
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 statements
As part of your article revisions, please submit a short statement of one to two sentences written in plain English. This text should 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 new article feature allows authors greater control over how their work will be interpreted by key audiences. Please refer to Guidance for Translational Abstracts and Public Significance Statements to help you write your text.
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:
Hughes, G., Desantis, A., & Waszak, F. (2013). Mechanisms of intentional binding and sensory attenuation: The role of temporal prediction, temporal control, identity prediction, and motor prediction. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 133–151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028566 - Authored book:
Rogers, T. T., & McClelland, J. L. (2004). Semantic cognition: A parallel distributed processing approach. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. - Chapter in an edited book:
Gill, M. J., & Sypher, B. D. (2009). Workplace incivility and organizational trust. In P. Lutgen-Sandvik & B. D. Sypher (Eds.), Destructive organizational communication: Processes, consequences, and constructive ways of organizing (pp. 53–73). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
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.
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).
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.
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
James Cresswell, PhD
Ambrose University, Canada
Outgoing editor
Bruce Jennings, MA
Vanderbilt University, United States
Associate editors
Arthur Arruda Leal Ferreira, PhD
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tim Beck, PhD
Landmark College, United States
Sunil Bhatia, PhD
Connecticut College, United States
Tim Corcoran, Ph.D.
Deakin University, Australia
Sebastienne Grant, PhD
Prescott College, United States
Soohyoung Rain Lee, PhD, MSW
Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, United States
Mary Beth Morrissey, PhD
Yeshiva University, United States
Frank C. Richardson, PhD
University of Texas, United States
Ditte Alexandra Winther-Lindqvist, PhD
Aarhus University, Denmark
Book review editor
Edwin E. Gantt, PhD
Brigham Young University, United States
Samuel Major, Ph.D. *Confirmed
Utah Valley University, United States
Student review editor
Chase O’gwin
Northwest Missouri State University, United States
Consulting editors
Robert C. Bishop
Wheaton College, United States
Robyn Bluhm, Ph.D.
Michigan State University, United States
Camille Castelyn
University of Pretoria, South Africa
Hernán Camilo Pulido
Pontifica Universidad Javeriana, Columbia
Mark Freeman, PhD
College of the Holy Cross, United States
Paulo Jesus
Lisbon University, Portugal
Suzanne R. Kirschner, EdD
College of the Holy Cross, United States
Rashelle Litchmore
Connecticut College, United States
José Carlos Loredo-Narciandi
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain
John Z. Sadler, MD
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
Suraj Sood
Autism Behavior Consultants, United States
Paul Henry Dunning Stenner, PhD
The Open University, United Kingdom
Jeff Sugarman, PhD
Simon Fraser University, Canada
Thomas Teo, PhD
York University, Canada
Alan C. Tjeltveit, PhD
Muhlenberg College, United States
Stephen C. Yanchar, PhD
Brigham Young University, United States
Honorary board of advisors
Aaron T. Beck, MD
University of Pennsylvania, United States
Scott Churchill, PhD
University of Dallas, United States
Kurt Danzinger, PhD
York University, Canada
John M. Darley, PhD
Princeton University, United States
Rachel Joffe Falmagne, PhD
Clark University, United States
Constance T. Fischer, PhD
Duquesne University, United States
Daniel Fishman, MD
Rutgers University, United States
Adelbert Jenkins, PhD
New York University, United States
Jack Martin, PhD
Simon Fraser University, Canada
Robert Sternberg, PhD
Cornell University, United States
Stephen Stich, PhD
Rutgers University, United States
Charles Taylor, DPhil
McGill University, Canada
Michael Wetheimer, PhD
University of Colorado at Boulder, United States
Abstracting and indexing services providing coverage of Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology®
- Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Psychology
- Emerging Sources Citation Index
- OCLC
- Philosopher's Index
- PsycInfo
- PsycLine
- SCOPUS
- Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
- Decolonialism From a Latin Perspective:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 44, No. 4, August 2024. This special issue presents how psychology as a discipline and culture are products of modernity and they do so through analysis based upon the tools provided by the post- and decolonial frameworks.
- Legacy of Cushman in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology:
This is a special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 44, No. 1, May 2024. It is dedicated to the work and memory of Philip Cushman, whose contributions to the theory, philosophy, history, and application of psychology are highly significant.
- North & South Entanglements:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 43, No. 3, August 2023. This issue presents important themes related to decolonialism.
- Possibility for Women in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences:
Special issue of APA’s Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 1, February 2020. The articles represent an opportunity to take stock of roles for women in their engagement with the tasks of scientific inquiry in psychology and its subdisciplines, as well as across disciplines.
- Indigenous Psychology:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 2, May 2019. Contributors are indigenous psychologists coming from 4 cultures (Chinese, Indian, African, and Western) and 4 geographical locations (Taiwan, United States, Sweden, and Africa).
- Conceptual Issues in Health and Society:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 36, No. 2, May 2016. The articles explore the ecology of care and themes of relationality, suffering, and autonomous agency that arise in the broad contexts of health and healing.
- Ethics in Psychology:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 2, May 2015. The purpose of the four position papers and the three commentaries on them is to discuss some relatively undeveloped historical, philosophical, and social–contextual issues that the authors discern in the APA and Canadian Psychological Association codes of ethics.
- Psychology and Social Justice:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 34, No. 1, February 2014. Major themes include the relationship between the individual and the community, psychology's role in the development of more equitable social and political institutions, and the way that different forms of universalism inform the struggle for social justice.
- Post/Coloniality and Subjectivity:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 33, No. 3, August 2013. The collection of several in-depth essays looks at various aspects of the relation between colonialism and its psychic legacies, culture and society in the postcolonial era - and psychology and psychoanalysis.
- Psychology and The Other:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 32, No. 4, November 2012. Includes articles about aesthetics, ethics, and erotics; difference, dialogue, and context:; futurity in empathy; and hermeneutics and language.
- Eudaimonia and Virtue in Psychology:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 32, No. 1, February 2012. Articles discuss virtue, human good, ethics, and subjectivity in psychology.
- Conceptualizing Psychological Concepts:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 31, No. 2, May 2011. The issue presents a target article about using concepts in psychology, followed by several commentaries on the target article and a response by the authors of the target article.
- Is There a Pervasive Implicit Bias Against Theism in Psychology?:
Special issue of APA's Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 29, No. 2, Fall 2009. Includes articles and comments about theism in psychology; prejudice against prejudice; the burden of proof; prejudice in plural worlds; psychology, religion, and world loyalty; and naturalism.
Journal equity, diversity, and inclusion statement
The editorial staff of the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (JTPP) are committed to the goals and values of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Achieving anti-racism, nondiscrimination, and social justice has long been the aim of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Division 24). Through the intellectual leadership and scholarship its publication provides, JTPP strives to further that goal.
JTPP is committed to work that gives voice to those who have gone unheard and who have been rendered socially invisible. We also recognize the danger of more subtle forms of marginalization in which superficially inclusive affirmations actually deflect attention away from underlying structures of power and privilege. These structures are the causes of injustice and exposing them can also help to bring about effective social change.
We will work with those who publish with us, and who submit their work for peer review, to refine the critical theorizing skills that the field of philosophical psychology will offer in the next generation.
Inclusive study designs
- Collaborative research models
Definitions and further details on inclusive study designs are available on the Journals EDI homepage.
Inclusive reporting standards
- Bias-free language and community-driven language guidelines (required)
- Author contribution roles using CRediT (required)
- Reflexivity (required)
- Positionality statements (required)
- Impact statements (required)
- Inclusive reference lists (required)
More information on this journal’s reporting standards is listed under the submission guidelines tab.
Pathways to authorship and editorship
Reviewer mentorship program
This journal encourages reviewers to submit co-reviews with their students and trainees. The journal likewise offers a formal reviewer mentorship program where graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from historically excluded groups are matched with a senior reviewer to produce an integrated review.
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).

