Call for papers: Commentaries on translational impact

The purpose of “Commentaries on Translational Impact” is to provide a forum for critical commentaries authored by graduate students of a recently-published paper in Translational Issues in Psychological Science (TPS).

The commentaries should be brief (500 words) reflections on the translational impact of one published article.

However, commentaries can be written to synthesize the impact of multiple published papers that appear within the same themed special issue of TPS. For instance, commentaries that reflect how the findings from several papers or the entire issue have affected the translational impact of psychological research on a specific topic.

All commentaries must be authored by a psychologist in training, such as a graduate student or postdoctoral scholar, with preference for a graduate student or postdoctoral scholar in the first-author role. Commentaries authored by multiple individuals, including more than one psychologist in training, are encouraged.

Commentaries are critical evaluations of an article’s translational impact rather than critiques of the authors or of specific arguments made in the original paper. Commentaries should not simply summarize the target article. Instead, they should make an original, evidence-supported contribution that helps readers understand the article’s implications for public interest, practice, policy, psychological science, or audiences beyond the immediate research area.

Want to ACE your commentary submission? Strong commentaries do one of the following:

1. Add theoretical perspective not fully considered in the target article and explain how that perspective changes or deepens the translational implications of the work.
2. Contrast the target article’s central argument or implications with previously published empirical or theoretical evidence, clarifying what the broader literature suggests about the article’s translational claims.
3. Extend the discussion of the target article to new dimensions for future research or application, such as new populations, contexts, mechanisms, methods, interventions, policy settings, or implementation challenges.

Commentaries that extend the discussion to future research or application must do more than identify a general direction for future work. They should provide specific examples and detailed, appropriate citations to support the new contribution. For example, a commentary might explain how the target article’s findings could inform research with a particular population, be applied in a specific practice or policy context, or raise new questions about measurement, implementation, equity, development, or intervention design. These extensions should be grounded in the existing literature and should clearly show how the commentary adds to the translational value of the original article.

Authors who are interested in writing a commentary on an original paper(s) must contact the TPS Editor in Chiefopens in new window to “reserve" comment on that piece. Therefore, authors are encouraged to identify interest in writing a commentary for the “Commentaries on Translational Impact” early in the process.

Authors will subsequently work with TPS editorial staff in following a deadline for submitting their final commentary by a pre-determined date in order to be published in a timely manner, ideally within the subsequent issue of TPS.

All commentaries are sent out for peer-review; therefore, strict deadlines for submitting commentaries and request for revisions are expected.

All commentaries must be submitted with title “Commentary on Translational Impact” followed by the title of the author’s commentary (e.g., “Commentary on Translational Impact: Improving upon the translational animal model of posttraumatic stress disorder”). Public significance statements and abstracts are not required.

All decisions regarding date of final publication for commentaries is determined by the TPS editorial board contingent on page allocation for each issue and is thus evaluated on an issue-by-issue basis.

For more information about the journal, visit the TPS homepage.

Please feel free to forward this correspondence to interested colleagues and psychologists-in-training.