The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology is devoted primarily to reports of empirical work on behavioral and psychological
development. Although the emphasis is on empirical work with infants, children, and adolescents, manuscripts that report research on
adults or on special populations fall under the purview of JECP if the work expands our understanding of development. Integrative
papers that present findings from multiple experiments focused on a problem are encouraged; piecemeal papers that carve up findings from
a single project are discouraged. JECP will also consider notes on methodological issues, analytical techniques, or innovative
apparatus if these contributions have clear implications for empirical research in child psychology. JECP will also publish,
on an occasional basis, sets of "Reflection" papers following an empirical paper. Reflection papers are not intended to be published
reviews or critiques of the empirical paper that precedes them. Rather, they are intended to permit scholars to reflect upon one or more
of the (sometimes controversial) empirical, theoretical, methodological, or analytical issues raised by the initial empirical paper.
Topics for the Reflection format may be suggested by authors, Editorial Board members, or readers, or they may emerge as an outgrowth
of the editorial review of a submitted empirical manuscript. Reflection papers will also undergo editorial review.
The journal also
publishes Brief Reports, not to exceed 4,000 words. This word count includes the main text and references, but excludes the
title page, abstract, tables, and figures, (maximum of two tables/figures per report). Despite their short length, Brief Reports are
expected to make substantial contributions to new knowledge and to be of broad interest to JECP's readership.
Manuscripts
are evaluated for their methodological adequacy, evidence of replicability of results, contribution to our understanding of developmental
process and theory, and clarity of presentation, both verbal and graphic.
Submission of Manuscripts
Authors should submit
their articles electronically via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) page of this journal at http://ees.elsevier.com/jecp.
The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process.
Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are
needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for
revision, takes place by e-mail and via the Author's EES homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
There are no submission
fees or page charges. The author should retain a copy of the complete manuscript to guard against loss.
When blind review is required
or preferred, authors should provide a Cover Page (separate) containing the article title, authors' names and complete affiliations,
footnotes to the title, and the address for manuscript correspondence (including e-mail address and telephone and fax numbers). Clearly
indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. The Title
Page (p. 1) should contain the article title and footnotes to the title. This page should omit the authors' names and affiliations,
but should include the title of the manuscript. Footnotes containing information pertaining to the authors' identity or affiliations
should be included with the Cover Page to ensure this information is not seen by reviewers.
Authors are invited to identify
up to five key topic areas to aid in the assignment of reviewers. Topic areas used for reviewer assignment may be found on the JECP Web
site at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp. Authors are welcome to provide suggestions for reviewers (assuming no known
conflict of interest); however, these suggestions will be drawn upon at the Editor's discretion. Manuscripts will be acknowledged immediately.
Every attempt will be made to return a decision quickly, and authors are welcome to send an inquiry to the Editor about the status of
their manuscript if no decision has been returned within 3 months of the initial acknowledgment.
Only original papers will be considered.
Articles and any other material published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology represent the opinions of the author(s)
and should not be construed to reflect the opinions of the Editor(s) or the Publisher. Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding
that if the manuscript is accepted for publication, copyright in the article, including the right to reproduce the article in all forms
and media, shall be assigned exclusively to the Publisher. The Copyright Transfer Agreement should be signed by the appropriate person.
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or
as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication
is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted,
it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement'' (for more information on this and
copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination
of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal
Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included,
the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted
forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax (+44) 1865 853333,
e-mail permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).
Preparation of Manuscript
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. In preparing
manuscripts, authors are requested to follow all specifications of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th
ed.), including the use of nonsexist language, double-spacing all parts of the manuscript, and style rules for reporting statistics.
Authors are requested to pay particularly close attention to APA style in the preparation of figures, tables, and references. Authors
are asked to provide information on chronological age rather than school grade in abstracts to ease international communication. Abbreviations
throughout the text should be limited to those found in a standard English dictionary or those in common use in psychology. When in doubt,
abbreviations should be avoided. Pages should be numbered consecutively and organized as follows:
The Title Page (p. 1)
should contain the article title, authors' names and complete affiliations, footnotes to the title, and the address for manuscript correspondence
(including e-mail address and telephone and fax numbers).
The Abstract (p. 2) must be a single paragraph that summarizes
the main findings of the paper in 100-150 words. After the abstract a list of between 6 and 8 keywords that will be useful for indexing
or searching should be included.
References follow different formats depending upon where they appear in the manuscript.
For example, co-authored sources are referred to by all authors' names in the initial citation but are abbreviated with "et al." thereafter;
the word "and" is used in text, as in Smith and Jones (1996), but the ampersand sign is used in parentheses (as in Smith & Jones, 1996);
full citation information in the reference list must follow the detailed rules provided in the APA Manual and illustrated by all articles
appearing in JECP. Only articles that have been published or are in press should be included in the references. Unpublished
results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text.
Figures
Illustrations in color in the printed
issue can be accepted only if the author defrays the cost. If, together with your accepted article, however, you submit usable color
figures, then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect
and other sites) regardless of whether these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in
print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. For further information
on the preparation of electronic artwork, visit http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Tables
Tables
should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type each table double-spaced on a separate
page, with a short descriptive title typed directly above and with essential footnotes below. Authors should submit complex tables as
camera-ready copy.
Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. To avoid delay in publication, only necessary
changes should be made, and proofs should be returned promptly. Authors will be charged for alterations that exceed 10% of the total
cost of composition.
Reprints
Twenty-five (25) reprints will be provided free of charge. Additional reprints may be ordered.
Authors' benefits (1) 25 reprints per contribution free of charge. To facilitate authors' easier distribution of articles
to peers, the author also has the option to instead receive an e-offprint. This is a watermarked PDF file of their published article
and comes with a cover sheet including the journal's cover image. (2) 30% discount on all Elsevier books.
