Acta Psychologica
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An open access, open science journal that aims to foster collaboration across all fields of psychology
Impact Factor: 1.8 | CiteScore: 2.7
Acta Psychologica is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that aims to publish articles relevant to all fields of psychology. Our papers serve as solid building blocks for a research field while still being accessible for readers outside this field.
The journal invites submissions in eight different sections: Clinical and Health Psychology, Cognition, Individual Differences, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Language Psychology, Lifespan Development, Psychology and Technology, and Social Psychology. We aim to continuously add fields where the need arises. We welcome research & replication studies, review articles, meta-analyses, and registered reports.
Proposals for special issues should be made directly to our dedicated Section Editors. The journal embraces all aspects of open science and, to that end, researchers are encouraged to preregister their studies and/or share their data.
Resources
Acta Psychologica Covering all Psychology disciplines
Acta Psychologica subject sections
Clinical and Health Psychology
Section Editor: Professor Martin Dempster, PhD
We seek research backed by a robust methodology, where findings will advance knowledge or practice in clinical or health psychology.
The Clinical and Health Psychology section publishes research studies and systematic review articles in any area of clinical psychology or health psychology. These are applied areas of psychology and, consequently, papers reporting the results of research in an applied setting are particularly welcome. We are also keen to receive papers reporting theoretical advances that have implications for applied clinical or health psychology. Papers must report the findings of research conducted with a robust methodology, where the findings will forward knowledge or practice in clinical or health psychology. The research methodology is not restricted. The section publishes research using quantitative or qualitative approaches and also publishes papers reporting the development of new research methods or designs that are particularly relevant to clinical or health psychology. We expect that authors will conform to the most appropriate reporting guidelines when writing their research paper (www.equator-network.org(opens in new tab/window)).
Meet Martin Dempster, Section Editor(opens in new tab/window)
What we publish
Research studies
Systematic reviews
Theoretical advances
New research method
Cognition
Section Editor: Dr. Wim Notebaert, PhD
The Cognition section in Acta Psychologica showcases relevant, pioneering advancements in cognitive psychology
The Cognition section publishes research studies, review articles, and special issues in any area of cognitive psychology, excluding language research as there is a section devoted to language psychology. The majority of the articles deal with perception, attention, working memory, long-term memory, decision making, cognitive and/or affective control, and motor cognition. Research studies should be focused on increasing our understanding of human behavior and cognition. We publish behavioral and neuroscientific papers (EEG, fMRI, TMS, etc.).
Meet Wim Notebaert, Section Editor(opens in new tab/window)
Invitations are open for research articles that:
Deal with any area of cognitive psychology
Focus on improving our understanding of human behavior and cognition
Educational Psychology
Section Editor: Dr. Mohamed Alansari, PhD
The educational psychology section within Acta Psychologica publishes original papers (theoretical and empirical) that use psychological theories and constructs to investigate educational processes, teaching and learning, and promote educational success across learning environments (formal and informal).
This section will highlight scholarly investigations, innovations, and contributions to knowledge and understandings of teaching and learning processes, through robust theoretical framing, clear methodologies and insights designed to speak to current educational challenges.
Key areas of focus include: teacher and student beliefs, engagement and motivation, learning and assessment, memory and cognition, social psychology of classrooms and peer learning, culturally and linguistically responsive research and practice, learning with technologies, indigenous models of education and psychology, student wellbeing.
Meet Mohamed Alansari, Section Editor(opens in new tab/window)
Focus areas
Engagement and motivation
Learning and assessment
Memory and cognition
Educational and classroom psychology
Inclusivity
Use of technology
Indigenous models of education and psychology
Student wellbeing
Author benefits
Free PDFs
Liberal copyright policies
Special discounts
Why choose us?
Rigorous peer review
Broad scope
Open access
Fast publishing
Individual Differences
Section Editors: Dr. Colin Cooper, PhD; Professor Julie Aitken Schermer, PhD
Dedicated to understanding the processes around core individual differences.
The Individual Differences section welcomes papers that make an important contribution to our understanding of core individual differences in personality, intelligence and other cognitive abilities, mood, and motivation and their measurement. We particularly welcome submissions that enhance our understanding of the mechanisms by which individual differences develop and operate by relating questionnaire and test scores to behavioral, developmental, social, physiological, genetic, and cognitive variables and processes. We are also pleased to consider work that relates scores on questionnaires or tests to important real-life behaviors. However, other journals are more suitable for language-translated questionnaires, routine validations, cross-cultural comparisons, and correlational studies, which do not advance our understanding of core individual differences.
Meet the Individual Differences Section Editors: Colin Cooper (opens in new tab/window)and Julie Aitken(opens in new tab/window)
Areas of study
Core individual differences in personality, intelligence and other cognitive abilities, mood and motivation and their measurement
Development and operation of individual differences
Relation between scores on questionnaires or tests to important real-life behaviors
Industrial & Organizational Psychology
Section Editor: Professor Nhung Hendy, PhD
The Industrial & Organizational Psychology section publishes research focused on understanding individual, group, and organizational behavior in the workplace.
This Journal section focuses on the publication of original research that contribute to the discovery of new knowledge in terms of understanding and evaluating individual, group, and organizational behavior in the workplace. In addition, the section publishes studies that help solve workplace challenges involving different stakeholder groups to promote sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging management. To this end, the section welcomes submission of manuscripts including quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed methods of investigations (original or meta-analyses) that further extends the field of I/O psychology.
Topics
A sample of topics appropriate for the section includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Benefits/Compensation/Payroll
Careers/Career Planning/Mentoring/Socialization/Onboarding/Retirement
Coaching/Leadership/Leadership Development
Cross Cultural/Global Issues
Data Analysis/Research Methods/Statistics
General Human Resources
General Organizational Behavior
Groups/Teams
HR Technology
Human Factors
Inclusion/Diversity (e.g., sexual orientation, race, gender, disabilities, equitable access to promotional opportunities)
Job Analysis/Job Design/Competency Modeling
Legal Issues/Employment Law/Trade/Union Issues/Employee/Labor Relations/EEO/AA
Motivation/Job Attitudes/Engagement/Surveys
Organizational Development
Organizational Performance/Organizational Effectiveness/Change Management/Downsizing
Performance Management/Succession Planning/Talent Management
Recruitment/Talent Acquisition/Sourcing
Strategy/Strategic HR/Strategic Human Capital
Testing/Assessment (e.g., selection system design, validation, staffing/hiring)
Training/Talent Development
Worker Well-Being/Occupational Health/Safety/Stress & Strain/Aging
Work-Family/Work-Life Balance
Workforce Planning
Areas of study
Solutions to workplace challenges involving varying stakeholder groups to promote sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging management
Different methods of investigations to expand this field of psychology
Language Psychology
Section Editor: Assoc. Professor Michael Kaschak, PhD
The Language section publishes research studies, review articles, and special issues in any area of research related to the cognitive science of language. Studies of language acquisition, language comprehension, and language production, as well as studies looking at the interplay between cognitive and linguistic processes, will be considered. Replication studies and registered reports are welcome. Contributors interested in developing a special issue should consult with the Section Editor. We aim to publish robust findings. As such, in addition to considerations of a manuscript's theoretical and empirical contribution, we will consider issues related to the reproducibility of research findings (e.g., adequate sample sizes, replications of the main research findings, adherence to open science practices).
Special section for publishing
Research studies
Review articles
Special issues
Replication studies
Registered reports
Interplay between cognitive and linguistic processes
Language acquisition, comprehension, and production in research areas related to the cognitive science of language
Lifespan Development
Section Editor: Professor Martha Arterberry, PhD
The Lifespan Development section is committed to publishing empirical studies across the lifespan in the following general areas: cognition, emotion, language, motor, parenting, perception, and socialization. Studies involving samples of children, parents, and families in any developmental period from prenatal to gerontological are invited. We welcome basic and applied research addressing development using a variety of rigorous methodologies from qualitative, to quantitative, or mixed that involve cross-sectional or longitudinal designs, as well as intervention research to inform educational and clinical practice and policy. Measures can be behavioral, self-report, physiological, or computational, ideally from multiple sources. Article formats can include empirical reports, theoretical and methodological reports, brief reports (short communications), and review papers including systematic reviews or meta-analyses.
High-quality empirical studies
Basic and applied research addressing various areas of development:
Cognition
Emotion
Language
Motor
Language
Perception
Socialization
Social Psychology
Section Editor: Professor Tobias Greitemeyer
The Social Psychology section publishes compelling research that investigates how people's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are influenced by others.
The Social Psychology section publishes novel and innovative studies that investigate how people's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are influenced by others. Topics can cover all aspects of basic and applied social psychological research. Although the typical submission contains original data, theoretical articles and reviews, as well as replications of previous research, are also welcome. A strong focus is on the replicability of the presented findings. Hence, we ask for well-powered studies that employ sound measures. Detailed power considerations (including a justification for the expected effect size) should be reported and authors are encouraged to preregister their studies. Authors should also explicitly indicate whether there were any data exclusions and whether all manipulations and measures are reported. Upon acceptance, authors are encouraged to share their data and materials publicly.
Research focus
Research and replications studies
Review articles
Registered reports
Meta-analysis
Psychology and Technology
Section Editor: Professor Matthieu Guitton, PhD
The Psychology and Technology section publishes research exploring human behavior in the age of technology.
The Psychology and Technology section publishes studies dealing with how technology influences psychology. From online communication to Internet addiction, technology has a tremendous impact on how we perceive and interact with others and with the world. This section is interested in experimental or theoretical research exploring how humans behave in the age of technology. Research handled in this section focuses on the interactions between psychology and technology, as well as with phenomena at the intersection between these two fields. This section is dealing with studies focusing on both cyberpsychology (psychology in, within, and in interaction with computerized spaces) and with studies exploring broader psychological phenomena analysed in a technological era perspective.
What we offer
Cyberspsychology: Psychology in, within, and in interaction with computerized spaces
Technological era perspective of broader psychological phenomena