Instructions for authors

The „Psihologija“ Journal uses a registration system e-Ur (The Electronic Journal Editing) for all users involved in the editorial and publishing process: authors, editors and reviewers.

If you already have an account in our system, go directly to Log in.

If you are a new user, you can register at the following web-address:

http://aseestant.ceon.rs/index.php/psi/user/register

Upon completing the registration process, the user is taken directly to User Home, which lists the various roles the user has within this journal (e.g., Author, Reviewer, etc.). Selecting the role of Author will take users to their manuscript submissions page, where a list of current and past submissions is listed, and where a new submission to the journal can be initiated. Once you enter the system the submission process for Authors is broken down into steps, with guidance provided at each step.

Scope and language

„Psihologija“ journal accepts original empirical papers from the entire field of psychology as well as neighboring disciplines. The Journal accepts only manuscripts written in English. 

General information

The manuscript should provide original scientific research containing a significant amount of new information (novel data and scientifically sound and interesting findings). Attempting to present already published work or fraudulent data is unacceptable. The data should be clearly presented with: (a) an introduction stating the objectives and background, (b) a precisely described method and experimental procedures presented with maximum clarity, so that a replication can be carried out, (c) clearly described results with tables and figures, (d) a discussion which provides an accurate interpretation of the data and the relation to previously published work or the work of other authors, and (e) a relevant and concise bibliography. The title should be succinct, and the abstract should standalone.

Publication policies of the journal

(1) Authorship of the paper: Potential publication of the manuscript is endorsed by all authors, and by the institution where the research was carried out, i.e., authors should state that they have Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for conducting the study.

(2) Originality and plagiarism: The research described in the submitted manuscript has not been previously reported (with the exception of conference abstracts, lectures, and academic thesis). The submitted manuscript is not already under review, and has not been accepted for publication in another journal. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

(3) Authors are exclusively responsible for the content of their manuscript and for the validity of presented results. In addition, authors must make sure that they have permission from all involved parties to make the data public.

(4) Peer-review: The policy of the journal is to subject each manuscript to double-blind peer review.

(5) Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

(6) Conflict of interest: All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

(7) Open access: Papers are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse. The journal offers Green Open Access which implies that authors can also self-archive their manuscripts immediately and enable public access from their institution’s repository after final version of the paper is accepted and copyedited.

(8) Open data: This journal supports Open Data, enabling authors to submit any raw (unprocessed) research data with their manuscript.

(9) If accepted for publication, the manuscript shall not be published in another journal, in English, Serbian, or any other language.

Submission files

The submission should include a cover letter, and the manuscript.

1. The cover letter should contain title, all author names, affiliations, and the contact information of the corresponding author. Any acknowledgements, disclosures, or funding information should also be included on this page. Authors should state their wish to publish in our Journal and summarize (in a short paragraph) the novelty and scientific importance of the paper. In addition, cover letter should assure the Editor that the manuscript contains only original empirical and theoretical work. It should also confirm that the research meets the APA ethical guidelines. If any tests or software were used for conducting the study or data analysis, it should be mentioned that at least one of the authors or affiliated institutions has all the appropriate legal rights. The cover letter should also include the full name, e-mail address, affiliation and birth date of each author, as well as a mailing address to which each author wishes to have a hard copy of the Journal sent. The cover letter should be uploaded separately from the manuscript, as a supplementary file.
2. Highlights should be placed after the abstract and before the manuscript (detailed instructions about the preparation of the highlights is provided in the section Manuscript organization).
3. Authors should submit a blinded manuscript without any author names and affiliations in the text or on the title page. Self-identifying citations and references in the manuscript should be avoided. If you cite your previous work you should refer to it as, e.g., Authors(s) (2014).
4. Authors, editors and publishers all have ethical obligations with regard to the publication of the results of research. Specifically, when conducting studies with the patients or subjects with different risks for the disorders in health psychology and health science, authors should declare the following: Authors should adhere to accepted guidelines for ethical reporting in health research (please check the appropriate):

• The research was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki  (WMA)  Y/N
• The research was approved by relevant institutional board / ethical committee  Y/N (if yes, please write the name of the institution/board/committee or other)
• All participants have signed the informed consent Y/N /N.A. (if non applicable – N.A., please describe)

Submission processing

• The submitted manuscript will be assigned to an Action Editor responsible for the relevant subfield of Psychology. At that stage, a decision will be made within two weeks on whether to send the paper out for a review. Namely, in some cases the Action Editor might decide that the topic and the scope of the manuscript are not appropriate for the Journal and they will return the manuscript without further assessment.
• If sent for a review, the paper will be examined by two independent reviewers, and this process normally takes up to three months. In case the reviewer is unable to complete the process, an alternative reviewer will examine the manuscript which might result in a delay. We expect authors to return the revised manuscript as well as a letter to the Editor (containing detailed assessment, point by point, for each of the reviewers’ comments followed by the page and line numbers for each change in the new manuscript). In the case of minor correction manuscript might be approved for publication by the Action Editor. After major corrections manuscript will be sent to a second round of revision, which might also take up to 3 months. In some cases the manuscript might be sent to further revisions until the satisfactory level for publishing in our Journal is met.
• Once the manuscript is accepted, the authors will be given a short deadline to make the required changes and resend the paper. We will ask authors to review the final proof once the manuscript is prepared for printing (proof deadlines are usually short and strict). No revisions, updates or corrections can be made after this stage. Therefore it is important to ensure that all your corrections are sent back to the Editor in one complete communication.

We will do everything in our power to have your manuscript edited and published as quickly and accurately as possible. Upon publishing, a full text version will be available on-line, and free of charge.

Style, formatting and referencing

The manuscript should be formatted according to APA 6 guidelines: (http://www.apastyle.org). Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety.

Length

Manuscripts should not exceed a maximum length of 5000 words (this limit must be strictly observed due to page limits. Note that the limit includes the abstract but not the references and acknowledgements).

Manuscript organization

Guidelines. Each submission should contain the following:

1. Title: describes the manuscript and/or main relationships among variables.
2. Keywords: three to five, usually the investigated phenomena, cited theories/models, sometimes the psychological subfield or used statistical procedures. Please provide keywords that can be used for indexing purposes.
3. Abstract: short and clear summary of the manuscript (100-150 words) with main findings. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.
4. Highlights: Highlights are mandatory for this journal. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the manuscript. Please include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per every bullet point)
5. Introduction: describes the research problem, sums up relevant previous research in a logical and critical manner, leads the reader to the manuscript’s main research question; clearly states the problem under investigation as well as the findings and theories challenged or extended by the presented research (about 25% of the paper’s length).
6. Method: describes the empirical design of the study, sampling procedure or stimuli preparation (when relevant), data collection, used instruments, equipment and procedures (new methods should be described in greater detail); clearly states the recorded data type, measurements, and ethical considerations if appropriate; may start with hypothesis/es; in short, it should contain sufficient information to replicate the research.
7. Results: the data treatment and statistical analysis should be clearly laid out (especially when new or rare procedures are used); the results should be presented in a logical sequence; apart from the statistical analysis authors should include an explanation of findings in words (while interpretation should be left for the discussion). We strongly encourage authors to include effect size in their results report. We also encourage uploading of databases and research materials (as supplementary files; preferred formats are excel and SPSS); in some cases, reviewers might explicitly ask for them.
8. Figures and tables: include only relevant and informative figures and tables; take care not to present data in a misleading fashion (for example, be consistent with scaling the Y axis, make bars the same width, use graphs adequate for your variable type and so on, provide error bars with a clear description); graphs should be made in MS Excel; make sure that graphs allow access to the row data from which they were constructed.
9. Illustrations: we accept color illustrations and graphs for the on-line edition, but the hard copy is printed in black and white; please provide color versions for the on-line edition whenever possible; also, please note that our Journal observes strict rules regarding copyright; we accept original artwork, and when the artwork is not original the author must supply necessary permissions; pictures should be submitted in high resolution (JPEG, 300dpi); for further and more detailed instructions on the proper preparation of drawings, including information on letter sizing and reduction factors, please refer to the APA Publication Manual.
10. All figures, tables and illustrations should be given at the end of the manuscript, each on a separate page in the appropriate order; the section should start with a page containing descriptions and legends (if applicable) for each item, also in the appropriate order; please specify the desired position of each figure, table or illustration in the text.
11. Discussion and conclusion: contains the interpretation of obtained results; this interpretation should be made in the context of the models, theories and findings presented in the Introduction; clearly specify which of the previous studies are supported, challenged or improved with your findings, and then offer, if possible, novel models or frameworks for your findings; give only logical claims based on the present findings, but do specify when your new model could incorporate the results of others; the conclusion can be a separate section, which should state how the present research has moved the body of scientific knowledge forward; in high-quality, well-cited papers, the discussion and conclusion combined may take up to 30% of the paper, but in any case they should not be shorter than the Introduction.
12. References: the reference list should contain all of the literature mentioned in the manuscript and nothing else; although it is quite commendable to demonstrate a historical knowledge of the field and cite some classic papers and books, the majority of the references should be up to date, demonstrating the current scientific importance of the presented research. Use of DOI is highly encouraged.
13. Language: writing style and language competence may be briefly commented upon during the review process; minor issues will be corrected by our copyeditor; however, we will not accept poorly written manuscripts with a number of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

Other formats that we support

The journal accepts Meta-analytic reports (10 000 words limit) and Reviews. Authors are strongly advised to get acquainted with the meta-analytic reporting standards, which can be found here: https://www.apa.org/pubs/authors/jars.pdf. However, Editorial board hold the right to decide whether submitted meta-analysis or review are appropriate and relevant for the scope of the journal, and to decide if the manuscript will be sent for revision.

Submission checklist

Authors should ensure that:

• One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
  • E-mail address
  • Full postal address
  • Telephone number
• All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
  • Keywords
  • All figure captions
  • All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
• Cover letter has to be uploaded as a separate document and it is mandatory submission item
• Ensure that the author’s identity is removed from the original manuscript
• Manuscript has been ‘spell-checked’ and ‘grammar-checked’
• Manuscript should contain page numbers
• Highlights are submitted in the proper format
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)

Proofreading and editing

Editorial board of ,,Psihologija“ Journal recommends the following proofreaders:

Dr Louise Venables

Scientific Editor and Proofreader

e-mail: DrLouiseVenables@gmail.com