Submissions

Author Guidelines

AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Scope and publication frequency. Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writings is published two times a year (every four months until February 2019) produced by the Faculty of Psychology at Málaga University. It is a broad-based journal that publishes contributions to all areas of scientific psychology after full peer review.

Language. The manuscripts can be written in Spanish or English.

Cost. The article processing, editing and publishing is free of charges for the authors.

Originality. The manuscripts submitted to Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writings should be unedited, not have been published previously, and not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Sections. The journal comprises the following sections: Resarch articles including Brief Reports; Theoretical and Review Articles; Clinical Case; Methodological and Instrumentation Articles, Conference Proceedings, and Letters to the Editorial Board. According to this classification, the authors will suggest the most appropriate section in which to publish their article. The Editorial Board does not necessarily commit to following the authors’ suggestion.

Edition style. The manuscripts should follow the APA style (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/index): American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000.

Format. Manuscripts should be one of the following format: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice or PDF.

Number of words. Articles and Review Articles should be double-space (font: 12 points),  not exceed 7000 words, except Brief Reports and Cases Reports that should not exceed 4000 words (including abstract, references, tables, figures and author notes).   

Submission. Manuscripts should be submitted through this website. A cover letter will be addressed, in independent file, to the Editor-in-Chief including the following information: 1. Title of article; 2. The authors’ full names; 3. Each institutional affiliation; 4. The contact author’s postal address, e-mail, telephone number, and fax number for future correspondence; 5. A  statement  that the manuscript is original, not previously published, and not under concurrent consideration elsewhere; 6. Mention of any supplemental material submitted for the online version of the article; 7. Date. 

Manuscript. No information about authos should be provided. The first page of the manuscript should include the title in both Spanish and English (no longer than 15 words); suggested running head (3-6 words), an abstract (no longer than 200 words) and the key words (3-6 words). The second page should begin with the manuscript title and be followed by the main text. The reference list, appendixes, tables, figures, and authors’ notes (including acknowledgements, funding and confilct of interest disclosure) should appear at the end of the text.

Citation and References. References within the text should include the author’s name and the year of publication, both appearing within parenthesis. When the author’s name forms part of the text, only the year of publication should appear within parenthesis. Two or more continuous references should be arranged alphabetically by authors’ names. When there are more than two authors, the name of the first author should be followed by “et al.”.  If there is more than one article for the same author(s) during the same year, each year should be followed by the letters a, b, c, etc. List references alphabetically should be placed at the end of the paper. Each listed reference should be cited in text including all the authors, and each text citation should be listed in the References section. The references should be up-to-date and follow the guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2020), including DOI in the following format: https://doi.org. Some reference examples follow:

? Journals

Navarro, R., Larrañaga, E., Yubero, S., & Villora, B. (2020). Ghosting and breadcrumbing: prevalence and relations with online dating behaviors among young adults. Escritos De Psicología - Psychological Writings, 13(2), 45-59. https://doi.org/10.24310/espsiescpsi.v13i2.9960

? Books

Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.

? Chapter of a book

Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of persuasion. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (4th ed., pp. 115–129). Routledge.

In case of any doubt(s), follow the APA guidelines (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/index):

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Tables. Tables should be placed at the end of the manuscript. Each table should be typed on a separate page, numbered and referred to by number in the text. If any table is adapted or used in entirety, permission must be granted from the copyright owner(s). Where applicable, authors are required to provide documentation of all permissions received.

Figures. Tables can be placed either at the end of the manuscript or in a independent file (JPG or TIFF format). Figures should be numbered consecutively according to their location in the text.  Letters, numbers and symbols included in the figure should be clear, uniform and large enough to be readable after reduction.

Ethical principles. Authors are required to follow the APA ethical standards in the development of their research and the ethical guidelines appropriate to each population. The APA Ethics Office provides the electronic version of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct in its website. For animal experimentation, the ethical standards established by the pertinent regulations should be followed  (Ley 6/2013, de 11 de junio, de modificacion de la Ley 32/2007, de 7 de noviembre, para el cuidado de los animales, en su explotación, transporte, experimentación y sacrificio; Directivas del Consejo Europeo 2010/63/UE and 90/219/CEE; Reglamento 1946/2003;  Reales Decretos 53/2013 and 1386/2018). The study should be approved by the respective Experimentation Ethics Committee.

Editorial process. Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writings will notify the author(s) when the manuscript is received and inform them whether the paper has been accepted within three months. Every manuscript will be initially reviewed by a member of the Editorial Board who will coordinate the revision process. If the manuscript agrees with the scope of the journal and fulfils the formal requirements described in these instructions, it will be sent to two external experts blind to the identity of the authors. Both of them will be a specialist in the area. They will send a report to the Journal, suggesting the reject or acceptance of the manuscript as follows: a) acceptance without modifications, b) Minor changes. The manuscript will be published if the authors make the suggested changes without further review, c) Major changes. The modified manuscript will be reviewed again; d) Rejection. In case of disagreement between the experts, the manuscripts will be sent to a third reviewer. Furthermore, the review offers a free styling service for Spanish and English manuscripts.

Deadline for revised manuscripts. If the manuscript is accepted with changes, the authors should send the corrected version back in one month. They will receive a definite answer in a month and a half.

Transfer of the copyright. Once the article has been submitted, and upon its possible publication, the corresponding author, with the consent of the other authors, should send to the journal a document stating that:
• This is an original work.
• The manuscript submitted is unedited, has not been published previously, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.
• All the authors have directly contributed to the article.
• All the authors are responsible for the content of the article and agree to sign the manuscript in the specific order.
• The study has been developed following the ethical guidelines appropriate to the study population.
• The authors accept the publication norms of Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writings.
• The authors of the article guarantee that they hold the intellectual property rights, and have the relevant permissions for the publication of all illustrations, photographs, images and quotations incorporated in the article. The authors assign to Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writings the copyright of the manuscript named below in all forms and media (whether now known or developed hereafter), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright and all extensions and renewals thereof, effective when and if the article is accepted for publication. This transfer includes the right to adapt the presentation of the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems.

RESEARCH REPORTS

Introduction
-Background literature on the research problem.
-Justify the need to study the research problem and its importance.
-State clearly and concisely the main goal of the research and its hypotheses.

Method

   Participants

Title
-The label “meta-analysis”.

Abstract
-A sentence stating the research problem.  
-The study’s theoretical proposals.
-The bibliographical sources of the search, the number of studies located and integrated, the joint estimate of the effect size and, if analyzed, the most relevant moderator variables.
-The main conclusions.

Introduction
-Justification of the need for and relevance of the meta-analysis study.
-The constructs and variables clearly and precisely described.
-Complete description of the “state of the art”.  
-The questions to be answered and the expected results are clearly expressed.

Method
-The inclusion and exclusion criteria of the studies.
-Procedures for literature searches; indication of the bibliographical sources (formal and informal), keywords employed and result of the search (number of studies included and final simple size).
-Study coding. Study characteristic coded to test its possible influence on the size of the effect.
-Effect size index used to quantify the results of the studies and estimation methods in accordance with the statistical information included in the studies.
-Techniques used for data analysis (fixed effects, random and/or mixed).

Results  
-Information on the characteristics of the studies included in the meta-analysis.  
-The effect sizes obtained are summarized in descriptive/exploratory formats.
-Information about the procedures used to deal with outliers.
-Joint estimate of the effect size, confidence intervals, homogeneity tests and weighting procedures; if appropriate, information on the sensitivity analysis performed.
-Results of the analysis of the influence of the moderator variables on the effect size (ANOVAs and weighted regression analyses).

Discussion
-Interpretations and assessment of the results.  
-The conclusions are closely linked to the theoretical proposals offered in the introduction.
-The implications of the results are discussed, suggesting future developments both for research and applications.

References
-The sources of the studies are marked with asterisks. 

Acknowledgements: The Editorial Board would like to thank Prof. Julio Sánchez-Meca for his helpful comments.

THEORETICAL OR REVIEW ARTICLES

Theoretical articles are papers in which the author presents a new theory in any area of Psychology. Typically, the author may analyze existing theory, pointing out limitations and analyzing internal and external consistency.

Review articles are critical evaluations which organize, integrate, and evaluate previously published material. They should include a definition of the problem; a summary of previous research; identification of relationships, contradictions, gaps and inconsistencies; and suggest future research directions.

The organization of the manuscript is especially important in theoretical and review articles and is usually ordered around a conceptual framework or by chronology. Besides the previous considerations, the general instructions to authors should be followed in the preparation of the manuscripts.

CLINICAL CASES

Clinical cases, besides the general istructions to authors, should include these sections and take into account the following specific guidelines: 

Abstract
-It should be clearly indicated that the article refers to a case study.
-The following information should appear: assessment information, criteria for intervention selection, type and duration of the intervention, outcomes and follow-up.

Introduction
-Brief description of the “state of the art” on the type of problem addressed in the case study. Special attention should be paid to the evidence on which the case hypotheses are based.

Cases description 
-Provide details about the treatment context,  preventing disclosure of the client’s identity (e.g., age, sex, marital status, number of children, family household, profession, formal education, economic status, region of origin, etc.).

Referral and goals
-Analysis of the requests, complaints and/or goals put forward by the client, his/her family or the referral person or institution.
-Description of the problem in the client’s words.
-Analysis of factors possibly associated with therapeutic resistance.

Initial Assessment
-Description of the assessment procedures and the administration process. 

Results
-Background information. Cause of problem and progress. Data on the client’s history relevant to the problem.
- Information on the client’s characteristics and his/her circumstances currently related to the problem.

Results integration
-Formulation of hypotheses with respect to the client’s/subject’s questions. The hypotheses should be firmly grounded on previously collected information.

Intervention
-Description and justification of the changes to be achieved by the intervention.
-Description and justification of the intervention targets.
-Criteria for intervention selection.   
-Intervention process: description of the sessions, number and duration; obstacles encountered during the intervention; intervention procedures applied, sequential administration or simultaneous administration.

Intervention evaluation
-Selection and administration of assessment procedures. Analysis of the assessment results. 
-Statistical and clinical significance of the changes achieved by the intervention.
-When the intervention has been unsuccessful in achieving the expected changes the authors should offer an explanation and suggest strategies to generate the desired outcomes.
-Follow-up: the changes recorded during this period should be explained.

Conclusions
-General considerations about the case.
-Theoretical implications of the case study.

Author’s Notes
-Clear statement that the client’s written informed consent for publication has been obtained.

For more information consult:  

Virués-Ortega, J., & Moreno-Rodríguez, R. (2008).  Guidelines for clinical case reports in behavioral clinical Psycholgy. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 8(3), 765-777.

METHODOLOGICAL AND INSTRUMENTAL STUDIES

Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writing supports the publication of methodological studies that show theoretical and mathematical developments as well as of those that analyses the properties of some statistical procedures by means of simulation. These studies will be clearly highlighting the aim of the study, the problem solving and its possible practical application for psychology.

Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writing also publishes studies that analyse psychometric properties of new scales or adapted to Spanish or other languages. These studies should report, at least, evidences of reliability of  test scores and evidences of validity based on the internal structure and on the relationship with other variables.

Please, consult The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing:

American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. (2014). Standards for educational and psychological testing. American Educational Research Association. Available on Open Access Files - THE STANDARDS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING (testingstandards.net)

For Translating and Adapting Tests, please, consult the International Test Commission guidelines :

International Test Commission. (2017). The ITC Guidelines for Translating and Adapting Tests (2nd ed.). www.InTestCom.org. Available on guideline_test_adaptation_2ed.pdf (intestcom.org)

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

It will be possible to publish the proceedings of conferences. To this aim the organizers should send a proposal letter that would be studied by the editorial committee. The proceedings would be headed by a introductory abstract of the conference followed by the corresponding abstract of the conference that should include the references cited in the text.

 MONOGRAPHS

After discussion with the editorial committee, any author can propose a monograph. In this case, together with an editorial introducing the monograph written by the proposers, at least four articles should be included. The review procedure will not depart in these cases from the regular one. The proposers may act as invited editors carrying out the selection of reviewers and the editorial managing of the manuscripts.

LETTERS TO THE EDITORIAL BOARD

This section is the site for the open discussion of the papers previously published in Escritos de Psicología- Psychological Writing.