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Social Psychological and Personality Science

Social Psychological and Personality Science

Published in Association with Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Published in Association with Society of Experimental and Social Psychology
Published in Association with European Association of Social Psychology
Published in Association with Association for Research in Personality
Society of Australasian Social Psychologists
Asian Association for Social Psychology

eISSN: 19485514 | ISSN: 19485506 | Current volume: 15 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: 8 Times/Year

Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) is a unique short reports journal in social and personality psychology. It aims to publish concise reports of empirical studies related to social and personality psychology (5000 words). SPPS strives to publish research that advances social psychological and personality science. Submissions may present new theory, data, methods, or any combination of these. In addition, SPPS will consider replication studies, regardless of whether or not they support the original finding, particularly (but not exclusively) of original studies published in SPPS. The journal strives for a fast review and publication process to allow research to quickly become part of the scientific conversation.

Published eight times per year, SPPS is a collaboration from the Association for Research in Personality (ARP), the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP), the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), and co-sponsored by the Asian Association of Social Psychology (AASP) and Society of Australasian Social Psychologists (SASP). The founding and sponsoring societies provide their membership with complimentary subscriptions, immediately giving the journal a reach of over 10,000 scholars in social and personality psychology worldwide!

We aim to publish articles that:

  • represent an advance to social psychological or personality science,
  • are methodologically rigorous,
  • have theoretical and/or practical significance,
  • help build interdisciplinary bridges among areas in social and personality psychology,
  • and are written to be accessible to a wide range of audiences, including science writers for the popular press and the public at large.
Editor
Christian Unkelbach University of Cologne, Germany
Co-Editor
Tal Eyal Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Eranda Jayawickreme Wake Forest University, USA
Managing Editor
Sapna Aswal SAGE Publications
Associate Editors
Rodica Damian University of Houston
Yuthika Girme Simon Fraser University
Adam Hahn University of Bath, United Kingdom
Shenel Husnu Eastern Mediterranean University
André Mata University of Lisbon
Danny Osborne The University of Auckland
Lora Park University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, USA
Alexa Tullett University of Alabama
Editorial Board
Andrew A. Abeyta Rutgers University-Camden, USA
Lara Aknin Simon Fraser University, Canada
Mark Alicke Ohio University, USA
Leslie Ashburn-Nardo Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, USA
Fiona Kate Barlow The University of Queensland, Australia
Katharina Bernecker University of Zurich, Switzerland
Monica Biernat University of Kansas, USA
Laura E. R. Blackie University of Nottingham, UK
Nyla Branscombe University of Kansas, USA
Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi University of Virginia, USA
Jimmy Calanchini University of California Riverside, USA
Amy Canevello University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
Patricia Chen National University of Singapore, Singapore
William J. Chopik Michigan State University, USA
Katherine S. Corker Grand Valley State University, Department of Psychology, USA
Olivier Corneille UCLouvain, Department of Psychology, Belgium
Maureen A. Craig New York University, USA
Matt Crawford Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Alyssa Croft The University of Arizona, USA
Anna Czarna Jagiellonian University, Poland
Alex M. Czopp Western Washington University, USA
Juliane Degner Universität Hamburg, Germany
Pieter V. Dessel Ghent University, Belgium
Cydney H. Dupree Yale University, USA
Nicholas Epley University of Chicago, USA
Agneta H. Fischer University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
R. Chris Fraley University of Illinois, USA
Stanley O. Gaines Brunel University London, UK
Sarah E. Gaither Duke University, USA
Yuthika Girme Simon Fraser University
Matthew D. Hammond Victoria University of Wellington , New Zealand
Steven Heine University of British Columbia, Canada
Marie Hennecke Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
Erin P Hennes Purdue University, USA
Lauren J. Human McGill University, Canada
Hans IJzerman Université Grenoble Alpes, LIP/PC2S, France
Keiko Ishii Nagoya University, Japan
Joshua J. Jackson Washington University in St. Louis, USA
Eranda Jayawickreme Wake Forest University, USA
Lile Jia National University of Singapore, Singapore
Angel Gómez Jiménez Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, Spain
Samantha Joel Western University, USA
India R. Johnson Butler University, USA
Cheryl R. Kaiser University of Washington, USA
Yoshihisa Kashima University of Melbourne, Australia
Laura A. King University of Missouri, Columbia, USA
Michelle Kline Simon Fraser University, Canada
Nour Kteily Northwestern University, USA
Benedek Kurdi Yale University, USA
Kristin Laurin University of British Columbia, Canada
Richard E. Lucas Michigan State University, USA
Maike Luhmann Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
Ariel Malka Yeshiva University, USA
Allen R. McConnell Miami University, USA
Andrea L. Meltzer Florida State University, USA
Thekla Morgenroth University of Exeter, UK
Beth Morling University of Delaware, USA
Corinne A. Moss-Racusin Skidmore College, USA
Amy Muise York University, Canada
Damian R. Murray Tulane University, USA
Michael Muthukrishna London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Jinkyung Na Sogang University, South Korea
Zachary Adolph Niese Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
Michael A. Olson University of Tennessee, USA
Ivuoma N. Onyeador Northwestern University, USA
Sylvia P. Perry Northwestern University, USA
Marco Perugini University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
Evava S. Pietri Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, USA
Ruthie Pliskin Leiden University, the Netherlands
Felicia Pratto University of Connecticut, USA
Deborah A. Prentice Princeton University, USA
Radmila Prislin San Diego State University, USA
Alan Rauthmann Universität Bielefeld, Germany
John F. Rauthmann Universität zu Lübeck, Germany
Anne K. Reitz University of Tilburg, Netherlands
Jessica Remedios Tufts University, USA
Diana T. Sanchez Rutgers University, USA
Nurit Schnabel Tel-Aviv University, Israel
Emre Selcuk Sabanci University, Turkey
Garriy Shteynberg University of Tennessee, USA
Allison L. Skinner-Dorkenoo University of Georgia, USA
Linda J. Skitka The University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Pamela K. Smith University of California, San Diego, USA
Sarah C. Stanton University of Edinburgh, UK
Olga Stavrova Tilburg University, the Netherlands
Melanie C. Steffens University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
Daniel Sullivan University of Arizona, USA
Janet Swim Pennsylvania State University, USA
Yukiko Uchida Kyoto University, Japan
Miguel M. Unzueta University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Greta Valenti Birmingham-Southern College, USA
William von Hippel University of Queensland, Australia
Jacquie D. Vorauer University of Manitoba, Canada
Duane T. Wegener Ohio State University, USA
Tim Wildschut University of Southampton, UK
Liane Young Boston College, USA
Representatives for the Consortium of Social and Personality Psychology
Katie Corker Association for Research in Personality (ARP)
Shira Gabriel Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP)
Judith Harackiewicz Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), USA
Roland Imhoff Chair, European Association of Social Psychology (EASP)
  • ASSIA (Online)
  • PsycINFO
  • SCOPUS
  • Social Psychological and Personality Science receives manuscript submissions online through Sage Track, powered by ScholarOne's Manuscript CentralTM. Authors should register for an account at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/spps, where they will create a login ID and password. Sage Track serves as the center for editorial staff to communicate with authors, editors, and reviewers electronically, and it functions as the platform for the review process.

    Content

    SPPS is a unique short reports journal in social and personality psychology. It aims to publish concise reports of empirical studies related to social and personality psychology (5000 words). SPPS strives to publish rigorous research that advances social psychological and personality science. Submissions may present new theory, data, methods, or any combination of these. In addition, SPPS will consider replication studies, regardless of whether or not they support the original finding, particularly (but not exclusively) of original studies published in SPPS. The journal strives for a fast review and publication process to allow research to quickly become part of the scientific conversation.

    Review process

    SPPS implements several measures to foster a fast review and publication process. Upon submission, the MS receives an initial evaluation. If this evaluation suggests that the submission has a realistic likelihood of being accepted for publication in the future, the MS passes to an Associate Editor, who invites external reviewers and provides a decision letter. Alternatively, the submission is rejected if the evaluation suggests that the presented research is unlikely to be accepted at the current stage.

    If a submission is sent to external reviewers, SPPS encourages reviewers to focus on improving the research under review, rather than focusing on reasons for rejection. SPPS typically invites two external experts, but this is not a fixed number. Due to the journal's short report format, revisions will usually not ask for further data or empirical evidence. If reviewers or editors believe more data is necessary, a MS is usually rejected. However, if a submission has high potential but needs additional data or empirical evidence, editors will reject the submission but invite a re-submission.

    Evaluation Criteria

    SPPS strives to publish rigorous research. Rigor implies that empirical research should comply with the state of the art in psychological science, including:

    • preregistrations, including sample size considerations and justifications,
    • availability of data, analysis code, and research materials,
    • use of valid measures, valid manipulations, and valid statistics,
    • transparency (e.g., regarding any exclusions of data in particular and contradicting evidence in general).

    There might be legal or ethical reasons why certain data or materials must remain non-public. There might also be reasons why research was not preregistered. If this is the case, the manuscript must explicitly state these reasons.

    SPPS strives to publish research that advances social psychological and personality science. Advancing social psychological and personality science in SPPS implies empirical work that provides new knowledge. This point might be fulfilled by:

    • Theoretical significance. Advancing science usually means advancing theory. SPPS aims for empirical research that provides new evidence, confirmatory or contradicting, for existing and new theories and hypotheses in social or personality psychology.
    • Discoveries. Sometimes, empirical findings are not delineated a priori from theory. SPPS will consider such discoveries of new or unidentified phenomena if they are well-substantiated and shown to be independent of existing phenomena.
    • Replications. Replications are a cornerstone of science. SPPS will consider replications, especially replications of work published in SPPS. SPPS strongly recommends using the registered replication report (RRR) format for replications (see below).

    This short list does not aim to be definitive or conclusive, but it outlines the broad strokes of successful submissions to SPPS.

    Registered Reports and Registered Replication Reports

    SPPS also accepts Registered Reports and Registered Replication Reports submissions. The review process for a Registered Report (RR) occurs before data collection (i.e., Stage 1 review). The review process focuses on whether the planned study is well motivated and well designed. Reviewers will be asked to evaluate whether the study outcome will be theoretically and empirically meaningful regardless of the outcome. If successful, the submission will receive an “in principle acceptance” (IPA) and the authors are asked to conduct the study. If the study meets the prespecified conditions, the eventual article will be published regardless of the study outcome. The post-data manuscript (i.e., Stage 2) will be peer reviewed for clarity and for constructive comments, but acceptance will not depend on this peer review process be contingent on the outcome of the study or any additional tests.

    Registered Replication Reports (RRRs) are a unique form of a Registered Report. The main difference is that RRRs aim to replicate a specific study or result. An RRR submission should justify why a specific study is selected for an RRR.

    RRs and RRRs have currently no special status in the submission portal. The IPA is provided by the handling editor’s decision letter and a MS in-between Stage 1 and Stage 2 will have the status of a revision within the system. To submit a Registered Report or a Registered Replication Report, please specify the nature of the submission in the title (e.g., “Registered Report: …”) and the cover letter.

    Participant samples

    SPPS aims to increase the representation of research that includes non-WEIRD samples (i.e., western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic; Henrich et al., 2010). SPPS is in a unique position to pursue this goal, given its affiliation with and sponsorship from professional organizations in Asia and Australasia (AASP and SASP), Europe, and the US (ARP, EASP, SESP, and SPSP).

    However, non-WEIRD samples do not imply cultural comparisons or necessitate comparisons with WEIRD samples. For example, research on intergroup conflict in Brazil does not need to specify a comparison with the United States unless the intent is an explicit cultural comparison. Such comparisons invite problems, as one might ask why the United States is the comparison standard instead of Greece, India, or Nigeria (or many other potential comparisons).

    The sample should not be specified in the title unless it is a cultural comparison or the sample is a theoretically relevant variable or boundary condition. However, a precise sample description should appear in the methods section, and a brief characterization of the sample in the Abstract.

    Submission Portal

    The submission portal will ask authors to confirm the following:

    • Confirm that the reported research complies with APA ethical standards in the treatment of participants, human or animal.
    • Confirm that you have reported how the sample size was determined for each study and a discussion of statistical power.
    • Confirm that you have reported all data exclusions (e.g., dropped outliers) and how decisions about data exclusions were made.
    • Confirm that you have reported all measures or conditions for variables of interest to the research question(s), whether they were included in the analyses or not.
    • Confirm that exact p-values and useful effect sizes accompany all key results.
    • Confirm that you have uploaded all materials (e.g., manipulations, measures) either a) as a Supplementary File for online publication only, uploaded during the Sagetrack submission process, or b) to a public repository, with a link provided in your manuscript, or c) provided an explanation in the paper of the ethical or legal reason why this is not possible. Please note that uploaded materials may appear in their original language. However, an English version is appreciated if authors can convert non-English materials to English without hardship.
    • Confirm that you have uploaded all data associated with your paper's claims either a) as a Supplementary File for online publication only, uploaded during the Sagetrack submission process, or b) to a public repository, with a link provided in your manuscript, or c) provided an explanation in the paper of the ethical or legal reason why this is not possible.
    • Confirm that you have uploaded all analysis code either a) as a Supplementary File for online publication only, uploaded during the Sagetrack submission process, or b) to a public repository, with a link provided in your manuscript, or c) provided an explanation in the paper of the ethical or legal reason why this is not possible.
    • Confirm that your manuscript contains a statement regarding preregistration, for instance, "This study's design and its analysis plan were not preregistered." or "The analysis plan for this study is available at [stable repository or DOI]. This study's design was not preregistered." Please note that the journal encourages all research to be pre-registered, exceptions may be made for discoveries or under special circumstances. These should be explained in the manuscript.
    • Confirm that all online materials linked to in the article (e.g., to preregistrations, materials, data, supplemental files, etc.) has been anonymized. The links and files should not include information that reveals author identity.
    • Confirm that original source data (e.g., questionnaires, recordings, raw files) will be kept in a manner accessible to the corresponding author for a minimum of five years post-publication.

    Manuscript Preparation

    In general, journal policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for consideration by another journal and does not allow publication of a manuscript that has been published in whole or in part by another journal.

    Style

    SPPS recommends the style of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. However, SPPS accepts other styles as long as the style is scientific and consistent. The manuscript should include an abstract of no more than 150 words and a list of 4-5 keywords, along with the main body, footnotes, tables, and figures. Figures should be embedded in the manuscript upon submission, not appended at the end of the manuscript. Invited revisions and final versions of manuscripts must follow APA style.

    Length

    Submissions to SPPS may not exceed 5,000 words. The word count includes all text, including but not limited to the abstract, main body, notes, and acknowledgments, and excluding references, tables, table notes, figures, and figure captions. To calculate the word count for your submission, please use your word processor to find the total number of words for the entire submission, then subtract the number of words from your references section, tables, table notes, figures, and figure captions. When you determine your final word count, please include that information on the title page of your submission. Manuscripts are checked for word length and will be unsubmitted and returned to authors if they exceed the word limit.

    Supplements

    If your submission contains materials, tables, figures, data sets, analysis code, or other materials you would like to include as a supplementary file for online publication only, you may upload these as a separate file in the submission process and designate the file accordingly. Any file designated for online publication only will not need to be included in the word count.

    Double-masked review

    SPPS conducts a double-masked peer review process. Please prepare your manuscript for the double-masked process by submitting your title page and main document as two separate files. A short 1-3 sentence biography for each author should be included on the title page, along with author names, institution, and contact information (required), and other additional information. The main document file should be blinded and suitable for viewing by reviewers. For example, the manuscript should avoid information about the authors' institutions as a place of research, ethical approval, or source of participants, and avoid citing one's unpublished manuscripts, especially when first-person grammar is used.

    Transparency and Openness

    SPPS currently follows Level II of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines. Authors should thus include a subsection in the method section titled "Transparency and Openness." This subsection should detail the authors' efforts to comply with the TOP guidelines.

    For example:

    "We report how we determined our sample size, all data exclusions (if any), all manipulations, and all measures in the study, and we follow JARS (Kazak, 2018). All data, analysis code, and research materials are available at [stable link to repository]. Data were analyzed using R, version 4.0.0 (R Core Team, 2020) and the package ggplot, version 3.2.1 (Wickham, 2016). This study's design and its analysis were not preregistered."

    The TOP Level II guidelines also require that all data sets, materials, and program code created by others must be appropriately cited in the text and listed in the reference section. Such materials should be recognized as original intellectual contributions and afforded recognition through citation. Where possible, references for data sets and program code should include a persistent identifier assigned by digital archives, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

    Open Access

    If you or your funder wish your article to be freely available online to nonsubscribers immediately upon publication (gold open access), you can opt for it to be included in Sage Choice, subject to payment of a publication fee. The manuscript submission and peer review procedures remain unchanged. Upon acceptance of your article, you will be asked to tell Sage if you are choosing Sage Choice. To check journal eligibility and the publication fee, please visit Sage Choice. For more information on Sage's open access options and compliance, including self-archiving deposits (green open access), visit Sage Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.

     

    Any inquiries regarding manuscript submission may be directed to the editorial office at sapna.aswal@sagepub.in.

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