Aims and Scope

Social Psychological Bulletin is an open-access (free for both readers and authors) peer-reviewed journal that publishes original empirical research, theoretical review papers, scientific debates, and methodological contributions in the field of basic and applied social psychology. The SPB Editorial team actively promotes standards of open-science, supports an integrative approach to all aspects of social psychological science and is committed to discussing timely social issues of high importance. SPB has a specific vision of how we should be sharing the results of scientific studies. Our values are described below as a specific FOCI: we want to create an outlet which is Focused on people, Open, Committed and Integrative.

Focused on People

We care about the people behind the ideas! Feedback from double-anonymized peer review is often negative and discouraging. Editors should constructively and critically inspect/review/debate authors’ claims if there is data to support them. We believe that reviewers should be helpful in suggesting ways to improve the logic and/or coherence of the paper. SPB’s editors and reviewers will strive to be fair, critical and encouraging regarding the progress of collecting the best possible data to refute authors’ claims. We promise to keep a rigorous yet transparent (handling editor will be named once the paper is published) and supportive peer-review process in a friendly fashion. Furthermore, we want the review process to be relatively quick – for short research reports (<4k words), we will aim to reach the first decision within 7 weeks from submission. We also want to support authors in the early stages of their careers - researchers within 3 years of receiving their Ph.D., who publish their work in SPB will be automatically eligible for the annual Solomon Asch Award (1,000 €).

Open

We should not put a price-tag on ideas and public knowledge! SPB is a fully open-access outlet (no charges for accessing the papers as well as no fees whatsoever for authors publishing their results with SPB). All papers in SPB will be published under a Creative Commons (CC) 4.0 license, meaning that authors will retain their copyright while allowing others to distribute and credit their work. ZPID will also enable us to use their open repository, PsychArchives, to make materials available which will supplement articles published in SPB (authors are asked/expected to openly share their data, code, or other materials). We will also support open-science practices e.g. pre-registration, sample size analyses which should ultimately lead to full implementation of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines (Open Science Collaboration, 2015). We aim to provide a broad perspective on social-psychological research by encouraging submissions of novel pre-registered research ideas as well as replications of previous work. We plan to implement the format of Registered Reports (Nosek & Lakens, 2014) by the end of 2018. In this format peer review is done in two phases – the first phase reviews the rationale and the detailed protocol of the study prior to data collection. Then articles can be provisionally accepted pending that the researchers follow their pre-registered methodology. This way of handling feedback from peer-review will focus on merits of theory and tested hypothesis itself. This procedure will reduce publication bias as it will be published regardless of the actual outcome of the registered study.

(Socially) Committed

We believe that social psychological research has the power to change not only people’s beliefs but also social practices! As it integrates an individual and societal level of analysis, social psychology has huge potential to impact common policies. SPB is not only committed to socially responsible research practices but also to focusing on socially relevant issues, of interest to a broader area of social sciences. SPB encourages submissions of timely, cutting-edge research on social problems of real concern for broader audiences, with special attention to articles suggesting possible amendments and solutions in current policies. Amongst the many possible topics, examples include discrimination, social inequalities, social and political conflicts, diversity, reconciliation, social change, etc. SPB is rooted in a certain cultural and geographical context (Poland and Central Europe); therefore, topics that refer to this local context, respecting its specificity but also revealing more universal underpinnings of the observed socio-psychological processes would be of special interest to our readers. Importantly, SPB is committed to supporting cultural and social diversity, in terms of gender equality and the diversity of ethnic backgrounds of our contributors.

Integrative

Various theoretical perspectives and methodologies are welcome! SPB encourages submissions of theoretical contributions, debates, and research that aim to present and possibly integrate various approaches within the field of social psychology. SPB also welcomes submissions from a broad scope of perspectives, not only strictly related to social psychology but open to cross-disciplinary approaches, presenting innovative theoretical ideas and research on social psychological phenomena. SPB welcomes high-quality research that can be placed on the intersection of social, humanistic and life sciences, and can provide a comprehensive theoretical integration.