About the Journal

Aims and scope

The journal publishes original articles in the area of psychology with a focus on cognitive and emotional processes in personality, social and developmental contexts.
The journal aims to bring together work on cognition and emotion undertaken by researchers in the area of cognitive, social, personality and developmental psychology.

Topics covered by the journal include:

  • Sensory processes and perception
  • Learning, memory, and attention
  • Thinking, problem-solving, intelligence, and creativity
  • Judgment and decision making
  • Attitudes and beliefs
  • Emotions and emotion regulation
  • Motivation, goals, and achievement
  • Personality variables and personality development
  • Well-being and optimal human functioning
  • Coping, adaptation, and stress management
  • Identity and self
  • Cultural aspects of cognition and emotion
  • Social cognition, prejudices, and stereotypes
  • Language, communication, and information processing
  • Methodological and statistical advances in the areas covered by journals

We welcome articles that focus on the above-mentioned topics as they pertain to individuals, dyads, groups, and other social collectives. Studia Psychologica accepts only empirical studies. Occasionally editors may invite well-known authors to contribute authoritative review articles and theoretical treatments on selected themes in the journal's areas of interest. 

The journal is currently annotated in:

Web of Science/Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) - since 1986
Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences - since 1978
Journal Citation Reports (JCR)
PsychInfo - since 1965
SCOPUS - since 1996
Google Scholar
PubPsych
CEJSH - Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
DOAJ- Directory of Open Access Journals - since 2018

Open Access

Studia Psychologica is a completely open-access journal, with no Article Processing Charges. 

Types of articles 

We publish only original empirical articles including new empirical contributions, replications, registered reports and meta-analyses.

Original articles: The majority of articles we publish are original articles that bring new empirical contributions to the field of cognitive psychology. Articles should not be submitted elsewhere and should adhere to the latest APA standards. The word limits for the manuscripts are 6000 words for single-study quantitative manuscripts and 8000 words for qualitative and multi-study research papers.

Psychometric studies: Psychometric studies are also welcomed. However, we prefer studies dealing with general psychological measures relevant to the scope of the journal such as personality inventories, cognitive tests, measures of social psychological phenomena, etc., which may be useful for the broader scientific community. Psychometric studies focused on very specific and local measures with little relevance to the general scientific community will be rejected. Also, they should expand our knowledge about the validity and/or structure of the constructs being measured. Routine psychometric analyses of language-translated questionnaires in local languages without a broader examination of the validity and applicability of the measures will not be considered for publication in Studia Psychologica.

Replications: We publish replications, so long as they have a compelling rationale, e.g., the original results were surprising.

Registered reports: We will review the Introduction and Method section of proposed studies (plus something like power analysis, if relevant). If these are accepted, then we promise to publish the results. The idea is to encourage risky but important studies (including replications) by removing the fear that a negative or ambiguous result will not be publishable. A registered report is not the same as a pre-registration. When submitting a registered report, please also include a separate explanation of why you are doing the study and why you want acceptance in advance. Following initial (pre-study) acceptance, authors are typically required by the action editor to register the approved protocol (e.g., on the Open Science Framework or other recognized repository), either publicly or under private embargo until submission of the full manuscript with results. The full manuscript will then also contain the URL of the approved protocol. Please note that the word limit is 4000 words for the initial submission (containing Introduction and Method sections) and 8000 words for the full final submission.

Here is some additional information regarding the submission of the Registered Report:

  1. Keep in mind the word limits of the final paper. The registered report in Stage 1 of the review should be no more than 4000 words.
  2. Exploratory analyses (i.e. analyses that were not pre-approved in Stage 1 review) are allowed, but if included in the main text, they should be clearly marked as exploratory. Where appropriate, you can include exploratory and any alternative analyses as a part of your Supplementary files.
  3. Stage 1 submissions after receiving in-principle-acceptance are not published online, only the final version (after Stage 2 review) is published. However, you are allowed to withdraw your submission anytime, but you should inform the Editorial office about this decision.
  4. You can submit a registered report containing multiple studies; it is also allowed to add new studies during the Stage 1 review process. Multiple studies papers are allowed more words, but you should discuss them with your Handling Editor.
  5. Registered reports should have sufficient statistical power, but the exact level can vary depending on the particular problem, or sometimes there are other barriers to achieving high statistical power. You should explicitly discuss statistical power and sensitivity in your registered report and it is upon Reviewers to decide, whether the proposed research fulfills the requirements on statistical power.
  6. On rare occasions, Studia Psychologica accepts submissions proposing secondary analyses of existing data sets, provided authors can supply sufficient evidence (e.g. letter from the owner of the data set or an independent verifier) to confirm that they have had no prior access to the data in question.
  7. After in-principal acceptance in the Stage 1 review process, authors are expected to submit their full paper within one year of the in-principal acceptance letter.
  8. To preserve the purpose of the Registered Reports, authors should avoid any deviations from the stated experimental procedures, even if it appears minor. Changes to the introduction submitted at Stage 1 can be made for the submission at Stage 2 only after consulting the handling editors, and this should be done prior to the completion of data collection. Any deviations from the approved protocol should be clearly marked and the reasons for the changes should be provided in a separate letter to the Editor and Reviewers. Note that registered analyses must be undertaken, but additional unregistered analyses can also be included in a final manuscript.

For further details, we recommend following these guidelines.