Tag Archives: journals

Peer Review Opportunities for the Translational Issues in Psychological Science Student Journal

Many graduate students find that participating in the peer review process helps them become better writers, readers, and collaborative researchers. To help more graduate students get involved in publishing and reviewing, APAGS and APA co-sponsored the development of a peer-reviewed journal that serves as a training ground for student publishing and reviewing, called Translational Issues in Psychological Science (TPS). 

Each issue of TPS concentrates on a single critical and timely theme in Psychology that is translational and of broad interest to scientists, practitioners, and the general public. Each article covers both scientific research and its application. TPS is uniquely positioned as a well-respected peer review journal with a specific focus on graduate student involvement at every stage of the publication process. Furthermore, graduate students can serve as authors, reviewers, editorial board members, and even associate editors. 

In the coming months, we will be opening submissions for the following 2024 special issues: Psychology and Gender/Sexual Minority Experiences, Psychology in the Age of Technology, and Modern Psychological Measurement. The special issue of Psychology & Gender/Sexual Minority Experiences will focus on both the distinct risk conferred with these populations, as well as mechanisms for promoting resilience. The special issue of Psychology in the Age of Technology calls for interdisciplinary research on technology-based psychological services and data collection. It aims to understand the role of telepsychology and tele-neuropsychology in future practice and research better via presenting multidisciplinary research on assessment, ethical consideration, real-life application, and data collection using technology in psychology and neuropsychology fields. Last but not least, the special issue of Modern Psychological Measurement will help update researchers and clinicians update their knowledge of psychological measurement methods given the rapid, continual advancements in open science, statistical methodology, “big data” availability, and analytics. Therefore, this issue aims to solicit the latest work demonstrating innovative or advanced methodological knowledge related to psychological measurements to inform researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. 

If you are interested in the opportunity of serving as a peer reviewer for any of these issues, apply today! To do so fill out the application form, and submit a two-page CV. The CV should indicate your affiliation and year of training and demonstrate your experiences with peer-review avenues such as conferences and journals (e.g., listing any manuscripts that you have submitted to a peer-reviewed outlet, highlighting any experiences you may have served as a peer reviewer). 

All eligible reviewers will complete a reviewer training, and then enter the reviewer pool for TPS. If selected to review a manuscript, you will be credited within the journal, and we encourage you to indicate your service on your CV. If you have any questions, please contact Yolanda Yang on the APAGS Science Committee.

Writing Commentaries

By Samuel Accuff, PhD and Melanie Arenson, PhD

Many journals offer the opportunity to contribute commentaries, but many graduate students are uncertain about how to write one or think these are reserved for senior career scientists. This couldn’t be farther from the truth (see this call in Translational Issues in Psychological Science), so we wrote a blog post to demystify the process and help you get started! 

What is a commentary and why should I write one?

A commentary is a paper which discusses and expands upon a recently-published article in a peer-reviewed journal. Often commentaries are short (<1000 words), do not require additional data, and focus on a piece of the results or impacts that the original article did not discuss at length. 

So, why write one? Many of us are drawn to research to contribute knowledge and to engage in the conversation of science. Commentaries offer unique advantages relative to other article types to do just that. First, due to their brevity, they require less time. Second, a commentary is a product that emerges from the critical thinking that hopefully naturally occurs while keeping up with the literature. Third, commentaries are opportunities to collaborate with your research community on interesting and stimulating issues. We are in the era of team science, and advancement typically comes through the furnace of critical thinking and friendly, collegial debate. In short, this is an opportunity to engage with your scientific community and question the beliefs of yourself and others, in a brief format that engages you with the literature and results in a publication. What could be better?

What’s the process?

  1. Stay up to date with the current literature: Commentaries discuss recently-published articles (ideally published within 6 months, at most a year). You also want your commentary to reference the most up-to-date literature, and your future directions to be novel. To do so, it is important to stay up to date! 
  2. Think critically: Commentaries are fundamentally papers that critically examine an existing work. This is not to say they are critical in nature; in fact, they are often far from this. However, there is likely a result, application, implication, or future direction the authors did not touch, but you can!
  3. Express interest: Often, journals have a specific call for commentaries and may require that you reach out to express interest in writing one. Draft a brief summary and reach out before you write the commentary. You don’t want to write a commentary that the journal isn’t planning to review!
  4. Get writing: Connect with collaborators to determine the division of responsibilities and  timeline. Then, carve out time in your calendar and get writing!
  5. Go through review: After your commentary is submitted, it will go through a review process that may be slightly different than other articles to foster a faster publication timeline (e.g., involves fewer reviewers, often reviewed by editorial board members).

The nitty gritty – things that help, and things that can hurt

Journals only have so much space, and editors are picky about what they publish. Here are some tips and tricks to enhance your commentary, and some things to avoid. 

  1. Identify an idea that is impactful and builds beyond the scope of a previously published article. Identify a practical or theoretical implication not articulated by the authors, or illuminate a limitation/future direction for research (remember to be respectful). A restatement of the findings is not unique and likely won’t publish. Related, avoid vague statements and instead articulate reasons why your take is important. Be specific, and contribute something novel. Connect the paper to a bigger picture.
  • Avoid lengthy summaries of the study, and instead point readers to the published article. Lengthy summaries take space, and by their nature are not commenting on the existing article.
  • Commentaries often have greater flexibility in voice, with opportunities to show more personality. Use catchy phrases to create brief, memorable summaries of your main idea. That said, you are still a scientist. Do not make claims that cannot be empirically tested; stick to the evidence, and communicate a healthy dose of skepticism. 

This is your opportunity to join the conversation of science. You may have lost touch with this desire due to tests or the stress of managing your dissertation, but isn’t that why we are here? Find a topic or recently published paper and share your thoughts with a colleague. Push the limits of what the study found, and challenge the assumptions. Sit long enough to articulate that feeling you’ve been having about the field that you hold dear. You never know how your engagement might impact the direction of science!