Applied Psychological Measurement

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Applied Psychological Measurement

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

Please read the guidelines below then visit Applied Psychological Measurement’s submission site [http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/apm] to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Applied Psychological Measurement will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in Applied Psychological Measurement and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere.

Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Applied Psychological Measurement may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in Applied Psychological Measurement. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to Applied Psychological Measurement's author archiving policy.

If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

1. What do we publish?
   1.1 Aims & Scope
   1.2 Article types
   1.3 Writing your paper
2. Editorial policies
   2.1 Peer review policy
   2.2 Authorship
   2.3 Acknowledgements
   2.4 Funding
   2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
   2.6 Research Data
3. Publishing policies
   3.1 Publication ethics
   3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Formatting
   4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   4.3 Supplemental material
   4.4 Reference style
   4.5 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Information required for completing your submission
   5.3 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Sage Production
   6.2 Online First publication
   6.3 Access to your published article
   6.4 Promoting your article
7. Further information

 

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Applied Psychological Measurement (APM) publishes empirical research on the application of measurement to substantive problems in all areas of psychology, education, and related disciplines.

Before submitting your manuscript to Applied Psychological Measurement, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article Types

The majority of the articles published by the journal report results of studies. The classes of studies published include reports on (1) the development and application of innovative measurement techniques, (2) methodological developments in the solution of measurement problems, (3) comparisons of different measurement techniques, (4) investigations of the applicability of measurement methodologies, (5) empirical studies on validation and reliability methodologies, and (6) critical reviews of measurement methodology.

Simulation studies of the properties and/or robustness of methodological techniques are an important source of information about these techniques, and the best practices for their application.  As such, APM welcomes studies reporting simulations, but such studies must include critical discussion of the results, with conclusions and guidance for the practical application of the techniques under consideration. Inclusion of large tables of numbers is strongly discouraged. Simulation studies should include analysis of the results using appropriate statistical and/or graphical methods to identify salient patterns.

Validity and reliability studies of psychological measuring instruments are published only if they have a methodological focus.

Methodologically oriented studies in the measurement of ability, aptitude, personality, interests, and social, developmental, and perceptual variables will be considered, as will studies in test development and unidimensional and multidimensional scaling. This journal does not publish papers that are purely statistical in nature, unless they are demonstrably related to applied measurement problems (e.g., problems in the estimation of parameters in measurement models, or problems in the determination of validity or reliability of measurement techniques).

In addition to the studies just discussed, several more specialized formats are available when appropriate.

• Brief Reports present exploratory, small-sample, and replication studies, as well as brief technical notes. Brief Reports are limited to two published pages, or about 1,000 manuscript words, including tables, figures, and references (about four typed double-spaced manuscript pages). Brief Reports do not require an abstract, and summaries at the end of the paper should be avoided. Similarly, the literature review should be kept to a minimum.
• The Computer Program Exchange publishes abstracts of computer programs and subroutines useful in the solution of applied measurement problems or in the instruction of measurement concepts. Only abstracts designed for the exchange of software that would be otherwise unavailable will be published; information about programs developed for commercial distribution should be made available by advertisement. Abstracts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format, limited to two typed double-spaced manuscript pages. They should include the following information: name of program or subroutine; a brief description of its purpose and function; description of the programming language; computer(s) on which it is operational and any unusual computer requirements in terms of size of memory, disks, and so forth; nature of documentation available; form in which program is available (e-mail, disk); name and mailing address of the program’s author; and the author’s e-mail address. Submissions should also include one copy of the executable software, the program source code, software documentation (i.e., a program manual), and sample input and output files. Programs that run on multiple operating systems are strongly preferred. All files should be submitted through the APM online submission portal. Compressed files are acceptable.
• Software Notes are brief reports of a researcher’s experience with commercially available software programs. They report on unexpected experiences or observations based on the use of a program that will help others recognize or avoid potential problems with the program. Software Notes are published on a space-available basis with minimal editing. Generally, they should be limited to four typed double-spaced manuscript pages. They should be submitted in Microsoft Word format.
• Computer Software Reviews are published for new or upgraded, commercially available computer packages for personal computers. Windows or Macintosh software for item and test analysis (including differential item functioning), item response theory calibration and applications (including equating and linking), item banking and test construction, item factor analysis, computerized adaptive testing, and other statistical analyses related to measurement are reviewed by invitation. Generally, reviews should be limited to six typed double-spaced manuscript pages. Readers or software authors/publishers may request reviews of software packages by corresponding with the Computer Software Review Editor: Richard M. Luecht, Educational Research Methodology, School of Education, The University of North Carolina, Curry 209, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, USA, email: rmluecht@uncg.edu.
• Book Reviews of important new books are published. Reviews should be no more than six typed double-spaced manuscript pages, including references. Documents should be formatted according to the APA guidelines. However, the first page should include the Title (Edition); Author(s) or Editor(s); City, State: Publisher, Year, Pages, Price; ISBN number, each on a separate line. The review should begin on the second page. The body of the review should include the following components, as relevant to the book in question:  

1. A description of the content of the book (What is this book about?)
2. An outline of the book, chapter-by-chapter (What is each chapter of the book about?)
3. A description of any particular strengths or shortcomings of the book as well as a description of unique contributions that the book makes (What is special/disappointing about the book?)
4. A description of the audience and purposes for which the book may be appropriate (Who should consider buying this book?).

Instructions for final submission of accepted book reviews will be sent to authors in the final acceptance letter. Although book reviews are published by invitation, readers may suggest books to be considered for review. Readers who wish to be considered as reviewers should write or e-mail the Book Review Editor: Cindy M. Walker, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, P. O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, email: cmwalker@uwm.edu.

• For the Record provides an opportunity for authors of books reviewed in this journal, or authors whose work is cited in our articles, to publish comments on those reviews or citations. For the Record offers authors a mechanism for responding to what they may consider being misinterpretations, errors, or misrepresentations of their work. Authors’ comments should be brief and restricted to correcting (1) errors of fact or (2) errors of interpretation. Comments on Book Reviews should be submitted electronically, preferably in MS Word format, to the Book Review Editor, Cindy M. Walker, cmwalker@uwm.edu; comments on Software Reviews should be sent to the Software Review Editor, Richard M. Luecht, rmluecht@uncg.edu; comments on articles should be submitted to the Editor. All submissions should be typed and double-spaced.
• Announcements of general interest to readers will be published. Highest priority will be given to announcements of meetings, symposia, workshops, and the like. Other announcements that will be considered include the availability of technical reports or other publications with limited circulation, notices of new publications, or brief items of general interest to applied measurement specialists. Send two printed copies of the announcement and the text of the announcement in Microsoft Word format to the Editor at the address provided.

1.3 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

As part of the submission process you will be asked to provide the names of 3 peers who could be called upon to review your manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below: 

• The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
• The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
• Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted

You will also be asked to nominate peers who you do not wish to review your manuscript (opposed reviewers).

Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite/reject any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.

Applied Psychological Measurement is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Publons. Publons is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Applied Psychological Measurement can opt in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Publons website.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in Applied Psychological Measurement. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by an Associate Editor and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

2.2 Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support. Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

2.3.1 Third party submissions

Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

•    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
•    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
•    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding

Applied Psychological Measurement requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

Applied Psychological Measurement encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway

It is the policy of Applied Psychological Measurement to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

2.6 Research data

The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
• cite this data in your research

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3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

3.1.1 Plagiarism

Applied Psychological Measurement and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of Applied Psychological Measurement against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Applied Psychological Measurement offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

Please see the full style guidelines for submissions to the Applied Psychological Measurement.

4.1 Formatting

A strict page limit of 25 pages including references, figures, and tables is imposed for general research manuscripts. However, appendices will be considered for publication as online supplements. More specifically, a printed issue of the journal only publishes the main document, and the corresponding electronic issue includes both the main document and online supplement. The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines  

Please note that the journal is published in black and white. Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

4.3 Supplemental material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

4.4 Reference style

Applied Psychological Measurement adheres to the APA reference style, with one important exception. The tables and figures should be included within the text of the manuscript (rather than at the end of the manuscript, as is specified in the APA style guidelines). Text should be double spaced, in 12 point font (Times New Roman is preferred), with one inch margins on all sides. The main text should include a running head and page numbers. Submitting authors should keep their identities anonymous in the text. Please do not anonymize a reference to a publication (i.e., “Author YYYY”). This makes the identity of the author(s) obvious. Consult the APA guidelines for additional details and to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style. 

4.5 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit Applied Psychological Measurement’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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5. Submitting your manuscript

Applied Psychological Measurement is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/apm to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for Applied Psychological Measurement in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.1 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

6.2 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice. 

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7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Applied Psychological Measurement editorial office as follows:

Elizabeth Donoghue
edonoghue@tabbystat.com

7.1 Appealing the publication decision

Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.

If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com