Modern Psychological Studies

Policies

Before submitting a manuscript to Modern Psychological Studies, please be sure that all necessary permissions have been cleared. You retain the copyright to your article and grant us the nonexclusive right to publish this material, meaning that you may also publish it elsewhere.

What types of articles will be considered?
What are general rules for submission?
How should I format my manuscript?
What do I need know when I am ready to submit?
What am I agreeing to when I submit?
How do I submit?
How do I choose a Creative Commons License?
What happens after I submit?
How do I make revisions?

What types of article will be considered?

We seek high quality manuscripts for publication. MPS will consider manuscripts in any area of psychology. Although we are primarily interested in results from experimental research, we are also interested in theoretical papers, literature reviews, and book reviews. We encourage all undergraduates who feel their paper is exceptionally written to submit for publication.

What are the general rules for submission?

An undergraduate student must be the first author on the manuscript but faculty members can be co-authors. We will publish papers submitted by graduate students if the research described in the paper was completed as an undergraduate.

All research involving human participants should obtain approval from the relevant Institutional Review Board. The Method section should briefly describe the oversight of the Institutional Review Board and the consent and assent procedures.

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published elsewhere in identical or substantially similar form, nor be forthcoming in a journal or book (print or electronic). In addition, by submitting material to Modern Psychological Studies, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print). However, research that has been presented at a conference is acceptable for submission. If you have concerns about the submission terms for Modern Psychological Studies, please contact the editors.

How should I format my manuscript?

Manuscripts should conform to APA Style, as indicated by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. In order to facilitate the blind review process, do not include a title page. During the submission process, you will be required to provide author names and the manuscript title through the UTC Scholar system. Begin the document with the abstract; a title page will be added to your paper by the editors. The abstract should not exceed 200 words. All text should be double-spaced. Please include page numbers in the top right corner and a running head (short title in all caps) in the top left corner.

Tables and Figures

Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single file (MS Word or RTF files are accepted). Tables and figures should be included as appendices after the references section.

Page Limit

Submissions should not exceed 40 double-spaced pages, including references.

References and Appendices

References should conform to APA Style. Please refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. Any professional acknowledgments should be included before the references section, and any additional tables or figures should be included as appendices after the references section.

Language Requirements

The language of your article should be Standard American English, except for common foreign words and phrases or when foreign words/phrases are relevant to manuscript content. Authors should follow APA style guidelines for nondiscriminatory language regarding gender, sexual orientation, racial and ethnic identity, disabilities, and age.

Permission Requirements

It is the author’s responsibility to secure permission to use copyrighted materials (e.g., lengthy quotations of approx. 400+ words from one source, previously published tables/figures, etc.). A copy of the publisher’s/copyright holder’s written permission must be submitted to the editors of Modern Psychological Studies upon acceptance for publication.

What do I need know when I am ready to submit?

Before you submit, make sure you have the following information and files ready. Most of the information you'll need can be found within your manuscript.

Title
The title of your article
Abstract
The abstract of your article
Keywords
Keywords, tags, or phrases that describe the content of your article.
License
The Creative Commons License you want for your thesis or dissertation. More information about choosing a Creative Commons license may be found below.
Upload Full Text
Have an electronic copy, preferably in Microsoft Word (DOC) or (DOCX) format, ready.
Additional Files
Have electronic copies of any supplemental materials, such as audio and video files or datasets, on hand.

What am I agreeing to when I submit?

You agree to our Non-Exclusive Distribution License. Basically, you retain copyright and give us permission to disseminate your work as widely as possible.

How do I submit?

Make sure your paper is in an acceptable format. We can accept papers in Microsoft Word (DOC) or (DOCX) or Rich Text Format (RTF).
Create a new account by clicking on My Account and clicking on the Sign up button. If you already have an account, sign in and skip ahead to step 5.
Complete the user account form. Be sure to enter your UTC email address and choose a password you will remember. Click Sign up.
After you've created your new account, you will see a page directing you to check your email. Check your email and click on the link in the email. This will take you back to UTC Scholar.
Once you’ve successfully logged in to UTC Scholar, click Submit Research.
Choose Modern Psychological Studies.
Check the box to agree to to the Non-Exclusive Distribution License.
Fill out the form and upload your file. Required fields are indicated by a red flag.

Now you are ready to SUBMIT RESEARCH.

How do I choose a Creative Commons License?

When you submit research, you will be asked to select a Creative Commons License. Here's a little information about each license:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to "copyleft" free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Need more help deciding? Visit Choose a Creative Commons License.

What happens after I submit?

After you submit your manuscript, we will create an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of it and it will undergo peer review. The editors of the journal will incorporated the feedback from reviewers into a decision letter, which you will receive via e-mail. The decision letter will also include instructions for any revisions to your manuscripts by the journal editors.

How do I make revisions?

If the submission has been submitted, but not yet posted, you may revise it via your My Account page:

Locate the article on your My Account page, and click the title.
Click Revise Submission from the list of options in the left sidebar.
Enter your changes in the Revise Submission form, and click Submit at the bottom of the page to submit your changes. (You only need to modify the portion of the form that corresponds to the changes you wish to make.)

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