Guidelines for Authors

Manuscripts will be carefully scrutinized for evidence of plagiarism, duplication and data manipulation; in particular, images will be carefully examined for any indication of intentional improper modification. Any suspected misconduct ends up with a quick rejection and is then reported to the US Office of Research Integrity.

Ensure that your work is written in correct English before submission. Note that submitted manuscripts will not go through language-focused copyediting with the journal prior to or after acceptance; language-focused copyediting is the responsibility of the authors before submission.
Professional copyediting can help authors improve the presentation of their work and increase its chances of being taken on by a publisher. In case you feel that your manuscript would benefit from a professional English language copyediting checking language grammar and style, you can find a reliable revision service at:

 

Desk reject criteria
The editorial team of the journal applies desk review to filter out papers that will not be processed; these are papers that are not aligned with the aims and scope of the journal, or that lack essential information in one or more sections of the paper or has not been submitted as per the correct procedure. In such cases, the paper will be desk rejected: this means that it will be sent back to the submitting author, and will not be reviewed.

Ethical considerations

Articles that report on research involving either human or nonhuman animal participants should indicate whether approval was gained by an institutional board. Research involving nonhuman animal participants should also indicate whether guidelines for the care and use of animals were adhered. Articles that report on research in healthcare settings should likewise indicate whether NHS approval or equivalent from an appropriate committee was gained. All research should meet the provisions of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

The first page must contain:

1. running title (maximum of 5 words, only the first word should be capitalized);
2. title (title case, centered, and in 16 point bold Times New Roman font at the top of page), it should be without acronyms, concise, omitting terms that are implicit, and, where possible, be a statement of the main result or conclusion presented in the manuscript;
3. three to five key words;
4. acknowledgments;
5. authors’ contributions, e.g., information about the contributions of each person named as having participated in the study - in order to maintain anonymity of authors, required for the double-blind peer review process, only authors' initials or different symbol for each author should be used;
6. disclosures about potential conflict of interests;
7. further information (e.g., funding – including grant numbers if applicable, conference presentation ...).

The second page must contain:

1. Ethical approval and consent to participate;
2. Consent for publication;
3. Availability of data and material;
4. Declaration of generative artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence-assisted technologies in the writing process.

Tables and Figures
If tables are used, they should be double-spaced on separate pages of the manuscript, not embedded throughout the text. They should be numbered and cited in the text.
Tables should be provided as editable Word files, and authors should ensure that they are presented in a publication-ready format. Considering how a table fits on a page in a word-processing program can often provide insight into how it will appear on a journal page.
Larger or more complex tables will be made available online as supplementary material at the Editorial Office's sole discretion, including ensuring efficient readability of the paper publishing format.

Figures: Symbols and abbreviations used in figures can be defined in the figure caption or note or within the figure itself. Please avoid the use of boldface or greater size for the characters. Please remember that to promote good management of the space available images must take up the least possible space without compromising clarity. The number of figures should be reasonable and justified: no more than 20% of the article. They must be numbered with Arabic numerals and placed at the end of the manuscript.
Lettering of figures must be clearly labeled. Figures with different panels have to be grouped into a plate, and panels marked with letters. Micrographs contained in the same figure should be marked with letters.
There is no additional cost for publishing color figures.
A different caption for each figure must be provided at the end of the manuscript, not included in the figure file.
Figures should be designed using a well-known software package. Please note that the Production Office will not redraw or re-letter any images.

When requested by the Editors, Figures and graphs must be submitted as .tif or .jpg files, with the following digital resolution:

• Color (saved as CMYK): 300 dpi - maximum width 17 cm
• Black and white/grays:  600 dpi - maximum width 17 cm

If abbreviations are used in the text, authors are required to write full name+abbreviation in brackets [e.g. Multiple Myeloma (MM)] the first time they are used, then only abbreviations can be written (apart from titles; in this case authors have to write always the full name).
If names of equipment or substances are mentioned in the text, brand, company names and locations (city and state) for equipment and substances should be included in parentheses within the text.

Sections

The manuscript is organized by headings and subheadings. For all the articles (except for Editorials and Book Reviews) it is recommended to organize the manuscript in the following sections:

Introduction

A succinct literature review in respect with the construct(s) analyzed shoud be reported providing recent and complete references (following APA norms for references in the text). Subheadings might be avoided. Aim(s) and specific hypothese(s) might be reported at the very end of this section.

Methods

This section should report the specific procedure (even theoretical) the research followed, and it may be divided by subheadings (participants or single case description, measures, data analysis). This section should contain sufficient detail so that when read in conjunction with cited references, all procedures can be repeated. For experiments reporting results on human subject research, an ethics approval statement should be included in this section (Ethical Committee of Institution of Place, Protocol Number, year).

Results

This section may be divided by subheadings. Footnotes should not be used and must be incorporated into the main text.

Discussion

This section may be divided by subheadings. Discussions should cover the key findings of the study: discuss any prior results underlining the novelty and originality of the research, in the appropriate context; discuss the potential short-comings and limitations on their interpretations; discuss their integration into the current understanding of the problem and how this advances the current views; speculate on the future direction of the research and freely postulate theories that could be tested in the future.

Conclusions

This section must provide conclusive findings on the research.

References

References should be prepared strictly according to the APA style. To ensure the correct citation format, please check your references here: https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/reference-examples.pdf.

Manuscript style and content

Authors are advised that publication in Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome requires references, symbols and abbreviations to be in line with the manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition. To support the preparation of articles for submission in Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome, authors are encouraged to review the American Psychological Association Guide for New Authors. Authors should pay particular attention to the readability of articles, in particular the Methods and Results sections of Research Articles and Short Communications.

Article types

Hypothesis and Theory Papers (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 12,000 words max excluding abstract, references, figures and tables; max 6 tables and/or figures): Articles that analyze or debate established theories in health psychology, or presentations of theoretical innovations.
Original Articles (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 12,000 words max excluding abstract, references, figures and tables; max 6 tables and/or figures): Articles that report original empirical investigations.
Methods and Tools (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 12,000 words max excluding abstract, references, figures and tables; max 6 tables and/or figures): Articles that validate instruments used to study the outcome and process in psychotherapy.
Case Studies (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 10,000 words max excluding abstract, references, figures and tables; max 6 tables and/or figures;): Reports describing observations on single psychological cases.
Reviews (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 10,000 words max excluding abstract, references, figures and tables; max 6 tables and/or figures): Articles that provide systematic overviews, evaluations and interpretations of research in a given field of health psychology.
Minireviews (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 3500 words max excluding references, figures and tables; max 4 tables and/or figures): Mini Reviews offer a succinct and clear summary of a specific topic, allowing readers to get up-to-date on new developments an/or emerging concept.
Perspectives (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 3500 words max excluding references, figures and tables; max 4 tables and/or figures): Perspectives propose a viewpoint on a specific field or discipline, and discuss/describe current advances or future directions.
Short communications (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 3000 words max excluding abstract, references, figures and tables; max 4 tables and/or figures): Articles that fall short of the criteria for full original articles. These may include, but are not limited to studies that have a limited sample size or duration.
New Researchers (unstructured abstract 250 words max; text 2000 words max excluding abstract, references, figures and tables; max 4 tables and/or figures): Articles authored typically by researchers within 3 years of PhD completion or 3 years of full time employment.
Book Reviews (no abstract required; text 2000 words max excluding references, figures and tables; max 1 table and/or figure): Reviews of published books.
Letters to the Editor (no abstract required; text 500 words max excluding references, figures and tables; max 2 tables and/or figures): Letters to the editor will be considered for publication. Typically, letters will contain information critical to health psychology research or in relation to recently published data.
Editorials (no abstract required; text 2500 words max excluding references, figures and tables; max 2 tables and/or figures;): Invited by the editor only.
Commentaries (about 2000 words, no abstract required, no figures and/or tables): These contributions provide a rapid forum for readers to comment about articles appeared for less than 1 year in the Journal.

All submissions to the journal are first checked for completeness before being sent to an Editor, who decides whether they are suitable for peer review. The first step of manuscript selection takes place entirely in-house and has two major objectives: i) to establish the article's appropriateness for our journal's readership; ii) to define the manuscript's priority ranking relative to other manuscripts under consideration, since the number of papers that the journal receives is much greater than it can publish. If a manuscript does not receive a sufficiently high priority score to warrant publication, the Editors will proceed with a quick rejection. The remaining articles are reviewed by at least two different external referees (second step or classical peer review).
When making a decision, Editors will consider the peer-reviewed reports, but they will not be bound by the opinions or recommendations contained in them. A single peer reviewer's or the Editor's concern may result in the manuscript being rejected. Peer review reports are sent to authors along with the editorial decision on their manuscript.

Submissions by an Editor
Papers submitted by an Editor or Board Member (including submission as a co-author) are handled by one of the other Editors who are not at the same institution as the submitting author/co-author. The Editor will select reviewers and make all the Editorial Decisions on the paper; if in doubt, the Editor will consult with one another.  
The journal's review software does not allow a conflicted editor to access their manuscript but in the role as Author, which does not disclose relevant editorial information on the manuscript itself.

 

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship according to the ICMJE criteria. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should only be based on substantial contributions to: i) conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, and to ii) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and on iii) final approval of the version to be published; and iv) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Authors should provide a brief description of their individual contributions. Those who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. Those whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading. Authors can find detailed information on the Publisher's website.

 

Changes in Authorship
Authors are expected to carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor:  Authors are requested to sign and send to the Editors a statement of agreement for the requested change from all listed authors and from the author(s) to be removed or added.
Please note that if your manuscript is accepted you will not be able to make any changes to the authors, or order of authors. 

No changes to the Authors or Corresponding Author can be made after publication of the article. Instead, a corrigendum may be considered by the journal editor.

 

This journal offers an Early Access service to authors, allowing users to access peer-reviewed and accepted articles well before publication in a regular issue.
The Early Access papers are newly published articles (Version of Records) but not yet assigned to an issue. These articles are searchable and citable by their DOI (Digital Object Identifier).

This policy establishes transparency standards for authors, readers, reviewers, and editors regarding the use of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process. It does not govern the use of AI tools for data analysis or the generation of research insights. PAGEPress will monitor developments in this field and revise this policy as needed in response to the rapid evolution of AI technologies and related publishing standards.
Authors are required to disclose the use of AI-assisted technologies—such as Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots, or image-generation tools—in the Disclosure section of their manuscript (see "Preparing your Manuscript"). AI tools, including chatbots such as ChatGPT, cannot be listed as authors: authorship requires accountability for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the work, a responsibility that cannot be assigned to any AI system.
Since AI-generated content may appear authoritative while being inaccurate, incomplete, or biased, authors must carefully review and edit all AI-generated material and ensure their manuscripts are free from plagiarism before submission.

The corresponding author will receive a PDF proof and is asked to check it carefully (the publisher will execute a cursory check only). Corrections other than printer errors should be avoided. Costs associated with such corrections will be charged to the authors. Please be aware that the Publisher is unable to accept corrections made in ways other than specified at https://www.pagepress.org/site/guidance

Authors are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

The ICMJE believes that it is important to foster a comprehensive, publicly available database of clinical trials. The ICMJE defines a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or concurrent comparison or control groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Medical interventions include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, process-of-care changes, etc. Our journals require, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration in a public trials registry. The journal considers a trial for publication only if it has been registered before the enrollment of the first patient. The journal does not advocate one particular registry, but requires authors to register their trial in a registry that meets several criteria. The registry must be accessible to the public at no charge. It must be open to all prospective registrants and managed by a non-profit organization. There must be a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data, and the registry should be electronically searchable. An acceptable registry must include a minimum of data elements (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/). For example, ClinicalTrials.gov (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov), sponsored by the United States National Library of Medicine, meets these requirements.

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. An Informed Consent statement is always required from patients involved in any experiments. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.  Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the World Medical Association (2016 revision). When reporting experiments on ecosystems involving non-native species, Authors are bound to ensure compliance with the institutional and national guide for the preservation of native biodiversity.