Continuity and change

Abstract

The European Journal of Social Psychology (EJSP) has been a key outlet for social psychological research across the world for more than 50 years. The myriad changes that have occurred in the last half-century continue to present the field, and EJSP more specifically, with a number of opportunities and challenges. In terms of opportunities, new social and political environments continue to spur innovation in topics, research practices and in the shape of manuscripts. In terms of challenges, the steady increase in the number of empirical contributions has placed existing models of manuscript evaluation under intense strain; it has also increased the need for stronger theoretical integration as well as the integration of empirical work in a given subfield. In our editorial term, we aim to ensure that we are making the most of opportunities by, among the things, encouraging researchers to address contemporary debates in social psychology and society as a whole in their work. We also aim to address the challenges by, among other things, building reviewer capacity and providing opportunities for integrative perspectives on the field. To achieve these aims, we are making a number of changes.

EJSP now offers the option to submit two new forms of manuscripts. The first one is Registered Reports. This article type consists of a two-stage submission process. In the first step, a manuscript containing an introduction, a method and a planned analysis section is submitted. After a review and revision process, this will ideally result in in-principle acceptance. After conducting the research, a complete version containing the data and a discussion section will receive a second evaluation focusing on clarity and coherence. After that, the manuscript will be published. This format has several well-documented advantages, including that the authors get peer feedback in the planning stage of a study and that the paper will be published whether the results turn out as expected.

The second new type of article is Outlook papers. These papers are intended to give researchers a chance to either review or give an opinion on a topic of importance for the field. By providing this opportunity, we hope to stimulate discussions within the field that can both concern important scientific debates but could also focus on the link between science and society. We aim to establish this type of paper as a way to contribute to debates that interest fellow social psychologists but also an audience beyond our field. Authors who wish to contribute such a piece are welcome to approach the editors-in-chief before submission.

EJSP now offers a simplified review process. If a manuscript has been rejected by a different journal, but authors think they could revise the manuscript according to the suggestions made by the original reviewers, we would be happy to receive such a revised version of this manuscript. We would consider the revised manuscript with the original reviews and a letter outlining the changes made in response to them. It is of course up to the editors to decide whether additional reviews are necessary and whether the manuscript is suitable for EJSP. By offering this opportunity, we recognize that there will be cases where substantial reviewing efforts have already been invested in a paper, but that the requested revision would have been greater than another journal was prepared to accept.

Previous editorial teams have emphasized the importance of transparency in the reporting of research findings (Imhoff et al, 2018; Noor et al., 2021). Recognizing this principle, many articles that have been published in recent years provide links to the original materials, analyses scripts and the data. We would, therefore, like to re-emphasize the importance for replication and reproduction of making materials, raw data and scripts available. Therefore, for new submissions, we will require this transparency as a default. There will undoubtedly be cases where there are good reasons for not being able to fulfil this requirement, and we will grant exceptions where authors can provide a strong justification in their accompanying cover letter. We also expect that authors will provide a justification for the size of each study's sample in their method sections. Note that this does not necessarily require power analysis as different considerations are possible (see Lakens, 2022).

While EJSP is a key outlet for research conducted in Europe and beyond, it contains only a subset of the thematic diversity that can be found at conferences. For instance, in recent years, EJSP has only published a limited number of articles in the domains of social cognition, cultural psychology and interpersonal relations. We believe that EJSP should cover the whole field of social psychology, and this belief is reflected in the broad thematic diversity of our editorial team. We, therefore, encourage authors from all areas of social psychology to submit their manuscripts to EJSP.

The lack of regional representation of scholars in the European Association of Social Psychology in editorial boards has been identified as a barrier to diversity (Nyúl et al., 2021). We aim to change that. One of the factor that contributes to the regional and demographic diversity of the journal is the fact that potential reviewers from underrepresented groups are oftentimes less known to editors. To address this, we will complement our consulting editorial board with a second editorial board comprised of junior scholars from underrepresented groups or regions. We will work with these junior scholars to develop their skills and capabilities and to integrate them into the EJSP community.

Our vision for EJSP is a journal that showcases the thematic, theoretical and methodological breadth of the field. EJSP should, therefore, be an outlet for excellent research from all areas of social psychology. It should also be an outlet that promotes the work of researchers from diverse communities within Europe and beyond. Finally, in a time when many of our core topics are strongly linked to contemporary societal debates and challenges, EJSP should be a platform advancing our understanding of them. We invite researchers to work with us to continue to realize the potential to EJSP make a positive contribution to our complex world.