Theory & Psychology
Philosophical Psychology
"Theory & Psychology has brought the study of theory within psychology out of the cold. It is a hugely important journal for anyone with a serious interest in theoretcial developments in psychology. It is always packed with interesting and important articles and should be required reading for all psychologists." Valerie Walkerdine, Professor of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK
"Outstandingly good. Each issue makes one realise how much we need a journal exactly like this, to argue over Psychology's many unresolved confusions, mistakes and mysteries - and to plot the way out of them." Charles Antaki, Professor of Language and Social Psychology, Loughborough University, England
Electronic access:
Theory & Psychology is available to browse online.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Theory & Psychology is affiliated with the International Society for Theoretical Psychology (ISTP )
Theory & Psychology is a fully peer reviewed forum for theoretical and meta-theoretical analysis in psychology. It focuses on the emergent themes at the centre of contemporary psychological debate. Its principal aim is to foster theoretical dialogue and innovation within the discipline, serving an integrative role for a wide psychological audience.
Theory & Psychology publishes scholarly and expository papers which explore significant theoretical developments within and across such specific sub-areas as: cognitive, social, personality, developmental, clinical, perceptual, or biological psychology. It also publishes, and particularly encourages, work with a broader meta-theoretical intent, examining such issues as the conceptual frameworks and foundations of psychology, its historical underpinnings, its relation to other human sciences, its methodological commitments, its ideological assumptions, and its political and institutional contexts. Interdisciplinary analyses addressing psychological topics are welcomed. These may include (but are not limited to) the philosophy of science and psychology, cognition and intentionality, forms of explanation in psychology, criteria of theory evaluation, the social basis of psychological knowledge, the history of psychological theories and methods, the utilization of psychological knowledge, critical theory and methods in psychology, feminist theory and methods in psychology, and rhetoric and argumentation in psychological theory.
Theory & Psychology addresses a wide range of psychologists and interested scholars from other disciplines. Articles are clearly written, for a general audience, without excessive use of specialized terminology. Articles also adhere to the APA's "Guidelines to Reduce Bias in Language'" (Publication Manual, 6th ed).
Theory & Psychology operates a strictly anonymous peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is withheld from the author and, the author’s name from the reviewer. The reviewer may at their own discretion opt to reveal their name to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for both identities to remain concealed.
| Kieran O'Doherty | University of Guelph |
| Henderikus J Stam | University of Calgary, Canada |
| Kenneth J. Gergen | Swarthmore College, USA |
| Gerd Gigerenzer | Max-Planck Institute für Bildungsforschung, Berlin, Germany |
| Jonathan Potter | Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA |
| Markus Eronen | University of Groningen, Netherlands |
| Nora Ruck | Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, Austria |
| Paul Sullivan | University of Bradford, UK |
| Jeffery Yen | University of Guelph, Canada |
| Marie-Cécile Bertau | University of West Georgia, USA |
| Sunil Bhatia | Connecticut College, USA |
| Geoff Bunn | Manchester Metropolitan University, UK |
| Ian Burkitt | University of Bradford, UK |
| Erica Burman | The University of Manchester, UK |
| James Cresswell | Ambrose University, Canada |
| John Cromby | University of Leicester, UK |
| Manolis Dafermos | University of Crete, Greece |
| Kurt Danziger | York University, Toronto, Canada |
| Maarten Derksen | University of Groningen, Netherlands |
| Nurit Novis Deutsch | The University of Haifa, Israel |
| Mark Freeman | College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, USA |
| Harry Heft | Denison University, USA |
| Barbara S. Held | Bowdoin College, USA |
| Alexa Hepburn | Rutgers University, USA |
| Hubert J. M. Hermans | University of Nijmegen, Netherlands |
| Rene van Hezewijk | Open Universiteit, Netherlands |
| Fiona J. Hibberd | The University of Sydney, Australia |
| Arnd Hofmeister | University of Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany |
| Suzanne Kirschner | College of the Holy Cross, USA |
| Markus Knauff | University of Giessen, Center for Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science, Germany |
| Antonia Larrain | Alberto Hurtado University, Chile |
| Rashelle V Litchmore | Connecticut College, USA |
| Ivana Marková | University of Stirling, UK |
| Jill G. Morawski | Wesleyan University, USA |
| Clifford van Ommen | Massey University, New Zealand |
| Lisa Osbeck | Wesleyan University, USA |
| Ian Parker | University of Leicester, UK |
| Michael J. Pettit | York University, Canada |
| Catherine Raeff | Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA |
| Peter Raggatt | James Cook University, Australia |
| Ernst Schraube | Roskilde University, Denmark |
| Lívia Mathias Simão | Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil, Brazil |
| Kate Slaney | Simon Fraser University, Canada |
| William E. Smythe | University of Regina, Canada |
| Paul Stenner | Open Univeristy, UK |
| Jeff Sugarman | Simon Fraser University, Canada |
| Gavin B. Sullivan | International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin |
| Shogo Tanaka | Tokai University, Japan |
| Thomas Teo | York University, Canada |
| Michael Tissaw | SUNY Potsdam, USA |
| Jaan Valsiner | Aalborg University, Denmark |
| Stephen Vassallo | American University, USA |
| Valerie Walkerdine | University of Cardiff, Wales, UK |
| Kevin Weinfurt | Duke University, USA |
| Margaret Wetherell | The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
| Martin Wieser | Sigmund Freud Private University Berlin, Germany |
| Wendeng Yang | Guangzhou University, China |
| Tania Zittoun | University of Neuchatel, Switzerland |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Theory & Psychology
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/thpsyc to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Theory & Psychology will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Theory & Psychology may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy. If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
Text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools cannot be used in articles published in Theory & Psychology, nor can the accompanying figures, images, or graphics be the products of such tools, unless fully disclosed and explicit permission granted from the editors. Please ensure you have clearly disclosed any AI use during the submission process for the Editor and Editorial Office to consider. As per Sage’s ChatGPT and Generative AI policy, an AI program cannot be listed as an author of a Theory & Psychology article. Failure to appropriately disclose use of AI tools may be considered as scientific misconduct.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 AI generated text
2.3 Authorship
2.4 Acknowledgements
2.5 Funding
2.6 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.7 Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Identifiable Information
4.4 Supplemental material
4.5 Reference style
4.6 Journal Style
4.7 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Before submitting your manuscript to Theory & Psychology, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Theory & Psychology is a bi-monthly journal devoted to scholarship with a broad meta-theoretical intent. It examines such issues as the conceptual frameworks and foundations of psychology, its historical underpinnings, its relation to other human sciences, its methodological commitments, its ideological assumptions, and its political and institutional contexts. It fosters dialogue among psychologists and other social scientists interested in psychological analyses.
Theory & Psychology publishes exclusively in English. Papers must be original and not currently under review elsewhere. Normally articles are 5000-8000 words, but may be as long as 10,000 words (including abstract, footnotes, and references) depending on the subject matter. Papers that are longer than 10,000 words are returned to authors for trimming. Notes or comments should not exceed 2500 words. Abstract should not exceed 250 words.
Book Reviews: Theory & Psychology publishes two types of book reviews: Regular Book Reviews (approximately 1,000 words) and Review Essays (full length articles reviewing multiple books on a related topic). The journal reviews newly released monographs broadly relevant to theory in psychology and attempts to cover a diverse range of topics in the review section. Books chosen for review are deemed important or ground-breaking in some way. Moreover, specialists are asked to review in depth rather than describe contents superficially. Book reviews are typically solicited although we do invite suggestions for books to be reviewed as well as self-nominations of reviewers.Book reviews are typically solicited although we do invite suggestions for books to be reviewed as well as self-nominations of reviewers. If you know of a book that ought to be reviewed in Theory & Psychology, please contact our Book Review Editor, Jeffery Yen.
Special Issues: For information on proposing and editing special issues please click here.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract, and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.
Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
- The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.
- The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.
- The author has recommended the reviewer.
- The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Theory & Psychology utilizes a double-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer and authors’ names and information are withheld from the other. Reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor who then makes the final decision.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
Theory & Psychology is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Web of Science (previously Publons). Web of Science is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Theory & Psychology can opt in to Web of Science in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Web of Science website.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
Text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools cannot be used in articles published in Theory & Psychology, nor can the accompanying figures, images, or graphics be the products of such tools, unless fully disclosed and explicit permission granted from the editors. Please ensure you have clearly disclosed any AI use during the submission process for the Editor and Editorial Office to consider. As per Sage’s ChatGPT and Generative AI policy, an AI program cannot be listed as an author of a Theory & Psychology article. Failure to appropriately disclose use of AI tools may be considered as scientific misconduct.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.
2.4.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.5 Funding
Theory & Psychology requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.6 Declaration of conflicting interests
Theory & Psychology encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
It is the policy of Theory & Psychology to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a "Declaration of Conflicting Interests" statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any Acknowledgements and prior to the References. If no conflict exists, please state that "The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest". For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Theory & Psychology and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Theory & Psychology offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. Word templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures, and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures, and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Where a journal uses double-anonymised peer review, authors are required to submit:
1. A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymized. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
2. A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymised material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.
Visit the Sage Author Gateway for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g., datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc,) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.
Theory & Psychology adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
Theory & Psychology conforms to the publication style of the American Psychological Association. Authors are encouraged to consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association "(7th edition)". Type double-spaced, including notes and references, and without justification. Use double quote marks for quotations, single for quotations within quotations. Notes should appear as endnotes, not footnotes. On their identifying cover page, authors should supply a biographical note of about 100 words, outlining their areas of research and recent publications.
4.7 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Theory & Psychology is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/thpsyc to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures, or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Theory & Psychology editorial office as follows:
Kieran O'Doherty,
Theory & Psychology,
Department of Psychology,
University of Guelph,
Guelph, Ontario,
Canada N1G 2W1
Email: tpeditor@uoguelph.ca
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.
If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com