The British Journal of Developmental Psychology publishes full-length, empirical, conceptual, review and discussion papers, as well as brief reports, in all of the following areas:
motor, perceptual, cognitive, social and emotional development in infancy;
social, emotional and personality development in childhood, adolescence and adulthood;
cognitive and socio-cognitive development in childhood, adolescence and adulthood, including the development of language, mathematics, theory of mind, drawings, spatial cognition, biological and societal understanding;
atypical development, including developmental disorders, learning difficulties/disabilities and sensory impairments;
the impact of genetic, biological, familial, interpersonal, educational, societal and cultural factors upon human psychological development;
comparative approaches to behavioural development that help to elucidate developmental processes in humans; and
theoretical approaches to development, including neo-Piagetian, information processing, naïve theory, dynamic systems, ecological and sociocultural approaches.
The following types of paper are invited:
papers reporting original empirical investigations;
theoretical papers which may be analyses of, or commentaries on, established theories in developmental psychology, or presentations of theoretical innovations, extensions or integrations;
review papers, which should aim to provide systematic overviews, analyses, evaluations or interpretations of research in a given field of developmental psychology, and identify issues requiring further research;
methodological papers dealing with any methodological issues of particular relevance to developmental psychologists.
In those cases deemed appropriate, peer commentaries on key papers/reviews will be solicited from other researchers in the relevant field. These peer commentaries will be published immediately after the target article, with the authors(s) of the article being invited to write a response to the commentaries.
Only papers which report methodologically sound and rigorous research or which make a substantive contribution to the discipline are accepted for publication in the journal.
1. Circulation
The circulation of the Journal is worldwide. Papers are invited and encouraged from authors throughout the world.
2. Length
Papers should normally be no more than 8000 words (excluding the abstract, reference list, tables and figures), although the Editor retains discretion to publish papers beyond this length in cases where the clear and concise expression of the scientific content requires greater length.
3. Submission and reviewing
All manuscripts must be submitted via our online peer review system. The Journal operates a policy of anonymous peer review.
4. Manuscript requirements
Contributions must be typed in double spacing with wide margins. All sheets must be numbered.
Tables should be typed in double spacing, each on a separate page with a self-explanatory title. Tables should be comprehensible without reference to the text. They should be placed at the end of the manuscript with their approximate locations indicated in the text.
Figures can be included at the end of the document or attached as separate files, carefully labelled in initial capital/lower case lettering with symbols in a form consistent with text use. Unnecessary background patterns, lines and shading should be avoided. Captions should be listed on a separate sheet. The resolution of digital images must be at least 300 dpi.
All articles should be preceded by an Abstract of between 100 and 200 words, giving a concise statement of the intention, results or conclusions of the article.
For reference citations, please use APA style. Particular care should be taken to ensure that references are accurate and complete. Give all journal titles in full.
SI units must be used for all measurements, rounded off to practical values if appropriate, with the imperial equivalent in parentheses.
In normal circumstances, effect size should be incorporated.
Authors are requested to avoid the use of sexist language.
Authors are responsible for acquiring written permission to publish lengthy quotations, illustrations, etc. for which they do not own copyright.
For guidelines on editorial style, please consult the APA Publication Manual published by the American Psychological Association.
5. Brief reports
Brief reports should be limited to 2000 words or the equivalent in tables and text. The title should indicate exactly but as briefly as possible the subject of the article. Papers will be evaluated by the Editor and referees in terms of their theoretical interest, practical interest, relevance to the Journal and readability.
They will be treated as a priority during the review process and then published in the next available issue once they are accepted, so that they are available as quickly as possible.
6. Publication ethics
All submissions should follow the ethical submission guidelines outlined the the documents below:
Supplementary data too extensive for publication may be deposited with the British Library Document Supply Centre. Such material includes numerical data, computer programs, fuller details of case studies and experimental techniques. The material should be submitted to the Editor together with the article, for simultaneous refereeing.
8. Copyright
On acceptance of a paper submitted to a journal, authors will be requested to sign an appropriate assignment of copyright form. To find out more, please see our Copyright Information for Authors.