About
Focus and Scope
About JEPS
The Journal of European Psychology Students (JEPS) is an open-access, double-blind, peer-reviewed journal for psychology students worldwide. JEPS is published by European Federation of Psychology Students' Associations since 2009. By ensuring that authors are always provided with extensive feedback, JEPS gives psychology students the chance to gain experience in publishing and to improve their scientific skills. Furthermore, JEPS provides students with the opportunity to share their research and to take a first step toward a scientific career.
Submissions are welcomed at any time.
Register to submit your work online!
Mission statement
JEPS aims to provide psychology students with the opportunity to gain critical skills in professional research in psychology, as well as to present them with the necessary means to disseminate their findings to their peers and the psychological academic community. Thereby, JEPS hopes to contribute to the edification of the next generation of researchers in psychology. Further, JEPS encourages progressive research practices. Aside from stimulating transparency by encouraging submitting raw data, we are inviting students to pre-register their research with us.
JEPS publishes articles that contribute both theoretically and empirically to an understanding of psychology. Submitted manuscripts must pertain to a psychological field (e.g., social psychology, clinical psychology, health psychology, etc.) or a field related to psychology (e.g., neuroscience, behavioural economics, animal behaviour, etc.). We encourage authors to submit interdisciplinary research if it is relevant to psychology.
Criteria for publication
As a student journal, JEPS exclusively publishes research projects undertaken in the context of Bachelor and Master study programmes, or other student research programmes. Submissions by students from all countries, whose research is related to psychology, are welcome. We do not publish research by PhD candidates or professional researchers.
The publication criteria in JEPS emphasise sound research. "Sound research" is hereby defined as being ethical, logical, based on research questions, having rigorous methodologies, substantial evidence for its conclusions, as well as appropriate discussions of results. JEPS does not decline manuscripts based solely on the absence of significant effects. Results reported must not have been published elsewhere.
Advantages of publishing in JEPS
There are several crucial advantages for students who decide to publish in JEPS, as opposed to other academic journals:
- Dissemination: As an open access journal, JEPS provides a platform for increasing the visibility of published work, thereby raising students' academic profiles.
- Open policy: JEPS does not reject submissions based on "lack of originality". We believe that judgments about the importance of any particular paper should be made after publication by the readership (who is the most qualified to determine what is of interest to it). Therefore, JEPS also accepts replication studies and non-significant results, which is also advantageous for countering results based on false positives.
- A learning experience: Authors submitting to JEPS always receive thorough feedback, enabling them to improve their scientific and writing skills no matter what the outcome of their manuscript.
- Promotion of student research: JEPS supports authors in publishing research undertaken during their studies.
- Career: JEPS offers students an important opportunity to publish their research and to take their first step toward a scientific career.
JEPS is composed of the following bodies:
- The Editorial Team: A group of psychology students studying at European universities. The Editorial Team includes the Editor-in-Chief, Editors, as well as Bulletin Editors. The Editorial Team is responsible for managing the journal as well as the Bulletin.
- The Board of Associate Editors: A group of PhD candidates in various fields of psychology who are responsible for conducting the peer-review process.
- The Board of Reviewers: Tenured professors and professional researchers in various fields of psychology compose the Board of Reviewers, whose responsibility it is to review manuscripts that have been assigned to them by Associate Editors.
- Copyeditors and Proof Readers: A group of native English-speaking psychology students and PhD candidates whose responsibility it is to ensure that articles accepted for publication are written well and contain no mistakes.
For more information on the members of the Editorial Team, the Board of Associate Editors, and JEPS Ambassadors, click here.
Publication Frequency
The journal is published online as a continuous volume and issue throughout the year. Articles are made available as soon as they are ready.
Special collections of articles are welcomed and will be published as part of the normal issue, but also within a separate collection page.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Authors of articles published in the Journal of European Psychology Students remain the copyright holders and grant third parties the right to use, reproduce, and share the article according to the Creative Commons license agreement.
Archiving Policy
All content is indexed with CrossRef and assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). This means that all of our references are made available so that citations can be tracked by the publishing community, and the content is added to the Cross-Check anti-plagiarism database.
The journal is also indexed in: JISC KB+, SHERPA RoMEO, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), EBSCOHost, OpenAIRE and Google Scholar.
All of our article metadata is openly available for harvesting by indexing services.
Advertisement Policy
The journal only displays advertisements that are of relevance to its scope and will be of interest to the readership (e.g. upcoming conferences). All advertising space is provided free of charge and the editor and publisher have the right to decline or withdraw adverts at any point.
If you wish to propose a potential advert, please contact the editorial team at journal@efpsa.org. All adverts are displayed in the right column of the journal and will need to fit a 120 pixel wide space. All advert images will have to be provided to the publisher.
FAQ
1. What makes JEPS a European journal?
JEPS is a service provided by EFPSA, and therefore all members of the Editorial Team are psychology students from European universities. JEPS mainly publishes research by European psychology students, but submissions from other parts of the world are welcome.
2. Does JEPS have an impact factor?
JEPS currently has not registered for Thompson Reuter's impact factor, but this will be undertaken in the near future. Nonetheless, JEPS believes that articles should be assessed on their own merits rather than on the basis of the journal in which they were published. Therefore, JEPS will provide a growing set of measures and indicators of impact at the article level.
3. When can I submit?
JEPS welcomes submissions at all times.
4. May authors submit studies containing null-effects?
Yes. JEPS does not decline manuscripts solely based on the absence of statistically significant effects.
5. How often does JEPS publish?
JEPS has adopted a continuous online publication model that ensures that articles are published online without delay, as opposed to being published in a yearly issue. Articles published within a given year are bound to the same volume number.
6. How long does the review process take?
This depends on multiple factors. Assuming an author submits a manuscript that adheres completely to the JEPS submission guidelines and that the author respects all deadlines, the review process can take around two months. However, based on previous submissions, the review process is more likely to take around six months. As an author, please make sure you respect all deadlines in order to shorten the duration of the review process as much as possible.
7. If my submission gets declined, do I still receive feedback?
Authors always receive feedback on their manuscript and all editorial decisions are explained and justified.
8. Are Editors, Associate Editors, and Reviewers, financially compensated for their contribution to JEPS?
Just as other established academic journals, JEPS does not provide financial compensation for its contributors.
How to join JEPS
Psychology students from European universities who wish to apply for a position within the Editorial Team are encouraged to apply to EFPSA's annual Congress held at the end of April where the new JEPS Editorial Team is formed at the Congress and approved during the General Assembly. At the beginning of April, open positions will be advertised on the JEPS homepage.
PhD candidates or post-docs who are interested in joining the Board of Associate Editors are invited to apply anytime. The open Calls for Associate Editors will also be open once a year, but applications are also accepted on rolling basis.
Experienced academics in psychology interested in joining the Board of Reviewers are welcome to apply anytime. Although the JEPS Board of Reviewers is well established, the Editorial Team may invite new Reviewers whose expertise is required for a particular manuscript.
Native English-speaking psychology students and PhD candidates who wish to join JEPS as Copyeditors are highly encouraged to apply on rolling basis.
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If you are interested in joinin JEPS as Associate Editor, Copyeditor or Reviewer, please do not hesitate to write to us at journal@efpsa.org!
Open Data
The editors of the Journal of European Psychology Students believe that, like all good science, research data should be open for replication and validation purposes. As such, we encourage you to deposit the data behind your paper in an appropriate data repository. Ubiquity Press also publishes the Journal of Open Psychology Data, which maintains a list of appropriate repositories for psychology data. In addition, the Ubiquity Press Dataverse is available for authors to deposit their data.
Peer Review
Please find out more about the JEPS review process here. If you wish to become a reviewer for JEPS, please contact us.
Testimonials
“Publishing your research, be it experimental or review work, is tough – a lot more difficult and far less fun than conducting the research itself. The review process can be very frustrating and demotivating. Unfortunately, our studies rarely prepare us for all this. Yet, we are often required to go out there in the big world and PUBLISH, or worse – to show that we have already PUBLISHED. Not to worry – the Journal of European Psychology Students (JEPS) comes to the rescue! I find this journal an excellent initiative as it guides aspiring psychologists through all the steps of the peer-review process and teaches them how to survive it and be successful in it. Moreover, it gives students the opportunity to make their research known at the earliest stages of their careers. I have had the honour of being a reviewer for JEPS and I have been positively impressed by the high quality of the submitted student work. I have also been amazed by the efficiency of the student editorial team and I feel confident that thanks to enterprises like JEPS the future of our field is in competent hands. I am happy to see JEPS remaining on top of the recent developments in the field and incorporating preregistration of reports. I recommend submitting to JEPS to my own students and I recommend it to you as well. I only wish I had submitted my own work there some years ago – it would have given me a much needed career jump start and would have saved me a lot of publication-associated stress later on.”
Dr. Elena Tsankova, Postdoctoral Fellow, Jacobs University Bremen
“During my first job interview for a PhD position I was asked about the paper, and my experiences on getting it published. I am not sure whether the paper was a big influence in the selection process, but I was amazed to be chosen out of 45 other applicants for the position.”
Dr. Judith Schomaker, Post-Doc, JLU Giessen
Publishing with JEPS was the most supportive publication experience I have had. The editors for JEPS were consistently available to answer my queries and were a major help with the progress of my article throughout each of the publication stages. The reviewers provided excellent, accessible suggestions that greatly improved the quality of my article and kept to a positive and constructive feedback style. Overall, I would recommend other psychology students to consider publishing with JEPS.
Christine Marie Lehane, Master Student, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
JEPS is a very good idea because students need to share their research across boundaries to see what is generalisable and what is country specific.
Professor Cary L. Cooper, Lancaster University Management School, Reviewer for JEPS 2009-2010
I think JEPS is a great project that adds a new dimension to the world of scientific publishing.
Professor Thomas Elbert, University of Konstanz, Germany
I only have a very limited experience with JEPS - I was a reviewer on one paper and I did not know the journal before. I like the idea - I think it is really useful for the students to learn how to submit their papers and respond to reviewers' comments. JEPS offers a user-friendly, yet professional setting for such learning. I now encourage students to submit their project papers to JEPS.
Dr. Magdalena Rychlowska, Research Associate, Cardiff University
EFPSA
The European Federation of Psychology Students’ Associations (EFPSA) is a non-profit and voluntary umbrella organisation that represents the needs and interests of European psychology students, promotes scientific cooperation and cultural exchange and enhances mobility. It provides students with information and experiences useful both in their professional careers and everyday lives. It aims to be a reliable and widely acknowledged representative of European psychology students amongst students themselves, psychologists, institutions and professional organisations on national and European level. EFPSA is the biggest psychology students’ organisation worldwide by covering 25 member countries and 8 observer countries with approximately 250,000 students.Annotation and post-publication comment
The journal platform permits readers to leave comments on the publication page, via the Disqus service. Readers will need a Disqus account to leave comments. Comments may be moderated by the journal, however, if they are non-offensive and relevant to the publication subject, comments will remain online without edit.
The journal platform also includes in-browser annotation and text highlighting options on full text formats via hypothes.is. Readers will require a hypothes.is account to create annotations, and will have the option to make these publicly available, available to a group, or private.