Guidelines for authors

Topics of interest of the journal

The areas of interest of the journal Behavioral Psychology / Psicología Conductual (International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology) are Clinical Psychology (mainly) and Health Psychology. Subjects that identify with the goals of the journal are psychological therapy (from a scientific and quantitative position), such as cognitive behavioral therapy, behavior modification or “third generation” therapies. Clinical and health assessment is another of the journal’s interests, including behavioral assessment, questionnaires or scales or interviews. The psychopathology of children, adolescents and adults, the experimental analysis of human situations, interpersonal behavior, social relationships, behavioral medicine, neuropsychology, are examples of other topics that fit the objectives of the journal. Experimental and clinical studies, single case studies (including the functional analysis of the problem), and some reviews and state of the art of a clinical or health topic are accepted (it is recommended to consult previously the subject with the Editor of the journal before submitting it for review).

Manuscripts

The following guidelines are for manuscripts written in English. If you are going to send a manuscript written in Spanish, see the Spanish version of these guidelines. The manuscripts sent to the journal Behavioral Psychology/ Psicologia Conductual must be unpublished originals or that have not been sent for publication to another journal. When submitting a manuscript, the authors agree to transfer the copyright to the VECA Foundation that publishes the journal in case it is accepted for publication. Likewise, it is considered that the opinions expressed in the articles are the exclusive responsibility of the authors. The articles will be uploaded to the website of the journal through the section “Submission of manuscripts” in Word format or, in case of having problems uploading it, they will send it by email to the e-mail address behavioralpsycho@gmail.com

The maximum length of an article will not exceed 30 pages written in 1 ½ space (34 lines per page) and with a font of 12 points (preferably Times New Roman). The articles will be written in English or Spanish and will include a summary in English and Spanish (if you do not speak Spanish, we will do it for you) that has a length between 150 and 175 words.

Publication guidelines for the journal Behavioral Psychology/Psicología Conductual should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. However, we include below some general guidelines for authors.

Manuscript structure

On the first page will be included the title of the manuscript in English, the names of the authors, the institution or organism in which they work, the email address of all the authors, the postal address of the main author and the possible acknowledgments. On the second page will be the summary and the keywords. On the fourth page, the title of the article will be written again (without the name of the authors) and the Introduction will begin. Sections of the manuscript should follow the following order: Introduction, Method, Participants, Instruments, Procedure, Results, Discussion and References. If there are appendices they will go immediately after the references. The tables and figures will go to the end of the manuscript, ordered according to their appearance in it and having indicated in the manuscript the place where they should be placed.

The pages will be numbered consecutively: first page, summary, text, references, appendices (if any), tables and figures.

General rules

The references will be cited in the text, indicating the last name of the author (s) followed by the year of publication. One of the following two models will be used, depending on the way in which the phrase has been written: “Smith and Taylor (2006) have recently published an article on personality disorders”. “There is a recent article about personality disorders (Smith and Taylor, 2006). When two or more references are cited together, they must be ordered in alphabetical order.

When a bibliographic reference is mentioned in the text, the last name and the initials of the first author’s name followed by et al. should be cited if there are more than two authors. If a paper has two authors, both will always be cited. If a work has two authors, both will always be cited. In the references (at the end of the article) all authors will always be cited.

At the end of the text, the references will be cited in alphabetical order according to the following guidelines:

For journal articles: Surname (s) of the author (s) together with the initial (s) of the name, year of publication (in parentheses), title of the article, name of the journal (in italics) volume (in italics), number, initial and final page. For example,

Caballo, V. E., Salazar, I. C., Arias, B., Irurtia, M. J., Calderero, M., and CISO-A Spain, Research Team (2010). Validation of the social anxiety questionnaire for adults (SAQ-A30) with Spanish university students: similarities and differences among degree subjects and regions. Behavioral Psychology/Psicología Conductual, 18(1), 5-34.

For papers presented at congresses: Surname (s) of the author (s) together with the initial (s) of the name, year and month of celebration (in parentheses), title of the paper (in italics) name of the congress, city where it took place and country. For example,

Romero, S., Lozano, J., and Lega, L. I. (1998, July).Differences in the irrational thinking of Salvadorans living in the United States and those who live in El Salvador. Paper presented at the World Congress of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, Acapulco, Mexico.

For book chapters: Surname (s) of the author (s) along with the initial (s) of the name, year of publication (in parentheses), title of the chapter, initials of the name and surname (s) of the author (s) or editor (s) of the book, title of the book (in italics), initial and final pages, place of publication and publisher. For example,

Antony, M. M. and Barlow, D. H. (1997). Specific phobia. In V. E. Caballo (ed.), Handbook for the treatment of psychological disorders (pp. 3-24). Madrid: Siglo XXI.

For books: Surname (s) of the author (s) or editor (s) together with the initial (s) of the name, year of publication (in parentheses), title of the book (in italics), place of publication and publisher. For example,

Turner, S. M., Calhoun, K. S., and Adams, H. E. (eds.) (1992). Handbook of clinical behavior therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.

In the case that translated books have been referenced, they will be added at the end of the reference and in parentheses the word “Orig.” followed by the year. For example,

Caballo, A. E. (1998). International hadbook of cognitive and behavioural treatments for psychological disorders. Oxford: Pergamon. (Orig. 1997).

Tables and figures will be on a separate sheet, numbered consecutively and indicating their place of inclusion in the text. The feet of them should go on the same sheet of each table or figure. Tables and figures will be of sufficient quality to be printed directly. All abbreviations that are used must be explained with a note below the table/figure.

All acronyms must be explained the first time they appear in the text (even in the case of the best known ones), for example, American Psychological Association (APA).

For any other aspect not included in the previous information, the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed., 2020) will be followed.

Publication

The journal Behavioral Psychology/Psicología Conductual will acknowledge receipt of the manuscripts received. Acceptance or refusal of manuscripts will be communicated to the first author as soon as possible.

Each manuscript submitted for publication will be refereed anonymously by at least two qualified professionals, who will send a report to the editors. The final decision about the publication of a manuscript will be made by the editors.

Manuscripts not complying with the norms will neither be refereed nor sent back to authors, though authors will be informed about this circumstance. In any case, the journal will exercise the right to include modifications to comply with the above norms.

Content of articles included in Behavioral Psychology/Psicología Conductual reflect the work and opinions of authors and cannot be attributed anyway to the editors or the editorial board.

Authors are responsible for asking permission to reproduce material published elsewhere. The journal decline any responsibility derived from the possible lack of permission to reproduce any material. The submission of a manuscript to the journal Behavioral Psychology/ Psicología Conductual entails full acceptance of all these guidelines for authors.

The main author of each published article will receive by e-mail a copy of it in PDF format. If you are interested in receiving a printed copy of the issue in which your article appears, you must previously pay the price of that issue

Open access articles

As of April 2021 (volume 29, issue 1) all articles published in the journal will be open access. We have tried to make the payment of the authors for the publication of their article as low as possible (260 euros). This arrangement entails a number of significant advantages:

The full article will be available on the journal’s website from the first moment of its publication.
If the authors wish, both Spanish and English versions of the article may appear on the journal’s website at no additional charge (optional for authors).
The article will have a greater international diffusion, since it can be seen anywhere in the world without the readers having to pay for it.
Each article will have its DOI code for better identification.
Open access articles are more likely to be read by more people and have more citations, thereby increasing the impact of the journal (and therefore the articles themselves), with subsequent academic benefit for authors.