Journal of Psychopharmacology

1. Article types
2. Editorial Policies
   2.1 Peer review policy
   2.2 Authorship
   2.3 Acknowledgments
   2.4 Funding
   2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
   2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
   2.7 Clinical Trials
   2.8 Preclinical studies using animals
   2.9 Reporting Guidelines
   2.10 Conflict Resolution
   2.11 Research Data
3. Publishing Policies
   3.1 Publication Ethics
   3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   3.3 Open Access and author archiving
   3.4 Permissions
4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Word processing formats
   4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   4.3 Supplemental material
   4.4 Journal layout
   4.5 Reference style
   4.6 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 How to submit your manuscript
   5.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
   5.3 Corresponding author contact details
   5.4 ORCID
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Sage Production
   6.2 Access to your published article
   6.3 Online First publication
7. Further Information

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jop 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 Journal of Psychopharmacology will be reviewed.

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 Journal of Psychopharmacology 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.

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1. Article types

Journal of Psychopharmacology is a peer-reviewed journal which welcomes the following article types for publication:

Original Papers:Research Reports, describing new experimental findings; both full papers and short reports requiring rapid dissemination.

The journal is more flexible in terms of the length of the article. Therefore there are no word limits for any type of article.

Review Articles: The Editors wish to encourage the following types of review, but request that authors contact them (p.seth@imperial.ac.uk) in advance:

1. General reviews: providing a synthesis of an area of psychopharmacology;
2. Perspectives: brief overviews, which are 4-6 printed pages in length including references, that address important new areas of general interest
3. Critiques: focused and provocative reviews that are followed by a number of invited commentaries, with a concluding reply from the main author

Null Results in Brief are original reports of null results of important a priori hypotheses tested with sufficient statistical power. Supplementary Material is generally not to be used to provide additional details about study methods or results.

Please indicate in your cover letter that your submission is for the Null Results in Brief category. Relatively rigid criteria are applied during the evaluation. The submitted manuscript should fulfill the following criteria:

1. The manuscript should add to current knowledge and be useful to future investigators making decisions regarding future research directions, replication and/or inclusion in meta-analysis.
2. Only brief methodological details should be provided, although these should be sufficient to allow readers to evaluate the results. Detailed study methodology described elsewhere (e.g., in prior publications) may be referenced.
3. The authors should clearly specify hypotheses that demonstrate a clear rationale for the data being presented. Priority will be given to articles that address well-defined biological /cognitive pathways.
4. The statistical power should be sufficient to enable the null results to be interpretable, and should be at least equal to or greater than that in prior empirical publications.
5. Authors are encouraged to combine as much null data as possible into a single publication. Authors are also encouraged to incorporate null data into studies reporting positive findings for pathway markers.

• Brief abstract (100 words)
• 800 words of text
• 8 or fewer references
• 2 figures and/or tables

Letters to the Editors: Readers' letters should address issues raised by published articles or should report significant new findings that merit rapid dissemination. The decision to publish is made by the Editors, in order to ensure a timely appearance in print. All letters are reviewed by the Editors (and, in some cases, the Editorial Board); letters under consideration for publication may be sent to the authors and/or reviewers of the original paper for a response, but the decision to publish is ultimately made by the Editors. Authors of letters that are rejected for publication may still be asked permission for their work to be shared with the authors of the original paper for the purpose of fostering academic discourse and idea sharing.
Authors may refuse this request.

Case Reports will only be considered if they make a major impact on the field and generally need to reflect findings from more than a single case. Please submit your work in the Short Report section.

The journal no longer accepts Book Reviews. The British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) publishes book reviews in their newsletter.

Please contact Prof Brian E. Leonard, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology, National University of Ireland, Galway (email:belucg@iol.ie).

Neuroscience-based Nomenclature (NbN) for Journal of Psychopharmacology

A few years ago on the Journal of Psychopharmacology Prof Nutt published an editorial on the need for a new nomenclature in psychopharmacology.[Nutt DJ.  (2009) beyond_psychoanaleptics_-_can_we_improve_antidepressant_drug_nomenclature.pdf?  J Psychopharmacol. 23(4):343-5.Erratum in: J Psychopharmacol. 23(7):861].

This sparked interest from the ECNP who set up a working group with several other international psychopharmacology organisations e.g. ACNP CINP, and after 5 years of regular meetings, a new nomenclature has been develop and posted as a free educational App.

The next stage is to begin the challenging process of using the new nomenclature in scientific journals and the Journal of Psychopharmacology is one of about 10 who have agreed to try to do this. The details are in an editorial published in 2016 [Nutt DJ, Blier P. (2016) neuroscience-based_nomenclature_nbn_for_journal_of_psychopharmacology.pdf. J Psychopharmacol. 30(5):413-5]

So when you write your papers for the Journal of Psychopharmacology please try to use the attached glossary to explain what drugs you used and how they work.
 

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

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). 

2.2 Authorship

Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.

The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the concept and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data,
2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
3. Approved the version to be published.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

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.

2.3 Acknowledgements

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.

2.3.1 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.

2.3.2 Writing Assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company or individual, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.

It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

2.4 Funding

The Journal of Psychopharmacology 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: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.” 

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of Journal of Psychopharmacology 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.

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.

For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants

All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

2.7 Clinical trials

The Journal of Psychopharmacology conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

2.8 Preclinical studies using animals

Manuscripts describing experiments that have used animals must include statements to confirm that the work was:

• Approved by the competent authority responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulations governing the use of animals in scientific experiments (e.g., Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (UK), as updated in 2010; Directive 2010/63/EU (rest of Europe)
• Awarded ethical approval by an official body (e.g. an Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body, in the UK). 

The use of noxious or stressful stimuli must be justified according to: 

• the objectives of the experiment
• the likely benefits arising from the work
• the validity of the procedure in the context of the research objectives: e.g., ., that the type(s) of stress that were used are relevant for translation of the findings to humans

Experiments in which animals experience a moderate or severe noxious stimulus, or stress (e.g. electric shocks, immobilization, prolonged bouts of swimming), will require special justification, particularly in respect of the type, duration and intensity of the stimulus. Authors should include a statement to confirm (and, ideally, provide evidence) that the use of a less severe procedure would compromise the objectives of the experiment.  In this context, authors must consider the cumulative harm to animals that have experienced more than one form of noxious stimulus and/or stress. 

Studies aimed at producing an animal ‘model’ of a psychiatric disorder (or ‘disorder-like’ behaviour) in humans should also include a statement to justify the extent to which the experimental procedure produces a validated animal analogue of the human condition, bearing in mind the diagnostic criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®)

When reaching a decision on the suitability of the manuscript for publication in this journal, editors and referees will take into account the harm to the animals versus the potential benefits of the study.  Authors should not assume that local ethical approval of the study, or evidence that a procedure has been used for many years, will suffice as confirmation that either the ethical and welfare aspects of the procedure or its contextual validity qualify for publication in this journal.  

2.9 Reporting guidelines

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart as a cited figure, and a completed CONSORT checklist as a supplementary file.

Manuscripts describing preclinical studies that have used animals must comply with the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting the design of, and protocols for, experiments that use animals [see https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines]

To ensure that preclinical experiments are ARRIVE compliant, authors are strongly encouraged to consult the PREPARE guidelines (Planning Research and Experimental Procedures on Animals: Recommendations for Excellence), when planning their experiments.

Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives

2.10 Conflict Resolution

When there is a need for conflict resolution between the Editor and any other party involved in the review or publication of JoP, conflict resolution will be overseen first by the Journal Sub-Committee. If this fails, the BAP Council shall act as final authorityin the matter. It would be expected to seek the advice of the BAP Governance Panel in any such circumstances. Full details of this policy can be found in the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) Journal Sub-committee: Terms of Reference August 2016 . 

2.11 Research Data

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

The Journal of Psychopharmacology requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles alongside their article submissions to be published in the online version of the journal, or provide detailed information in their articles on how the data can be obtained. This information should include links to third-party data repositories or detailed contact information for third-party data sources. Data available only on an author-maintained website will need to be loaded onto either the journal’s platform or a third-party platform to ensure continuing accessibility. Examples of data types include but are not limited to: statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. The editor(s) may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data. The editor(s) can also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. For further information, please contact the editorial office at p.seth@imperial.ac.uk.

See also Section 4.3.  on supplemental material.

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3. Publishing policies

3.1 Publication ethics

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

The Journal of Psychopharmacology 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.

3.2 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 our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

3.3 Open Access and author archiving

The Journal of Psychopharmacology 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.

3.4 Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining 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 visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway

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4. Preparing your manuscript

4.1 Word processing formats

Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, XLS. LaTeX files are also accepted. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point. Word and LaTex 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 

Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

4.3 Supplemental material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. These will be subjected to peer-review alongside the article.  For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files, which can be found within our Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

4.4 Journal layout

The Journal of Psychopharmacology conforms to the Sage house style.  Click here to review guidelines on Sage UK House Style.

4.5 Reference style

The Journal of Psychopharmacology adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. Click here to review the guidelines on Sage Harvard to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard output file here

4.6 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.

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5. Submitting your manuscript

5.1 How to submit your manuscript

The Journal of Psychopharmacology is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jop 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

5.2 Title, keywords and abstracts

Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

Please include an abstract (semistructured summary), incorporating the following headings: (Background, Aims, Methods, Results/Outcomes, Conclusions/Interpretation, and Declaration of interest/Funding), not exceeding 250 words. The abstract is a crucial part of the paper and authors are urged to devote some care to ensuring that all the important findings are included within the word limit. Our electronic submission system will ask you to copy and paste this section at the “Submit Abstract” stage.

5.3 Corresponding author contact details

ou 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).

5.4 ORCID

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.

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage Production

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.

6.2 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.3 Online First publication

Online First allows final revision articles (completed articles in queue for assignment to an upcoming issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a final journal issue which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. For more information please visit our Online First Fact Sheet

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7. Further Information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of Psychopharmacology editorial office as follows:

Dr Pallab Seth
Editorial Manager
Journal of Psychopharmacology Editorial office
Neuropsychopharmacology Unit
Imperial College London
Burlington-Danes Building
Hammersmith Hospital
Du Cane Rd
London, W12 0NN
p.seth@imperial.ac.uk

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Include an abstract (semistructured summary), incorporating the following headings: (Background, Aims, Methods, Results/Outcomes, Conclusions/Interpretation, and Declaration of interest/Funding), not exceeding 250 words. The abstract is a crucial part of the paper and authors are urged to devote some care to ensuring that all the important findings are included within the word limit. Our electronic submission system will ask you to copy and paste this section at the “Submit Abstract” stage.