brycewang-stanford Pre-Submission Preflight (psychrev-submission)
Psychological Review is a theory journal. There is no experimental dataset or empirical replication package to deposit. The preflight centers on the theory paper's format, masking, APA style, and — for computational models — sharing the author's own model code (not a shared empirical-analysis kit). 检索于 2026-06；以官网为准.
When to trigger
- "I'm about to submit to Psychological Review"
- Final check before clicking submit in Editorial Manager
- Unsure which files the portal expects for a theory/modeling paper
Pre-submission checklist
Scope & fit
- The paper makes a theoretical contribution (new theory / formal model / synthesis), not an empirical report
- Data appear only to motivate or constrain the theory; no new experiment is the contribution
- It enters and evaluates standing theories ("systematic evaluation of alternative theories")
- Fit confirmed against the current Psychological Review aims & scope (verify on the official page)
Format (verify exact current requirements on the APA author page)
- APA 7th-edition formatting: double-spaced, 12-pt (e.g., Times New Roman), 1-inch margins (verify edition)
- Separate title page with all authors, affiliations, ORCID iDs, contact (kept out of the masked body)
- Abstract ≤ 250 words on a separate page (verify current limit)
- No fixed upper length, but texts > 15,000 words carry a justification for the length (verify)
- Equations numbered; figures meet APA resolution/format specs; figures are diagrams/simulations, not experiments
- Manuscript file in Word / OpenOffice format if the portal requires it (verify)
Masking (anonymous review)
- No author-identifying content in the manuscript body
- Self-citations phrased neutrally ("prior work (Author, 2020)"), not "in our earlier paper"
- Acknowledgments/funding identifiers kept out of the body (added after acceptance)
- Document file properties scrubbed of author name/affiliation; file names carry no author/institution
References & citations
- APA 7th author–date in-text citations; full reference list (verify edition; see source map)
- Every in-text citation appears in the reference list and vice versa
- The current, strongest form of each rival model is cited (not only its original version)
- All references are real and accurately quoted (no fabricated or mis-cited sources)
Model code (computational/formal models)
- The author's own model code (simulation/fitting scripts) prepared for sharing per APA/journal policy
- Code reproduces the simulation figures and reported fits; parameters and seeds documented
- A README states language/version, how to run, and what each script produces
- (This is the model's code, NOT a shared empirical-analysis pipeline — there is no dataset to deposit)
Ethics & originality (APA Ethics Code)
- Manuscript is original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere
- Authorship reflects genuine intellectual contribution; order agreed by all authors
- Any prior conference/preprint version disclosed as required; AI-assistance disclosed per current policy (verify)
- Similarity/overlap acceptable and self-overlap disclosed
Portal files (Editorial Manager)
- Masked main manuscript (body + figures + references), required format
- Separate title page with author info and corresponding author
- Model code / supplemental files if applicable; cover letter if requested
- Any author-agreement or conflict-of-interest forms the system requires
Desk-reject triggers to preempt
- It's an empirical paper (the data is the contribution) — the defining Psychological Review desk-reject.
- A literature survey / methods-and-design paper — explicitly out of scope.
- A "model" that only redescribes data with free parameters and no falsifiable commitment.
- Insufficient theoretical advance — a relabel, a refit, or an incremental extension.
- Masking or formatting failures, or over-length with no justification.
Editorial Manager operation notes
- Psychological Review submits via Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/rev — confirm the exact URL; see source map).
- Enter author metadata only in the system, never in the masked manuscript.
- Choose the correct article type (Theoretical article vs. Theoretical Note).
- Fees / open-access (APA Open) options: confirm current policy on the author page — do not assume.
Anti-patterns
- Submitting a paper whose real contribution is data or method
- Author identity leaking through "our prior study," acknowledgments, or file properties
- Reference list missing the current form of the rival models
- Figures that are experiments (impossible here) or undefined boxes-and-arrows
- For a computational model, withholding the model code reviewers will ask for
Output format
【Scope】theoretical contribution, data only constrains: yes / fix
【Format】APA 7th / abstract ≤ 250 / length justified if > 15k / figures conceptual: pass / fix
【Masking】body + properties + filenames clean: yes / fix
【References】APA 7th; rivals' current form cited; all real: yes / fix
【Model code】own simulation/fitting code prepared + README (if computational): yes / n-a
【Ethics】original, not under review, authorship correct, AI disclosed: yes / fix
【Portal files】masked MS + title page + code/forms: complete / missing [...]
【Next step】await decision → psychrev-review-process; revise → psychrev-rebuttal
Related resources
templates/checklist.md— 8-section pre-submission self-check (scope / format / masking / abstract / theory / figures-code / references / ethics & portal)../../resources/external_tools.md— Theory/modeling tools (citation mapping, reference managers, modeling environments, diagram software, argument-logic aids)../../resources/official-source-map.md— Official APA Psychological Review scope, format, and portal facts (with verification dates)