Social Psychological and Personality Science, Editor's Report
Margo J. Monteith (Editor in Chief)
Purdue University
SPPS celebrated its 10th anniversary publication on January 1, 2020! The journal has enjoyed fantastic success across its first 10 years, first under the editorial leadership of Vincent Yzerbyt (2009-2012), then Allen McConnell (2012-2015), followed by Simine Vazire (2015-2019). My editorial team took the helm on July 1, 2019. The team currently includes 10 Associate Editors (AEs) with expertise spanning social and personality science. In addition, a proposal to add a new Senior Associate Editor (SAE) was approved by the SPPS Consortium, and P. Jason Rentfrow started this position on April 1, 2020. I am especially pleased that Jason accepted this position given his extensive editorial experience (including a current appointment as Associate Editor for Journal of Research in Personality), and his expertise on personality and individual differences. As the SAE, Jason processes a portion of initial submissions (i.e., to make desk reject versus AE assignment decisions), while continuing in his role of handling a portion of manuscripts as they go going through the review process.
As many of you likely know, SPPS is published by SAGE as a short reports outlet (5,000 word maximum) and is a journal published for the Association for Research in Personality (ARP), the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP), the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP); it is also is co-sponsored by the Asian Association of Social Psychology (AASP) and the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists (SASP). Since it began the number of issues published annually has continually and now is at eight. Recently, the annual page budget went from 960 to 1,120, reflecting the journal’s continued growth. The impact factor of the journal also continues to grow, with an impact factor of 4.385 received in 2020. More than 10,000 scholars in social and personality psychology throughout the world receive complimentary subscriptions to the journal. Thus, SPPS papers have a large, interdisciplinary readership.
Beyond its broad, international reach, high impact, and interdisciplinary nature, I hope that ARP members will continue to consider SPPS as an outlet for their research given other unique and favorable qualities. SPPS has a short turnaround time, currently averaging about 40 days from submission to first decision (excluding desk rejections, the average is 50 days), and 37 days from acceptance to publication online. The journal engages in efforts to enhance the visibility of articles, including regular SPSP press releases, and Table of Contents emails are distributed prior to the publication of each new issue. I urge ARP members to consider the journal as an outlet for their research!
The journal routinely makes calls for special issues. The July and September 2020 issues featured manuscripts accepted based on a call for papers related to “Underrepresented Populations,” which was issued toward the end of Simine Vazire’s editorial term. If you see a particular need for a special issue on a certain topic, be sure to pass along your idea to me! Between March and August 2020, my team expedited the processing of manuscripts addressing social and personality phenomena in relation to COVID-19.
Since beginning as Editor in Chief, I have enjoyed the opportunity to observe so much creative and passionate talent of researchers and authors, and I appreciate the chance to provide constructive feedback to authors and to see their work through the publication process. I have also been so impressed with the extremely thoughtful reviews that scholars provide. Their service to the field by providing reviews is invaluable. Finally, I would like to thank and acknowledge my wonderful editorial team: Jennifer Bosson, Lowell Gaertner, Will Gervais, Igor Grossmann, Lisa Libby, Robyn Mallett, Yuri Miyamoto, Danny Osborne, Jason Rentfrow, Richard Slatcher, and Eva Walther. They work extremely hard and do a fabulous job of providing great feedback and guidance to authors.
Best wishes,
Margo J. Monteith
Editor in Chief, SPPS