Focus and Scope
Análise Psicológica is an open access and peer-reviewed journal that publishes original and high-quality research grounded in thorough and systematic investigations. It welcomes significant empirical and theoretical contributions from all the major areas of Psychology. Análise Psicológica also has a section dedicated to Research Methods and Instruments.
Section Policies
General
Análise Psicológica welcomes significant empirical and theoretical contributions from all the major areas of Psychology.
Recommended structure of the manuscript (maximum of 25 pages, including references and tables):
- Introduction: Present the main aim of the study and its relevance within the current state of the art. Also include some details about the methods for addressing the research question.
- Background: A theoretical rational of the study should be provided, defining key constructs, and presenting major findings and/or tensions in the literature, justifying the relevance of the current study.
- Methods: Divided in specific sub-headings: Participants; Procedures; Measures; Data Analysis. The report of the methodological section should contain sufficient detail so that when read in conjunction with cited references, all procedures can be repeated. Qualitative studies should follow APA guidelines for reporting qualitative research (i.e., APA JARS-Qual).
Studies including animal or human subject research, a statement reporting ethical details and ethics approval statement must be included.
- Results: Main findings of the study should be reported following APA guidelines for reporting scientific research. For quantitative studies include all relevant statistical data presenting them in a clear and organized manner with both numbers and words.
For qualitative research, results should include information about the codebook, themes, and findings should be illustrated with participant quotes. If authors prefer the Results and Discussion sections may be combined, as long as all necessary information is present. Please check APA guidelines for reporting qualitative research (i.e., APA JARS-Qual).
- Discussion: It should cover the key findings of the study, situating them within prior research on the topic and highlighting the novelty of the work. Potential methodological shortcomings and limitations in the interpretation of results should be properly addressed. The discussion should conclude by outlining the contributions of the findings to advancing the current state of the art and by suggesting directions for future research.
 Open Submissions |
Indexed |
Peer Reviewed |
Research methods and tools
Análise Psicológica welcomes manuscripts that translate and adapt instruments to a specific population (Portuguese or any Portuguese subpopulation), as well as articles presenting a NEW instrument and studying its metric characteristics in a specific population (Portuguese or any Portuguese subpopulation).
Recommended structure of the manuscript (maximum of 25 pages, including references and tables):
- Aim of the article: Define it on the first page as a translation, adaptation and study of the psychometric properties of a known instrument; or presenting a new measure to evaluates X (use non-conclusive language. Preferably use: “study”, “access”, “inform” about metric properties etc, and not “conclude” about metric properties);
- Background: Present a literature review that: a) defines the construct to be measured, in its convergence and divergence from other neighboring constructs; b) mentions some of the instruments developed to measure the construct; c) characterizes the instrument in focus and why it was selected (usefulness, pragmatism, relevance to certain fields of study, etc.); d) presents in detail the instrument in focus in terms of its metric qualities and the populations in which it has been studied. Define the metric consistency or inconsistency of the instrument along these approaches. For studies proposing a new measure, authors should explain why it is necessary to develop a NEW instrument, making clear why adapting an existing one would not be more advantageous.
- Discuss the definition of the construct and the form of measurement if relevant. Sometimes the definition of the construct is one-dimensional and its measurement in different and even independent dimensions. This needs to be explained.
- Define the structure of the instrument in a table, with the items associated with their dimensions, and mark the items that will have to be inverted when computing the final score.
- Define the research process to be presented in the methods section, justifying all the decisions to be made (e.g. translate with care x and y; study validity through... ; study consistency through... etc). For studies proposing a new measure authors must to justify all the decisions to be made (e.g. type of scale to be developed, Likert; semantic differential; Guttman, etc.), as well as to define the metric characteristics.
- Methods: a) define the sample in relevant detail; b) present the instrument itself (its items, should they be included in a table or annex etc); c) define how the items will be translated/retranslated in order to guarantee their validity:
- Results: the process of studying the construct validity of the scale should be carried out by a confirmatory factorial analysis that supports the theoretical and empirical conception of the instrument and not by exploratory analysis. Failure to adapt a model should be followed by the testing of existing models in the literature that are presented as alternatives. Only failure to adapt them should suggest a different analysis (e.g. exploratory). Data from confirmatory analyses should be presented without detailed explanations of the basic procedure that defines them. Only if non-standard procedures are presented should they be described in detail.
- Discussion: summarize the data; present the study's limitations; compare the study with other data; define next steps. The study’s limitations should be clearly addressed, and a conceptual reflection should be provided.
Finally, don't forget to comply with all APA recommendations.
| Open Submissions |
Indexed |
Peer Reviewed |
Peer Review Process
Análise Psicológica is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will then be double anonymous peer reviewed by at least two independent, anonymous expert. The Editor's section will make the final decision based on the recommendations of the reviewers.
Open access policy
Análise Psicológica is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
