[size=large]FAQ[/size]

Is this journal peer reviewed?
Yes

How does the review system work?


Who are the reviewers?
Each journal has a set of reviewers who are appointed by other reviewers.

The author is entitled to suggest one reviewer. We view this as necessary to guarantee the fairness of the review process. Although the editors of OpenPsych strive to reach impartiality and unbiased judgment, it is in the nature of things that the reviewers chosen by them are not a random sample of the entire academic community. However, the author cannot choose more than one reviewer, as this would tip the balance too much in his/her favor.

Authors cannot review their own papers.

Why exactly three reviewers?
No reason. It is a number initially chosen. A subset of the reviewers of the journal will have to accept it. The size of the subset depends on the total number of reviewers for the journal in a yet not specified manner.

What do editors do?
They make sure threads/submissions follow the rules. They submit papers to the journal system once peer review is complete and moving the threads to the appropriate forum afterwards.

What is the time lag between submission and publication?
OpenPsych adopts an innovative open review process, which guarantees instant publication on our Forum. However, the provisional manuscript has to undergo peer review before it is posted as a final version on the official Journal.

Can the suggested reviewer be a friend or a colleague?
Yes, as long as they are experts in the field. We leave it to the author to decide whether the suggested reviewer is adequate for the task. Our reasoning is that, since the editor/admin selects the review board (even though the reviewers decide spontaneously whether to review a manuscript or not), the author should be allowed to select a reviewer to counterbalance any possible bias on the part of the reviewer team. The journal requires at least three reviewers to accept a paper, so even if the suggested reviewer has a very “dovish” stance, the manuscript will still need to pass rigorous scrutiny by two reviewers before it is published in the journal.

Do I have to pay a fee to publish in this journal ?
No. Unlike other self-proclaimed “Open access” journals which charge abnormally high fees (e.g. PLoS), publishing in this journal is completely free.

Can't people plagiarize my ideas?
No, you can always claim priority by showing the date when your paper was posted on the forum or published on the journal. If you are really worried about plagiarism, we suggest taking a screenshot displaying the date of the relevant forum thread or published paper.

Once I have published on OpenPsych, can I publish elsewhere?
Yes. There is no reason, other than publisher’s profits, for not allowing multiple publication. The aim of publication is that of making knowledge public. Restricting publication to one place goes against the very aim of publication. As a matter of fact, we see multiple publication as a good, rather than bad, outcome for various reasons: If a paper gets published in more than one journal this indicates that it passed the scrutiny of more reviewers and its quality on average will be higher than a paper which was accepted only by a single journal. Second, dissemination of important scientific findings is greatly enhanced because a paper that is published in different journals can reach a wider readership.
If you submit your work here, your copyright remains with you. This means that you can publish it elsewhere.

Can I publish my work on OpenPsych if it has already been published elsewhere?
We regard multiple publication as a good outcome, so we welcome papers that have been published elsewhere. However, some publishers or journals forbid this practice. Thus, you should consult your publisher or editor and make sure that the journal you’ve published in is ok with that.

Can I use a pseudonym?
Yes.

Can I take part in discussions of papers even if I'm not an assigned reviewer?
Yes. Threads about published papers are moved to a different forum after publication to prevent cluttering of the Submissions-forum.

Sometimes someone will write in red, what does that mean?
The admins and editors use these colors to make their official posts stand out. E.g. when requesting responses from reviewers.