Call for Papers

Guest Editors:
Jimmy Calanchini, PhD (jimmy.calanchini@ucr.edu)
Juliane Degner, PhD (juliane.degner@uni-hamburg.de)
Colin Smith, PhD (colinsmith@ufl.edu)

Social cognition has always been an area of Psychology that welcomes the use of cutting-edge data collection procedures and statistical methods. This quality is arguably a central aspect of our identity as a sub-field. In recent years, these tools – and the researchers developing them – have grown in sophistication to the point that there exists the potential to artificially limit their broader application. The utility of these remarkable advancements remains muted if they are not accessible to the audience of motivated researchers who stand ready to apply them to a broad range of questions.

To that end, in this special issue of Social Cognition, we invite papers that help others discover and use novel and/or challenging methodological and analytical techniques to address questions related to the foci of Social Cognition: the processes underlying the perception, judgment, and memory of social stimuli; the effects of social and affective factors on the processing of information; and the behavioral and interpersonal consequences of cognitive processes. The intended audience for this special issue includes researchers who may have interest in applying these techniques in their own work, or those who seek to understand and evaluate the work of others who are using these techniques.

Considering the potential audience, submissions should go beyond the typical explanation of a new technique that may be found in an empirical method section. Articles selected for this special issue will (1) seek to break down barriers to entry through an active tutorial of the technique, (2) elaborate the strengths and weaknesses of a measurement or analytical procedure (ideally in comparison to potential alternatives), (3) direct readers to existing or newly-developed tools when possible, and (4) highlight potential domains of application including those that emphasize ecological validity. In keeping with the journal’s focus on broadening inclusion and participation in social cognition research, submissions should also consider efforts to address these challenges through composition of the authorship team, consideration of the audience, topics for application, and/or accessibility of resources (see editorial here).

Manuscripts may have a quantitative or qualitative focus and are not required to include data. If data will aid in exposition, those data may be “real” (i.e., from participants) or simulated, and may be unpublished or published (with appropriate citation). There is a 5000-word limit for contributions to the special issue (excluding references). Given potential space limitations, submissions are also encouraged to make use of supplemental materials in stable, publicly-accessible domains on the internet.

In order to align editorial and author visions, we will use a two-tier review process. Namely, we first invite Letters of Intent (maximum 1000 words) summarizing the planned contribution and how it will address the criteria described above. We welcome authors to contact the co-editors regarding the potential suitability of a manuscript before submitting a Letter of Intent. The co-editors of the Special Issue will then invite full submissions based on their review of the Letters of Intent. Authors invited to submit will also be asked to serve as peer reviewers alongside those selected through traditional methods.

The expected timeline of the issue is as follows:
March 31, 2024 – Letters of Intent due
submit via https://tufts.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_81hWBIvGXeqq2iy
May 1, 2024 – Authors contacted for invited full submissions
August 1, 2024 – Full submissions due
September 15, 2024 – Reviews due
October 15, 2024 – Review decisions sent to authors
December 1, 2024 – Revised manuscripts due
January 15, 2025- Final manuscripts due to journal
Calendar Year 2025- Issue published

We are excited about this opportunity to increase the usability of some recent advances in the field of social cognition. We look forward to reading your work! Again, please contact any member of the guest editorial team (above) via email with questions.