Aims and Scope

Personality Science is an official journal of a five-association consortium, consisting of the Australasian Congress on Personality and Individual Differences (ACPID), the Association of Research in Personality (ARP), the European Association of Personality Psychology (EAPP), the Japan Society of Personality Psychology (JSPP), and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). It seeks to be the premiere outlet for any insights on personality and individual differences – cutting across traditional disciplinary boundaries. While personality is often studied in psychology, it is PS’ mission to unify the nascent field of a personality-centered science by bringing together work from different disciplines and perspectives even outside of psychology.

The journal publishes theoretical, methodological, empirical, applied, and comment papers of short- to medium-length on the biological, psychological, and social origins, expressions, structures, dynamics, processes, mechanisms, functioning, development, and consequences of non-pathological and pathological personality (broadly conceived) as well as their definition, operationalization, assessment, and potential applications. Individual differences in humans, animals, virtual avatars, intelligent systems, and robots are of interest to the journal. Papers reporting empirical data are expected to adhere to the transparency and open science guidelines of the journal. The scientific examination of human, non-human, and artificial/virtual personality is not confined to any paradigm (e.g., psychodynamic, learn-theoretical, humanistic, cognitive, trait-theoretical, biological, transactional), methodology (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods), type of research (basic, applied), or domain of individual differences (e.g., neurobiological structures, body characteristics, temperament, lexical traits, intelligence, abilities, aptitudes, motives, needs, goals, interests, regulation, values, character, attitudes, virtues, well-being, personal environments and relationships, self-variables, identities, etc.). Accordingly, PS publishes a diverse array of topics that showcase how rich and vibrant the field of personality science is. It thus seeks to provide a worldwide forum for scientists, teachers, and practitioners who are interested in the scientific study of personality and individual differences.

Aims

With a broad focus on personality-centered science and a variety of paper types, PS seeks to be attractive to an audience as broad as possible. This will help broadcast the insights and usefulness of a science of personality and also help foster three types of expansion that are our three core goals:

  • Expansion of the field. PS is explicitly multidisciplinary and actively seeks out contributions from fields of science other than psychology (e.g., genetics, anthropology, sociology, computer sciences, economics, educational sciences, medicine, political science, etc.) that also study personality and individual differences. It thus seeks to honor personality science as a hub science and help generate truly inter- and transdisciplinary approaches by cross-fertilization within the journal.
  • Expansion to the public. PS welcomes papers that concern how personality science can inform, and be informed by, societal and geo-political issues, public interest, and applied practice. It seeks to open up the field to a more diverse readership (beyond academic researchers), including policy-makers, industry, NGOs, and international institutions. The journal thus aims to publish papers of significant relevance and implications.
  • Expansions in geographical diversity. PS seeks high-quality publications from authors around the globe and publications using non-WEIRD samples. As geographical diversity is a core concern for us, the journal aims to foster regional diversity and inclusion by a diverse editorial team, special invited topics, and public outreach initiatives.

Values



PS commits to the following eight core values:
  • Diversity and inclusion of contributors. The journal strives for diversity and inclusion regarding its editorial team, reviewers, and authors, with a special emphasis on including scholars from underrepresented regions.
  • Topical breadth. The journal does not restrict any topics so long as they pertain to personality and individual differences.
  • Multidisciplinarity. The journal encourages publications from disciplines other than psychology or from multidisciplinary consortia. Over time, the journal’s multidisciplinary focus should contribute to inter- and transdisciplinary approaches.
  • Transparency, openness, and fairness in all matters. The journal adheres to scientific and ethical best practices (e.g., adopting TOP Guidelines). As such, it continuously strives to update itself and implement cutting-edge solutions that ensure transparency, openness, and fairness.
  • Conceptual clarity and terminological precision. Papers need to be written concisely and clearly (intended for a wide audience), with a special emphasis on precise and consistent terminology to avoid jingle-jangle fallacies.
  • Rigorousness of methods and statistics. Papers with empirical data need to meet the highest quality standards regarding methods and statistics.
  • Replicability, robustness, and generalizability of insights. The journal aims to contribute towards building a strong and cumulative knowledge base for personality science by publishing replication studies, registered reports, and papers indicating the (boundaries of the) generalizability of their findings, methods, or theories.
  • Utility, impact, and broadcasting of robust insights to the public. The journal aims to broadcast personality science better to the public so that personality-scientific knowledge can inform real-world issues.

Features

  • First pure, full personality journal that is online-only and open-access
  • Diamond Open-Access: Neither readers nor authors pay any fees (no article processing charges = no financial barriers, especially benefiting scholars from underrepresented and low-income countries or institutions)
  • Articles and supplements are published under a CC-BY 4.0 license (authors retain ownership of their work)
  • Reasonable turn-around times intended, fair and transparent review processes, and quality-driven evaluation
  • Continuous publishing of papers on a rolling basis (no volumes or issues)
  • Promotes open, transparent, reproducible, rigorous, and impactful research
  • Novel and attractive paper formats available (e.g., Cumulative Blitz Reports, Controversy Exchanges)
  • Registered Reports with in-principle acceptances (after review) offered
  • Strives towards a multi-disciplinary perspective on personality and individual differences for cross-fertilization between disciplines (especially beyond psychology)
  • Fully committed to diversity and inclusion in terms of fields, topics, geographical coverages, and contributors.