Psychological Review Theory Workflow (psychrev-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill — it tells you which psychrev- skill to use at the current stage* of a Psychological Review manuscript.

Default assumption: unless the user says otherwise, treat the target as Psychological Review — the American Psychological Association's flagship for theoretical contributions in scientific psychology. Per its scope it "publishes articles that make important theoretical contributions to any area of scientific psychology, including systematic evaluation of alternative theories"; papers "mainly focused on surveys of the literature, problems of method and design, or reports of empirical findings are not appropriate" (apa.org/pubs/journals/rev, 检索于 2026-06；以官网为准). The deliverable is a new theory or formal/computational model, or a major theoretical synthesis — built with explicit assumptions, derived predictions, and stated scope. There is no primary empirical report: data appear only to motivate or constrain the theory, never as the contribution. If the empirical work is the point, route to a JEP-family journal, Psychological Science, or a specialty venue — not Psychological Review.

Two register choices run through every stage. First, this is theory, so logical and formal soundness plays the role statistics play at empirical journals. Second, this is APA, so the prose is plain, precise, and mechanism-first; the vocabulary is model, assumption, prediction, parameter, scope — not "study," "we found," "p < .05."

When to trigger

• The user asks "what should I do next?" on a theory or modeling paper
• A draft arrives and you must locate its bottleneck (problem? model? derivations?)
• Work is thrashing between modeling, figure-building, and writing
• A Psychological Review decision letter has arrived and the work shifts to revision

Routing table

Default order

1. psychrev-topic-selection — lock the theoretical problem and confirm it is not empirical
2. psychrev-literature-positioning — name the theories you extend and the rivals you must beat
3. psychrev-theory-construction — build assumptions, mechanisms, formal structure, derivations
4. psychrev-argument-development — derive predictions; confront existing data and rival models
5. psychrev-boundary-conditions — state scope, identifiability, and what the theory does NOT explain
6. psychrev-conceptual-exhibits — model diagrams + simulation-of-model-behavior figures
7. psychrev-contribution-framing — differentiate the advance over prior models
8. psychrev-writing-style — APA house style; mechanism-first prose (polish)
9. psychrev-submission — Editorial Manager preflight (incl. author's own model code if computational)
10. psychrev-review-process — understand masked review and the decision types
11. psychrev-rebuttal — after a revise-and-resubmit

psychrev-writing-style is a late-stage polish. Do not polish prose before the derivations stand up (psychrev-argument-development) and the contribution is differentiated (psychrev-contribution-framing).

Stage-gate audit sheet

Re-run this audit at the start of each work session. Route to the first open gate; never check a later gate while an earlier one is open.

PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW — THEORY MANUSCRIPT GATE SHEET
Manuscript: ____________________   Session date: __________

[ ] G1  Theoretical problem stated; confirmed non-empirical ......... psychrev-topic-selection
[ ] G2  Theories extended + rival models to beat are named .......... psychrev-literature-positioning
[ ] G3  Assumptions, mechanisms, formal structure built ............. psychrev-theory-construction
[ ] G4  Predictions derived; confronted with data and rivals ........ psychrev-argument-development
[ ] G5  Scope, identifiability, and non-explananda stated ........... psychrev-boundary-conditions
[ ] G6  Model diagram + simulated-behavior figures render ........... psychrev-conceptual-exhibits
[ ] G7  Advance over the prior model articulated .................... psychrev-contribution-framing
[ ] G8  Prose is mechanism-first APA, not a review essay ............ psychrev-writing-style
[ ] G9  Editorial Manager preflight passed (model code attached) .... psychrev-submission
[ ] G10 Masked-review + Theoretical Notes expectations understood ... psychrev-review-process
[ ] G11 Response document tracks the revised THEORY, not letters .... psychrev-rebuttal

Hard rule: G6–G8 are polish gates — they stay closed until G4 holds.

Decision shortcuts

• "I have a striking phenomenon but no model" → psychrev-topic-selection
• "I don't know which existing model I'm beating" → psychrev-literature-positioning
• "My model has assumptions but no derived predictions" → psychrev-argument-development
• "A reviewer will ask whether the model is identifiable" → psychrev-boundary-conditions
• "Reviewers will ask 'how is this better than [prior model]?'" → psychrev-contribution-framing
• "My figures are boxes, no simulated behavior" → psychrev-conceptual-exhibits
• "It reads like a review essay" → psychrev-writing-style
• "I'm about to hit submit" → psychrev-submission
• "I got a major revision" → psychrev-review-process then psychrev-rebuttal

Differences vs. sibling journals

• Psychological Bulletin: integrative reviews and meta-analyses — synthesizes evidence; does not advance a new formal theory. If your contribution is "the field, summarized," it is Bulletin, not Review.
• Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS): a target article + open peer commentary format for cross-disciplinary debate; not the APA single-author/team theory paper.
• Trends in Cognitive Sciences: short, invited opinion/review pieces; not original formal theory.
• JEP family / Psychological Science: empirical reports — where data is the contribution.

Anti-patterns

• Do not skip psychrev-literature-positioning — reviewers first ask which model you beat.
• Do not let psychrev-conceptual-exhibits render a model before its behavior is derived.
• Do not let psychrev-rebuttal draft a response before the theory itself was revised.
• Do not treat Psychological Review as a venue for empirical reports; route data papers elsewhere.

Volatile specifics (editor, exact length/abstract limits, portal URL, fees, APA edition, acceptance rate) change or could not be machine-verified — see resources/official-source-map.md and confirm on the official APA Psychological Review page.