Submission Preflight (psychbull-submission)

The last check before pressing submit on APA Editorial Manager. Psychological Bulletin uses masked review, so the most common avoidable failure is an under-masked manuscript — and the second is a synthesis whose MARS/PRISMA reporting is incomplete. Verify volatile specifics on the official APA page before relying on them.

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
• Unsure which files/metadata Editorial Manager expects
• Confirming masking, the abstract cap, and the MARS/PRISMA checklist are satisfied

Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)

• Owner / publisher: American Psychological Association (APA).
• Portal: APA Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/bul).
• Review model: masked — author identity withheld from reviewers; no author clues in the file.
• What it publishes: research syntheses (systematic reviews, meta-analyses, meta-reviews, meta-synthesis, qualitative reviews) — not original primary studies; original theory → Psychological Review.
• Abstract: ≤ 250 words, on a separate page.
• Style: APA Publication Manual, 7th edition.
• Reporting: MARS (meta-analysis) · PRISMA (systematic review) · JARS (quant/mixed).
• Transparency: state preregistration + where; supply database, codebook, scripts (TOP, since Feb 1 2022 — 待核实 exact level).
• Fee: no submission fee stated (待核实; confirm any post-acceptance OA APC).

Preflight checklist

Fit & type

• It is a synthesis, not an original study or pure theory (else wrong journal)
• Synthesis type declared (meta-analysis / systematic / meta-review / qualitative)

Masking

• No author names, affiliations, or acknowledgments in the manuscript
• Self-references neutralized; easily identified self-citations removed from the reference list
• File metadata stripped (document properties)
• PROSPERO/OSF appendix anonymized (no registration number or author names)

Reporting & format

• Abstract ≤ 250 words on a separate page
• APA 7th-edition formatting throughout
• MARS / PRISMA / JARS checklist completed for the synthesis type
• PRISMA flow diagram + forest/funnel exhibits present (see psychbull-tables-figures)

Transparency & compliance

• Preregistration stated with access location
• Database + codebook + scripts deposited with a DOI; availability statement drafted
• Ethics/attribution compliant; original synthesis (no plagiarized text)

Anti-patterns

• Author identifiers left in text, acknowledgments, or file metadata (breaks masking)
• A PROSPERO number visible in the masked appendix
• Abstract over 250 words
• Submitting an original empirical study or pure theory to the wrong venue
• Missing MARS/PRISMA checklist or an undeposited database

Desk-reject patterns at the APA review flagship

Most avoidable failures at Psychological Bulletin are caught before peer review — at the editor's desk. The recurring desk-reject patterns at the APA's flagship synthesis journal:

Worked vignette — the final preflight pass

Illustrative figures only. The self-affirmation synthesis (k = 42, g = 0.34) clears preflight when:

• Fit is confirmed as a meta-analysis of existing trials, not new data.
• Masking is verified in the text, the neutralized self-citations, the stripped file metadata, and the anonymized OSF/PROSPERO appendix.
• Abstract is 218 words on its own page, stating k, the pooled g and CI, the moderator, and the robustness bottom line.
• Reporting: the MARS and PRISMA checklists are complete and the PRISMA diagram plus forest/funnel exhibits are attached.
• Transparency: the deposited database, codebook, and scripts carry a DOI and the availability statement is drafted. (Confirm the current TOP level and any APC on the official APA page.)

Referee/editor pushback → venue-specific fix

• "This appears to be a primary study." → Reframe only if it genuinely synthesizes a literature; otherwise it is the wrong journal.
• "Reviewer could infer the authors." → Remove residual self-references and metadata; re-anonymize the registration appendix.
• "MARS checklist is missing." → Attach the completed checklist matched to the synthesis type before resubmitting.

Output format

【Fit】synthesis, not primary study/theory? [Y/N]
【Type】meta-analysis / systematic / meta-review / qualitative
【Masked】text + self-refs + metadata + PROSPERO appendix clean? [Y/N]
【Abstract】word count (≤ 250)
【MARS/PRISMA/JARS】checklist complete? [Y/N]
【Transparency】database+codebook+scripts deposited + prereg stated? [Y/N]
【Next】await decision → psychbull-rebuttal on R&R

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — reference managers, masking, repository/deposit tooling
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — Editorial Manager, masked review, abstract, MARS/PRISMA/JARS, TOP