Pre-Submission Preflight (psychrev-submission)

Psychological Review is a theory journal. There is no experimental dataset or empirical replication package to deposit. The preflight centers on the theory paper's format, masking, APA style, and — for computational models — sharing the author's own model code (not a shared empirical-analysis kit). 检索于 2026-06；以官网为准.

When to trigger

• "I'm about to submit to Psychological Review"
• Final check before clicking submit in Editorial Manager
• Unsure which files the portal expects for a theory/modeling paper

Pre-submission checklist

Scope & fit

• The paper makes a theoretical contribution (new theory / formal model / synthesis), not an empirical report
• Data appear only to motivate or constrain the theory; no new experiment is the contribution
• It enters and evaluates standing theories ("systematic evaluation of alternative theories")
• Fit confirmed against the current Psychological Review aims & scope (verify on the official page)

Format (verify exact current requirements on the APA author page)

• APA 7th-edition formatting: double-spaced, 12-pt (e.g., Times New Roman), 1-inch margins (verify edition)
• Separate title page with all authors, affiliations, ORCID iDs, contact (kept out of the masked body)
• Abstract ≤ 250 words on a separate page (verify current limit)
• No fixed upper length, but texts > 15,000 words carry a justification for the length (verify)
• Equations numbered; figures meet APA resolution/format specs; figures are diagrams/simulations, not experiments
• Manuscript file in Word / OpenOffice format if the portal requires it (verify)

Masking (anonymous review)

• No author-identifying content in the manuscript body
  • Self-citations phrased neutrally ("prior work (Author, 2020)"), not "in our earlier paper"
  • Acknowledgments/funding identifiers kept out of the body (added after acceptance)
• Document file properties scrubbed of author name/affiliation; file names carry no author/institution

References & citations

• APA 7th author–date in-text citations; full reference list (verify edition; see source map)
• Every in-text citation appears in the reference list and vice versa
• The current, strongest form of each rival model is cited (not only its original version)
• All references are real and accurately quoted (no fabricated or mis-cited sources)

Model code (computational/formal models)

• The author's own model code (simulation/fitting scripts) prepared for sharing per APA/journal policy
• Code reproduces the simulation figures and reported fits; parameters and seeds documented
• A README states language/version, how to run, and what each script produces
• (This is the model's code, NOT a shared empirical-analysis pipeline — there is no dataset to deposit)

Ethics & originality (APA Ethics Code)

• Manuscript is original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere
• Authorship reflects genuine intellectual contribution; order agreed by all authors
• Any prior conference/preprint version disclosed as required; AI-assistance disclosed per current policy (verify)
• Similarity/overlap acceptable and self-overlap disclosed

Portal files (Editorial Manager)

• Masked main manuscript (body + figures + references), required format
• Separate title page with author info and corresponding author
• Model code / supplemental files if applicable; cover letter if requested
• Any author-agreement or conflict-of-interest forms the system requires

Desk-reject triggers to preempt

1. It's an empirical paper (the data is the contribution) — the defining Psychological Review desk-reject.
2. A literature survey / methods-and-design paper — explicitly out of scope.
3. A "model" that only redescribes data with free parameters and no falsifiable commitment.
4. Insufficient theoretical advance — a relabel, a refit, or an incremental extension.
5. Masking or formatting failures, or over-length with no justification.

Editorial Manager operation notes

• Psychological Review submits via Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/rev — confirm the exact URL; see source map).
• Enter author metadata only in the system, never in the masked manuscript.
• Choose the correct article type (Theoretical article vs. Theoretical Note).
• Fees / open-access (APA Open) options: confirm current policy on the author page — do not assume.

Anti-patterns

• Submitting a paper whose real contribution is data or method
• Author identity leaking through "our prior study," acknowledgments, or file properties
• Reference list missing the current form of the rival models
• Figures that are experiments (impossible here) or undefined boxes-and-arrows
• For a computational model, withholding the model code reviewers will ask for

Output format

【Scope】theoretical contribution, data only constrains: yes / fix
【Format】APA 7th / abstract ≤ 250 / length justified if > 15k / figures conceptual: pass / fix
【Masking】body + properties + filenames clean: yes / fix
【References】APA 7th; rivals' current form cited; all real: yes / fix
【Model code】own simulation/fitting code prepared + README (if computational): yes / n-a
【Ethics】original, not under review, authorship correct, AI disclosed: yes / fix
【Portal files】masked MS + title page + code/forms: complete / missing [...]
【Next step】await decision → psychrev-review-process; revise → psychrev-rebuttal

Related resources

• templates/checklist.md — 8-section pre-submission self-check (scope / format / masking / abstract / theory / figures-code / references / ethics & portal)
• ../../resources/external_tools.md — Theory/modeling tools (citation mapping, reference managers, modeling environments, diagram software, argument-logic aids)
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — Official APA Psychological Review scope, format, and portal facts (with verification dates)