|
Clinical Psychology Forum (CPF) is the official monthly publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the British Psychological Society.
Its aims are to provide a platform for the publication of members’ views, opinions and comments around the profession of clinical psychology within the UK and to update the membership via the dissemination of articles and commissioned pieces reflecting current and future good practice within clinical psychology. As well as reflecting the diverse and individual views of the Division’s membership, CPF will also publish regular updates about DCP policy and business in order to inform its membership.
|
Annual Report 2007
Download this PDF for a full information about how the Division's newsletter operates, including a statistical breakdown of acceptance rates, the time taken between submission and publication and much else besides.
 CPF Annual Report 2007
FAQS
What is Clinical Psychology Forum?
Clinical Psychology Forum (CPF) is the official monthly publication of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the British Psychological Society. As well as reflecting the diverse and individual views of the Division’s membership, CPF will also publish regular updates about DCP policy and business in order to inform its membership.
What is the aim of Clinical Psychology Forum?
Its aims are to provide a platform for the publication of members’ views, opinions and comments around the profession of clinical psychology within the UK and to update the membership via the dissemination of articles and commissioned pieces reflecting current and future good practice within clinical psychology.
What type of articles do you consider for publication?
CPF welcomes contributions which are original, innovative and of interest to the membership of the Division. We aim to publish a variety of contributions ranging from personal reflections on clinical practice, critiques of current health policy, innovations in service development and audit and research studies.
Who can submit articles to Clinical Psychology Forum?
We will consider submissions from anyone who has written an article that meets the above guidance. Primarily we would expect to receive submissions from within the UK, since the focus of the publication is the practice of clinical psychology within the UK.
Psychology assistants, trainees and graduate workers are welcome to submit articles. Where the focus of an article is a clinical service within which the assistant, trainee or graduate worker are working, we would expect their supervisor to have had sight of the submitted article and a footnote to this effect should be included in the article.
May I also submit my article for consideration in other publications?
We do not encourage dual publication and there maybe serious copyright considerations if this were to happen. Please notify us, at the time of submission, if you have previously or currently submitted your article to any other publications, as we would not wish to simultaneously review or publish a paper.
However, we do not usually impose restrictions on your published article being printed in other publications but would request that acknowledgement to CPF be included. Indeed, there may be a case for some very pertinent or useful papers being published both within CPF and other Society publications.
Do you have a letters page?
We publish correspondence either about articles published within CPF or on issues of general interest to the membership. We may seek a reply to the letter and if possible will publish it alongside the original correspondence. The decision of the coordinating Editor is final.
What guidance on style do you offer?
Please follow the Society's Style Guide. Please also follow the CPF Guidelines for Contributors.
What format should I use when submitting an article?
We request that articles be compiled using double line spacing, in a reasonably sized, easily readable font (minimum 11pt, maximum 14pt) and that all pages are numbered.
Do you offer guidance on the terminology to use?
Contributors are asked to use language which is respectful and psychologically descriptive rather than medical, and to avoid using devaluing terminology; i.e. avoid clustering terminology like ‘the elderly’ or medical jargon like ‘patients’.
In addition, language should conform to the Society’s guidelines on non-sexist or discriminatory terminology.
We acknowledge that language is context specific and that occasionally authors may wish to justify the use of particular terms commonly adopted within specific contexts. Please include any such qualifications within an accompanying footnote.
Is ethical approval required?
We would obviously wish to know that any studies which are published were conducted ethically and, where appropriate, that ethics approval has been sought. In the case of experimental or research papers, we would expect acknowledgement usually of an NHS Local Ethics Committee or a University Ethics Committee.
Where approval has not been sought, the authors should account for the lack of ethical scrutiny and what steps were taken to ensure that the research was ethically conducted.
Should I include an abstract?
We request that articles include a summary, maximum 40 words, at the beginning of the paper.
Do I need to include references?
We request that articles include an accurate list of all references cited at the end of the paper. Please follow the Society Style Guide when compiling this.
How long does CPF like papers to be?
We request that articles have a minimum of 1,000 words and a maximum of 2,500 words (including references, affiliations, word count, etc.). Please ensure that the total word count is included at the end of your article.
May I incorporate tables and figures?
Tables and figures may be included in your article, but only if they enhance it. Please note that the CPF is a monochrome publication, so please make sure that your tables and figures still make sense when printed in black and white.
May I include my questionnaire?
We ask readers to request a copy of any questionnaires directly from the contact author, rather than include it in the article itself.
May I use acronyms in my article?
We do accept the use of acronyms, but please spell them out the first time they appear.
What contact details do you require?
We request that articles include the names of all authors, together with their affiliations and job titles. Please ensure that the full postal address of the contact author is given for correspondence.
Additional contact details - e-mail, telephone, mobile - would be advantageous. Indeed, an e-mail address is almost essential since reviewers will probably want to contact you that way.
How do I submit my article to the CPF?
Please e-mail one copy of your completed article (in Word) to Sue Maskrey and post one copy to her at:
Sue Maskrey, CPF Administrator, Clinical Psychology Unit, University of Sheffield,Sheffield S10 2TN.
What happens when I submit an article?
When your article is received, it will be logged and given a unique identity number. Each month, all articles registered will be submitted to the Co-ordinating Editor for allocation to a member of the Editorial Collective. Each article is then distributed to the reviewer, with a requested turnaround of eight weeks. The contact author will be notified of the allocated reviewer and also the deadline.
Depending on the view of the reviewer, the article may be accepted, accepted with minor modifications, accepted with extensive modifications or rejected. We reserve the right to shorten, amend and hold back copy, if needed.
How long does the whole process take?
Timescales vary considerably but on average the whole process, from submission to publication, takes approximately nine months to a year.
Occasionally, articles may be accepted or rejected with minimal delay. More frequently however, there is liaison between reviewer and contact author.
Delays may be incurred where protracted dialogue is necessary or where communication is hindered - e.g. annual leave or illness. Delays have sometimes been experienced due to unnotified changes of employer or contact details.
Final publication also depends on the authors returning a completed copyright form.
Further information on what happens after submission was published in the May 2008 edition of CPF and is reproduced below:
Some statistics about the performance of Clinical Psychology Forum over the last 18 months or so since Lesley Cohen and Jackie Munks established the CPF data base, which has enabled us to do some annual statistics for the first time.
Currently CPF receives around 11 manuscripts per month. The most popular months for submission are March, June and September; the least seem to correspond to school holidays. In addition, we also receive on average seven manuscripts, which have been revised following feedback from the reviewers. These are returned to the original reviewers, and if the revisions are satisfactory, they are accepted for publication.
Of the 11 submitted we only reject on average one manuscript per month, which is actually low if CPF were considered an academic journal. However, many of the papers we publish are views and opinion, and are not meant to be research articles which are perhaps more easily scrutinised and found wanting. Nevertheless at our forthcoming CPF editorial meeting for new members we will be looking at our acceptance and rejection criteria.
Finally, on average we accept around five manuscripts per month, which also means that around five submissions which are returned for submission each month, probably are not resubmitted.
Effectively, this means that we publish eventually around 50 per cent of what is submitted; the remainder is either rejected or the authors fail to resubmit.
How long does it all take? Unfortunately, due to the way the data base was originally set up, which was just to track manuscripts, we cannot estimate the duration of every process within the system. However, the time from submission to a final decision - acceptance of a resubmission or submission/ rejection - ranges from 69 per cent at one to three months, 21 per cent at four to six months, and 10 per cent for over 9 months, but this includes the turn around time for returning the manuscript and receiving a revised version from the authors. These times demonstrate reasonable turn around.
From acceptance to publication, which also includes a final submission and receipt of a copyright form, 13 per cent are published in up to three months, 27 per cent up to six months and 30 per cent for seven months and over. Again, compared to many academic journals CPF is able to turn around copy relatively quickly, which is important given its role as a forum and newsletter as opposed to being an academic journal.
What happens if I am asked to resubmit?
If you are requested to resubmit an amended version of your article please ensure that you return the amended version, showing tracked changes, directly to the original reviewer and state in an accompanying letter how you have addressed their concerns. This should also be copied to Jackie Munks, the Administrator. The reviewer will then contact you again as to whether your resubmitted version is suitable now for publication.
What happens if the reviewer is unsure whether to accept or reject my article?
This situation only rarely occurs but the procedure is that the reviewer will request a second opinion from another member of the editorial collective or the coordinating editor. The contact author is notified of the situation and of the secondary reviewer.
What are my options if my article is rejected?
Should your article be rejected by the allocated reviewer you will be notified of the reasons directly. Should you disagree with the justification offered you should initially contact the reviewer to discuss. If, after discussion, an amicable conclusion is not reached you may contact the Co-ordinating Editor for a final decision. You may also wish to consider submitting your article for consideration to an alternative publication.
What happens once my article is accepted?
The reviewer will notify you or the administrator. The administrator will then confirm acceptance in writing and request that you complete and return the copyright form submitted. You will also be asked to e-mail an electronic copy of the final, accepted article.
On receipt of both the signed copyright form and e-copy, your article will await publication in the next appropriate edition. There is usually a wait of at least three months before publication. The decision of the coordinating editor is final.
You will be notified of pending publication and you will receive a complimentary copy of the edition incorporating your article. If, in exceptional circumstances, your article remains unpublished beyond six months after acceptance please notify the administrator.
Do you publish special issues?
From time to time CPF will commission or receive special issues on a particular theme that should be of interest to a large proportion of the readership. These usually take up to a year to organise and will have around eight articles put together by one or two commissioning editors.
A member of the editorial collective of CPF will be allocated to the special issue and assist in the final editing of the papers and ensuring that they are suitable for publication. Occasionally we have to turn down ideas for special issues to preserve space for publishing ordinary articles.
If you are interested in compiling a special issue, please contact the coordinating editor with an outline, rationale and names of potential contributors. Following discussion within the collective, we will get back to you and let you know whether you should proceed.
How do I become a member of the editorial collective?
From time to time we will review the membership of the collective and invite new people to join. Should you wish to be considered for membership of the editorial collective, you may request a copy of the statement of interest form by contacting the administrator.
On receipt of your completed form, the coordinating editor will be notified and your application will be considered at the next biannual meeting of the editorial collective. The usual term of office for the editor or members of the collective is three years, but a second term is considered for appropriate members and preserve within the collective a suitable balance of expertise and experience.
|
