Occupational Psychology Outlook

Occupational Psychology Outlook (OPO) is the new peer-reviewed publication of the Division of Occupational Psychology.

OPO aims to provide a bridge between research and practice, bringing the two together in a single publication that contains research and conceptual papers, practitioner papers, review papers and a range of other content.

We invite papers that report good science and practice, discuss emerging trends that we need to influence or react to, debate ethical issues, and more.

Each issue will aim to incorporate the five areas of occupational psychology: psychological assessment; leadership, engagement and motivation; work design, organisational change and development; wellbeing at work; and learning, training and development.

Submissions

Submissions should be no longer than 2,000 words (not including references).

If you think your proposed paper should have greater word count, you are encouraged to discuss this with the editor in advance.

Submissions must demonstrate an ability to support professional development and/or advancement of science or practice.

Entries that appear primarily to promote an individual or business etc. will be rejected.

Statement about Ethical considerations of submitted work

Authors are reminded that Occupational Psychology Outlook will only publish articles that confirm they adhere to the Principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) with regards to Ethical Standards. In particular, please note that Occupational Psychology Outlook requires confirmation that there has been appropriate oversight to ensure ethical practice that is in accordance with current legislation with regard to data management if your submission is related to data from people, animals,  records of personal data and anonymised human tissues. 

If you are not connected to an established ethics committee and your study contains data from people, animals, records of personal data, or anonymised human tissues please provide a statement explaining what ethical considerations were taken into account and how this was overseen.

Research

Research articles will provide short summaries of ethically approved research projects, following the typical structure of introduction, method, results, and discussion.

This includes the option of summarising MSc dissertations or submitting summaries of  research that has been published elsewhere.

Authors may consider placing focus on aspects of the research that have not been previously addressed in publications – for example context that shaped the research, organisational impacts resulting from the research, and reflections on working with participants, etc.

Submissions must consider implications for practice as well as future research.

Practice

Practice entries will be summaries of activities undertaken with organisations and/or individuals.

A critical approach will make submissions valuable, e.g., by considering what worked and what did not work, why this seemed to be the case, etc.

Discussing the context of the work is likely to be beneficial to readers.

Clear implications for practice are required – this may include practical advice for working with particular types of organisations and/or populations,  design of interventions, etc.

However, authors may also identify research questions that emerge from the work.

Practice submission structures are more flexible than research submissions, but authors are encouraged to provide clear background, implementation, and evaluation, as well as reference to relevant research.

Submissions must demonstrate evidence-based practice, drawing on relevant theory to inform the background and discussion of outcomes.  Trainee occupational psychologists are particularly welcome to submit examples of their practice.

Commentary

While research and practice entries will be based on activities undertaken by the author/s, commentaries provide a flexible way for authors to contribute to important discussions.

For example,  by highlighting important trends, e.g., in industry, research, technology etc., and how these may shape practice and research.

Authors may also make a ‘call to action’, e.g. identifying an area of practice or research that appears to have been neglected by our profession.

The scope of focus can be broad, e.g,. industry or practice in general, or may be specific, e.g., highlighting an emerging challenge in an industry.

Commentaries from individuals outside the profession are welcomed, e.g., stakeholders with a view on how occupational psychologists and allied professionals can support their activities.

Debates

Debate style articles provide scope for authors to make more contentious arguments, albeit still rigorous in using evidence where appropriate.

This might, for example, include debates on aspects of ethical guidance that need to be introduced or enhanced, perceived ‘best practice’ that could or should be improved – or even consigned to history, ‘fringe topics’ that should be more central to the curriculum, political perspectives, etc.

Please note that while radical arguments are welcome, they must still conform to BPS ethical and legal standards.

NB: Debate articles are submitted with the understanding that the editorial board will put out a call for responses where a paper is accepted for publication.  Contributors will have the right to a further response.

Structure

Page 1 should include Title, names of authors, corresponding author (please include two possible email addresses to ensure we can reach you), word count. Follow with a page break. Don’t include author details on following pages.

Page 2 – Title plus abstract (of under 250 words) and up to five key words. Follow with a page break.

Page 3 onwards – main body of paper.

Research papers should follow the format of Introduction, Methods (including details of ethical considerations and approvals), Results, and Discussion.

Practice papers should broadly follow a structure of background, implementation, and evaluation.

The strongest OPO papers give information about limitations of methodology (whether research or practice), give advice to others considering similar work, consider the professional/practical implications of their findings, and suggest future routes for research or practice.

Commentary and debate papers may adopt a structure of the author(s) choice, but it is important to ensure the argument can be followed by readers.

The review process

Occupational Psychology Outlook (OPO) is a peer-reviewed  publication. We use a double-blind process.

After submission, your paper will be assigned to a reviewer.

OPO reviewers have varied backgrounds and areas of expertise. We try to match your submission with someone with knowledge of your area.

Submissions are usually reviewed in approximate chronological order of receipt.

You will usually receive one of four responses:

• Not suitable
• Suitable but requiring major revisions
• Suitable but requiring minor revision
• Suitable without further revision

The degree to which your revisions are directed will depend on the extent of the reviewers’ comments.

If you are asked to resubmit we require a submission as a word document with tracked changes to alert us to where the revisions are in the text.

We also require an accompanying letter or email with a bullet pointed list of how you have addressed each of the requests for change made by the reviewer.

Support

Authors may wish to discuss the suitability of their contribution with the editors before submitting, and at this point, advice could be provided as to length, structure etc.

We welcome new writers (at any career stage).  We are developing a group of writing coaches who can support new writers through the submission process.

Please feel free to contact the editorial manager at [email protected] if you have a paper you would like to go through an initial screening and advice process before being formally submitted for review.

You can download issues of the OPO on BPS Explore.

Call for papers

We invite articles that contribute to our understanding of occupational psychology as both science and practice.  We particularly encourage writers to consider the connections between science and practice, e.g. evidence based practice and practice based research.

Occupational Psychology Outlook publishes papers across the five core areas of occupational psychology.  Illustrative examples are provided below, these are not intended to constrain writer creativity.

Psychological assessment

• Job selection processes in relation to equality, diversity, and inclusion
• Developments in personality research, e.g. new measurement strategies
• Work adjustments based on psychological assessment
• Ethical issues, e.g. who decides what will be assessed, how should assessments be used?

Leadership, engagement and motivation

• Leadership development interventions
• Employee relations surveys
• Organisational reward strategies
• Ethical issues, e.g. uses of power, distributions of rewards

Work design, organisational change and development

• The changing work environment, and how organisations can respond
• Physical and social work environment
• Changing organisational cultures
• Ethical issues, e.g. who decides how work is designed?

Wellbeing at work

• Individual differences and wellbeing (e.g. coping styles, risk factors)
• Wellbeing interventions in practice
• Emerging threats and opportunities
• Ethical issues, e.g. competing obligations to stakeholders, supporting the supporters

Learning, training and development

• Emerging learning, training, and development needs, e.g. in specific professions or sectors
• Approaches to learning needs analysis
• Making learning more effective
• Ethical issues, e.g. power relations in workshop activities, who sets the learning agenda?

Please submit your papers to [email protected] . Details about format and style are under the Information for contributors tab.