From the Editors

Editorial Report and Acknowledgement of Reviewers, 2020

J. Christopher Cohrs*a, Johanna Ray Vollhardtb
[a] Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany. [b] Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA.

Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2021, Vol. 9(1), 1–7, https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.6131

Published (VoR): 2021-02-19.

*Corresponding author at: Philipps University Marburg, Department of Psychology, Gutenbergstr. 18, 35032 Marburg, Germany. Phone: +49 6421 2826632. E-mail: christopher.cohrs@uni-marburg.de

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

What’s New in 2020?

The Journal of Social and Political Psychology (JSPP) moved its online presence to a new platform, shared with other journals published by PsychOpen, and also changed its appearance. All new submissions are made through the new website, which offers a convenient workflow throughout the editorial process.

Once again, in line with an increasing number and scope of submissions to the journal, we extended the editorial team and welcomed several new Associate Editors: Fouad Bou Zeineddine (University of Innsbruck, Austria), Charlie Rose Crimston (University of Queensland, Australia), Maria Fernandes-Jesus (University of Sussex, United Kingdom), Robin Gomila (Princeton University, United States), Blerina Kellezi (Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom), Marta Miklikowska (Umeå University, Sweden), Sigrun Marie Moss (University of Oslo, Norway), Rashmi Nair (Ashoka University, India), Cliodhna O'Connor (University College Dublin, Ireland), Geetha Reddy (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), Klaus Michael Reininger (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany), Hema Preya Selvanathan (University of Queensland, Australia), Wendy Sims-Schouten (University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom), and Puleng Segalo (University of South Africa). Several of our Associate Editors also finished their service: Gülseli Baysu (Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom), Sammyh Khan (Örebro University, Sweden), Iona Latu (Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom), and Laura Taylor (University College Dublin, Ireland) – we thank them all for their contributions to the journal over the last years!

We also welcomed several new members to our Editorial Board, which now includes 89 members from 43 countries. You can see the complete list of Editorial Board members here: https://jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/ed-board

Issue No 1 of 2020 includes 18 original research articles, two commentaries, and one action teaching report. Issue No 2 includes 17 original research articles, one theoretical article, and one review article. Many thanks to all the authors!

Submission Numbers and Decisions

In addition to submissions to a Special Thematic Section that is in progress (on “Political Psychology of Southeast Asia”, edited by Ali Mashuri, Cristina Montiel, Idhamsyah Eka Putra), 212 (compared to 186 in 2019, 148 in 2018, 101 in 2017, and 79 in 2016) new manuscripts were submitted to JSPP in 2020, until November. The first decisions and editorial status of these submissions are presented in Table 1. For these submissions (not including those that were desk-rejected, which took on average 9.3 days [range: 0 to 46]), the average duration from submission to the first decision was slightly below four months (M = 114.4, SD = 59.0; ranging from 22 to 305 days). Turnaround times have slightly improved over last year’s, but we continue to aim for a quicker turnaround time with fewer outliers. This past year of course, the turnaround time was also impacted by the pandemic and editors’ and reviewers’ increased care-taking responsibilities.

Table 1

Number of Submissions in 2020 (Until November) and First Decisions

Total Submissions Desk-Rejected Under Review / Awaiting Decision Rejected Revise & Resubmit Accepted
212 112a (52.8%) 21 (9.9%) 36 (17.0%) 42b (19.8%) 1 (0.5%)

aIncludes 2 manuscripts that were “desk-returned” to the authors with an invitation to resubmit after revisions.

bIncludes 27 manuscripts with a “Resubmit for Review” decision and 15 with a “Revisions Required” decision.

Publications, Citations, and Download Statistics

To date, JSPP has published (not including our editorial articles) 272 peer-reviewed articles (40 of which were published in 2020). According to Google Scholar, these articles have been cited 4321 times (as of 5 February, 2021) (see http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=knb2n1kAAAAJ).

The number of articles downloaded from JSPP’s (old) website over the year (until November 2020) is presented in Figure 1, by month. For comparison, the average monthly downloads for 2014 to 2019 are included in the columns on the left. The download numbers have further increased slighly.

Click to enlarge
jspp.6131-f1
Figure 1

Number of Article Downloads Per Month in 2020 (Until November)

The top ten most frequently downloaded articles (from the old website) are listed in Table 2 and Table 3. Table 2 includes all articles that have been published so far in JSPP since its first issue; these are the same as last year except for one new entry (Dudgeon & Walker, 2015), with just slight changes in ranks. Table 3 shows only those articles published in 2020.

Table 2

Top Ten Most Frequently Downloaded Articles Published Between 2013 and 2019

Article title and authors Downloads Publication date
The Role of the Media in the Construction of Public Belief and Social Change (Happer & Philo) 556762 Dec 16, 2013
Social Psychological Perspectives on Trump Supporters (Pettigrew) 238444 Mar 2,2017
Stages of Colonialism in Africa: From Occupation of Land to Occupation of Being (Bulhan) 128005 Aug 21, 2015
Dramatic Social Change: A Social Psychological Perspective (de la Sablonnière et al.) 68624 Dec 16, 2013
A Complex Systems Approach to the Study of Ideology: Cognitive-Affective Structures and the Dynamics of Belief Systems (Homer-Dixon et al.) 49959 Dec 16, 2013
Who Coined the Concept of Ethnocentrism? A Brief Report (Bizumic) 47377 Jan 31, 2014
Objectification, Self-Objectification, and Societal Change (Zurbriggen) 39109 Dec 16, 2013
From I to We: Group Formation and Linguistic Adaption in an Online Xenophobic Forum (Bäck et al.) 36435 Mar 3, 2018
Recurrent Fury: Conspiratorial Discourse in the Blogosphere Triggered by Research on the Role of Conspiracist Ideation in Climate Denial (Lewandowsky et al.) 33032 Jul 8, 2015
Decolonising Australian Psychology: Discourses, Strategies, and Practice (Dudgeon &Walker) 29184 Aug 21, 2015
Table 3

Top Ten Most Frequently Downloaded Articles Published in 2020

Article title and authors Downloads Publication date
Empathy and the Liberal-Conservative Political Divide in the U.S. (Morris) 16138 Feb 28, 2020
The Social and Psychological Characteristics of Norm Deviants: A Field Study in a Small Cohesive University Campus (Gomila & Paluck) 3228 Feb 28, 2020
Mistrust and Misinformation: A Two-Component, Socio-Epistemic Model of Belief in Conspiracy Theories (Pierre) 3109 Oct 12, 2020
Work Alienation and its Gravediggers: Social Class, Class Consciousness, and Activism (Sawyer & Gampa) 2585 Feb 28, 2020
A Brighter Future: The Effect of Social Class on Responses to Future Debt (Schmitt et al.) 2519 Feb 28, 2020
Association Between Individualism and Welfare Attitudes: An Analysis of Citizens’ Attitudes Towards the State’s Welfare Responsibility (Toikko & Rantanen) 2139 Feb 28, 2020
Cognitive Polyphasia in a Global South Populist Democracy: Mapping Social Representations of Duterte’s Regime in the Philippines (Uyheng & Montiel) 2111 Feb 28, 2020
How Education Did (and Did Not) Accentuate Partisan Differences During the Ebola Outbreak of 2014-15 (Martin) 1526 Feb 28, 2020
A Narrative of Conservative Student Affairs Professionals: Silenced in an Inclusive Profession? (Davis et al.) 1524 Apr 7, 2020
Zeitgeist Effects, Fragmentation of Media Use, and Value Consensus (Puohiniemi & Verkasalo) 16138 Apr 7, 2020

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

Finally, we are grateful for the reliable and helpful support that we have received from the following 217 colleagues, who provided peer reviews for JSPP in 2020:

  1. Juneman Abraham

  2. Yasemin Gülsüm Acar

  3. Ramadan A. Ahmed

  4. Nihan Albayrak-Aydemir

  5. Hélder Vinagreiro Alves

  6. Julia Alves Brasil

  7. Amena Amer

  8. David Andersen

  9. Eleni Andreouli

  10. Ian Anson

  11. João H. C. António

  12. Juan Pablo Aranguren Romero

  13. M. Murat Ardag

  14. Catalina Argüello

  15. Gamze Arman

  16. Paula Armendariz

  17. Flavio Azevedo

  18. Vivienne Badaan

  19. Aphrodite Baka

  20. Bert Bakker

  21. Alexa Bankert

  22. Mehmet Bastug

  23. Nichole M. Bauer

  24. Peter Beattie

  25. Julia Becker

  26. Johannes Beller

  27. Ella Ben Hagai

  28. Mauro Bertolotti

  29. Fulvio Biddau

  30. Boris Bizumic

  31. John C. Blanchar

  32. Pamela Block

  33. Giuliano Bobba

  34. Matthijs Bogaards

  35. Hale Bolak Boratav

  36. Angela L. Bos

  37. Fouad Bou Zeineddine

  38. Pierre Bouchat

  39. Inna Bovina

  40. Ryan L. Boyd

  41. Omar Khalifa Burhan

  42. Mark Burton

  43. Rosa Cabecinhas

  44. Lindsey Cameron

  45. Erin Cassese

  46. Bruno Castanho Silva

  47. Rosalie Chen

  48. Adrian Cherney

  49. Rebecca Y. M. Cheung

  50. Wing-Yee Cheung

  51. Anne Cizmar

  52. Edward John Roy Clarke

  53. Canan Coşkan

  54. Gabriela Czarnek

  55. Simon Dalby

  56. Justine Dandy

  57. Martin V. Day

  58. Ciro De Vincenzo

  59. Peter Ditto

  60. Gina Donoso

  61. Bertjan Doosje

  62. Karen Douglas

  63. Kris Dunn

  64. Rory Duthie

  65. Pierce Ekstrom

  66. Cengiz Erisen

  67. Stanley Feldman

  68. Andreas E. Feldmann

  69. Maria Fernandes-Jesus

  70. Gillian Finchilescu

  71. Michelle Fine

  72. Emily Fisher

  73. Sam Freel

  74. Marius Frenken

  75. Jeremy Frimer

  76. Luis Humberto Gómez Ordóñez

  77. Efraín García-Sánchez

  78. Mirona A. Gheorghiu

  79. David Giles

  80. Adela Gjorgjioska

  81. Theofilos Gkinopoulos

  82. Thomas Grünhage

  83. Sylvie Graf

  84. Peter R. Grant

  85. Dmitry Grigoryev

  86. Shang E. Ha

  87. Eemeli Hakoköngäs

  88. Boaz Hameiri

  89. Judith Nora Hardt

  90. Yogi Hale Hendlin

  91. Mia Hendricks

  92. Peter Holtz

  93. Joevarian Hudijana

  94. Débora Imhoff

  95. Roland Imhoff

  96. Elisabeth Ivarsflaten

  97. Jay Jennings

  98. Tyler Jimenez

  99. Jeroen Joly

  100. Kayla Nicole Jordan

  101. Kirsti Jylhä

  102. Pascal König

  103. Mariska Kappmeier

  104. Johannes Keller

  105. Jared B. Kenworthy

  106. Laura Kilby

  107. Elaine Kinsella

  108. Resit Kislioglu

  109. Jarosław Klebaniuk

  110. Yasin Koc

  111. Yanna Krupnikov

  112. Shana Kushner Gadarian

  113. Francesco La Barbera

  114. Tara La Rose

  115. Barbara Lášticová

  116. Adrian Lüders

  117. Anthony Lantian

  118. Gunnar Lemmer

  119. Lars Leszczenski

  120. Stephan Lewandowsky

  121. Michael Lewis-Beck

  122. Luisa Liekefett

  123. Marcel Lubbers

  124. Anne Maass

  125. Catriona Macleod

  126. Rakoen Maertens

  127. Cherie Maestas

  128. Marta Marchlewska

  129. George E. Marcus

  130. António Marques

  131. Molly Maxfield

  132. William A. McConochie

  133. Sam McFarland

  134. Meghan McNamara

  135. Jennifer Merolla

  136. Jasna Milosevic

  137. Zahra Mirnajafi

  138. Ingvill Mochmann

  139. Clara Moningka

  140. Emily Mroz

  141. Michael Murray

  142. Liisa Myyry

  143. Türkay Salim Nefes

  144. Katelin Helene Siemens Neufeld

  145. Fergus Neville

  146. Brian Newman

  147. Martha Newson

  148. Wenwen Ni

  149. Cliodhna O'Connor

  150. Emma O'Dwyer

  151. Mukadder Okuyan

  152. Victoria Opara

  153. Victor Ottati

  154. Bianca Parry

  155. Inga Lisa Pauls

  156. Chiara Pecini

  157. Miquel Pellicer

  158. Cícero Roberto Pereira

  159. Michelle Persich

  160. Gregory Alan Petrow

  161. Massimo Pigliucci

  162. Marzena Pilat

  163. Suntosh Rathanam Pillay

  164. Jessica Ana Maria Price

  165. Marius Raab

  166. Leigh Raymond

  167. Roderik Rekker

  168. Joshua Rhee

  169. Guillem Rico

  170. Heiner Rindermann

  171. Carlos Alberto Rivera

  172. Carolina Rocha

  173. Arne Roets

  174. Ross Rogers

  175. Chiara Rollero

  176. Adrian Rothers

  177. John Barry Ryan

  178. Patricio Saavedra

  179. Elif Sandal Önal

  180. Antonis Sapountzis

  181. Maja Schachner

  182. Martijn Schoonvelde

  183. Ken Sheldon

  184. Nurit Shnabel

  185. Roomana N. Siddiqui

  186. Juha Siltala

  187. Eric Skoog

  188. Mónica Catarina Soares

  189. Wiktor Soral

  190. Katherine Beata Starzyk

  191. Gonneke Stevens

  192. John Anthony Terrizzi

  193. Paul H. Thibodeau

  194. Manuela Thomae

  195. Emma Thomas

  196. Joshua Uyheng

  197. Damian Valdés-Santiago

  198. Joaquim Pires Valentim

  199. Maarten Johannes van Bezouw

  200. Alain Van Hiel

  201. Pavlos Vasilopoulos

  202. Matteo Vergani

  203. Michela Vezzoli

  204. Joao Wachelke

  205. Joseph Anthony Wagoner

  206. Andrea Waling

  207. Aaron Weinschenk

  208. Shaun Wiley

  209. Cynthia Willis-Esqueda

  210. David Wilson

  211. Marta Witkowska

  212. Adrian Wojcik

  213. Laura Wray-Lake

  214. Sung-jin Yoo

  215. Holger Zapf

  216. Anna Zlobina

  217. Leor Zmigrod

Funding

The authors have no funding to report.

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Acknowledgments

As usual, our sincere thanks go to the PsychOpen team – Judith Tinnes, Armin Günther, and Gerhard Eilbacher – for their consistent support of the journal throughout the year. We also thank our Editorial Assistant, Michaela Bölinger, for administrative support.

References

  • Dudgeon, P., & Walker, R. (2015). Decolonising Australian psychology: Discourses, strategies, and practice. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 276-297. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.126