Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences

Submissions

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Author Guidelines

Overview

JOIBS is the journal of the Society for Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences. Its mission is to be a forum for open, free, public, and transparent communication of empirical behavioral science. It is an open access journal, including open public peer review, and open author responses to open peer review. It allows post-publication peer commentary. Unsolicited manuscripts may be submitted at any time. JOIBS only considers uninvited empirical papers (and does not consider uninvited reviews, theory papers, or perspectives articles).

JOIBS is not a Traditional Academic Journal

This means that we see our role as facilitating scientific communication. The reviews, however positive or negative, will be published alongside your work. The purpose of this format is to encourage open and thoughtful evaluation of works of empirical behavioral science during and beyond the initial review process.

Open Peer Review. JOIBS uses a process of open peer review. After your article is accepted and published, it will become publicly available for anyone to read. Peer reviews will also be published and be publicly viewable.

Optional Blind Review. We believe our model preempts the need for blind review. However, if you do prefer blind review, please state so in your cover letter and upload two versions of your paper: 1. A version complete with all authors and their affiliations; and 2. An anonymized version.

After Your Submission. Within two or three weeks, you should receive an email from the action editor assigned to handle your paper. If you do not, feel free to contact the Editor in Chief, who can be reached at journalofopeninquiry@gmail.com.

After Your Paper is Accepted. JOIBS is an online only journal, and performs neither copy-editing nor formatting. As such, you will need to format for publication as per JOIBS’ requirements. You will receive these instructions after your paper is accepted. See also our Terms of Service for additional information and details.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements:

  • Your paper is empirical -- not a review, theory paper, or perspectives article.
  • You are aware that peer reviews will be published alongside your paper, if it is accepted.
  • Your paper is formatted according to our template provided here.
  • You have included a cover letter with contact information for all authors, including institutional affiliation, email address, and mailing address.
  • All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
  • All tables and figures have been numbered and labeled.

Submission to JOIBS constitutes agreement to abide by these ethical standards for the conduct of research:

  • All research involving human participants must identify the Institutional Review Board that has approved the conduct of the research.
  • Authors must state that the data are accurate representations of participant responses and have not been manipulated by the researchers, except where clearly and transparently noted (such as when authors use any of a variety of well-established practices for imputing data). This can be done in a cover letter, the manuscript itself, or publicly available supplemental materials, but it must be stated explicitly somewhere.
  • All data and materials should be made publicly available whenever possible. If the data cannot be publicly posted, an explanation justifying why it is not possible to do so must appear in the submitted manuscript.
  • Nothing in the written report has been plagiarized from work by people who are not authors on the submitted paper. Extensive quoting or paraphrasing from the submitting authors’ own work is acceptable if it is duly noted in the manuscript.

Articles

There is a one-time fee of $75 for submission to the journal that goes to processing costs and maintenance of the website. Therefore, it is non-refundable, even if your paper is desk-rejected or rejected because its content does not fit the requirements described here.

We are reimagining the traditional peer review process to foster greater transparency, collaboration, and academic dialogue. Every article submitted to JOIBS will be reviewed by two experts as part of the initial review process. Upon publication, the reviews will be published alongside the article, offering readers a deeper understanding of the feedback and scholarly dialogue that shaped the final manuscript.

Through this innovative approach, JOIBS aims to break down traditional barriers in academic publishing, promote accountability, and create a vibrant space for scholarly exchange.

Copyright Notice

Copyright

If your paper is accepted, it will be copyrighted under a CC BY-NC - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. In short, authors retain copyright but grant anyone the right to use the material if they attribute it to the authors and do not use it for commercial purposes. Go here for more details, including all the legal aspects of this type of license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

Privacy Statement

We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Statement outlines how we collect, use, and protect your data when you use our journal website.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect the following types of information when you visit our website:

  • Personal Information: Names and email addresses provided by you for purposes such as creating an account, subscribing to the journal, or submitting articles.
  • Non-Personal Information: Automatically collected information through cookies, including IP addresses, browser types, pages visited, and time spent on the site.

2. Use of Personal Information

The personal information you provide will be used exclusively for:

  • Facilitating the editorial and publishing processes of the journal.
  • Communicating with you about journal updates, submissions, and account information.
  • Responding to your inquiries or support requests.

We do not sell, share, or distribute your personal information to third parties unless required by law or with your explicit consent.

3. Use of Cookies and Analytics

We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience and gather analytics about site usage. Specifically:

  • Cookies are used to remember your preferences, login sessions, and other customized settings.
  • Google Analytics is employed to analyze site traffic and user behavior. Google Analytics may collect data such as your IP address, browser type, device information, and interactions with the site. This data is anonymized and aggregated for analytical purposes.

You can manage or disable cookies in your browser settings; however, some features of the site may not function properly without cookies.

4. Data Storage and Security

We take appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard your personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Personal data will only be retained as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.

5. Third-Party Services

Our website may contain links to third-party services or integrate with third-party tools (such as Google Analytics). These services have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to review them to understand how your information is used by those services.

6. Changes to This Privacy Statement

We reserve the right to update or modify this Privacy Statement at any time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.

7. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Statement or the use of your data, please contact us at: danit@soibs.com