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JOURNAL OF PSICOPATHOLOGY

Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • Manuscripts should be accompanied by the “AUTORSHIP STATEMENT FORM” signed by the corresponding author to transfer the copyright. Authors must declare whether they obtained funds, or other forms of personal or institutional financing – or if they are under contract – from Companies whose products are mentioned in the article. This declaration will be treated by the Editor as confidential, and will not be sent to the referees. Accepted articles will be published accompanied by a suitable declaration, stating the source and nature of the financing.
  • Authors are invited to suggest 3 national or international referees for their article (please, when submit an article add first name, surname, affiliation and email of the reviewers in Comments for Editors)
  • Authors of new submissions are therefore requested to submit:
    - a blinded manuscript without any author names and affiliations in the text or on the title page. Self-identifying citations and references in the article text should be avoided.
    - a separate title page, containing title, all author names, affiliations, and the contact information of the corresponding author. Any acknowledgements, disclosures, or funding information should also be included on this page.
  • The main manuscript (including title, abstract, text, acknowledgements, conflict of interest disclosure, references, tables and legends for figures) is in Microsoft Word (use word “Template”, downloaded from www.jpsychopathol.it).
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • References adhere to the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, for papers with more than three authors only the first three Authors must be indicated, followed by et al.
  • Where available, DOI names (preceded by https://doi.org/) for the references have been provided.
  • Images are in .TIFF, .JPEG or .PDF format, resolution at least 300 dpi (sent in separate files, see Author Guidelines for details. IMPORTANT: dimension for each single file/image is from minimum 800 KB to maximum 2 MB).

Author Guidelines

The Journal of Psychopathology, the official journal of the Italian Society of Psychopathology (SOPSI), publishes contributions in the form of monographic articles, news, update articles in clinical psychopharmacology, forums in the field of psychiatry.

The material submitted should not have been previously published, and should not be under consideration (in whole or in part) elsewhere. Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. If an experiment on humans is described, a statement must be included that the work was performed in accordance with the principles of the 1983 Declaration of Helsinki.

Authors are also strongly recommended to review the following guidelines and the “template”, downloaded from www.jpsychopathol.it

The Authors are solely responsible for the statements made in their paper, and must specify that consent has been obtained from patients taking part in the investigations and for the reproduction of any photographs. For studies performed on laboratory animals, the authors must state that the relevant national laws or institutional guidelines have been adhered to.

Only papers that have been prepared in strict conformity with the editorial norms outlined herein will be considered for publication. Eventual acceptance is conditional upon a critical assessment by experts in the field, the implementation of any changes requested, and the final decision of the Editor.

Ethical consideration

All manuscripts submitted to Journal of Psychopathology must include a statement detailing this, including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number where appropriate. In case a study has been granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should be detailed in the manuscript, together with the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption. Manuscripts may be rejected if the Editor considers that the research has not been carried out within an appropriate ethical framework.

If a study has not been submitted to an ethics committee prior to commencing, retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained and it may not be possible to consider the manuscript for peer review. How to proceed in such cases is at the Editor(s)’ discretion.

Authors will be expected to have obtained ethics committee approval and informed patient consent for any experimental use of a novel procedure or tool where a clear clinical advantage based on clinical need was not apparent before treatment.

For retrospective/protocol studies in which only aggregate data (e.g., incidences of TB in a certain region) are analysed, the Ethical Approval by an appropriate Committee is usually not required, as the data cannot be traced back to specific patients.

Acknowledgements

Within this section, list those contributors who have not met the authorship criteria.

Funding

Authors should describe in the “Funding” section, at the end of the manuscript, all funding sources (e.g. full name of funding organizations, grant numbers). The role of the sponsor, if any, in the study design, in the acquisition analysis and interpretation of data, in drafting the manuscript should be briefly described. If the sponsor has not been specifically involved in the research this should be stated.

Conflicts of interest

Authors must fully disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interest of a financial, personal or any other nature that could affect or bias their research. If applicable, authors are also requested to describe the role of the finding source(s) in the study design, data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, and writing of the manuscript. No potential conflicts of interest must also be explicitly stated.

Manuscript organization

The article must be written in English. The paper must include:

  • A concise and informative title not exceeding 100 characters including spaces (subtitles should be avoided).
  • Running title not exceeding 50 characters including spaces.
  • The authors’ full first names and surnames.
  • Name and address of the Institute or Institutes where the work was carried out; if the authors are affiliated with different Institutes, the first author and any others from the same Institute should be indicated with 1 (in superscript), the names of the authors from another Institute with 2, and so on.
  • Name (written in full), surname and address of the corresponding author, including telephone, fax numbers and e-mail address, to whom galley proofs are to be addressed.
  • Type of article: categorise the article in one of the following types: Original articles, Reviews, Case Series and Editorials.
  • Summary: should be about 2000 characters (including spaces). It should be divided into 4 sections: Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions.
  • Key words (max. 5 using Mesh terms for indexing purposes).
  • Main body of manuscript: see specific instructions for article categories, below.
  • Mathematical terms and formulae, abbreviations, and units of measure should conform to the standards set out in www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf. Use only standard abbreviations. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement. Drugs should be referred to by their chemical name; the commercial name should be used only when absolutely unavoidable (capitalising the first letter of the product name and giving the name of the pharmaceutical firm manufacturing the drug, town and country).
  • Acknowledgements, authors’ contributions and mention of any financial/conflict of interest and/or source of funding (grants or other forms of support) should appear at the end of the paper, before the list of references. Even in case of no financial/conflict of interest or source of funding, please specify it in this section.
  • References should be limited to the most essential and relevant (see specific instructions for article categories for number of references requested), published allegedly in the last decade, identified in the text with consecutive numerals (with numbers in superscript) and listed at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they are cited. The format of the references listed should conform with the examples indicated below. For papers with more than three authors only the first three authors must be indicated, followed by “et al.”. Abbreviate journal names as in Index Medicus.

DOI name must be included with each reference (when available).

Examples of the correct format for citation of references:

Shapiro AMJ, Lakey JRT, Ryan EA, et al. Islet transplantation in seven patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus using a glucocorticoid-free immunosuppressive regimen. N Engl J Med 2000;343:230-238. https://doi.org/10.1421.234.1

Books: Smith DW. Recognizable patterns of human malformation. 3rd Ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Co. 1982.

Chapters from books or material from conference proceedings: Krmpotic-Nemanic J, Kostovis I, Rudan P. Aging changes of the form and infrastructure of the external nose and its importance in rhinoplasty. In: Conly J, Dickinson JT, Eds. Plastic and reconstructive surgery of the face and neck. New York, NY: Grune and Stratton 1972. p. 84.

  • Tables (see “Specific instructions for article categories” below for number of tables required) should be typewritten and numbered consecutively with Roman numerals at the end of the text after the references. The same data should not be presented twice, both in the text and tables. Each table should have above a brief title and be self-explanatory and be cited in the text (Tab. I, Tab. II, etc.). The table should be supplement the material in the text rather than duplicate. Insert any notes at the end of the table. Explain all the abbreviations.
  • Figures (see “Specific instructions for article categories” below for number of figures required) should be uploaded in separate files. Do not include the figures in the text file but cite them only, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.). Figure legends should be indicated at the end of the text file and allow the reader to understand the figures without reference to the text. All symbols used in figures should be explained. Remove any information that can identify a patient. Deduct from the text 1,250 characters including spaces for figures a quarter of a page in size, 2,500 characters including spaces half a page in size and 5,000 characters including spaces entire page in size. Software and format: preferably send images in .TIFF, .JPEG or .PDF format, resolution at least 300 dpi. Composed figures must be saved as a single file in .JPEG or .TIFF format with a resolution of at least 300 dpi. The individual images within a compound figure must all have the same size (IMPORTANT: dimension for each single file/image is from minimum 800 KB to maximum 2 MB).

Specific instructions for the various categories of papers

Editorials

Only upon invitation by the Editor-in-chief or the Editorial Board they are brief discussions on general and practical aspects of topics of current interest. Editorials are limited to 8,000 characters including spaces with at least 10 references. No summary is required. They may include 1-2 figures or tables. They should have no more than 2 authors.

Original articles

Authors, among the various psychopathology topics that the Journal of Psychopathology accepts, can also choose to indicate one of the following Sections:

Psychopathology of Eating Disorders

Psychopathology of Sexual Behavior

Psychopathology and Clinical Phenomenology

Psychopathology and Psychotherapy.

Text should not exceed 30,000 characters including spaces from the Introduction to the Conflict of Interest Statement, excluding the title page, abstract and references. The first page should specify the type of article (original article) and if it is a clinical trial, cohort study, etc. The summary should be structured and include Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The main text should be structured in:

Introduction: the introduction (which must not exceed 5,000 characters including spaces) should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context, and keep in mind readers who are not experts in the field. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the study.

Materials and methods: this section should provide enough detail to allow full replication of the study by suitably skilled investigators. If the authors prefer, they can subdivide this section in various headings that should be provided in italics. If your study involves human or animal subjects or records of human patients you MUST have obtained ethical approval. Ethical approval or exemption are required for retrospective studies on patients’ records. Please state in the “Ethical consideration” section, at the end of the text whether ethical approval was given, by whom and the relevant Judgement’s reference number).

Results: the results section should provide details of all of the data that are required to support the conclusions of the paper. There should be a brief introduction of each section and end with a summarising sentence of the main findings without discussion. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading (in italics). We recommend that the results section be written in the past tense.

Discussion: include a review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The discussion should consider the major conclusions of the work along with some explanation and/or speculation on their significance. How do the conclusions affect the existing assumptions and models in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that remain? The discussion should be concise with solid arguments.

Conclusions: conclusions and hypotheses should be firmly established/supported by the data presented, and any speculations should be clearly identified as such. No new data should be presented in the discussion.

References should not exceed 35.

Tables should be limited to 5.

Figures should be limited to 5.

Review article (meta-analysis)

Manuscripts should review topics of contemporary interest and importance. Reviews ideally should address controversial issues by expressing all different points of view. Critical assessments of literature and data sources on important clinical topics in psychopathology or on basic research are required. The review should be comprehensive and authoritative as reflected by a contemporary bibliography.

Text should not exceed a total of 50,000 characters including spaces. The abstract should be unstructured. The introduction should outline explicitly the clinical problem and rationale for conducting the review. Review articles should not require a Materials/Methods or Results section. Furthermore we recommend, particularly for meta-analyses a Methods section that specifies the information sources and search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and potential biases in the review process, and a Results section that describes study selection, characteristics and statistical methods for summarising data. Discussion should interpret results in light of the total available evidence. The conclusion is to summarise key findings.

References should not exceed 100.

Tables and/or figures should be limited to 10, overall.

Case reports

Brief articles, in which clinical original experiences from medical practice are described.

Articles must have a title, an unstructured summary and key words. Text should not exceed a total of 20,000 characters including spaces.

References should not exceed 5.

Tables and/or figures should be limited to 5, overall.

Assessment and instruments in psychopathology

This section hosts articles on psychological and psychopathological assessment instruments aiming at improving knowledge of psychological functioning of those subjects with mental and behaviour disorders in different reference models. The use of such instruments is not limited to clinical population but also includes non-clinical and general population. This section also accepts studies on validation and translation into Italian of instruments, new assessment instruments and competing studies of new assessment instruments with other procedures of assessment than psychopathological constructs. The manuscript should not exceed 30,000 characters, including the summary.

References should not exceed 35.

Tables and/or figures should be limited to 5, overall.

After acceptance

Galley proofs will be sent via e-mail to the corresponding author for final approval. The authors are required to carefully check the proofs and return them within 3 days of receipt.  If the proofs are not received in time, the authors will have to rely on the Editor’s corrections only. The authors are responsible for mistakes that have been overlooked. The date of receipt and the date of acceptance by the Scientific Committee will appear on each publication. A pdf of all articles published is available in open access at www.jpsychopathol.it.

The Publisher remains at the complete disposal of those with rights whom it was impossible to contact, and for any omissions.

SOPSI – Società Italiana di Psicopatologia and Pacini Editore srl inform readers and users of the Journal of Psychopathology, that the published articles reflect only the research and the opinion of the authors signing the contents. These articles therefore do not represent and do not in any way constitute indications or guidelines of the SOPSI itself. This differs from the texts and contents that are explicitly declared as official institutional matrix and published in the appropriate sections of the Journal, which are dedicated to the Guidelines of SOPSI.

The Journal of Psychopathology is sent to SOPSI members, subscribers, doctors, health professionals, exclusively for professional training and improvement and to inform and promote activities and products / services, strictly related to the professional activities of users, always ensuring a strong affinity between the message and the user’s interest. Please read the Privacy Policy at the following link: http://www.pacinimedicina.it/privacy-policy-informativa-privacy/. For communications / information: info@pacinieditore.it

Psychopathology of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and other unspecified or otherwise specified eating disorders, are one of the most common health problems in adolescents and young adults of Western countries, representing one of the most frequent causes of disability for young people. The WHO identified eating disorders as a priority for the mental health of adolescents and young adults. The section on “Psychopathology of Eating Disorders” aims to disseminate updated knowledge relevant to etiopathogenesis, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders with a special focus on their psychopathological aspects in order to stimulate high standards in research, training and clinical practice in the field of so severe and disabling psychiatric disorders.

Psychopathology of Sexual Behavior

It is written in the annals of history: Sexology is born in the psychiatric house. In the modern era, the first great scholars dealing with the function – and dysfunction – of human sexual behaviour were just the doctors of the mind. The aim of this new section (which could be called “Sextion”) of the Journal of Psychopathology is to newly recognize the psychiatric paternity after almost a century of denial of this cultural and clinical responsibility. The large majority of sexological arguments of specific clinical interest for the psychiatrists will be here discussed. The reader will find articles on the possible sex-toxicity of (almost) all classes of drugs used in Psychiatry or for illegal abuse, the comorbidity of sexual and psychiatric and personality disorders, the sexology of the eating behavior disorder, the role of the psychiatrist in the treatment of gender dysphoria, sexual abusers and paraphilic patients demonstrating that the space for a new collaboration between the doctors of the mind and those of the sex is vast and is revealing scientific products able to satisfy the most rosy and flattering expectations.

Psychopathology and Clinical Phenomenology

Clinical phenomenology is about exploring anomalous forms of subjectivity and their conditions of possibility. It builds on the question “what it is like?” or “how does it feel?” to experience, from a first-person perspective, a given psychopathological symptom like, for instance, being deluded, or hallucinated, or addicted to a given substance or behavior. It aims to reconstruct the overall structure of the world a person affected by psychopathological symptoms lives by.

The purpose of clinical phenomenology is to improve understanding of abnormal mental conditions in order to reduce marginalization, stigma and epistemic injustice, to strengthen dialogue between vulnerable people and the social context in which they live, and to enhance effective therapeutic treatments, including biological and psychological ones.

This Section welcomes theoretical and empirical research, including quantitative and qualitative studies, single case reports, first-person accounts, collaborative writing and co-production of knowledge involving patients and clinicians, and all those papers that may contribute to develop care through an in-depth understanding of psychopathological phenomena.

Psychopathology and Psychotherapy

The Psychopathology and Psychotherapy section aims to promote the dissemination of theoretical and research studies for the understanding of the phenomena underlying mental illness. Psychopathology refers to everything that concerns the exploration of problems related to mental health, from understanding to classification and treatment. Psychopathology extends from research to treatment and includes studies related to all stages, in order to understand why a mental disorder develops, to find effective treatments. This includes research in experimental psychopathology, which involves laboratory research aimed at studying and explaining the etiology and maintenance of psychopathological processes and the psychological mechanisms underlying pathological behavior. This field pertains to both psychiatry and psychotherapy, which is the other topic of this section. The submission of papers concerning process and outcome research in psychotherapy and related to psychotherapeutic treatments for different psychopathological disorders is encouraged.

Copyright Notice

AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT FORM

The corresponding author must sign the Authorship Statement Form, save it in .pdf and return it by uploading at our submission platform https:// www.jpsychopathol.it

It is the policy of the Journal to correspond exclusively with one designated corresponding author. As the corresponding author, it is your responsibility to communicate with your co-authors.

AUTHORSHIP RESPONSIBILITY

(1) All authors participated sufficiently in the intellectual content, analysis of data (if applicable) and writing of the article, by the criteria for authorship by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org/). (2) The corresponding author certifies that the definitive version of the manuscript has been approved by all co-authors, as well as, director of the Institute or Department where the work has been carried out. (3) All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in this manuscript (e.g., data collection, writing or editing assistance) but who do not fulfill the authorship criteria are named along with their specific contributions as an acknowledgement in the manuscript. The corresponding author certifies that all persons named in the acknowledgement section have provided written permission to be named. (4) All authors have reviewed the final version of the article and approve it for publication. (5) Authors must state that the article submitted has previously published, and is not under consideration or accepted for publication (in whole or in part) elsewhere nor have assigned any right or interest in the article to any third party. (6) Written permission from the authors to reproduce any material copyright elsewhere has been obtained prior to submission. (7) Authors must specify that consent has been obtained from taking part in the investigations or, in the case of paediatric patients, from the guardian/s and that they have obtained written releases from patients whose names or photographs are submitted as part of the article. (8) For reports containing original corresponding author should have full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data accuracy of data analysis. (9) Any manuscript concerned with human subjects, medical records, or human tissue that is submitted “Journal of Psychopathology” should comply with the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles Medical Research Involving ‘Human Subjects”, adopted by the 18 World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, amended most recently by the 64 World Medical Assembly, Fontaleza, Brazil, October 2013. If the study involves human subjects or records of human patients ethical approval MUST have been obtained. The corresponding author must state ethical approval was given, by whom and the relevant Judgementʼs reference number. The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate Ethical Committee related to the institution(s) in which the work was and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. “Journal of Psychopathology” requires institutional Ethics Committee approval for all human studies. For retrospective studies on patientsʼ records either a statement of approval or a statement exemption from the Committee is required. Ref N° of the Ethical Committee Approval must be indicated in the Authorship Statement Form. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee (the Name of the Institution must indicated in the Authorship Statement Form) and this is clearly stated in the Methods section of the article. This statement should also be provided upon submission of the manuscript. Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their was in accordance with institution guidelines and relevant national laws. (10) The article contains no libelous or unlawful statements,
does not infringe the privacy of others, or contains material or instructions that might cause harm or injury. The corresponding author shall indemnify and hold the Editors and its agents and licensees harmless from any damages, costs, and expenses reasonable attorneyʼs fees and costs of settlement) resulting by reason of any claim, action, or proceeding finally sustained settled inconsistent with the foregoing warranties and representations. (11) All manuscripts are screened for plagiarism, which implies immediate rejection. Suspected plagiarism is handled in accordance with the COPE flowcharts (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).
Every author or co-author of any article published in this Journal is solely responsible for the contents of the article, for the statement made in their paper and for the material sent. Every author or co-author needs to fully comply with the Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation): “Article 9. Processing of personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation shall be prohibited”.

PRIVACY POLICY STATEMENT. Personal data of the author will be managed by the Publisher in full compliance with the legislation on the privacy protection (art. 13 of EU regulation 2016/6799). According to articles 15-20 of the GDPR, any author may exercise specific rights, including the right to obtain access to personal data in an intelligible form, correct, update or them. Authors will also have the right to obtain from the Publisher limitation of data processing, and may also oppose to data processing legitimate reasons. In the case that the author believes that processing of his/her own personal data infringes GDPR regulation, he/she has the right to make a complaint to the Supervisory Authority for the Protection of Personal Data to art. 77 of the GDPR. Controller of data processing, according to art. 4.1.7 of the GDPR, is Mrs. Donatella Paoletti for Pacini Srl, with registered office in 56121 Pisa, Italy, Via A. Gherardesca n. 1. To exercise the rights of GDPR referred to in paragraph same article, you can address any request for information to the following e-mail: privacy@pacinieditore.it. For further information refer to the website: https://www.jpsychopathol.it/about/privacy



FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE. All authors must state any information that may be perceived as potential conflict of interest. must disclose all their affiliations including any relevant personal or institutional financial involvement (employment by an concern, consultancies, honoraria, speakers bureau, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants received or pending, membership on a standing advisory council or committee, a seat on the board of directors, or being publicly associated with company or its products, royalties, donation of medical equipment, etc.) with any organization that to any authorʼs knowledge direct interest, particularly a financial interest, in the subject matter or materials discussed. This declaration will be treated Editor as confidential while the paper is under review, and will not be made known to Reviewers. Please indicate on the Authorship Statement Form whether or not you have or may have such a conflict of interest regarding the content of this article and nature of it.

COPYRIGHT TRANSFER AGREEMENT. (a) Authors assign to “Journal of Psychopathology” all copyright in and to including but not limited to the right to publish, republish, transmit, sell, distribute and otherwise use the article in whole or electronic and print editions of the Journal and in derivative works throughout the world, in all languages and in all media expression now known or later developed, and to license or permit others to do so. (b) The authors retain all proprietary rights, than copyright, such as patent rights. The authors retain the right to reuse any portion of the work, without charge, in personal compilations or other publications consisting solely of the author(sʼ) own works, including the author(sʼ) personal web home and to make copies of all or part of the Work for the author(sʼ) use for lecture or classroom purposes. The corresponding declares that any person named as co-author of the article is aware of the submission and has agreed to being so named. corresponding author accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. The corresponding declares that statements and opinions given in the article are the expression of the authors. Responsibility for the content article rests upon the authors.

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