Author
guidelines

Types of manuscripts accepted

The journal accepts manuscripts that fall into one of the following categories:

(1) Research papers

This category includes any original research work, including but not limited to:

[a] Empirical studies (research studies that draw conclusions from collected data / empirical evidence). These may include, among others, (quasi)experimental studies, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and case studies.

[b] Theoretical / conceptual studies (articles that tackle theories or conceptual issues without relying on empirical data analysis).

In JLATS, we acknowledge the value of both empirical and theoretical research. Regardless of the type of submitted research, all studies are expected to follow a clear methodology appropriate for the chosen inquiry style.

(2) Discussion papers

This category is intended to create a space to share innovative ideas, unique perspectives, and further academic debates on topics relevant to current academic and societal discourse. While empirical evidence can be used to support claims and arguments, the main goal of discussion papers is to spark and/or continue interesting and important debates in the community. 

Publishing ethics

A template for all declarations described below will be provided in the manuscript submission form.

Submission declaration

Authors may not submit:

• Manuscripts that have been previously published elsewhere, except when they were published as an abstract or part of an academic thesis;

• Manuscripts that are currently under consideration in another journal;

• Manuscripts that repeat much of the research already published elsewhere.

Declaring competing interests

Authors must disclose any relationships or interests that could introduce a bias in their work. Some examples of competing interests include (but are not limited to):

• Payment from or employment in an organization related to the study;

• Owning stocks in an organization directly related to the study;

• Funding by an organization that might directly profit or suffer loss from the study publication;

• Patents and patent applications;

• Consulting for a company related to the study.

Declaring sources of funding

Authors must disclose any sources of funding received for the study, including:

• The name of the agency that provided the funding;

• Grant number (if applicable);

• The role that the funder played in this research (if applicable).

Declaring the use of ChatGPT and other generative AI

The use of ChatGPT (or any other text generative AI) for generating any part of the article text is not permitted. However, it can be used to proofread and edit the language of the manuscript. Authors who choose to use text generative AI for these purposes should include a statement on ChatGPT use (the template will be provided in the manuscript submission form).

Due to the copyright controversy surrounding the use of image generative AI (such as Midjourney), the use of images generated by such applications is not permitted unless the manuscript’s focus is specifically on image generative AI. When image generative AI needs to be used, the following information must be included for each generated image:

• The name of the application / platform / tool used, its version and creator.

• The full prompt used to generate the image.

Data availability

We encourage authors to make their dataset available to the readers. This can be done by uploading the dataset to one of the data sharing platforms (such as figshare) and sharing the link to it, or by providing a link to the authors’ personal data depository. 

Word limit

Submitted manuscripts should be between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length, excluding references and appendices. The abstract length should be less than 250 words.

Formatting submission

Accepted formats

Manuscripts can be submitted in two formats:

1. Word document

2. A PDF version for LaTeX files

Tables, figures and title page

Submit your manuscript as a single file with figures and tables put inside the text (not at the end of the manuscript).

Please note: The title page (with author names, affiliations, etc.) is not required. You will be asked to enter this information in the manuscript submission system.

Formatting style

At the stage of initial submission / peer review, there are no strict requirements for a particular formatting style. However:

• Manuscripts must include all necessary elements for manuscript evaluation (abstract, keywords, introduction / literature review, method, results, discussion, references, appendices (if any)).

• All tables and figures must be numbered, captioned and positioned inside the text.

• The pages should be numbered.

If the article is accepted for publication, the author(s) will be requested to format the manuscript using APA 7 style. Article publication is conditional upon the author completing the requested formatting process.

Manuscript blinding

The manuscript file should not contain any identifying information such as:

• Authors’ names or affiliation

• Document properties (they must be deleted; in Word, use File -> under Info click Inspect Document -> Check for Issues -> Inspect Document -> Make sure Document Properties and Personal Information is checked -> Inspect -> Remove all)

• Acknowledgements

• Funding sources

• Any other names or information that can identify the author (for example, the name of a famous author’s project or app)

You can cite your own work in the third person (e.g., Author’s last name (2023) argued that…).

Cover letter

Please note that a cover letter is not required during the submission process. We will evaluate the manuscript based on provided submission information.

Manuscript structure

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this journal, we recognize that articles from different fields might follow a different structure, and we will accept different variations of the paper structure. However, empirical research articles are expected to include common elements (introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and discussion) and provide sufficient context for research interpretation and/or replication, and theoretical manuscripts should be well-supported by evidence/ideas from prior research and situated within the relevant literature of the field.

The guidelines below are provided specifically for empirical research articles, although some of them might also apply to theoretical research. 

Abstract (less than 250 words): highlights of the key points of the article. A good abstract should be sufficient for the reader to understand the research problem, study context, chosen research method and analysis, and main results.

Introduction: a brief explanation of the research problem and its context, why it is important, the purpose of the paper and how the paper will address the problem.

Literature review: a review of prior studies / inquiries about the research problem, identified research / knowledge gaps, and research questions driving the study (research questions could be included under the section “The present study”).

Methodology:

Describe the chosen research method(s) and why they were chosen.

Describe the study context. Who are the participants? Where was the study conducted, and when? Context is invaluable for interpreting and replicating the results.

Describe instruments used (surveys, interviews, etc.), what kinds of data were collected using these instruments, and how key study variables were operationalized (i.e., what concrete indicators were used to measure a particular concept). Make sure to attach the text of the instruments in appendices (if the instrument cannot be shared due to copyright or other issues, please state it clearly and describe its content in sufficient detail).

Describe the procedure. How were participants sampled and recruited? Was the study approved by the Institutional Review Board / Ethical Review committee, and were ethical consent procedures followed? What did participants and researchers do during the experiment? How were data collected? 

Explain what type of analysis was chosen and why, how the analysis was conducted, what software (and its version) was used, and other relevant details.

Results:

Describe participants’ characteristics and provide relevant descriptive statistics.

Describe analysis results, including tests of assumptions that underlie the chosen method of analysis. The results should be aligned with the study research questions.

Please note: for inferential tests, exact p values must be reported (e.g., p = .02, NOT p < .05) together with confidence intervals and effect size estimates.

Discussion:

Interpret the results and situate them in what is known from prior studies. 

Explain the significance of your work and its practical applications.

You can include Conclusions as a subsection, briefly stating the main conclusions of the study.

Discuss the study limitations at the end of the Discussion section.

Journal article reporting standards (JARS)

To ensure transparency and reproducibility of science, our journal advocates for using the Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) developed by the American Psychological Association. Before submitting, authors should make sure that all elements in the checklist below relevant to their type of research were explicitly addressed in the article.

The checklist was created based on the following report:

Appelbaum, M., Cooper, H., Kline, R. B., Mayo-Wilson, E., Nezu, A. M., & Rao, S. M. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for quantitative research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board task force report. American Psychologist, 73(1), 3-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000191

Title

Identify main issues, variables and relationships between them, and populations studied

Abstract

Include the following:

• Objectives (study problem and hypotheses)

• Participants (with characteristics important for the study)

• Study method (research design, sample size, materials used, outcome measures, data collection procedures)

• Findings (including effect sizes, confidence intervals, and statistical significance levels)

• Conclusions (results, their significance, implications and/or applications)

Introduction and literature review

• State problem importance

• Provide an overview of relevant prior work on the topic, any gaps in knowledge and how the current study is different from the previous ones

• Describe the chosen theoretical framework(s) informing the hypotheses

• State the hypotheses

Method

• Report inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as participant characteristics, including:

  • • demographics (age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status)

    • important topic-specific characteristics

• Describe sampling procedures, including:

  • • sampling method

    • percentage of sample approached that actually participated

    • any self-selection effects

• Describe study context (settings and locations of data collection and the timeline)

• Describe any incentives and agreements made to participants

• State how ethical standards of conducting research were met

• Describe the sample size, power, and precision, including:

  • • intended and achieved sample size

    • how sample size was determined (power analysis or other methods, stopping rules)

• Define all measures and covariates (included those that were collected but not included in the report)

• Describe methods of data collection

• Describe methods used to improve the quality of measurements (e.g., how data collectors were trained, the use of multiple observations)

• Provide information on validated or ad hoc instruments created for individual studies

• Report whether participants and experiment administrators were aware of condition assignments. If they were not away, explain how it was accomplished and ensured

• Report psychometrics:

  • • reliability coefficients for analyzed scores; convergent and discriminant validity where relevant

    • estimates of reliability of measures, such as interrater reliability for subjectively scored measures, test-retest coefficients in longitudinal studies, internal consistency coefficients for composite scales

    • the basic demographics of other samples if reporting reliability or validity coefficients from other studies

• State if conditions were manipulated or naturally observed

• Report the type of research design

• Described planned data diagnostics, including:

  • • criteria for post-data collection exclusion of participants (if any)

    • criteria for deciding when to infer missing data and methods used for imputation of missing data

    • defining and processing of statistical outliers

    • analyses of data distributions

    • data transformations to be used (if any)

• Describe the analytic strategy for inferential statistics

Results

• Report the flow of participants (see page 10 in Appelbaum et al., 2018)

• Define the period of participant recruitment, repeated measures or follow-up

• Provide detailed information about the statistical and data analysis methods used, including:

  • • missing data (frequency and percent, arguments/evidence for the causes of missing data, methods used to address missing data)

    • description of outcomes, including the total sample and each subgroup (with the number of cases, cell means, standard deviations, and other measures)

    • inferential statistics, including:

      • • results of all inferential tests with exact p values (e.g., p = .02, NOT p < .05) and other statistics essential for interpreting the result (such as degrees of freedom, mean square effect, etc.)

        • effect size estimates and confidence intervals on those estimates

        • estimation problems, regression diagnostics, or analytic anomalies detected and solutions to those problems

    • any problems with statistical assumptions and/or data distributions that could affect the validity of findings

Discussion

• Report a statement of support or nonsupport for all hypotheses

• Discuss similarities and differences between reported results and prior work

• Interpret the results, taking into account potential bias and threats to internal and external validity, imprecision of measurement protocols, overall number of tests or overlap among tests, adequacy of sample size and sample validity

• Discuss generalizability of the findings, taking into account target population (sampling validity) and other contextual issues (setting, measurement, time, ecological validity)

• Discuss implications for future research, program, or policy

Author Guidelines for Invited Japanese Manuscripts

Author Guidelines for Invited Japanese Manuscripts can be found here.