Ten Years Experimental Psychology

Abstract

Ten years have passed since Experimental Psychology was established as an international journal in 2002 to replace the former German-language Zeitschrift fur Experimentelle Psychologie. Today, at its 10th anniversary, we see that Experimental Psychology has gained a prominent position in various fields of basic psychological research. Articles published in this journal have been cited more than 50, 100, or even 200 times, demonstrating a remarkable impact on research areas as diverse as implicit attitude assessment (e.g., De Houwer, 2003; Steffens, 2004), electrophysiological correlates of working-memory functions (e.g., Berti, Roeber, & Schroger, 2004; Klimesch, Schack, & Sauseng, 2005), attentional processes in task switching (e.g., Rushworth, Passingham, & Nobre, 2005), or methods of Internet-based psychological research (e.g., Reips, 2002). The journal’s current impact factor of 2.147 for 2010 and its average impact factor of 2.198 for the last 5 years further underline that articles published in Experimental Psychology are recognized and influential in the scientific community. Over the last 10 years, Experimental Psychology has acquired the status of a truly international journal, as can be seen from the authors of recent manuscript submissions, from the composition of the editorial board, from the team of associate editors, and from the list of ad hoc reviewers: During 2011, the journal received new submissions by authors from more than 30 different countries. The incoming manuscripts were reviewed by international experts from 25 different countries. Distinguished researchers from 11 different countries are currently working on the editorial board of Experimental Psychology. And finally, renowned experimental psychologists in six different countries work in the present team of associate editors. In this context, it is my pleasure to welcome Kai Epstude (University of Groningen, Netherlands) and Sebastien Tremblay (Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada) who joined the editorial team in January 2012 and who enrich the team of associate editors with their expertise. At the same time, I greatly thank Iring Koch (University of Aachen, Germany), who left the team of associate editors in December 2011 after many years of editorial service, for his most competent and reliable handling ofmany submissions and revisions during the past years. Since its foundation as an international journal 10 years ago, Experimental Psychology has successfully pursued the goal to keep the turnaround times to a minimum. This goal was achieved again in the last year. Authors of manuscripts that were newly submitted in 2011 received an editorial decision after an average of 37 days. Authors who resubmitted the first revision of a manuscript received an editorial decision after an average of 32 days. Editorial feedback to second or further revisions was sent out after an average of only 8 days. The current editorial team will strive to continue the standards of minimum turnaround times and maximally fair and transparent editorial decisions over the coming years. In its second decade, Experimental Psychology will maintain the focus on theoretically driven and innovative experimental research in basic psychology. This focus is reflected by the category of research articles, which form the majority of articles published in Experimental Psychology. Besides empirical research articles, the category of theoretical articles offers the opportunity to present extended reviews of relevant research areas or new theoretical perspectives onto ongoing research programs. Theoretical articles also provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of methodological developments, new statistical procedures, or tools for experimental psychological research. An excellent example of a theoretical article is the recent contribution by Brysbaert et al. (2011), who combine a theoretically motivated review of word-frequency effects in experimental psychology with the introduction of a new database of word-frequency norms as a tool for future experimental work. While the use of experimental methodology and a strong theoretical contribution to basic research questions are obligatory criteria for empirical research papers to be considered for Experimental Psychology, it is essential that the theoretical and methodological developments presented in theoretical papers have immediate implications for experimental psychological research. With these criteria, Experimental Psychology will continue to advance fundamental research in experimental psychology as an established international journal beyond its tenth anniversary.