NEWS

To facilitate commenting we will be adding the 100 most cited articles within personality and social psychology since 1997 as reported in Social Sciences Citation Index. We include the top 50 of these papers now and the other 50 will be appearing within a few days.

The search (April 29, 2008) was based upon the following: Topic = (personality or social psychology) AND Document Type = (Article) AND Language = (English). Timespan = 1997-2008. Refined by: Subject Areas (PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL).

News added: May 19, 2008.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Below you can find answers to some frequently asked questions. Should you have any further questions, you are welcome to consult us by sending an email to: info@psp-comments.com

1. What should a comment look like?

Here are some examples:

New findings: Comment on Johnson and Johnson (1999).
I recently conducted a replication of the experiment presented in this paper. Despite the differences in cultural context, I found the same pattern of results. As I am working on another project and will not be able to report my data, I gladly share the data with anyone who is interested. The data set is well-documented and can be useful in a cross-cultural study.

 

Lacking references to previous research: Comment on McDonald (2000).
Unfortunately, this paper has failed to refer to an essential paper in the field. When reviewing contemporary psychological theories, one should mention the work of Anderson (1997) who presented a thorough examination of major theories. The present paper does, more or less, the same work without any reference to Anderson.

 

Priming self-relevant materials: Comment on Joshi and Kamara (2004).
On page 13, the authors state that McKeen and Ninia (1996) primed their participants with self-relevant primes before providing them the Self-Evaluation Inventory. This is not correct, McKeen and Ninia did not employ self-relevant materials in any of their 4 experiments.

 

Replication: Comment on Barelli and Sergi (2004).
For a replication of this study, please see; Keshir, G. (1999). Stereotyping and directed forgetting: The impact of motivational factors. Psychology, 9, 6-11.

 

Terror Management Theory and cognition: Comment on Lechinko and Wadion (2004).
The paper puts forward Terror Management Theory as an exclusively motivational theory and does not recognize the solid body of literature showing that the cognitive aspects of Terror Management Theory are as important as the motivational aspects (see, for example, Arnold, 1989; Donaldson, 1997; Borg, 2005). It is not clear how the author can see the complicated ongoing motivational processes without any cognitive interference.

2. What is a target article?

The target article is the published paper that the comments refer to. All comments are directed to a target article or directed to other comments discussing the target article.

3. Is there any standard format of reference for comments published on PSPC?

Yes, see the example below.

Target article:
Johnson, J. & Johnson, G. (1999). Testing the AFG hypothesis. Journal of Examples, 1, 1-11.

For comments on the target article above there are two versions of references. If the comment is not yet printed, you refer to the comment like this:

Anderson, G. (submitted). New findings: Comment on Johnson and Johnson (1999). Personality and Social Psychology Comments.

If printed, you refer to the comment like this:
Anderson, G. (2008). New findings: Comment on Johnson and Johnson (1999). Personality and Social Psychology Comments, 1, 8-9.

4. Why is the length of a comment limited to 1500 characters including blank space?

The main reason for keeping it short is efficiency, both for the administrators and for the readers of PSPC. You can always split a multi-comment to minor, specifically directed, comments. In this way, comments will be easy to handle, understand, and discuss. 

5. When will my comment appear on PSPC?

Your comment will appear on PSPC as soon as it is approved, which should be within a couple of days. Please notice that this is not a review process, we only exclude comments that violates the guidelines. You will be notified by email when your comment is published.

6. Is PSPC published in paper format?

Yes. However, there will be only a few copies available and instead we provide you with a pdf-file for download and print.

7. How often is PSPC published in paper format?

The print (pdf) version of PSPC is available in January every year.
ISSN: 1654-9635

8. Can I send a comment by email?

No. Comment should always be submitted on the website.

9. Can I sign up to receive PSPC news and notification via email?

Not yet, this service may be provided in the near future.