Author Guidelines

Focus and Scope

The Yearbook of Music Psychology/ Jahrbuch Musikpsychologie  (JBDGM) publishes empirical and theoretical contributions in German and English from all areas of music psychology, including related fields such as music sociology, music education, and acoustics.

Publication Guidelines 

The JBDGM only accepts original contributions which have not been published elsewhere. This is also the case for publications in other languages. However, the preprint publication of submitted material is possible in certain circumstances (see the Preprint Policy).

To ensure the quality of manuscripts, all contributions submitted to the JBDGM are subject to various  review and verification processes. After final editing and layout adjustments, contributions that successfully complete the review process are promptly published at PsychOpen. Authors do not have to wait for the completion and printing of a complete book. In addition, all contributions are published in a print edition by  Waxmann Verlag (Münster, Germany) once a year. (Exception: Although reviews and reports must be submitted through this online system, they will only appear in the printed edition.)

All contributions published through PsychOpen receive a unique DOI ID (Digital Object Identifier). They are reported to all relevant  scientific research databases related to music and psychology (RILM, PSYNDEX, etc.) and are immediately searchable worldwide.

The Yearbook of Music Psychology/Jahrbuch Musikpsychologie (JBDGM) and the German Society for Music Psychology ( Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musikpsychologie, DGM) strongly recommend the publication of the research data belonging to a contribution and potentially further materials (e.g. analysis syntax, questionnaires etc.) that are necessary for the traceability of the data collection and analysis. The handling of supplemental data follows the guidelines from the German Society for Psychology (DGPs) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). The PsychArchives repository of the ZPID is available for the publication of research data and materials. The research data is linked to the article, but it also has its own DOI and can thus be used worldwide for the tracing of results and further data analyses (for more information about the publication of research data, see the DataWiz Knowledge Base).

We are committed to ensuring open access to scientific research and its free dissemination. That’s why the use of our content for readers and the submission, review and publication of contributions for authors are all free of charge and subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) license (see Copyright).

Types of Manuscripts 

We distinguish between six types of manuscripts:

  1. Research reports (max 60,000 characters)
    This is the primary section of the JBDGM for original research and reviews. We only accept original work that has not been published elsewhere.
  2. Short papers (up to 35,000 characters including spaces)
    Short papers focus primarily on the presentation of new and recent empirical approaches and findings. In contrast, the presentation of theoretical foundations can take a back seat and be achieved primarily through appropriate literature references.
  3. Spots (up to 6,000 characters including spaces)
    A spot deals with a more general, predominantly factual topic, such as discussion of newly available research software, or a report about an artistic event with several participants (musicians, visual artists, institutions etc.).
  4. Close-ups (up to 6,000 characters including spaces)
    A close-up focuses on a single person, for example by introducing an artist, by paying tribute in the form of an obituary, or by reporting on an achievement by an artist or scientist, etc.
  5. Reviews (up to 9,000 characters including spaces)
    A review discusses current literature that may be of interest to the readers of the Yearbook of Music Psychology .
  6. Reports (up to 9,000 characters including spaces).
    Reports may give an account of a conference or meeting, but other topics may also be considered. In a meeting or conference report, the following information must be communicated: (a) title of the event, (b) the venue and time, and (c) details of the organising institution.

The text limits refer to the whole manuscript including spaces, front page, abstracts, keywords, references and, if applicable, appendices.

Manuscripts may be submitted in German or English; however, the title, summary/abstract and keywords must be provided in both German and English.

To create your manuscript, be sure to use our template files provided for all text formats. These contain detailed information and support for the formal design requirements and make it much easier to comply with the formal style guidelines.

Quality

To ensure the quality and integrity of the Yearbook of Music Psychology/Jahrbuch Musikpsychologie (JBDGM), all contributions submitted to the JBDGM run through various review and verification processes:

  • All contributions are checked for plagiarism using  Similarity Check, a multi-publisher initiative organized by Crossref, the DOI authority.
  • Research reports and short papers are subject to an anonymous peer review process with multiple external expert reviewers. The review process is double-blind, meaning authors and reviewers are mutually anonymous to each other during this time. Therefore, an anonymous version of the contribution must be submitted. Publication is only possible if (usually) two reviewers independently recommend publication of the contribution.
    Following a positive outcome of the review process (meaning publication of a contribution), anonymity is lifted and, without exception, the reviewers are named in the contribution. However, reviewers can also withdraw from a review process at any time without their name being published subsequently. The review procedure in question is then started from the beginning with another reviewer.
  • Spots, close-ups, reviews, and reports undergo a simplified, internal review process by the editorial team and the editors.
  • Empirical contributions are subject to an automated review regarding the plausibility of statistical results.

If serious errors in a contribution become known after publication, PsychOpen's policies regarding corrections and retractions come into force.

Online Publishing Procedure

The complete publication process, starting with the submission and ending with the publication of the contribution, is exclusively conducted through the JBDGM home page on the PsychOpen site of the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID). Therefore, authors must register before they can submit a contribution. Previously registered authors can log in here and start the submission process.