Editors’ Newsroom: Reflections on SBP publishing trends and themes

SBP was founded in 1973 in New Zealand by Dr. Robert A. C. Stewart. The journal publishes papers on all aspects of social, personality, and developmental psychology. Now in its 52nd year of publication, SBP continues to provide insights into many important, worldwide issues. Thanks to its roughly ten thousand international authors, SBP is a well-established and respected forum for the latest social psychology research and findings. We would like to thank our valued authors for their significant contributions over the years and look forward to working together in the future.

Editors’ Newsroom brings you insightful reflections from two of our Associate Editors, Dr. Keren Segal and Dr. Ana Stojanov, both based in New Zealand, about the trends and themes they have witnessed and identified from SBP in the last 12 months.

We would also like to take this moment to officially welcome our new Associate Editor, Dr. Yvette Lamb, also based in New Zealand. Dr. Lamb comes with a wealth of experience in the fields of psychology and scholarly publishing, with special interests in cognitive neuroscience, neurogenetics, lifespan development, and personality. We look forward to Dr. Lamb offering her own insights in a future edition of Editors’ Newsroom.

Reflections from Dr. Keren Segal, Associate Editor

Although not statistically established, several research trends emerge from submissions made to the journal in 2023. Quite a few manuscripts deal with questions of workplace leadership, asking which style is conducive to creating a collaborative environment in which workers’ voices are being heard, and where one can feel motivated and engaged in work and avoid burning out. 

Innovation has been another issue that interests our authors, implying the need to find ways of doing things more efficiently. This trend seems to reflect and result from the extreme competition between companies, and the need to develop new endeavors, which can keep companies on top of the ever-changing market. 

Life–work balance has also been a common issue, indicating that many of us, and especially women, are facing increasing work demands and expectations, and are continually required to find a way to manage the two. 

As always, it is reassuring to see manuscripts that deal with our attitudes to our environment: how we can hold more sustainable values, and promote a reduction in consumption, or at least, transition to a “greener” approach when we do need to buy something. It is encouraging to see that these topics interest many of our authors, across cultures and geographic locations. 

Personally, I’m particularly interested in manuscripts that address the deep questions of who we are as humans, asking how we can better care for the weaker members of our society, overcome conflict and prejudice, and overcome voices and tendencies that endanger modern democracies and human rights. 

Our current times call for specific attention to these issues, due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the recent war in Gaza and Israel, the growing economic pressures worldwide, and the global environmental crises. As psychologists, we must deal with these issues, and channel our energies and ambitions in a joint effort to care for our planet and for our continuing life on it. 

I wish our authors, readers, and the SBP Journal team a year of prosperity, joy, and creativity, one in which we witness no more human suffering, but rather a collective effort to care for each other and for our world. 

Reflections from Dr. Ana Stojanov, Associate Editor

When I think back about the papers submitted to SBP that I’ve read during the past year, a broad range of topics covering social behavior and personality comes to mind. Unsurprisingly, these diverse topics reflect the equally diverse issues the world is grappling with, from COVID-19 to mental health to artificial intelligence. However, if I had to pick one topic that was representative of the papers I’ve reviewed it would have to be business and organizational psychology.

As in the previous two years (since I’ve been an Associate Editor), many of the papers we received in 2023 dealt with topics within this field. These articles mostly tackle consumer behavior and advertising or leadership and workplace dynamics, postulate models which include moderation and/or mediation, and usually rely on structural equation modelling to test them.

There is also a substantially smaller number of papers that span a wider range of human behavior, and that is much more difficult to put under one umbrella because the inquiry is diverse. I’ve encountered questions relevant to educational psychology, cognitive psychology, clinical psychology, psychometrics, and individual differences. Those that have left a lasting impression on me are those dealing with AI anthropomorphism and acceptance of AI creativity, finding a positive link between the two.

Looking toward 2024, I would love to see more longitudinal studies and papers using the experimental method. These methods allow for more convincing and compelling findings. I would also like to see more papers with applied potential, especially those relating to urgent issues such as misinformation, equity, terrorism, or wars. Questions that may be asked include how to build resilience towards misinformation and fake news or how to mitigate the effect of individual biases on systemic inequities and inequalities.

As 2024 dawns I wish our readers and writers a prolific year and significant contribution to this field.

Kate Fullan, Associate Managing Editor, Scientific Journal Publishers, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]