Translational Issues in Psychological Science is opening submissions for consideration for a special issue titled “Psychological Science and Public Policy.” Examining the intersection of psychological science and public policy could not be timelier. The role of science in federal policymaking may be reaching a “crisis point” (National Task Force on Rule of Law and Democracy, 2019) as the roles of science advisory committees in a variety of federal agencies have been diminished or eliminated (Center for Science and Democracy and Union of Concerned Scientists, 2018). Yet, both APA and the Association for Psychological Science operate on guiding principles that promote the use of psychological science to inform policy, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (APA Division 9) offers grants to groups of researchers engaged in policy work at the state and local levels.
How does our field engage with public policy in these changing times? “Psychological Science and Public Policy” will be published in the seventh year of the journal, due out in June of 2021.
For this issue, the editors will consider manuscripts across a broad area of psychological research on psychology and public policy including such topics as:
- Effective communication of psychological science in the policy arena
- Design and implementation of policy interventions grounded in psychological science
- Challenges and barriers to using psychological science to inform policy
- Defining and measuring psychological impact of public policies
- Lessons learned from policy failures and successes
- Areas of public policy that have been or could be informed by psychological science
- Definitions, utilization, and impact of “evidence-based” policies
- Ethical considerations in using science to affect policy
Manuscripts submitted to Translational Issues in Psychological Science must be co-authored by at least one psychologist in training (graduate student, postdoctoral fellow), should be written concisely for a broad audience, and should focus on the practical implications of the research presented in the manuscript.
For more information about the journal, including detailed instructions to authors, visit the Translational Issues in Psychological Science homepage.