Get your Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
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Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 7 August, 2026
Submitting to Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice guide for authors before peer review, so formatting, structure, and required statements should be right on the first draft rather than repaired during upload. This template sets that structure up for you.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. It covers front matter, the abstract the journal expects, a body organized to the journal's article types, and a reference list in the journal's required style. Confirm current scope and article types on the Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice journal page before you draft.
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. Write the abstract to the journal's rule and word limit, organize the body to the article type, and apply the required reference style from the first citation. Complete every declaration (ethics, competing interests, funding, data availability) the Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
The common failure modes are formatting or reference style that does not match the guide for authors, missing required statements, and an incomplete portal checklist. Clear all three against the Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice guide for authors before you submit.
The shell mirrors what editorial staff check first: article-type fit, the abstract rules, required declarations, and the journal's reference style. For more detail see the author resources. When your draft is ready, upload it through Editorial Manager.
| Element | Clin Psychol Sci Pract requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | For systematic reviews and meta-analyses: Structured abstract with mandatory headings: Objectives (clear statement of main research question[s]), Methods (inclusion/exclusion criteria, data sources/databases, dates of searches, risk of bias methods, synthesis methods), Results (total number of included studies, participant characteristics, main outcomes including summary effect sizes and confidence intervals), Discussion (limitations of included studies, limits of generalizability, overall interpretation and implications for clinical psychology). For other article types (theoretical/conceptual papers, narrative reviews): Unstructured abstract following APA 7th edition guidelines, maximum 250 words |
| Main text | Maximum 50 pages double-spaced including all references, figures, and tables. No word count specified. For invited commentaries: maximum 15 manuscript pages and 10 references (by invitation only) |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | 3-5 keywords required per APA 7th edition guidelines. Keywords should include research topic, population, method, and application of results. Written in lowercase (except proper nouns), separated by comma and space, no ending punctuation |
| References | APA Style 7th edition (author-date citation style with references list) |
| Peer review | Masked review (single-blind/single-anonymous). Authors' identities are concealed from reviewers. The manuscript should omit authors' names and affiliations and contain no clues to authors' identities. Reviewer identities are never shared unless the reviewer requests to sign their review |
| Submission | www.editorialmanager.com/cpsp/default1.aspx |
Read the Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice guide for authors once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after results are stable. Set the reference style before adding citations. Keep a cover letter that states your contribution and fit to Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Clin Psychol Sci Pract papers to calibrate depth and figure style. Make the novelty clear in the first two pages. Deposit data and code when the policy on the Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through Editorial Manager.