Get your Cognitive Psychology paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
4.3
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 7 August, 2026
Submitting to Cognitive Psychology goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Cognitive Psychology 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 Cognitive Psychology. 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 Cognitive Psychology 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 Cognitive Psychology 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 Cognitive Psychology 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 the journal's submission system.
| Element | Cognitive Psychol requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured abstract required, maximum 250 words. The abstract should briefly state the purpose of research, principal results and major conclusions. Abstracts must be able to stand alone. Authors should avoid references (if essential, cite author(s) and year(s)) and avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations. No specific headings or structured format required |
| Main text | The journal specializes in longer, more integrative articles and notes that minor or very specialized studies are seldom accepted. However, no specific numerical word count or page limits are stated in the official guide for the main text |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | 1 to 7 keywords required for indexing purposes. Keywords should be written in English. Authors should try to avoid keywords consisting of multiple words (using 'and' or 'of'). No specific requirement for MeSH terms or editor-assigned keywords |
| References | APA style (American Psychological Association). Authors must refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020) ISBN 978-1-4338-3215-4. Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association |
| Peer review | Single anonymized (single-blind) review process |
| Submission | submit.elsevier.com/COGPSY |
Read the Cognitive Psychology 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 Cognitive Psychology in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Cognitive Psychol 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 Cognitive Psychology journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Cognitive Psychology guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.