Peer-review model
IJPR uses Single-blind (double-blind on request). Manuscripts are assessed by reviewers with relevant subject expertise, and reviewer recommendations inform editorial judgement.
Editorial standards
Editorial Policies
A clear, journal-level framework for peer review, research integrity, participant protection and the scholarly record in psychotherapy practice and research.
Editorial decisions are based on scholarly merit, ethics, scope and the evidence presented. Article processing charges, waiver requests and other commercial considerations do not determine editorial decisions.
On this pagePeer reviewParticipantsIntegrityScholarly recordRights and data
Editorial process
Peer review and editorial decision-making
Peer review and editorial assessment are intended to evaluate relevance, originality, methodological quality, ethical conduct and the support for the manuscript’s conclusions.
Editorial decisions
Editors consider reviewer reports together with the manuscript record. Decisions are based on scope, scholarly contribution, methodological soundness, ethical requirements and whether the conclusions are supported by the evidence.
Confidentiality and conflicts
Editors and reviewers must keep manuscripts, reports and editorial discussion confidential. Anyone with a personal, institutional, collaborative, financial or other competing interest must not handle the manuscript.
Editorial independence
Editorial decisions are independent of article processing charges, waiver requests, advertising, services, membership and other commercial considerations.
Participant protection
Human participants, clinical material and confidentiality
Psychotherapy research can involve highly sensitive health, behavioural and therapeutic information. Authors are responsible for ethical approval, consent, confidentiality and appropriate reporting.
Research ethics and consent
Studies involving human participants require appropriate institutional ethics approval and documented informed consent. Authors should report the ethics committee or review board and consent information in the manuscript where applicable.
Clinical case material
Authors must protect confidentiality in case material. Therapy notes, session transcripts, recordings, intake forms, signed consent documents and direct identifiers must not be included. Written consent is required for potentially identifiable information.
Vulnerable participants
Research involving children, vulnerable participants or therapist–researcher relationships must describe the safeguards relevant to consent, confidentiality and ethical review.
Trial registration and reporting
Interventional psychotherapy studies must be prospectively registered in a recognised public registry, with the registration number included in the manuscript. Authors should follow reporting guidance appropriate to the study design.
Author responsibilities
Authorship, competing interests and research integrity
Clear authorship, transparent disclosures and honest reporting support fair assessment and protect the scholarly record.
Authorship and changes
Authorship must reflect substantial contributions to the work, participation in drafting or critical revision, final approval of the version submitted, and accountability for the work. Proposed authorship changes require the agreement of all affected contributors.
Competing interests and funding
Authors must disclose relevant financial, professional and personal competing interests, along with funding sources. Editors and reviewers disclose competing interests and recuse themselves where an interest could affect impartiality.
AI-assisted technologies
Authors must disclose material use of AI-assisted tools. AI tools cannot be listed as authors, and authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, confidentiality and integrity of the submitted work. Confidential manuscripts and identifiable participant material must not be uploaded to external AI tools without written authorisation.
Originality and integrity concerns
Submissions are screened for originality. Suspected redundant publication, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification or inappropriate image manipulation may be investigated in line with COPE guidance.
Published record
Corrections, retractions, appeals and concerns
Post-publication actions are used to preserve an accurate, transparent scholarly record.
A transparent scholarly record
Authors should notify the editorial office promptly if they identify a significant error in published work. IJPR may issue a correction, expression of concern or retraction where this is necessary to maintain the record. Authors may request reconsideration of an editorial decision by sending a clear scholarly rationale to the editorial office. Concerns about the editorial process or published work may also be raised confidentially with the editorial office.
Author rights and data
Copyright, licence, data and permissions
Authors should prepare rights, permissions and data statements before submission so the accepted article can be published and reused correctly.
Open-access licence
Accepted IJPR articles are published as open access under the journal’s stated CC BY 4.0 licence. Authors remain responsible for confirming that submitted material can be published under the applicable licence.
Third-party permissions
Authors must obtain permission for third-party figures, tables, images, instruments, extended quotations or other material that is not covered by the author’s rights or by a compatible open licence.
Data availability
Manuscripts should explain where supporting data can be accessed or why access is restricted. Sensitive clinical, participant or therapy material must be protected and should not be shared publicly when doing so would compromise confidentiality or consent.
Archiving and self-archiving
Authors may retain and share permitted versions in line with the publisher’s terms, the article licence and any funder or institutional requirements. Any repository statement should match the version and rights that apply to the article.
Related guidance
Find the relevant journal information
These canonical pages support the policy information shown here and provide related journal guidance.
Aims & Scope
Confirm that a manuscript fits the journal’s psychotherapy remit.
Instructions for Authors
Review current manuscript preparation requirements.
Peer Review
Read the publisher-wide overview alongside the verified IJPR model.
Editor Guidelines
Review editor responsibilities and journal participation.
Reviewer Guidelines
Review the current reviewer guidance and conduct expectations.
Copyright & Licence
Review author-rights and licence information on this page.
Data Archiving
Review data, repository and permission guidance on this page.
Editorial Board
See the editorial leadership connected to the journal.
Public Access and Funder Compliance
Some authors are required by their funders to make their research publicly available. Under the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy, Author Accepted Manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025, must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance and made publicly available without embargo on the official date of publication.
What IJPR provides: IJPR publishes the Version of Record under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. The journal also permits authors to deposit their Author Accepted Manuscript in funder-designated repositories. Upon acceptance, we confirm the accepted manuscript version and record the funder and grant information supplied by the authors.
Author responsibility: IJPR does not currently deposit manuscripts in PubMed Central on behalf of authors. Authors are responsible for determining which funder requirements apply, initiating the appropriate repository submission and completing any required NIHMS approval steps.
Eligibility and successful processing through PubMed Central or NIHMS are determined according to the relevant funder and NIH/NLM requirements.
Important: The deposit of an individual article in PubMed Central may result in that article appearing in PubMed. It does not mean that IJPR is indexed in MEDLINE, included in the PMC Journal List or that all IJPR articles are available through PubMed. The journal's current coverage is listed on the Indexing page.
Questions about an editorial policy?
Use the editorial office contact route for policy interpretation or to raise a concern.
Contact the editorial officeInternational Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research · ISSN 2574-612X