Author Guidelines
Information for Authors
Aims and Scope
The International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture (IJBMC) is an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal dedicated to psychology and closely related interdisciplinary fields. The journal particularly welcomes contributions in psychosomatic medicine, psychotherapy, cultural psychology, mind-body studies, behavioral health, philosophy of psychology, and health humanities, provided that submissions demonstrate clear relevance to psychological science and related behavioral disciplines.
IJBMC publishes empirical, qualitative, theoretical, and review-based scholarship that advances understanding of the relationships among body, mind, culture, and health. The journal seeks to promote rigorous, ethically sound, and interdisciplinary research that contributes to more integrative and human-centered approaches to health, psychology, and clinical practice.
Types of Articles
Original Research Articles
Original Research Articles report original empirical findings relevant to the scope of the journal. The main text should not exceed 4000 words, excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures. A structured abstract of up to 250 words is required. Up to 6 tables and/or figures and up to 40 references are permitted.
Qualitative Research Articles
Qualitative Research Articles report original qualitative studies relevant to the scope of the journal. The main text should not exceed 4500 words, excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures. An abstract of up to 250 words is required. Up to 6 tables and/or figures and up to 40 references are permitted.
Review Articles
Review Articles provide critical and integrative reviews of the literature. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are especially welcome. The main text should not exceed 7000 words, excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures.
Theoretical or Conceptual Articles
Theoretical or Conceptual Articles address significant philosophical, conceptual, or interdisciplinary questions relevant to psychology, health, and culture. The main text should not exceed 7000 words, excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures.
Brief Reports
Brief Reports present concise but complete findings of scholarly importance. The main text should not exceed 1500 words, excluding references, tables, and figures. An abstract of up to 150 words may be included. No more than 2 tables and/or figures and up to 20 references are permitted.
Case Reports
Case Reports are considered only in exceptional circumstances where the case makes a clear and substantive contribution to psychosomatic medicine, psychotherapy, or related psychological scholarship. The main text should not exceed 1500 words, excluding references, tables, and figures. No abstract is required. Written informed consent must be obtained where applicable.
Editorials
Editorials are usually invited by the editors. Unsolicited editorials may be considered at the discretion of the editorial team.
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 500 words, with no more than 5 references and 1 table or figure. Letters responding to a recently published article should be submitted within three weeks of publication.
Submission
Only online submission is accepted. Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s online submission system at:
https://ijbmc.org
A submission should include the following files:
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Title page
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Main manuscript file
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Tables and figures, where applicable
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Supplementary files, where applicable
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Cover letter
The title page must be submitted separately. The main manuscript file must be fully blinded and should not contain author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, or any identifying information.
Figures should be submitted as separate files. Manuscript files should be prepared in Word-compatible format (.doc or .docx). PDF submissions are not accepted.
Use normal page margins (2.5 cm) and double spacing throughout the manuscript.
Cover Letter
A cover letter must accompany each submission. The letter should identify the corresponding author and provide their institutional affiliation, postal address, telephone number, and email address. The cover letter should also confirm that:
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the manuscript is original;
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it has not been published previously and is not under consideration elsewhere;
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all authors have read and approved the submitted version;
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all authors agree to be accountable for the content of the work.
Title Page
The title page should include:
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the full title of the manuscript;
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a short running title of no more than 40 characters;
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the full names of all authors;
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no more than two academic degrees for each author;
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the department, institution, city, and country for each author;
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the name and full contact details of the corresponding author;
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acknowledgment of any funding or grant support;
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the word count of the abstract and main text;
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the number of tables, figures, and references;
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where applicable, the code or identifier of a thesis, dissertation, or research project from which the manuscript was derived.
Affiliations should follow this format:
Academic rank, Department, Institution, City, Country.
Example:
Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Abstract and Keywords
An abstract of no more than 250 words should be provided on a separate page within the main manuscript file. For original research articles, the abstract should briefly describe the background, methods, results, and conclusions of the study.
Authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords. Keywords should preferably be selected in accordance with MeSH terms where appropriate.
Reporting Guidelines
Authors are expected to prepare manuscripts in accordance with appropriate reporting guidelines. These may include, where relevant:
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CONSORT for randomized controlled trials
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PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses
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STROBE for observational studies
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STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies
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CARE for case reports
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COREQ or SRQR for qualitative research
Authors are encouraged to submit the relevant reporting checklist when appropriate.
Human and Animal Research Ethics
Research involving human participants must comply with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee. Authors must state the name of the approving body and the approval code, where applicable.
For research involving human participants, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained.
Research involving animals must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international guidelines for the care and use of animals. Relevant ethical approval information must be provided in the manuscript.
Authorship
Authorship must be based on substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
All authors must meet authorship criteria. A statement describing each author’s contribution must be provided at submission. The journal encourages the use of CRediT contributor roles where applicable.
Any change in authorship after submission requires written approval from all authors.
Declarations
Where applicable, manuscripts must include the following statements:
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Ethics approval
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Informed consent
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Funding
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Author contributions
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Data availability
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Conflict of interest
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Acknowledgments
If a manuscript does not require one of these declarations, authors should indicate that it is not applicable.
Conflict of Interest
All authors must disclose any financial, institutional, professional, or personal relationships that could be perceived as influencing the work. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state:
“The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
Because review articles and editorials often involve selection and interpretation of literature, authors of such articles are expected to disclose any relationships that may create a potential conflict of interest.
Funding
All sources of financial support for the submitted work must be disclosed. Authors should identify the role of the funder, if any, in study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and the decision to submit for publication.
Data Availability
Authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement indicating whether the data supporting the findings of the study are publicly available, available upon reasonable request, or not publicly available due to ethical or legal restrictions.
Use of Generative AI Tools
If generative artificial intelligence tools have been used in the preparation of the manuscript, this use must be disclosed in the manuscript. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all submitted content. Generative AI tools may not be listed as authors.
Peer Review and Editorial Process
All submissions undergo initial editorial screening to assess their fit with the journal’s scope, basic methodological quality, ethical compliance, and adherence to submission requirements.
Manuscripts that pass initial screening are sent for double-anonymized peer review by independent reviewers. The journal may consider author-suggested reviewers, but reviewer selection remains entirely at the discretion of the editors.
Submitted papers may be examined for plagiarism using similarity-detection software. Final decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief based on reviewer reports and editorial evaluation.
After acceptance, manuscripts may undergo language editing, copyediting, and technical preparation for publication. No substantial changes may be made after acceptance without editorial approval.
Copyright and Open Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. Published articles are made immediately available through open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work, provided that its initial publication in this journal is acknowledged.
Authors are also permitted and encouraged to post their work online in institutional repositories or on personal or departmental websites before and during the submission process, as well as after publication, provided that appropriate acknowledgment of the journal is given.
Publication Fee
Article processing charges, if applicable, are determined according to the journal’s current fee schedule. Any applicable fee will be communicated to the authors after editorial acceptance.
Fee status does not influence editorial evaluation, peer review, or acceptance decisions. Information regarding waivers or fee reductions should be obtained from the journal before publication.
Tables
Tables should be double-spaced and provided with a concise title. Each table must be cited in the text and submitted in editable format.
Figures
Figures should be submitted as separate files and must be of suitable quality for publication. The filename should correspond to the figure number used in the manuscript, such as fig1, fig2, and so on.
Acceptable image formats include JPEG, TIFF, GIF, and EPS. For colored images, a minimum resolution of 300 dpi is required. Graphs must be clear, proportionate, and readable, and should avoid unnecessary three-dimensional effects.
Figure legends should be provided as editable text and should not appear within the figure image itself.
If photographs of patients are used, the subjects must not be identifiable unless written permission for publication has been obtained.
References
References must be prepared in APA Style, 7th edition, using EndNote. Authors are responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and correct formatting of all references, including DOI information where available. The responsibility for managing and checking references lies entirely with the authors, not the journal.
Units of Measurement
Authors should express measurements in conventional units, with Système International (SI) units given in parentheses where appropriate. Figures and tables may use conventional units, provided that conversion factors or SI equivalents are included where necessary.
Abbreviations
Except for standard units of measurement, abbreviations should be used sparingly. The first time an abbreviation appears, it should be preceded by the full term.
Drug Names
Generic names should generally be used. If proprietary brand names are necessary, the brand name and the manufacturer should be provided in parentheses in the Methods section.
Final Note
Authors are strongly encouraged to ensure that their manuscripts are carefully prepared, proofread, and compliant with the journal’s submission requirements before submission. Manuscripts that do not conform to the journal’s guidelines may be returned for technical revision prior to peer review.
For further information, please visit:
https://ijbmc.org
