Psychological Bulletin

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Psychological Bulletin is a scholarly journal specializing in literature reviews. It was founded by Johns Hopkins psycholologist James Mark Baldwin in 1904. immediately after he had bought out James McKeen Cattell's share of Psychological Review, which the two had founded ten years earlier. Baldwin gave the editorship of both journals to John B. Watson when scandal forced him to resign his position at Johns Hopkins in 1909. Ownership of the Bulletin passed to Howard C. Warren, who eventually donated it to the American Psychological Association who continues to own it to the present day.

• Description of subject matter covered

(From the website) Psychological Bulletin publishes evaluative and integrative research reviews and interpretations of issues in scientific psychology. Primary research is reported only for illustrative purposes. Integrative reviews or research syntheses focus on empirical studies and seek to summarize past research by drawing overall conclusions from many separate investigations that address related or identical hypotheses.

A research synthesis typically presents the authors' assessments of

1. the state of knowledge concerning the relations of interest
2. critical assessments of the strengths and weaknesses in past research
3. important issues that research has left unresolved, thereby directing future research so it can yield a maximum amount of new information.

Both cumulative and historical approaches (i.e., ones that organize a research literature by highlighting temporally unfolding developments in a field) can be used. Integrative research reviews that develop connections between areas of research are particularly valuable.

Manuscripts dealing with topics at the interface of psychological sciences and society are welcome, as are evaluations of applied psychological therapies, programs, and interventions. Expository articles may be published if they are deemed accurate, broad, clear, and pertinent.

Methodological articles that previously were submitted to Psychological Bulletin should now be submitted to Psychological Methods. Original theoretical articles should be submitted to Psychological Review, even when they include summaries of research. Research syntheses should be submitted to Psychological Bulletin even when they develop integrated theoretical statements.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed by MEDLINE/PubMed, the Social Science Citation Index, and the Science Citation Index. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2011 impact factor of 14.457, ranking it 2nd out of 124 journals in the category "Psychology, Multidisciplinary" and 2nd out of 75 journals in the category "Psychology".

Further details

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• Web presence http://www.apa.org/journals/bul/

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Full texts available online

Volume 131 (2005)

• Geary, D. C. (2005). Evolution of life history trade-offs in mate attractiveness and health: Comment on Weeden and Sabini (2005). Psychological Bulletin, 131, 654-657. Full text

Volume 130 (2004)

• Ellis, B.J. (2004). Timing of pubertal maturation in girls: An integrated life history approach. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 920-958. Full text

Volume 129 (2003)

• Krebs, D. L. (2003). Fictions and facts about evolutionary approaches to human behavior: Comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt (2003). Psychological Bulletin, 129, 842-847. Full text

• Buss, D.M., & Reeve, H.K. (2003). Evolutionary psychology and developmental dynamics. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 848-853. Full text

• Tooby, J., Cosmides, L., & Barrett, H.C. (2003). The second law of thermodynamics is the first law of psychology: Evolutionary developmental psychology and the theory of tandem, coordinated inheritances: Comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 858–865. Full text

Volume 128 (2002)

• Geary, D. C. & Huffman, K. J. (2002). Brain and cognitive evolution: Forms of modularity and functions of mind. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 667-698. Full text

• Hertwig, R., Davis, J.N., & Sulloway, F.J. (2002). Parental investment: How an equity motive can produce inequality. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 728-745. Full text

Volume 126 (2000)

• Geary, D. C. (2000). Evolution and proximate expression of human paternal investment. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 55-77. Full text