Every preprint submitted to PsyArXiv is viewed by a member of the PsyArXiv moderation team to ensure that PsyArXiv continues to contribute to the integrity of the scientific record. To ensure that we are able to continue delivering the best possible experience for our readers and users in face of a rapidly increasing submission volume, we have adopted the following changes to our moderation policies.
From March 2026, moderators have added additional checks to ensure that authors have complied with all the terms of service for PsyArXiv. Moderators will also use authors’ past publication record to establish scholarly expertise for formats such as reviews, case studies, opinion pieces, etc. or topics where moderators have less experience, such as theories of consciousness, linguistics, philosophy, psychiatry, computational theory, etc. Such formats and topics require more specialist knowledge to establish whether they are in scope as scientific psychology, and what their scholarly contribution represents; hence, submissions cannot be evaluated by moderators in only a few minutes, and we rely on established scholarship to inform decisions. Submissions also need to be complete enough that they represent an independent contribution to the field of psychology, so slide decks and working papers presented as notes or research proposals or with incomplete methods will no longer be accepted into the archive, as they also require more than a few minutes to evaluate. We encourage authors to use OSF projects to record and version work-in-progress. However, PsyArXiv continues to accept stage 1 registered reports, where they pass standard checks for well-crafted registered reports.
Authors can help by clearly stating their affiliations on the first page; ensuring that all metadata (title, authors and abstract) match the submission exactly; by including a contact e-mail address; adding author notes with ORCIDs and funding information; and for submissions presenting primary or secondary data, details of the institutional review board record at the start also speed up moderation. For student work contributing submissions with primary data, we encourage adding supervisors as co-authors with their permission and adding a CRediT statement. Where authors feel that their submission meets all the criteria but was still rejected, they can appeal moderator decisions, and the moderation supervision team will give the submission further consideration.
Please refer to PsyArXiv’s policies page (https://blog.psyarxiv.com/about-psyarxiv/) and frequently asked questions (https://blog.psyarxiv.com/faq-frequently-asked-questions/) for more information about the moderation process and how to appeal.
We are always looking for volunteers to join the moderation team. If you are interested, please reach out via psyarxiv@improvingpsych.org.
Thank you to everyone contributing to PsyArXiv
– The PsyArXiv team
