Instructions for authors

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

The Revista de Psicología Clínica con Niños y Adolescentes (RPCNA) is a quarterly publication edited by AITANA Research Group at the Miguel Hernández University (Elche, Spain). The RPCNA publishes original and unpublished works with scientific rigor, written in Spanish or English entailing a contribution to basic or applied knowledge in the field of psychopathology, assessment, and child and adolescent psychological treatment.

 

STRUCTURE OF PAPERS

Manuscripts submitted for evaluation will be double-spaced, Times New Roman, font size 12, with margins of 3 cm (one inch), and have a maximum length of 6,000 words (including title, abstract, abstract in Spanish, references, figures, tables and appendices). In order to prepare the publication, standards of the APA (7th edition) must be strictly followed.

 

The RPCNA publishes different types of papers:

  • Empirical articles on various areas of clinical and health psychology applied to child and adolescent level. Papers must be structured in Introduction, Method (Participants, Instruments Procedure, and Statistical analysis), Results, Discussion, References, and Tables and Figures.

 

FIRST PAGE

Title: The Title should be informative and concise (no more than 15 words). It must be in Spanish and English.

Brief title: Must not exceed 50 characters, including spaces.

Authors: List the authors of the paper, the affiliation, and country. The contributors of the paper must have contributed in the creation, design, analysis, or review of the manuscript. It is the responsibility of the author of correspondence that all authors have approved of the final version of the manuscript.

Data corresponding author: Full name. Affiliation. Postal address of workplace. E-mail.

Acknowledgements: In this section, the authors should thank individuals who have made a contribution to the paper; those who have made a significant contribution in the stages of conception, design, evaluation, data collection, statistical analysis, interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript, and the critical review of it are to be included.

Funding: In this section the authors should mention the sources of funding that have enabled the achievement of the study. In the case of funded projects, authors must reference the project reference code or aid granted.

 

ABSTRACT/RESUMEN

An abstract of no more than 250 words will be presented. The abstract will be presented in English and Spanish, and will be located in the second and third page of the document sent for review.

 

KEYWORDS /PALABRAS CLAVE

After the abstract (in Spanish), the document should include 3 to 5 keywords representing the main content of the paper. These same keywords (Palabras clave) must be included at the end of the abstract in Spanish (Resumen). Use a semicolon between keywords.

 

INTRODUCTION

In this section the subject of interest of work is provided and specific information on the problem and the study area are identified. Previous work related to the work, both nationally and internationally, must be included. Organize information in the order of most general to most specific. This section should answer the questions: What is the problem? What do we know so far? What gap exists on the subject? What has been done to fill that gap? It should conclude with a paragraph that justifies the importance and necessity of the study, the objectives, and the assumptions made.

 

METHOD

  • Participants: Describe the study sample in detail, indicating demographic and other data relevant to the work.
  • Instruments: List and detail the assessment tools used, providing data on its psychometric properties (reliability, validity, etc.).
  • Procedure: Indicate the type of study, where it was performed, and the participating centers. Describe recruitment protocol and data collection processes. If an intervention is applied, the content of the sessions should be described in detail. This includes who the facilitators were, and the procedure followed.
  • Statistical analysis: Report on how the data was analyzed to obtain the results presented.

 

RESULTS

Results must be based on the objectives and hypotheses presented in the introduction. This section may include sub-sections according to paper goals.

 

DISCUSSION

The results obtained are discussed and compared with those found in national and international studies relevant to the theme studied. Majority of the compared work must be current (published in the last 5 years). Based on the study results, the conclusions are formulated. The main strengths and limitations of the study must be mentioned. Ideas, proposals, and approaches for future studies will be provided.

 

TABLES AND FIGURES

  • Figures and tables are placed at the end of the manuscript, one on each page.
  • All tables and figures must be mentioned in the text.
  • Authors should indicate in the text where to reference all tables and figures.
  • Tables and figures must be included in grayscale or black and white.
  • APA’s style must be followed in referencing the tables and figures.

 

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

In the instance that there is a conflict of interest when interpreting the results or information presented in the work, i.e. the work may be influenced by personal and/or business relationships with other persons or entities, it should be indicated at the end of the manuscript, before the References section. If the authors do not present conflicts of interest the section must state, "The author(s) of this paper state that there is no conflict of interest."

 

REFERENCES

The RPCNA follows the APA Style Guidelines (6th edition).The manuscript, in general, and the citation of work, more specifically, must comply with those rules.

 

 EXAMPLES OF REFERENCES OF RPCNA STYLE

Journal article with DOI  (for up to 20 authors)

Autor, A. A., Autor, B. B., & Autor, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume (number), pp-pp. https://doi.org/xx:xxxxxxxxxx

Cummings, C. M., Caporino, N. E., & Kendall, P. C. (2014). Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents: 20 years after. Psychological bulletin, Servera, M., Sáez, B., & Mir, J. M. G. (2020). Feasibility of a virtual reality program to treat children with fear of darkness with nonexpert therapists. Revista de Psicología Clínica con Ninos y Adolescentes7(2), 16-21. https://doi.org/10.21134/rpcna.2020.07.2.2

  • Include the digital object identifier (DOI) in the reference if one is assigned.
  • When the article has seven authors or less, all of them must be mentioned.

 

Journal article with DOI, more than 20 authors 

When the article has more than twenty authors, cite the first six, followed by "..." and the last author. For example:

Ballester, L., Alayo, I., Vilagut, G., Almenara, J., Cebrià, A. I., Echeburúa, E., Gabilondo, A., Gili, M., Lagares, C., Piqueras, J. A., Roca, M., Soto-Sanz, V., Blasco, M. J., Castellví, P., Forero, C. G., Bruffaerts, R., Mortier, P., Auerbach, R. P., Nock, M. K., … Alonso, J. (2019). Accuracy of online survey assessment of mentaldisorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in Spanish universitystudents. Results of the WHO World Mental Health‐InternationalCollege Student initiative. PLOS One, 14(9), e0221529. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221529

 

Journal article without DOI

  • When the document does not have doi, the use of "Retrieved from" is not applicable, but the url is provided directly.
  • When the article is in Spanish or other language, the English translation must be added in brackets.

For example:

Paredes-Cartes, P., & Moreno-García, I. (2015). Estudio comparativo del lenguaje en niños con sintomatología hiperactiva-atencional y menores con trastorno específico del lenguaje. Revista de Psicología Clínica con Niños y Adolescentes, 2(2), 151-156. https://idus.us.es/handle/11441/29658

 

Article in press

Fariña, D., Seijo, D., Tomé, D., & Castro, B. (en prensa). Adaptación española y propiedades psicométricas de la Escala de Parentalidad y Ajuste Familiar (PAFAS). Revista de Psicología con Niños y Adolescentes. https://www.revistapcna.com/sites/default/files/2033-1.pdf 

 

Book

For an entire book, use the following reference formats:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2015). Title of work. Publisher.

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2015). Title of workhttp://www.xxxxxx

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2015). Title of work. https://doi.org/ xxxxx

 

Barrett, P. M., & Ollendick, T. H. (2004). Handbook of Interventions that Work with Children and Adolescents: Prevention and Treatment. Wiley Online Library.

Barrett, P. M., & Ollendick, T. H. (2004). Handbook of Interventions that Work with Children and Adolescents: Prevention and Treatment. Wiley Online Library. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470753385.fmatter/summary

Barrett, P. M., & Ollendick, T. H. (2004). Handbook of Interventions that Work with Children and Adolescents: Prevention and Treatmenthttps://doi.org/10.1002/9780470753385

 

Book Chapter or article as part of a book

For a chapter in a book or entry in a reference book, use the following formats:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor, B.

Editor, & C. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). Publisher.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor & B.

Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx).  http://www.xxxxxxx

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor, B. Editor,

& C. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxxxx

 

Dowdney L., & Bruce H. (2014). Transiting out of child and adolescent mental health services - influences on continuities and discontinuities in mental health care. En P. Byrne, & A. Rosen, Early intervention in psychiatry: EI of nearly everything for better mental health (pp. 79-91). Wiley Blackwell.

Dowdney L., & Bruce H. (2014). Transiting out of child and adolescent mental health services - influences on continuities and discontinuities in mental health care. En P. Byrne, & A. Rosen, Early intervention in psychiatry: EI of nearly everything for better mental health (pp. 79-91). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118557174.ch8/summary

Dowdney L., & Bruce H. (2014). Transiting out of child and adolescent mental health services - influences on continuities and discontinuities in mental health care. En P. Byrne, & A. Rosen, Early intervention in psychiatry: EI of nearly everything for better mental health (pp. 79-91). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118557174.ch8

 

Meetings and Symposia

Author, A. A. (Date). Title of Contribution [Type of contribution]. Conference Name, Location. DOI or URL if applicable

Alan, S., Gllvarry, C., & Essau, C. (2015, noviembre). Conduct disorder and associated antisocial behaviour among adolescents: From frequency to prevention. [Presentación de póster] I Congreso Internacional de Psicología Clínica y de la Salud con Niños y Adolescentes, Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, España. http://www.aitanacongress.com/2015/

 

Doctoral dissertation

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of doctoral dissertation [Doctoral dissertation]. Institution. http://xxxxxxx

Murillo-Pérez, V. (2012). Temperamento y afrontamiento como predictores de la depresión en adolescentes [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. https://www.educacion.gob.es/teseo/mostrarRef.do?ref=952032

 

Unpublished manuscript

  • Manuscript in progress or submitted for publication

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of manuscript. Unpublished manuscript [or "Manuscript submitted for publication," or "Manuscript in preparation"].

Moser, J. S., Durbin, C. E., Patrick, C. J., & Schmidt, N. B. (2015). Combining neural and behavioral indicators in the assessment of internalizing psychopathology in children and adolescents. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  • Unpublished manuscript with a university cited

Blackwell, E., & Conrod, P. J. (2003). A five-dimensional measure of drinking motives. Unpublished manuscript. Department of Psychology. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canadá.

 

TEXT CITATIONS

  • Please check carefully that all references cited in the text are included in the References section (and vice versa).
  • It is not recommended to cite unpublished work. If included, the work must be cited as personal communication or unpublished work (see example above).
  • If the cited work has been accepted for publication, please indicate "in press" instead of the year in parentheses.
  • When the author's name is part of the text, only the year of publication is indicated in parentheses.
  • When there are two or more consecutive references, they must be ordered alphabetically by authors' names.
  • More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication. 
  • When there are three or more authors display the first author and add 'et al'.

 

ETHICAL AND LEGAL CONDITIONS

  • The opinions expressed in the works are the exclusive responsibility of the authors.
  • The published works must follow the ethical principles of the practice of psychology, the ethical standards of the committee for ethics in research involving human subjects and in accordance with the World Medical Association and the Declaration of Helsinki.
  • It will be the responsibility of the authors to comply with the ethical and legal requirements of the institution where the work was carried out, such as collecting the corresponding consents and authorizations from the participants and/or institutions involved in the study.
  • In studies with patients, the names or initials of the patients should not be reported.
  • The authors are responsible for obtaining the corresponding permission when they wish to reproduce part of the material (images, figures, etc.) from other publications.
  • Authors must explicitly indicate compliance with these requirements in their manuscript (approval of the study by an ethics committee, collection of informed consent of parents and participants, etc.).
  • Parts involved in a publication in the RPCNA - authors, reviewers and members of the editorial board - must adhere firmly to our ethics policy, and respect the statements based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practices Guidelines for Journal Editors (COPE; Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011). Consult the Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement.

 

COPYRIGHT

  • Submission implies that the work is original, unpublished, and not in press or under review elsewhere.
  • Authors must report on other related works submitted, fully or partially, to assess the possibility of data redundancy and duplication of works. Related work must be submitted to the editorial board of the journal along with the manuscript. These references must be cited in the new manuscript. The papers presented at conferences will not be considered as redundant publications.
  • The authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permits for the use of material subject to copyright, also for the material downloaded from the Internet.
  • The submission and publication of a paper implies that the author(s) transfer all rights to it to the RPCNA.
  • The journal owns the rights for printing and reproduction of the published works. The authors are responsible for their opinions expressed in the papers.

 

COSTS OF PUBLICATION

Editing, composition, and publication of the work will not entail any cost to the authors.

 

PAPER SUBMISSION AND PEER REVIEW PROCESS

The works will be sent in Microsoft Word format to the e-mail address rpcna@umh.es

Manuscripts will be reviewed anonymously in a double-blind process by two external peer reviewers who are experts in the subject area of work. To guarantee anonymity, the authors' data will only appear on the first page, which will exclude the evaluation process. The authors will avoid any information in the text that can identify them. Through the evaluation template, the reviewers will submit their assessment, which can be acceptance, acceptance with minor changes, rejection with the possibility of resubmission (major changes) and rejection. In cases of controversy between both reviewers, it will be the editor who makes the decision about the acceptance of the work.

Upon receipt of the work, the corresponding author will be acknowledged. Upon receiving the manuscript and before its eventual publication, a plagiarism detection system (Turnitin) is carried out. In the maximum period of two months will be answered about its acceptance or rejection. Eventually, the definitive acceptance of the manuscript may be conditioned to improvements or modifications that the editorial board proposes to the authors. Once the work is accepted, it will be published immediately in the Online First section, and will remain visible until it is included in the next number available. The estimated time between the reception of the work and its publication varies between 3 and 6 months, and it is conditioned by the review process.

 

 

CONTACT

Research Group of Analysis, Intervention, and Applied Therapy on Children and Adolescents.

MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ UNIVERSITY
Health Psychology Department
Edificio Altamira. Avda. de la Universidad, s/n
03202 Elche (Alicante) – SPAIN

Phone: (+34) 965222071 / (+34) 966658344
Fax: (+34) 966658904                                                                                                                                                                                                              
E-mail: investigacion_aitana@umh.es

Web: www.revistapcna.com