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Current Directions in Psychological Science
H-index 48

Current Directions in Psychological Science

0963-7214

Published by: SAGE

https://journals.sagepub.com/home/cdp

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Psychology 27 312 243 47

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 350
Documents by Best Scientists*: 264
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 19
SCIMAGO H-index: 223
SCIMAGO SJR: 3.211
Impact Factor: 5.8

Overview

Top Research Topics at Current Directions in Psychological Science?

The discussions in Current Directions in Psychological Science mainly cover the fields of Cognitive psychology, Social psychology, Developmental psychology, Cognition and Cognitive science. While Cognitive psychology is the focus of the journal, it also provided insights into the studies of Affect (psychology), Perception, Action (philosophy), Working memory and Social cognition. Many of the research works in Social psychology, specifically Personality and Feeling, closely connected to disciplines like Perspective (graphical).

The journal features studies on Personality, including topics such as Big Five personality traits.

  • Cognitive psychology (32.32%)
  • Social psychology (29.61%)
  • Developmental psychology (20.93%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Statistical Power Analysis (2173 citations)
  • The Nature and Organization of Individual Differences in Executive Functions: Four General Conclusions (1914 citations)
  • The Strength Model of Self-Control (1822 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Current Directions in Psychological Science:

The most cited publications mainly tackle studies in Social psychology, Cognitive psychology, Developmental psychology, Cognition and Cognitive science. The most cited papers focus on Social psychology but the discussions also offer insight into other areas such as Context (language use) and Well-being. The published articles explore research in Human factors and ergonomics and overlapping concepts in Suicide prevention to expand the discourse in Developmental psychology.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • Social psychology
  • Cognition
  • Neuroscience

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The journal focuses largely on the fields of Cognitive psychology, Social psychology, Cognitive science, Developmental psychology and Cognition. It explores issues in Cognitive psychology which can be linked to other research areas like Consistency (statistics), Perception and Comprehension. Many of the studies tackled connect Social psychology with a similar field of study like Public health.

Current Directions in Psychological Science addresses concerns in Cognitive science which are intertwined with other disciplines, such as Developmental Science and Field (Bourdieu). Topics in Developmental psychology explored in it were investigated in conjunction with research in Fetus, Resource (biology), Socioeconomic status and Educational attainment. The concepts on Cognition presented in it can also apply to other research fields, including Psychological testing, Affect (psychology), Big Five personality traits, Ideology and Control (management).

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • Taking Skills Seriously: Toward an Integrative Model and Agenda for Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills: (8 citations)
  • The Role of Parent Educational Attainment in Parenting and Children’s Development: (5 citations)
  • Learning About the World by Learning About Images (5 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in Current Directions in Psychological Science (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Thomas R. Zentall (8 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • James J. Gross (8 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Lisa Feldman Barrett (7 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • John T. Cacioppo (6 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Daniel L. Schacter (6 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Current Directions in Psychological Science (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Harvard University (53 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition, 2 less than at the previous edition,
  • Stanford University (41 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 2 less than at the previous edition,
  • University of California, Los Angeles (40 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition,
  • Northwestern University (35 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 1 less than at the previous edition,
  • Cornell University (32 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 3.17% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 26.23% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 13.11% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 18.03% of all publications and 42.62% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Practical Application of Research

An additional section that can enhance the depth of this article is providing tangible, real-world applications of the research and findings published in Current Directions in Psychological Science. This section will give the readers an understanding of how psychological science can be integrated into various industries, for example, in the field of educational system or healthcare practices. Any researcher who wants to have a career as a practitioner in the field of psychology also needs to understand how theories and experimental results can be operationalized in real-world settings. For example, if you're training to be a board certified behavior analyst, you not only have to learn about the discipline's theories and methodologies but also about how it is applied in practice, often in multidisciplinary settings. For more insights on how to become a BCBA in Kentucky, you can check this guide: how to become a board certified behavior analyst in Kentucky which also provides some tips on how to build a career around psychological science. Understanding the practical applications of psychological science may help you not only in conducting your research but also in applying that knowledge in various professional contexts.

Top Publications

  • Seed and Soil: Psychological Affordances in Contexts Help to Explain Where Wise Interventions Succeed or Fail.

    Gregory M. Walton;David S. Yeager

    (2020)
    277 Citations
  • Aging in an Era of Fake News.

    Nadia M Brashier;Daniel L Schacter

    (2020)
    267 Citations
  • Narcissism Today: What We Know and What We Need to Learn:

    Joshua D. Miller;Mitja D. Back;Donald R. Lynam;Aidan G. C. Wright

    (2021)
    258 Citations
  • The Role of Parent Educational Attainment in Parenting and Children’s Development:

    Pamela E. Davis-Kean;Lauren A. Tighe;Nicholas E. Waters

    (2021)
    234 Citations
  • Collective Emotions

    (2020)
    206 Citations
  • Cognitive-Load Theory: Methods to Manage Working Memory Load in the Learning of Complex Tasks

    Fred Paas;Fred Paas;Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer

    (2020)
    170 Citations
  • The strengths of people in poverty

    Willem E. Frankenhuis;Daniel Nettle

    (2020)
    159 Citations
  • Attention Control: A Cornerstone of Higher-Order Cognition:

    Alexander P. Burgoyne;Randall W. Engle

    (2020)
    108 Citations
  • Research Domain Criteria (RDoC): Progress and Potential

    (2022)
    97 Citations
  • Developmental Variability and Developmental Cascades: Lessons from Motor and Language Development in Infancy.

    Jana M Iverson

    (2021)
    93 Citations

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