Current Psychology

Top Research Topics at Current Psychology?

Social psychology, Clinical psychology, Developmental psychology, Scale (social sciences) and Anxiety are the subjects of interest in Current Psychology. Social psychology works presented in it have a specific focus on Personality. The majority of Personality studies in the journal are focused on the subject of Big Five personality traits.

Current Psychology focuses on Clinical psychology but the discussions also offer insight into other areas such as Psychological intervention, Confirmatory factor analysis, Association (psychology), Mental health and Depression (differential diagnoses). Current Psychology explores research in Confirmatory factor analysis and the adjacent study of Exploratory factor analysis. Many of the studies tackled connect Developmental psychology with a similar field of study like Cognition.

The study on Cognition presented is investigated in conjunction with research in Cognitive psychology. It dives deep in exploring the relationship between the study of Scale (social sciences) and Reliability (statistics).

• Social psychology (32.66%)
• Clinical psychology (25.02%)
• Developmental psychology (23.76%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

• Pleasure-arousal-dominance: A general framework for describing and measuring individual differences in Temperament (873 citations)
• Descriptive norms as an additional predictor in the theory of planned behaviour: A meta-analysis (809 citations)
• Tolerance of ambiguity: A review of the concept, its measurement and applications (330 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Current Psychology:

The journal papers are mainly concerned with subjects like Social psychology, Developmental psychology, Clinical psychology, Personality and Cognitive psychology. The studies on Social psychology discussed at the journal publications can also contribute to research in the domains of Theory of planned behavior, Pessimism and Perception. In addition to Clinical psychology research, the most cited articles aim to explore topics under Young adult, Depression (differential diagnoses) and Anxiety.

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

• Social psychology
• Cognition
• World War II

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The topics of Clinical psychology, Social psychology, Developmental psychology, Scale (social sciences) and Anxiety are the focal point of discussions in Current Psychology. The concepts on Clinical psychology presented in Current Psychology can also apply to other research fields, including Psychological intervention, Confirmatory factor analysis, Association (psychology), Mental health and Depression (differential diagnoses). Issues in Confirmatory factor analysis were discussed, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Cronbach's alpha and Exploratory factor analysis.

Social psychology research featured in it incorporates concerns from various other topics such as Structural equation modeling, Context (language use) and Perception. Most of the works presented in Current Psychology deals with Developmental psychology but it intersects with the subject of Life satisfaction. The research on Scale (social sciences) tackled can also make contributions to studies in the areas of Reliability (statistics) and Sample (statistics).

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

• Psychometric evaluation of three versions of the Italian Perceived Stress Scale (49 citations)
• Exploratory factor analysis: Current use, methodological developments and recommendations for good practice (42 citations)
• The relationship between employment pressure and occupational delay of gratification among college students: positive psychological capital as a mediator (37 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.

Top authors and change over time

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

• Adrian Furnham (15 papers) published 4 papers at the last edition, 3 more than at the previous edition,
• F. Richard Ferraro (14 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition,
• Debra J. Vandervoort (13 papers) absent at the last edition,
• Li Lei (13 papers) published 8 papers at the last edition, 5 more than at the previous edition,
• Marta Malesza (10 papers) published 6 papers at the last edition, 3 more than at the previous 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.

Top affiliations and change over time

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

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

• Beijing Normal University (104 papers) published 65 papers at the last edition, 38 more than at the previous edition,
• Southwest University (49 papers) published 24 papers at the last edition, 11 more than at the previous edition,
• University of Hong Kong (38 papers) published 18 papers at the last edition, 8 more than at the previous edition,
• University of Coimbra (37 papers) published 25 papers at the last edition, 16 more than at the previous edition,
• University of North Dakota (35 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 1 less 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, 4.63% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 12.60% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 5.75% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 10.36% of all publications and 71.29% 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 Applications in Forensic Science

Apart from the major research areas of Current Psychology, the implications of these studies in diverse fields are also noteworthy. For instance, insights from social and clinical psychology have found practical uses in forensic science, contributing to the understanding of criminal behavior, and improving interrogation techniques and courtroom procedures. A key subset of this applied pursuit is the role of a forensic investigator.

Essentially, a forensic investigator combines the principles of science and the study of human behavior in solving crimes. They benefit from a strong foundation in psychology, especially understanding of personality traits and behaviors, which are central themes in Current Psychology. Specifically, the topic of the Big Five personality traits, a subject of keen interest in the journal, can give forensic investigators useful insights about potential behavioral patterns, aiding profiling and suspect identification efforts.

If you’re interested in this interdiscipline, read more here about how to become a forensic investigator in Nevada.