Instructions for Authors

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics. We expect all prospective authors to read and understand our Ethics Policy before submitting any manuscript to this journal. This policy details the responsibilities of all authors, editors and reviewers working with and for Palgrave Macmillan Journals as well as our own ethical responsibilities. This includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, falsification of data, misuse of third party material, fabrication of results and fraudulent authorship. Please note that submitted manuscripts may be subject to checks using the iThenticate service, in conjunction with CrossCheck, in order to detect instances of overlapping and similar text. The iThenticate software checks submissions against millions of published research papers, documents on the web, and other relevant sources. If plagiarism or misconduct is found, consequences are detailed in the policy.

Publication of clinical material by psychoanalysts and psychotherapists is essential to the development of knowledge in psychoanalysis and the broader mental health field, and the growth and maintenance of high standards of patient care. Patient privacy should be protected so that patients can speak and act freely with full confidence. Ethical and legal considerations require the protection of patients’ anonymity in case reports and elsewhere.

Authors whose papers include accounts of clinical work are required to take all necessary measures to ensure that no individual written about can be identified by any third party and to fully minimize the likelihood that the patient(s) will recognize themselves. To meet these objectives, this publication has adopted guidelines that all authors must follow, which are required in the submission and throughout the review process. These guidelines align with the prevailing standards of our professions. Special care should be taken in cases including children and adolescents. There will be no exceptions.

Submitting Your Anonymized Article

Authors must verify that they have anonymized an individual or individuals’ identity and indicate which method(s) of anonymization has been used, using the form that will be included in the Instruction to Authors that we will send upon receipt of your submission.

If a manuscript includes clinical material, the author(s) will receive a specific Patient Anonymization and Confidentiality Form from the Office of the Editor, which must be completed and signed by the author(s). Maintaining patient confidentiality is the ethical and legal responsibility of all authors.

Some helpful resources about this topic, that can be found on PEP, include: Kantrowitz, J. L. (2004). Writing About Patients: I. Ways of Protecting Confidentiality and Analyst’s Conflicts over Choice of Method. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 52, 69–99; Gabbard, G. O. (2000). Disguise or Consent: Problems and Recommendations concerning the Publication and Presentation of Clinical Material. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 81, 1071–1086; Ackerman, S. (2018). (How) Can We Write about Our Patients? Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 66, 59–81.

Original papers, maximum 10,000 words, (including references), submitted exclusively to the American Journal of Psychoanalysis, will be considered for publication. The author(s) should notify the co-editors if the article has already appeared in a foreign language or has been submitted elsewhere. The journal will not consider for publication in the journal material previously published in English, including on the Internet.

All manuscripts will be double blind peer-reviewed by three or more editorial board members to maintain the highest quality and to verify relevance, accuracy, and clarity of presentation. The page layout must be in 8.5 x 11 in. format with 1 in. margins on all sides of the page, and text must be in Times New Roman 12-point font, double spaced.

The Title Page should include full name(s) of author(s); degrees; academic and professional affiliations; complete mailing address; telephone number; fax number; and the e-mail address of the author to whom proofs are to be sent. All author related information should be removed from the pages that follow the Title Page.

The following page (the first page of the actual paper) should contain the title of the paper and an Abstract of no more than 150 words, which must succinctly describe the author’s main points and the way these points will be conveyed. 4 to 6 Key Words, reflecting the main points of the Abstract, should follow.

Manuscript pages must be numbered consecutively, starting with the first page of the paper and concluding with the References.

Footnotes should be used sparingly and not for giving references. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numbers and should be on the bottom of the relevant page.

The customary Manuscript Style of the American Journal of Psychoanalysis should be used as a guide in preparation of all submissions. In case of uncertainty about format authors should consult articles published in the American Journal of Psychoanalysis by visiting our publisher website.

In the Text

Citations of references in the text should provide the author’s name and, in parentheses, the year of the original publication of the paper or book.

Example: Ferenczi (1929) explored…

If the name of the source is not specifically stated in the sentence, place in parentheses the author’s name, followed by a comma and the year of the original publication.

Example: The concept of false self (Winnicott, 1960)…

For two or more publications, use semicolons to separate the names of authors.

Example: In Freud’s lifetime, his views on female psychology were challenged (Horney, 1924, 1926, 1932, 1933; Jones, 1927; Fenichel, 1930)…

Quotations: Whenever material is cited verbatim, give a page reference in parentheses.

Example: Balint (1968) writes: “I should like to submit that the theory of primary narcissism has proved self-contradicting and unproductive” (p. 65).

Reference Section

All references cited in the text must be listed in the Reference section.

References should be arranged alphabetically by author and typed double-spaced. The reference list should include only those sources that are cited in the text. Names of journals and titles of books should be italicized, as in recent issues of the American Journal of Psychoanalysis. Please note that we use original publication dates for all references. Republication information (publisher, year) can be included at the end of the original reference.

A journal article should include the volume number of the journal and the page range of the article should be specified.

Example: Dupont, J. (2013). Ferenczi at Maresfield Gardens. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 73, 1–7.

Books cited in the text are referenced by listing the name of the author, year of original publishing, title of the book, and name of the publisher. If it has been republished, year of the republication.

Example: Balint, M. (1968). The basic fault. Therapeutic aspects of regression. Brunner/Mazel. 1992.

A chapter from a book by an author (or authors) of the book must include the page range of the chapter, as well as the name of the publisher of the book.

Example: Rubins, J. L. (1978). The Berlin Psychoanalytic before the fall. In: Karen Horney: Gentle rebel of psychoanalysis. (pp. 108–142). Dial Press.

A chapter in an edited book is referenced by listing the name(s) of the chapter author(s), year of publication, the title of the chapter, the editors, the title of the book, followed by the page range of the chapter, placed in parenthesis, and the name of the publisher of the book.

Example: Somaini, P. (2024). Nina Coltart’s colourful ways of listening. In E. Wolf & B. Antonis, Independent women in British psychoanalysis. Creativity and authenticity at work (pp. 134-155). Routledge.

If the chapter in an edited book was originally published in a journal, please include the source of the original publication.

Example: Horney, K. (1926). The flight from womanhood. In Feminine psychology (pp. 54-70). H. Kelman (Ed. and Introduction). W. W. Norton & Company. 1967. Also in International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 7, 324–339. 1926.

A chapter in a book that is a collection of papers by one author, but which has been edited, is referenced by listing the name of the author, the year of publication, the title of the chapter, the name of the author again, the title of the book, the page range of the chapter and then the editors and the publisher.

Example: Winnicott, D. W. (1968). The squiggle game. In: D. W. Winnicott, Psycho-analytic explorations (pp. 299 –317). C. Winnicott, R. Shepherd, & M. Davis (Eds.). Harvard University Press. 1989.

Artwork, Table, Figures and Diagrams

All tables, figures and diagrams must be mentioned in the text, with their placement in the manuscript clearly indicated and numbered in the order in which they are mentioned. Each should have a brief descriptive title and should be understandable even without reference to the text. They should all be submitted in separate, high-resolution files, with their numbers and brief titles, and not included within the text.

In addition to the main articles, the American Journal of Psychoanalysis welcomes concise reviews (up to 2,000 words, including references) of current psychoanalytic books as well as relevant brief responses (up to 2000 words) to papers published in the journal or other timely topics. For Book Reviews and Brief Communications submissions please follow the usual submission procedures.

The corresponding author will be sent an email containing a link to an online PDF proof of the article. Please download the PDF proof, correct within the time period indicated and return as directed. Authors are requested to respond to the Correction Team’s request for information, and they cannot make revisions to the final, edited text.

The Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis holds the copyrights to all work published in the American Journal of Psychoanalysis. Authors of articles accepted for publication will receive the necessary forms for signature from the Editor’s office.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing through any medium of communication those illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. Add your acknowledgements to the typescript, preferably in the form of an “Acknowledgements” section at the end of the paper. Credit the source and copyright of photographs or figures in the accompanying captions.

Authors are fully responsible for statements made in their articles. Published articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis or the publisher.

The journal’s policy is to own copyright in all contributions. Before publication, authors assign copyright to the Publishers, but retain their rights to republish this material in other works written or edited by themselves, subject to full acknowledgement of the original source of publication.

The journal mandates the Copyright Clearance Center in the USA and the Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK to offer centralized licensing arrangements for photocopying in their respective territories.

Authors of accepted papers will receive a PDF file of their article from the publisher, in the form of SharedIt, a content sharing feature of Springer Nature.

As part of the Springer Nature family, Palgrave Macmillan offers an initiative that allows researchers to share content easily and legally. The SharedIt content-sharing initiative means that links to view-only, full-text subscription research articles can be posted anywhere – including on social media platforms, author websites and in institutional repositories – so researchers can share research with colleagues and general audiences.

Reasonable sharing is encouraged for non-commercial, personal use.

Using SharedIt allows the author to share their work in an easy and legitimate way, facilitating discussions and collaborations with other researchers who may not have a subscription. SharedIt links will take readers to the most up to date, online version of the article. SharedIt also allows us to better understand how research is being used, as usage can be tracked, unlike when a PDF is downloaded and shares. Our publisher, Springer Nature, is committed to making information about usage available on a regular basis.

More information on SharedIt:

Further information can be found here springernature.com/sharedit. Please email sharedit@springernature.com if you have any further questions.

A full PDF file of a work must not be placed on a publicly available website for general viewing, or otherwise distributed without seeking our permission.

In addition, a complimentary hard copy of the issue in which the paper appears will be mailed to the author.