Submission Guidelines
1. Timelines
2. Structure for all submissions
3. Presentation methods
4. Refereeing procedure
5. Further information
Log into the submission system. You will need to create an account if this is the first time you are submitting.
1. Timelines
Authors are strongly advised to register on the on-line submission system and begin preparing their submissions well in advance of the deadlines below.
June 2024: Online submission system opens
30 August 2024: The deadline for symposia
20 September 2024: Notification of submission outcomes for symposia
2. Structure for all submissions
All submission abstracts should be up to 250 words, exclusive of the title. Abstracts should not include references and should be written in either the past or present tense. Abstracts of accepted papers will be available to download on the conference website.
Abstracts must be structured according to the following format, incorporating the indicated headings and information:
Symposium:
Please include a 250-word integrative statement which places the session in context and summarises the presentations to be included.
A minimum of three and a maximum of five abstracts for the oral presentations comprising the symposium should then be provided following the guidelines for individual oral presentations below.
Research/Work in Progress paper/poster:
Objectives: State the primary objective of the paper and the major hypothesis tested or research question posed.
Design: Describe the design of the study and the rationale for the procedures adopted.
Methods: Describe how participants were selected and number of participants (if documentary data used, state how these were selected), materials employed (if appropriate), methods of data collection and analysis.
Results: State the type of analysis employed and the main findings of the study (when available for Work in Progress). Numerical data may be included but should be kept to a minimum.
Conclusions: State the conclusions that can be drawn from the study, including theoretical, methodological, or applied/policy implications as appropriate and any key limitations of the study.
Review/Theoretical paper:
Purpose: State the aim or primary objectives of the paper.
Background: Give a concise summary of information, which places the present paper in context.
Methods: Provide details of the procedures adopted and their rationale (e.g., literature search, inclusion/exclusion criteria and methods of analysis) and/or key arguments and theoretical positions.
Conclusions: State the conclusions that can be drawn from the work described, including theoretical, methodological or applied/policy implications as appropriate and any key limitations of the study.
3. Presentation Methods
The Psychotherapy Committee welcomes submissions from both academics and practitioners. The quality of the scientific programme depends on your submissions and we thank you for choosing this conference to present your work.
Symposium
A symposium is a set of papers linked by a common theme (minimum of three papers). A symposium must have a Convenor, who organises the symposium submission and acts as the responsible link person to the conference organisers and (optionally) a named Discussant. The same person can fulfil these roles. Symposia will usually be allocated up to 2 hours for four papers plus discussion.
4. Refereeing procedure
Reviewers will be assessing each submission on a number of criteria:
● Written Quality
● Suitability for the Psychotherapy Section Annual Conference
● Overall Quality
Each submission is blind reviewed by at least two members of the Developmental Section Committee according to established criteria and standards.
Please note:
● Submissions will be considered solely on the information you provide
● If a submission does not evidence all the required elements set out in the submission information above it risks rejection
From time to time referees may feel that a particular submission lends itself to a different format to that which is proposed and in these cases authors will be invited to consider an alternative format.
In the case of symposia submissions, the refereeing procedure will include the package as a whole and the merit and importance of any individual contributions.
Authors will be notified of the referees’ decision via email. The decision of referees is final. The conference organising committee are unable to respond to further enquiries once a decision has been made. Every effort will have been made to accommodate any timetable constraints notified at the time of submission.
5. Further information
Registration
All presenters are expected to register and pay at the appropriate rate. Registration is open from mid July and will close shortly before the event.
Press Office
If successful, your submission may be considered suitable for a press release, timed to coincide with the conference. If this is so, a Press Officer will contact you to ask whether you wish your submission to be press released, and to discuss the content of the press release with you. To write an accurate press release, and to provide more information for journalists attending the conference, you may be asked for additional information regarding your submission. Please note all papers and posters are under a media embargo until the day of presentation.
Audio visual requirements
A data projector and laptop will be available in all seminar rooms. If you are likely to require additional equipment, please indicate this when submitting your abstract.
Code of Conduct
Authors of all material submitted must confirm adherence to the British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct. Particular attention should be made to the section on Integrity and the importance of sub-sections 4.1iii and 4.1vi. Copies of the Code may be obtained from the Society’s website: https://www.bps.org.uk/guideline/code-ethics-and-conduct
The use of non-sexist language
Submissions must not contain sexist language. The following suggestions are made about ways to avoid sexist language:
Person-first language
As a profession we are mindful to consider how we assign categorical labels to particular groups of service users. The use of labels such as ‘offender’ or ‘sex offender’ inadvertently suggests and supports the inaccurate public view of high recidivism risk among all persons who have sexually offended. Person-first or neutral language separates the person from a behaviour, condition or disorder (e.g. ‘persons with sexual offence histories’, ‘individual who has been adjudicated for…’, ‘child/adolescent with sexual behaviour problems’, ‘man with paedophilic sexual interests’). Further, we now use ‘person with schizophrenia’ in place of ‘schizophrenic’ and ‘person with an intellectual disability’ etc. However, we note that some communities do prefer identity-first language so we encourage people to follow community preferences as appropriate
Multiple submissions
The Conference Committee wishes to maximise the opportunities for delegates to present their work. However, there are often considerable constraints on time and space and inevitably this means that some strong submissions have to be rejected. In order to give every submitter a fair opportunity the committee have decided to discourage multiple submissions. Therefore only 3 submissions per person are permitted. (A submission includes any submission on which an individual is named as an author, in whatever order their name appears on the author list).
Contact
Email: bpssubmissions@redactive.co.uk
Website: www.bps.org.uk/events