Here is a list of diamond open access journals that may be of interest if you are publishing in psychology and adjacent fields. Diamond open access journals provide academic publishing services for free both to the reader (no paywall), and the author (no article processing fee). By switching to diamond open access journals, researchers could greatly reduce the costs of publishing to the sector, freeing up funds for jobs and grants (more on diamond open access and the arguments for it here).
The first table consists of journals that specifically include psychology or cognitive science in their mission statement. The second consists of journals in related but relevant fields. I have indicated where journals are indexed on Scopus, since findability is often an important motivation for authors. Many of the journals are indexed in other places too. Where possible I have indicated something about financial and institutional backing. A major contributor in the psychology diamond open access space is the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID), which funds the Psychology Open platform as part of its open science mission. There are some other journals on that platform I have not put into the table, mainly because their missions were more specialized.
I would like to dynamically update the list, and also extend it to a broader range of subject areas. Please email me if you have suggestions. Thanks to Shelina Vishram I have already added a number of health-related journals to table 2.
Creating these tables, I am struck just how wide our range of diamond options already is, and how interesting and engaged a lot of the mission statements are.
| Journal | Mission | Funding | Notes |
| Open Mind | “covers the broad array of content areas within cognitive science, using approaches from cognitive psychology, computer science and mathematical psychology, cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology, comparative psychology and behavioral anthropology, decision sciences, and theoretical and experimental linguistics.” | Currently supported by MIT Press and MIT libraries. | Since 2017. Indexed on Scopus. |
| Europe’s Journal of Psychology | “publishing original studies, research, critical contributions, interviews and book reviews written by and intended for psychologists worldwide…a generalist and eclectic approach”. Recent editorial statement here. | ZPID | Since 2005. Indexed on Scopus. Accepts registered reports. |
| Journal of Social and Political Psychology | “publishes articles that substantially engage with and advance the understanding of social or political problems, their reduction, and the promotion of social justice, from social or political psychological perspectives”. More here. | ZPID | Since 2013. Indexed on Scopus. |
| Social Psychological Bulletin | “original empirical research, theoretical review papers, scientific debates, and methodological contributions in the field of basic and applied social psychology. SPB actively promotes…open science…. integrative approach to social psychological science and is committed to discussing timely social issues.” | ZPID | Before 2018 was Psychologia Społeczna. Indexed on Scopus. |
| Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships | Research “on all kinds of human relationships, from weak ties to close relationships, and their relations with society and culture”. Interdisciplinary approach spans psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology, health etc. See here. | ZPID on behalf of Grupo de estudos em Avaliação, Terapia e Emoções | Since 2007. Indexed on Scopus. |
| Global Environmental Psychology | “Theoretical and applied work on the relationship between people and their environment with a psychological emphasis”. More here. | ZPID with International Association of People-Environment Studies and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie | Brand new journal, open for submissions. |
| Clinical Psychology in Europe | “We aim to publish contributions that reflect the current developments in clinical psychology, this can include stimulating papers that help towards the developments of clinical psychology research and interventions as well as advancements in diagnostics, classification, developments in treatments and improving outcomes. “ | ZPID with European Association of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment | Since 2019. Indexed on Scopus and Pubmed. |
| Personality Science | “Premier outlet for insights on personality and individual differences – cutting across traditional disciplinary boundaries….to unify the nascent field of a personality-centered science by bringing together work from different disciplines and perspectives even outside of psychology.” | ZPID. Official journal of the European Association of Personality Science. | New in 2020. |
| Methodology: European Journal of Research Methods for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. | “A platform for interdisciplinary exchange of methodological research and applications in [psychology, sociology, economics, pol. sci. etc.], including new methodological approaches, review articles, software information, and instructional papers that can be used in teaching. Three main disciplines are covered: data analysis, research methodology, and psychometrics.” | ZPID. Official organ of the European Association of Methodology. | Coalesced in 2020 from Metodologia de las Ciencias del Comportamiento and Methods of Psychological Research-Online. Indexed in Scopus. |
| Measurement Instruments for the Social Sciences | “publishes high-quality, open access measurement instruments intended for scientific use across various disciplines (e.g., sociology, psychology, education, political science, economics etc.).. advances social science measurement and methodology also through systematic reviews, test reviews, meeting reports, and best practice approaches.” | ZPID | Since 2019. |
| Journal | Mission | Funding | Notes |
| Biolinguistics | “A peer-reviewed journal exploring (theoretical) linguistics that takes the biological foundations of human language seriously.” | ZPID | Since 2007. Indexed on Scopus |
| Dialectica | “A general analytic philosophy journal and the official organ of the European Society of Analytic Philosophy.” | Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences inter alia | Has existed since 1947. Became diamond in 2023. Indexed on Scopus. |
| Peer Community Journal | Journal allied to the constellation of ‘Peer Communities in….’ (PCIs). The PCIs do the peer reviewing and the Peer Community Journal will then publish the version of record. Currently there are PCIs in Neuroscience, Evolutionary Biology, Health and Movement Science, Ecology, Mathematical and Computational Biology, Network Science, Organizational Studies, and others. The list will grow in future. | 150 supporting organisations including the CNRS, INRAE, INSERM and other major French funders, plus many universities in several countries. | If your paper is reviewed by a PCI you can still send it to a different journal if you wish. Many other journals will also accept the PCI’s reviewing process. See here. |
| Asian Journal of Social Health and Behavior | “empirical and theoretical contributions studies related to mental health and addiction, social support, socioeconomic inequality, behavior change techniques, health policy and clinical practice” | Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Qazvin, Iran. | Indexed on Scopus. Formerly Social Health and Behavior. |
| Health Behavior Research | “dedicated to the translation of research to advance policy, program planning, and/or practice relevant to behavior change.” | Journal of the American Academy of Health Behavior. | Since 2017. |
| European Journal of Health Communication | “open access journal for high-quality health communication research with relevance to Europe or specific European countries” | Universities of Zurich and Amsterdam. | Since 2020. |
| JAMK Journal of Health and Social Studies | “a forum for original research and scholarship in the field of health care and social studies about health care delivery, care management, organization, labor force, policy, decision making along with research methods relevant to nurses, social workers and other related professionals” | JAMK University of Applied Sciences (Finland) | You can write your paper in Finnish (but you don’t have to). Since 2018. |
| Public Health Research and Practice | “publishes innovative, high-quality papers that inform public health policy and practice, paying particular attention to innovations, data and perspectives from policy and practice” | Sax Institute (an Australian public health not-for-profit) | Indexed on Scopus. Continues the established New South Wales Public Health Bulletin |
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