Submission Information for Authors
Cognitive Science is a bimonthly journal for the multidisciplinary study of minds and other intelligent systems. It publishes articles on cognition from perspectives in artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology of multidisciplinary concern. Editorial decisions are made on the basis of content, rather than discipline or author, and papers in all areas of cognitive science are welcome. Research reports which are specifically written for a multidisciplinary audience are given the highest priority. Papers which are very general or speculative, which constitute parametric refinements of well-known ideas, or which are accessible to only a narrow or discipline-specific audience, will be given very low priority and may be returned to authors without formal review.
The following kinds of articles are appropriate for the journal: (a) theories or theoretical analyses of knowledge representation, cognitive processes, and brain theory; (b) experimental or ethnographic studies relevant to theoretical issues in cognitive science; (c) descriptions of intelligent programs that exhibit or model some human ability; (d) design proposals for cognitive models; (e) protocol or discourse analysis of human cognitive processing; (f) discussions of new problem areas or methodological issues in cognitive science; and (g) short theoretical notes or rebuttals. The journal will publish four categories of articles. Regular articles are approximately 30 published pages (12,000 words). Extended articles have a target length of approximately 45 pages (18,000 words), and are expected to present particularly noteworthy research that cannot be adequately described within the constraints of a regular article. Brief reports have a target length of about 10 pages (4,000 words). Letters to the editor will typically consist of approximately 2-3 page (1,000 words), and will be commentaries to articles, responses to commentaries, and discussion items of general relevance to the cognitive science community.
Original articles only will be considered. Submission of an article is understood to imply that the article is original and unpublished, is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and will not be submitted elsewhere while it is under review by Cognitive Science. Distribution of a prepublication draft in paper or electronic form is not considered as prior publication, as long as the distributed article is clearly identified as a prepublication draft. Following publication, authors are entitled to distribute copies of their article for personal use, either on paper or electronically, through their own personal mailing or website, or through mailing or the website of an agency by which they are employed, but permission of the Cognitive Science Society is required to reproduce published papers in other sources, including electronic archives.
Cognitive Science uses a web-based submission and review process, Editorial Manager. Authors should log onto the CSS Editorial Manager for instructions on how to register and submit their manuscripts on-line. Paper copies of submissions are no longer acceptable. When submitting their manuscripts to Editorial Manager, authors will need to provide a set of keywords chosen from a set of classifications and a category designation for their manuscript (letter to the editor, brief report, regular article, or extended article). Authors may send queries concerning the submission process, manuscript status, or journal procedures to the editorial office at cogscij@indiana.edu.
Manuscripts should conform to the conventions specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (1200 Seventh St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036) with the exceptions and considerations listed below. Authors may be asked to reformat any manuscripts that do not conform to the following guidelines prior to editorial evaluation.
1. Preparation of Manuscript. Please double space all material. Manuscripts should have 1-in. margins on all sides. Number pages consecutively with the title page as page 1. All tables and other end-of-paper matter except art should be numbered. Please prepare a brief abstract of 100 to 150 words. The manuscript, abstract, figures and tables will be uploaded as separate files to Editorial Manager.
2. Figures. Figures must appear in electronic format, and should be of sufficiently high resolution to appear sharp and artifact-free when printed. All figures must be in a form suitable for reproduction. Ideally we would like authors to submit their figures in the actual final size. The maximum size allowed for this journal is 5-1/2 by 7-1/4 inches (to allow room for the legend). Color figures are reproduced in color on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version of the journal. In situations where figures make essential use of color, the journal can publish a limited number of color figures in its hard copy version. In these cases, a portion of the costs incurred will be the author’s responsibility.
3. Numbering of Figures and Tables. Each figure and table must be mentioned in the text and must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals in the order of its appearance in the text. Figure captions should appear on a list separate from the text or on the figures themselves. The word “Figure” should always appear as Fig. in the text. A brief title should be typed directly above each table. Tables do not need any legends, and any explanations or clarifications of tabular material should be indicated as a footnote to the table by means of lower case letters.
4. References. Contributors should refer to the APA Publication Manual for the correct listing of references in the text and reference list. All references must be closely checked in text and lists to determine that dates and spellings are consistent. Please note that the names of all authors should be given in the list of references, and “et al.” used only in the text. Examples for books, journals, and conference proceedings follow:
Reisen, A.H. (1966). Sensory deprivation. In E. Stellar & J.M. Sprague (Eds.), Progress in physiological psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Academic Press.
Atkinson, R.C., & Shiffrin, R.M. (1971). The control of short-term memory. Scientific American, 225, 82-90.
Keane, M.T.(1995). On order effects in analogical mapping: Predicting human error using IAM. In J.D. Moore & J.F. Lehman (Eds.), Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 449-454). Mahwah, NJ:Erlbaum.
5. Spelling, Terminology, and Abbreviations. American spelling, rather than British, is preferred. The Third Edition of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary is the standard reference work when in doubt. Please try to avoid jargon and, wherever possible, abbreviations that are not commonly accepted.
6. Permissions. Contributors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright owners if they use an illustration, table, or lengthy quote from material that has been published elsewhere. Contributors should write to both the publisher and author of material they are seeking permission to reproduce.
7. Reprints. The only opportunity contributors have to order offprints is when page proofs are returned.
Updated 11/6/03