Aims & Scope

International Psychogeriatrics is written by and for those doing clinical, teaching, and research work concerning mental health of older people. It is the official journal of the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA) and is published by Cambridge University Press. Although it is concerned primarily with psychogeriatrics, the journal welcomes contributions from all concerned with the field of mental health and aging. Original research papers are particularly sought.

Contributions include original research articles, reviews of the literature, brief reports, letters to the editor, and invited commentaries and guest editorials. Apart from commentaries and editorials, which are commissioned, contributions to International Psychogeriatrics are prepared and submitted by authors. Papers that are not rejected after initial review by the Editor-in-Chief or his representative, are reviewed by at least two expert reviewers selected by the Editor-in Chief. The journal is published twelve times per annum. Submission of a paper implies that it is neither under consideration for publication elsewhere, nor previously published. Manuscripts must be formatted double-spaced with ample margins on all sides and the pages should be numbered. Please leave a spare line between paragraphs to enable typesetters to identify paragraph breaks without ambiguity. International Psychogeriatrics uses the spelling of American English. Manuscripts written by those whose primary language is not English should be edited carefully for language prior to submission.

The journal does not publish papers whose sole focus is the validation of translated instruments that have previously been well assessed and validated in English or another language. These articles are better placed in a relevant National, rather than an International, journal. (A rare exception may be when social or cultural issues of international significance are clearly involved.) Case reports may be considered for publication only as Letters to the Editor.

Article Types Accepted

*Regular Research Articles: Regular Research Articles are original papers demonstrating the results of scientific studies, based on empirical data. The text of the article should contain no more than 5,000 words, in addition to an abstract of 250 words and up to 60 references. This word count includes only the main body of text (i.e., not abstract, references, tables, or figures).

*Brief Reports: This category allows for articles that are shorter than original research but have the same style and may be used to report new and innovative research and/or significant (hot topics). Brief reports are also peer reviewed. They should be of 2,000 words or less and include no more than two figures or tables, no more than 10 references, and have an abstract of no more than 250 words, without structured sub-headings.

Reviews of the Literature: Authors intending to submit a literature review should check recent issues of International Psychogeriatrics to ensure that no review of the topic they propose to discuss has been published in the journal in recent times. Review articles should be of 6,000 words or less, have an abstract of up to 250 words, and may have up to 80 relevant references. Authors contemplating the submission of a literature review article are welcome to contact the editor to discuss the appropriateness of the topic prior to submission (ipaj-ed@cambridge.org). Literature reviews should have an abstract.

Letters to the Editor: Reader's letters will be considered for publication. Letters should be no longer than 750 words, with no more than 1 table or figure, and no more than 10 references. No abstract is required.

Guest Editorials and Invited Commentaries are commissioned by the editor.

Special Notes:

Since this is International Psychogeriatrics, the authors should seek to highlight international significance of their article in terms of clinical practice, training, or research in different parts of the world. The authors are also advised to go over recent issues of International Psychogeriatrics to review papers on related topics, and add how their new submission advances the field further.

International Psychogeriatrics does not conduct pre-submission checks.