About the Journal

Focus & Scope

The mission of the European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy (EJQRP) is to provide an accessible forum for research that advances the theory and practice of psychotherapy and supports practitioner-led research.

We, the Editorial Team, appreciate the limitations that currently govern opportunities for research and academic scholarship, including restricted access to international academic research journals. The hope is that the freely available, online format will help make research more widely available to practitioners. 

We celebrate our qualitative values of being open and inclusive by welcoming all forms of qualitative research and respecting diverse approaches and understandings.  We are mindful of the many cultures and languages within Europe and we appreciate the challenge of writing in English when it is not the author’s first language.  We encourage authors to submit parts of their research (abstract, data set, summary of findings, appendices) in the authors' first language if that is helpful. Extra support with writing and editing is available to all authors, particularly if English is not the author's first language. 

The journal offers a space for any qualitative research which aims to explore psychotherapeutic practice, whether in Europe or further afield. We welcome contributions from different methodological and theoretical standpoints, as well as relevant literature reviews, critical explorations of methodology and philosophical research. Submissions of qualitative empirical research examples are particularly encouraged towards evolving a robust pool of 'practice based evidence'.  We do not charge fees for submissions/publications.

We also wish to encourage dialogue and debate within our relatively young profession. As we see it, this involves not only exploring the richness of psychotherapy practice but also supporting and challenging one another. To this end, the Editorial Team will try to make themselves available to positively encourage a new generation of writers/researchers to share their research experience. If you have an idea for a possible article but you are unsure about how to proceed, please feel free to contact us.  

Ready to Submit a Paper? Please look at the Information for Authors page before submitting your article and familiarise yourself with our guidelines and processes. We accept empirical research papers or philosophical/reflective reviews of up to 9,000 words and short reports of research orientated papers of up to 1,000 words.  When you are ready to submit please click here Submit an Article.

 

Publication process

EJQRP aims to publish at least one volume (one issue of around 8-10 articles) each year.

The Editor will ensure that papers published are suitable for the remit and readership of the journal, and that papers will demonstrate methodological integrity and appropriate ethical/professional practice. To this end, it is expected that the Editor will engage in dialogue with authors (and prospective authors) to ensure suitable submissions. 

Publication decisions made will aim to be supportive, fair and based on an appropriate peer review process. On receiving a manuscript, the Editor will communicate with the author and explain the review process. The Editor/Co-Editor will then send a blind copy (where possible) of the manuscript to relevant/appropriate reviewers – ideally two or three reviewers will be approached. The Editor will then collate the reviewers’ comments (ensuring their anonymity where possible) and summarise these with a clear and constructive recommendation to publish with minor or major edits, or not. After the author has submitted their edits, it might be necessary to go through the review process again. Otherwise, authors will discuss further changes and engage in an iterative process of editing with the Editor/Production Editor.

With the ethos of the journal highlighting openness, inclusivity and respect of diversity, the Editor and Reviewers aim to be open to accepting diverse methodological and cultural approaches as well as creative presentations, providing the writing is clear/credible and the findings are of relevance/interest.  The Editor (along with Co-Editors and the team of reviewers) will aim to ensure that writing/publication process is experienced by authors as a supportive, rewarding one leaving authors with a sense that reviewers have read their work with care and understand what they were trying to accomplish. 

Being an online journal, all journal content is electronically backed up the online Open Journal System who archive all articles published.  

 

Policy on publication ethics

No fees are required for manuscript processing and/or publication. 

Authors of accepted papers must obtain and provide the editor all necessary permissions to reproduce in electronic form any copyrighted work. Any conflicts of interest or competing interests need to be declared to the editor prior to publication. The editor, in consultation with co-editors, will make the final decision about any  publication and/or the handling of any ensuing complaints.  

EJQRP policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications.

After publication, should there be any ethical breach that comes to light, EJQRP reserves the right to require appropriate corrections are made or to issue post-publication apologies or clarifications.  In extreme cases, EJQRP reserves the right to delete an article deemed to breach ethical codes.

The journal is currently financed and sponsored by the European Association  for Integrative Psychotherapy (EAIP) (http://euroaip.eu/) and they have undertaken to ensure continuity of sponsorship by other institutions should EAIP wish to withdraw. The journal remains independent of commercial interests of the EAIP and any views expressed in the journal by authors will not necessarily reflect those of the EAIP organisation. The relationship is one of partnership, dialogue and collaboration with reciprocal independence of both partners. We share a joint mission to encourage practitioner-orientated research.

Further information about publication ethics or editorial policy can be obtained from the editor.

 

Copyright

The copyright of content in the European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the Journal. Journal articles are published as Open Access under a Creative Commons License which allows free download and use of the articles with appropriate attribution (to both the author and European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy) for educational and other non-commercial use.