Academic Journal
Q1Psychological Bulletin
About Psychological Bulletin
Psychological Bulletin is a scholarly journal published by American Psychological Association. SCImago 2025 places it in Q1 with an SJR of 8.496 and an H-index of 396.
Its listed coverage is 1904-2025 and its research categories include History and Philosophy of Science (Q1); Psychology (miscellaneous) (Q1). The 2025 dataset reports 51 documents and 2424 citations across the latest three-year reporting window.
Psychological Bulletin is one of the most respected and influential peer-reviewed journals in the field of psychology. Published by the American Psychological Association (APA), it is renowned for its comprehensive and integrative reviews of research in psychology. Since its inception in 1904, Psychological Bulletin has consistently served as a critical resource for psychologists, researchers, and students seeking deep insights into key topics across the discipline.
What is Psychological Bulletin?
Psychological Bulletin specializes in publishing evaluative and integrative research reviews and interpretations of issues in psychology. Rather than presenting original experimental studies, the journal focuses on synthesizing findings from existing literature. This approach helps identify trends, gaps, and directions for future research. Each article is carefully curated to offer a balanced overview of theories, findings, and methodologies in a particular psychological domain.
Importance in the Field of Psychology
As a high-impact psychology journal, Psychological Bulletin holds a unique position in academic and clinical research. The journal is indexed in major databases such as PsycINFO, PubMed, and Scopus, which amplifies its visibility and influence. Its articles are widely cited by professionals in academia, mental health services, and policy development, making it a cornerstone of psychological literature.
The journal’s high impact factor also underscores its importance. Researchers often turn to Psychological Bulletin for authoritative, data-driven summaries of evidence across topics like developmental psychology, cognitive science, behavioral therapy, social psychology, and neuropsychology. These review articles help streamline vast bodies of knowledge into accessible and actionable insights.
Key Features
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Rigorous Peer Review: Every submission undergoes a thorough peer-review process, ensuring the publication of only the highest quality reviews.
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Broad Scope: The journal covers all areas of psychology, from theoretical frameworks to empirical research findings.
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Comprehensive Analyses: Articles often include meta-analyses and systematic reviews, providing statistically significant conclusions drawn from numerous studies.
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Global Relevance: Contributions often reflect diverse cultural, social, and methodological perspectives, making the findings applicable to global audiences.
Who Should Read Psychological Bulletin?
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Researchers looking to stay updated on major developments in psychological science.
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Graduate Students seeking foundational knowledge and literature for thesis or dissertation work.
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Clinicians and Therapists aiming to apply evidence-based practices in their work.
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Policy Makers who rely on psychological insights to craft informed policies in education, health, and social welfare.
Journal Metrics
Metrics can change by reporting year. Verify time-sensitive values with the publisher or indexing service.
Aims & Scope
The Psychological Bulletin is a premier peer-reviewed journal in the field of psychology, known for publishing comprehensive and integrative reviews of significant areas of psychological research. Published by the American Psychological Association (APA), the journal has earned a strong reputation among scholars, practitioners, and students for its methodological rigor and insightful synthesis of empirical findings. Understanding the scope of the Psychological Bulletin is essential for anyone involved in academic research or interested in high-quality, evidence-based psychological knowledge.
What is the Psychological Bulletin?
The Psychological Bulletin serves as a vital resource in the psychology research community. Unlike journals that publish original empirical studies, this journal focuses on evaluative and integrative research reviews. These reviews often include meta-analyses, theoretical evaluations, and detailed literature syntheses that provide a broad understanding of specific psychological topics. By summarizing the state of knowledge in particular domains, the Psychological Bulletin helps guide future research and inform clinical or policy applications.
Key Areas Covered
The scope of the Psychological Bulletin is broad and inclusive of all subfields within psychology. These include, but are not limited to:
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Cognitive Psychology
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Developmental Psychology
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Social Psychology
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Clinical Psychology
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Health Psychology
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Educational Psychology
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Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Authors contribute comprehensive reviews that not only assess past research but also critically evaluate methodologies and suggest directions for future studies. This makes the journal particularly valuable for graduate students and professionals looking for well-rounded insights into specific psychological theories and findings.
Emphasis on Meta-Analysis and Integrative Research
One of the hallmarks of the Psychological Bulletin is its focus on meta-analytic reviews. These studies statistically combine the results of multiple studies to identify patterns, inconsistencies, or gaps in the literature. Meta-analysis in psychology is a powerful tool for making sense of large bodies of research and offering evidence-based conclusions.
In addition to meta-analyses, the journal welcomes theoretical reviews that offer fresh perspectives or frameworks for understanding psychological phenomena. This approach ensures that the Psychological Bulletin not only reports on what is known but also challenges researchers to think critically about what remains to be explored.
Who Should Read or Submit?
The Psychological Bulletin is ideal for academic researchers, university faculty, graduate students, and policymakers interested in psychology. It is particularly beneficial for those seeking in-depth analysis rather than raw data. Researchers aiming to publish in the journal should ensure their submissions reflect high methodological standards, a clear theoretical basis, and relevance to a broad psychological audience.
Recent Research Articles
Latest publications matched automatically by ISSN.
Do money and time change who you are? A continuous time meta-analysis and review of reciprocal relationships between personality traits and income.
Wen-Dong Li, Kaili Yu, Weiwen Yang, Zhen Zhang et al.
2026-07-16 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000526Supplemental Material for Do Money and Time Change Who You Are? A Continuous Time Meta-Analysis and Review of Reciprocal Relationships Between Personality Traits and Income
2026-07-13 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000526.suppDoes the variance of personality traits change across the lifespan? A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies.
Peter Haehner, Susanne Buecker, Marco J. Altorfer, Vera V. Bocklet et al.
2026-07-06 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000523Supplemental Material for Does the Variance of Personality Traits Change Across the Lifespan? A Meta-Analytic Review of Longitudinal Studies
2026-06-25 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000523.suppTackling challenges in large language model–based data extraction via context engineering: A commentary on Jansen et al. (2025).
Junsong Lu, X. T. (XiaoTian) Wang
2026-04 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000520Universal interventions to improve young children’s mental well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Jiying Ling, Sisi Chen, Nancy T. Browne, Melissa G. Gomes et al.
2026-04 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000522Individual differences in personality trait changes across the lifespan: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.
Peter Haehner, Christopher J. Hopwood, Lukas Schellenberg, Ted Schwaba et al.
2026-04 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000525How spatial skills relate to science achievement: A meta-analytic review.
Kinnari Atit, Emily Grossnickle Peterson, Katie Gilligan-Lee, Zachary Hawes et al.
2026-04 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000524Relationships between cognition and daily functioning in adults with bipolar disorder: A systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis.
Amanda McCleery, Gerhard Stefan Hellemann, Junghee Lee
2026-03 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000509Perfectionism is accelerating over time: A cross-temporal meta-analytic review of 35 years of college student data.
Thomas Curran, Andrew Hill, Pia Marie Pose
2026-03 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000518The association between reading anxiety and reading achievement: A meta-analysis and systematic review.
Rachelle M. Johnson, Maxine Schaefer, Cynthia U. Norris, Richard K. Wagner et al.
2026-03 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000517Artificial intelligence as a partner in meta-analysis—Research agenda, user recommendations, and speed–accuracy tradeoffs: Commentary on Jansen et al. (2025).
Brooke N. Macnamara
2026-03 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000519High math anxiety is associated with lower math achievement across 90 countries: An individual participant data meta-analysis of representative student and adult samples.
Martin Brunner, Franzis Preckel, Thomas Götz, Oliver Lüdtke et al.
2026-02 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000514Temperament, personality, and psychopathology in youth: A preregistered multilevel meta-analytic review and preregistered large-scale replication and extension.
Benjamin A. Katz, Allison N. Shields, Ashley L. Watts, Catherine Wu et al.
2026-02 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000515Emotion regulation in mental disorders: A systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis of transdiagnostic and disorder-specific impairments.
Annika Clamor, Tania M. Lincoln, Lars Schulze
2026-02 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000512Is thinking inherently unpleasant? A cautionary note on David, Vassena, and Bijleveld (2024).
Axel Grund, Julian Roelle, Sebastian Schmid
2026-02 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000484Interstimulus interval effects on habituation: A systematic review with theoretical implications.
Sebastián A. Becerra, Jorge A. Pinto, Orlando E. Jorquera, Pablo D. Matamala et al.
2026-01 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000511Supplemental Material for Effort-Based Decision Making in Psychopathology: A Transdiagnostic Multilevel Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of Behavioral Patterns and Mechanisms Underlying Amotivational Psychopathology
2026 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000510.suppSupplemental Material for Relationships Between Cognition and Daily Functioning in Adults With Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis
2026 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000509.suppSupplemental Material for High Math Anxiety Is Associated With Lower Math Achievement Across 90 Countries: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis of Representative Student and Adult Samples
2026 · DOI: 10.1037/bul0000514.suppReviews
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April 13, 2025 at 4:49 pm
April 13, 2025