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arpsych-proposal-and-commissioning

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Use when getting a topic in front of the Annual Review of Psychology (ARPsych) Editorial Committee, suggesting a topic/author, or shaping an accepted invitation into an agreed scope. Handles the commissioning relationship; it does not test topic maturity (arpsych-topic-selection) or read the literature (arpsych-literature-synthesis).

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Proposal & Commissioning — Getting Invited (arpsych-proposal-and-commissioning)

When to trigger

  • The user has an ARPsych-worthy topic but no invitation yet
  • An invitation letter arrived and the scope/length/deadline need to be pinned down
  • The user wants to suggest a topic or an author to the Editorial Committee
  • A co-author lineup and division of labor must be settled before the heavy reading begins

How ARPsych commissioning actually works (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准)

ARPsych is commissioning-first. The flow is the opposite of a normal journal:

  1. The Editorial Committee (an Editor — Susan T. Fiske since 2000 — plus associate editors and rotating members appointed by the Annual Reviews board) plans each annual volume, deciding which topics the field needs covered (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).
  2. The Committee identifies and invites qualified authors based on scholarly reputation and publication record. Unsolicited manuscripts are not accepted (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).
  3. You may suggest a topic (and yourself or others as author) for the Committee's consideration through the official channels, but suggestion ≠ acceptance — the Committee curates the volume (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).
  4. The invitation letter specifies the assigned length and the due date; treat both as binding (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).

So "submitting to ARPsych" means earning an invitation, then delivering to spec. Plan accordingly: the time to influence the topic is before a draft exists.

Two situations, two playbooks

A) No invitation yet — suggesting a topic

  • Frame the topic as a gap in the volume's coverage, not "my work deserves a review." The Committee thinks in terms of what the field is missing.
  • Name the organizing question (from arpsych-topic-selection), why now (maturity), and why ARPsych's broad readership needs it.
  • Propose author(s) with the standing and balance to cover the area even-handedly — including, ideally, people not identified with one camp.
  • Use official suggestion channels; do not send a finished manuscript (it cannot be accepted cold).

B) Invitation in hand — locking the contract

  • Confirm assigned length and due date in writing; ARPsych asks authors to keep to the assigned length, which includes figures and tables (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准).
  • Negotiate scope explicitly: what is in, what is out, where the boundary sits with neighboring commissioned reviews.
  • Agree the author order and contributions up front; a multi-author review needs one voice (see arpsych-writing-style).
  • Calendar the production milestones early (see arpsych-editor-strategy).

Checklist

  • Clear on which situation applies (suggesting vs. invited)
  • Organizing question and "why now / why ARPsych readers" are one paragraph each
  • If suggesting: framed as a coverage gap; author lineup is balanced, not partisan
  • If invited: assigned length and due date confirmed in writing
  • Scope boundary agreed with the Editor (in/out; overlap with sibling commissions)
  • Author order and contribution split settled before reading starts
  • No finished manuscript sent as a cold submission

Anti-patterns

  • Sending a complete manuscript unsolicited — it cannot enter the pipeline (invitation-only)
  • Pitching "a review of my contributions" rather than a field the volume is missing
  • Ignoring the assigned length in the invitation and over-running by 50%
  • Proposing a single-camp author team for a contested topic (balance is editorial currency)
  • Starting the literature read before scope and length are agreed (wasted breadth)
  • Treating a topic suggestion as an acceptance and drafting prematurely

Output format

【Situation】suggesting-topic | invitation-in-hand
【Organizing question】"<one question>"
【Why now / why ARPsych readers】<two sentences>
【If suggesting】coverage gap + balanced author lineup
【If invited】assigned length + due date (confirmed?) + scope boundary
【Author roles】order + contribution split
【Next step】→ arpsych-literature-synthesis (read the field systematically)