Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition

Book Preface

To better understand the complex changes in scientific publishing and address them in this edition, many experts and professional groups were consulted. We began the revision process in 2006 by looking closely at the fifth edition, analyzing more than five years of accumulated user feedback; evaluating published criticism; and commissioning reviews from senior editors in psychology, education, nursing, history, and business. After deliberation of and debate about these comments, the APA Publications and Communications Board set broad parameters for the revision and appointed a panel of experienced editors and scientists from diverse specialty areas to collaborate with dedicated staff on the revision.

The six-member Publication Manual Revision Task Force met for the first time in February 2007. They determined that revisions were needed in seven key areas: ethics, journal article reporting standards, reducing bias in language, graphics, writing style, references, and statistics. Working groups of experts were established to support the work of the task force in each area.

As the revision progressed, APA staff continued to solicit recommendations for revision from the APA Council of Editors, from Publication Manual users at the www.apastyle.org website, from APA members at professional meetings, and from APA boards and committees. Those recommendations were passed along to working group and task force members for consideration.

Thus, this edition of the Publication Manual is the result of creative collaboration with many groups and individuals. We must first thank the members of the Publication Manual Revision Task Force. They devoted many hours to analyzing reviews, considering the scholarly publishing climate, identifying topics in need of greater coverage, meeting with working group members to generate and revise text, critiquing and discussing new drafts, and poring over the final draft with a persistent commitment to getting it right. We are fortunate to have benefited so thoroughly from their enthusiastic and generous support of this project.