Abbreviated title (ISO 4) Front. Psychol. Language English Publisher Frontiers | Discipline Psychology Edited by Axel Cleeremans Publication history 2010–present | |
Frontiers in Psychology is an open-access peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of psychology. It was established in 2010 and is published by Frontiers, which is included in Jeffrey Beall's list of "potential, possible, or probable predatory publishers". The editor-in-chief is Axel Cleeremans (Université libre de Bruxelles).
Contents
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in PubMed Central, Scopus, and PsycINFO.
Controversy
In February 2013, Frontiers published a study by Stephan Lewandowsky and co-authors which analysed conspiracy theory explanations given in blog responses to an earlier paper about conspiracy theories and support for free-market economics as indicators of a climate change denial stance. In March 2014, Frontiers retracted the study, and made a statement that they had received "a small number of complaints". Their detailed investigation "did not identify any issues with the academic and ethical aspects of the study. It did, however, determine that the legal context is insufficiently clear and therefore Frontiers wishes to retract the published article." There were public concerns about the "chilling effect" of the decision on research. One of the reviewers of the paper said that the withdrawal was unwarranted, and she would no longer carry out reviews for the journal. On 4 April 2014 Costanza Zucca, Editorial Director of the journal, and Fred Fenter, Executive Editor, issued a statement saying that Frontiers did not cave in to threats, and it in fact received no threats. The statement gave the main reason for retraction as insufficient protection for the rights of the studied subjects. There was public discussion about apparent contradictions between the statements issued by the journal. And the authors of the paper disputed points raised in the second statement.