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Behavior Research Methods is a peer-reviewed journal published by Springer for The Psychonomic Society. It covers the methods, techniques and tools of experimental psychology research, with a particular emphasis on computer technology. This page profiles the journal for researchers deciding where to submit or checking a citation. It is not about the textbooks titled Methods in Behavioral Research or Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods, which are a different thing. Facts below were read from the journal’s own Springer pages and the Crossref registry on 2026-11-07.
What it is
Behavior Research Methods describes itself as a dedicated outlet for the methodologies, techniques and tools used in experimental psychology research, and as an official publication of The Psychonomic Society. Its electronic ISSN is 1554-3528. The Crossref registry lists the publisher as “Springer – Psychonomic Society” and holds roughly 5,600 registered DOIs for the title, reaching back to 1968.
The journal’s own wording for its aim is “new and improved tools, tutorials, articles and reviews”. That makes it a methods journal rather than a venue for substantive findings about a single psychological phenomenon. A paper belongs here when its main contribution is a method, an instrument, a piece of software, a stimulus set or a practical analysis approach.
Who runs it and what it covers
The Co-Editors-in-Chief listed on the journal home page on 2026-11-07 are Erin M. Buchanan and Dora Matzke. The aims and scope page states that the journal publishes articles concerned with the methods, techniques and instrumentation of research in experimental psychology, focusing particularly on the use of computer technology in psychological research, and that an annual special issue is devoted to this field. The submission guidelines describe the scope as computer technology in psychological research, stimulus development and practical data analysis.
Article types
The submission guidelines name two kinds of submission: original research articles and tutorials. A tutorial is described as a practical guide to implementing new technologies, code solutions or methodology, including reproducible design, statistics, data collection and open science. The journal home page showed an open, ongoing call for tutorial papers on the date checked. For how this compares with other article formats, see journal article types.
Facts as displayed on the journal home page, 2026-11-07
| Item | As displayed |
|---|---|
| Publishing model | Hybrid |
| Journal Impact Factor | 5.1 (2025) |
| Five-year Journal Impact Factor | 7.2 (2025) |
| Downloads | 4.4 million (2025) |
| Open access articles | 1,236 |
| Electronic ISSN | 1554-3528 |
These are the publisher’s displayed figures and change each year; check the journal page for the current values. Article processing charge details are on the journal’s Fees and funding page rather than here.
Indexing the journal lists
The journal home page lists these abstracting and indexing services, among others: BIOSIS, Biological Abstracts, Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences, Dimensions, EBSCO, Google Scholar, Medline, PsycINFO, Psyndex, SCImago, Scopus, Social Science Citation Index, Portico, CLOCKSS, ProQuest, OCLC WorldCat and Ovid. This is the journal’s own list, not an independent audit of coverage.
How to submit
These steps follow the journal’s submission guidelines page as read on 2026-11-07.
- Confirm the paper fits the scope: a method, tool, stimulus development or practical data analysis in psychological research, as an original article or a tutorial.
- Prepare the manuscript with appropriate measures of variability, effect size and, where relevant, statistical power. The submission affirmations include this.
- State in the Method section how sample size was determined. The Psychonomic Society statistical guidelines for its journals ask for statistical power to be addressed, with a priori power reported at several effect sizes rather than post hoc power, and for multiple-test inflation to be handled.
- Add an Open Practices Statement immediately before the References. All submissions must include one.
- Where possible, make stimuli and programming code available; the guidelines encourage this.
- Submit electronically through the ScholarOne system at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/brmic, creating an account first if you are new to it.
- Enter funding information as its own step in the submission system.
Open practices requirement
The Psychonomic Society signed the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines at Level 1 in 2017. The guidelines page states that in 2020 the journal’s Editorial Board decided the journal follows Level 2 of the Open Science Initiative’s transparency and openness guidelines, which means relevant information such as stimuli, methods being validated, new analyses and new equipment is placed in a trusted repository. The page gives three example patterns for the statement. For background on this movement, see metascience.
Copyright is transferred to The Psychonomic Society, except for open access articles, according to the same page.
Strengths and limits
What the sources support. The journal has a narrow, clearly stated scope; a tutorial format that suits software and procedure papers; a published statistical-power expectation; and an explicit repository-based open practices rule. It is indexed in the services listed above.
What to weigh yourself. A methods paper must offer a usable contribution, not just a result, and the power and open practices requirements add preparation work before submission. Papers whose value is a finding rather than a tool are a poorer fit for this scope. The publisher’s pages do not compare this journal with others, so any comparison is your own judgment. The general selection process is in how to choose a journal. Power planning is covered in the G*Power guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Behavior Research Methods impact factor?
The journal home page displayed a Journal Impact Factor of 5.1 and a five-year Journal Impact Factor of 7.2, both labelled 2025, when read on 2026-11-07. Impact factors are recalculated annually, so use the figure on the current journal page or in Journal Citation Reports for anything formal.
Is Behavior Research Methods the same as the textbook Methods in Behavioral Research?
No. The journal is a periodical from Springer and The Psychonomic Society with ISSN 1554-3528. Methods in Behavioral Research (Cozby) and Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods are textbooks. Searching the journal name alone often returns the textbooks.
Is Behavior Research Methods open access?
Its publishing model is listed as Hybrid, and the home page reported 1,236 open access articles. Fee details are on the journal’s Fees and funding page.
Where do I submit a manuscript?
Through the ScholarOne site at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/brmic, following the submission guidelines listed on the journal’s Springer page.
Does the journal accept tutorials?
Yes. The submission guidelines accept original research articles and tutorials, and the home page showed an open call for tutorial papers on the date checked.
Sources
- Springer, Behavior Research Methods journal home, read 2026-11-07.
- Springer, Aims and scope, read 2026-11-07.
- Springer, Submission guidelines, read 2026-11-07.
- Crossref, journal registry record, ISSN 1554-3528, read 2026-11-07.
