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Mechanistic Orientation
JERN prioritizes scholarship that advances mechanistic understanding of experience-related neuroplasticity. Submissions need not directly identify or experimentally test a mechanism in every case. However, each article must explain how its evidence, theory, synthesis, method, or resource tests, constrains, refines, challenges, or enables mechanistic accounts of experience-related change. Mechanistic claims must remain proportionate to the study design and evidence.
Before Submitting
Before submitting to JERN, authors should ensure that the manuscript clearly addresses:
- The experience being studied or the experience-related problem being addressed
- The proposed form of neural, cognitive, behavioural, developmental, or adaptive change
- The mechanism, theoretical question, methodological problem, or explanatory issue under investigation
- The broader contribution to the science of experience-related neuroplasticity
The presence of an experiential variable alone is not sufficient. Submissions should explain why the work belongs in a journal devoted to experience-related neuroplasticity and how it advances understanding of plasticity, adaptation, learning, reserve, compensation, resilience, vulnerability, or individual variation.
Article Types
JERN welcomes four principal types of scholarly contributions. Across all article types, submissions should explain how the work tests, constrains, refines, challenges, or enables mechanistic accounts of experience-related change. Mechanistic claims must remain proportionate to the design and evidence.
Research Articles
Research Articles report original empirical work examining how experience shapes cognitive, behavioural, or neural systems. JERN welcomes experimental, longitudinal, developmental, observational, intervention, replication, and other rigorous research designs across the lifespan and across domains of experience. Studies may test mechanisms directly or provide evidence that identifies patterns, time courses, boundary conditions, moderators, or null effects that meaningfully constrain mechanistic accounts. Shorter empirical studies are considered within this category and do not require a separate Brief Report format.
Review Articles
Review Articles synthesize and critically evaluate research relevant to experience-related neuroplasticity. This category includes systematic reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analyses, and focused integrative reviews. Reviews should extend beyond summarizing the literature by identifying explanatory mechanisms, evaluating competing accounts, clarifying boundary conditions, integrating evidence across disciplines or levels of analysis, and developing productive directions for future research.
Theory Articles
Theory Articles introduce a new theoretical framework or substantially develop, revise, integrate, or challenge an existing account of experience-related change. Contributions should clearly specify their central assumptions, proposed mechanisms, explanatory scope, and boundary conditions. Strong Theory Articles connect existing evidence to testable predictions and identify findings that would support, challenge, or require revision of the proposed account. New empirical data are not required.
Methods and Resources Articles
Methods and Resources Articles present new or substantially improved methods, measures, experimental paradigms, analytic approaches, datasets, software, protocols, or other research resources relevant to experience-related neuroplasticity. Submissions should demonstrate how the contribution improves measurement, analysis, interpretation, reproducibility, or mechanistic investigation. Appropriate validation, documentation, and evidence of practical utility should be provided.
Length Guidelines
The ranges below are flexible recommendations rather than strict limits.
- Research Articles: typically 8,000–10,000 words
- Review Articles: typically 8,000–10,000 words
- Theory Articles: typically 5,000–9,000 words
- Methods and Resources Articles: typically 4,000–8,000 words
Word counts exclude the abstract, references, tables, figures, appendices, and supplementary materials. Shorter or longer manuscripts may be considered when justified by the design, scope, complexity, or contribution.
Submission Files
Authors must submit one complete manuscript as an editable Microsoft Word file in .doc or .docx format. Authors should not format the initial submission using JERN’s final two-column publication template. Accepted manuscripts will be typeset during production.
The complete manuscript should include, as applicable, the article title, author names and affiliations, corresponding-author information, ORCID iDs, abstract, keywords, main text, acknowledgments, required declarations, references, tables, and figures.
Tables and figures should be included within the complete manuscript so that editors and reviewers can read them in context. Authors may additionally upload tables and figures as separate files when needed to preserve image quality, resolution, editability, formatting, or production usability.
The OJS submission system provides the following file components:
- Cover Letter: for information intended for the editor
- Manuscript: the complete primary submission file
- Figures: additional separate figure files, where needed
- Tables: additional separate table files, where needed
- Supplementary Material: supporting files that supplement the manuscript
- Other: supporting files that do not fit another component
Separate supporting files supplement the complete manuscript; they do not replace information that editors and reviewers need in order to evaluate the submission.
Single-Blind Peer Review
JERN uses single-blind peer review. Reviewers remain anonymous to authors, while reviewers may see the authors’ names and affiliations.
Authors should submit a complete manuscript that includes author information and all required declarations. Authors should not anonymize the manuscript, and a separate title page is not required.
Reviewers should not include their names, affiliations, initials, or other identifying information in comments or files that may be shared with authors.
Abstract and Keywords
The abstract should accurately state the manuscript’s purpose, approach, principal findings or argument, and significance.
- Research Articles: up to 250 words
- Review Articles: up to 300 words
- Theory Articles: up to 250 words
- Methods and Resources Articles: up to 250 words
Provide 4–6 keywords that support indexing and discovery. Avoid unnecessary repetition of words already used in the title.
Contribution to Mechanistic Understanding
Authors should include a brief statement of approximately 100–150 words explaining how the article tests, constrains, refines, challenges, or enables mechanistic accounts of experience-related change.
The statement should be understandable to readers outside the manuscript’s immediate specialty and should avoid claims that exceed the design or evidence.
Manuscript Format and Structure
Initial submissions should be prepared as clear, editable Microsoft Word documents. Authors should not use JERN’s final two-column publication format at the submission stage. Final journal formatting will be applied during production after acceptance.
General Formatting
- File format: Microsoft Word (
.docor.docx) - Page size: Letter or A4
- Margins: Approximately 1 inch or 2.5 cm
- Font: Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, or another clear professional font
- Font size: 11 or 12 point
- Line spacing: 1.5 or double spacing
- Alignment: Left aligned
- Page numbers: Required
- Headers: A short running title may be included but is not required; do not add journal branding or publication information
- Footers: Do not add copyright, DOI, journal branding, or other publication information
- Line numbering: Continuous line numbering is recommended
- Headings: Use clearly defined and consistently numbered sections and subsections
- Tables: Submit in editable form rather than as images
- Figures: Number figures and cite them in the manuscript
- References: Use the current edition of APA style
Headings and Section Numbering
Divide the main text into clearly defined and numbered sections. Apply section numbering consistently throughout the manuscript.
- Level 1 headings: Number major sections consecutively as 1, 2, 3, and so forth.
- Level 2 headings: Number subsections as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and so forth.
- Level 3 headings: Number lower-level subsections as 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, and so forth.
Each heading should appear on a separate line and should briefly and accurately describe the content of the section.
Authors should use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles where possible and apply each heading level consistently throughout the manuscript.
When referring to another section within the manuscript, use the appropriate section number rather than wording such as “the section above” or “the text below.”
The abstract should appear under the heading Abstract and should not be assigned a section number. The numbered sequence should begin with the first section of the main text, normally the Introduction.
Acknowledgments, funding information, conflict-of-interest statements, data-availability statements, author-contribution statements, references, appendices, and supplementary-material descriptions should not normally be included in the main section-numbering sequence.
Headers and Footers
Authors should not add journal branding, article numbers, DOI information, copyright notices, running publication headers, or decorative footers to the initial submission. These elements will be added by JERN during production after acceptance.
The manuscript must include page numbers. A short running title may be included in the header, but it is not required. Additional footer text is not required.
Author Contributions
JERN requires an author-contribution statement for manuscripts with more than one author. Contributions should be described using the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy where applicable.
Authors should identify the contribution or contributions of each author using relevant roles such as Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Software, Visualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing – original draft, and Writing – review and editing.
Each author may be assigned more than one role, and the same role may be assigned to more than one author. All authors must approve the final contribution statement.
Example: A.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. C.D.: Investigation, Data curation, Visualization, Writing – review and editing. E.F.: Supervision, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing – review and editing.
Recommended Manuscript Order
- Article title
- Author names and affiliations
- Corresponding-author information and ORCID iDs, where available
- Abstract
- Keywords
- Contribution to Mechanistic Understanding
- Main text
- Ethics statement, where applicable
- Funding statement
- Conflict-of-interest statement
- Data and materials availability statement
- Author-contribution statement
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Tables
- Figure captions
- Appendices or supplementary-material descriptions
Structure by Article Type
Research Articles
- Introduction
- Method
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion, where appropriate
Review Articles
- Introduction and review objectives
- Review method or search strategy
- Evidence synthesis
- Mechanistic interpretation
- Limitations
- Future directions
Theory Articles
- Explanatory problem
- Existing accounts
- Proposed framework or mechanisms
- Scope and boundary conditions
- Supporting and conflicting evidence
- Testable predictions
- Implications
Methods and Resources Articles
- Problem or need
- Description of the method or resource
- Development procedure
- Validation or benchmarking
- Example application
- Access and reuse information
- Limitations
Tables and Figures
All tables and figures should be included in the complete manuscript so that editors and reviewers can evaluate them in context.
Number tables and figures in the order in which they are cited. Every table and figure must be mentioned in the text and accompanied by a clear title, note, or caption.
Tables should be editable rather than embedded as images. Figures should be legible, accurately labelled, and suitable for evaluation. Authors may additionally upload separate table or figure files when needed to preserve image quality, resolution, editability, formatting, or production usability.
Supplementary Materials
Supplementary materials may include additional analyses, appendices, instruments, stimuli, datasets, code, codebooks, protocols, data documentation, or other files that support evaluation or reuse.
These files may be uploaded using the Supplementary Material or Other component, as appropriate.
Supplementary files should be clearly named, cited in the manuscript, and accompanied by a brief description. Essential evidence and interpretation should remain in the main article.
References
JERN uses the current edition of APA style.
- Every in-text citation must appear in the reference list
- Every reference-list entry must be cited in the manuscript
- References must be complete and accurate
- DOI links should be included where available
Authors must also paste the complete reference list into the OJS submission metadata.
Research Articles
Research Articles should identify the experience-related phenomenon, explain the theoretical or mechanistic question, and show how the findings test, constrain, refine, challenge, or enable mechanistic accounts.
They should normally include Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, required declarations, references, and any tables or figures. Methods and analyses should be reported transparently. Confirmatory, exploratory, and post hoc analyses should be distinguished where applicable. Null and unexpected findings should be reported accurately, and causal or mechanistic claims must not exceed the design and evidence.
Review Articles
Review Articles should clearly state the review question, scope, and conceptual boundaries. Authors should explain how evidence was identified, selected, evaluated, and synthesized.
Systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and meta-analyses should follow an appropriate reporting guideline and provide sufficient methodological detail for transparency and reproducibility. Focused integrative reviews may use a more selective evidence base, but the principles governing selection and scope must be clear.
Theory Articles
Theory Articles should identify the explanatory problem, define key concepts and assumptions, and specify the proposed mechanism or mechanisms with sufficient precision.
Authors should explain the level or levels of analysis, explanatory scope, and boundary conditions of the account. Submissions should engage fairly with relevant evidence and competing explanations, generate testable predictions, and identify findings that would support, constrain, challenge, or require revision of the theory.
Methods and Resources Articles
Methods and Resources Articles should identify the scientific or methodological problem addressed and explain how the contribution improves measurement, analysis, interpretation, reproducibility, or mechanistic investigation.
Authors should provide sufficient detail for evaluation, replication, and reuse. Appropriate validation, benchmarking, reliability assessment, or comparison with existing alternatives should be included. Reusable resources should include persistent links, version information, documentation, access instructions, and licensing or reuse terms where applicable.
Publication Ethics
Authors are responsible for ensuring that their work complies with relevant ethical standards, institutional requirements, and applicable laws or regulations.
Authors should report their work accurately, cite sources responsibly, disclose relevant conflicts of interest, and avoid plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, and misleading presentation of results.
Research Ethics
Research involving human participants, animals, confidential data, or regulated materials must comply with applicable ethical and legal standards.
The manuscript must report, where applicable, ethics approval or exemption, approving body, approval number, informed-consent procedures, privacy protections, and animal-welfare procedures.
Funding and Conflict of Interest
All sources of financial support, institutional support, equipment, services, and other relevant assistance must be disclosed. If the work received no specific funding, this must be stated.
A conflict-of-interest statement must be included. Authors must disclose any financial, professional, or personal interests that could be perceived as influencing the work, or state that no competing interests exist.
Data, Code, and Research Materials
JERN encourages transparent and reproducible research practices. Authors should provide access to data, code, materials, instruments, protocols, preregistrations, and supplementary files when ethically and legally possible.
When materials or data cannot be shared, authors must explain the restriction and describe any conditions under which access may be possible.
Preprints and Prior Dissemination
Submissions must be original and must not be under consideration by another journal.
Authors must disclose related preprints, conference abstracts, dissertations, reports, registered protocols, overlapping manuscripts, or other prior public dissemination.
Generative AI Disclosure
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools when used in drafting, revising, translating, analysing, coding, creating images, or preparing other submission materials.
AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, confidentiality, and appropriate attribution of all submitted content.
Permissions and Third-Party Material
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material, assessment instruments, identifiable participant content, images, figures, tables, or other third-party material.
Peer Review
JERN uses single-blind peer review to support rigorous, constructive, and intellectually engaged evaluation of submitted manuscripts. Reviewers remain anonymous to authors, while reviewers may see the authors’ identities and affiliations.
Editorial decisions consider scientific rigor, theoretical contribution, methodological transparency, clarity of presentation, proportionate interpretation, and relevance to the journal’s scope.
Open Access Policy
JERN is an open-access scholarly journal published by ERN Press. Published articles are made freely available online.
Authors retain copyright, and articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). JERN does not currently require submission or publication payments.
After Acceptance
After acceptance, authors may be asked to provide a clean editable manuscript, confirmation of author information, ORCID iDs, separate high-resolution figures, editable tables, final declarations, repository links, permissions documentation, and timely proof corrections.
Proof review is intended for correction of production errors and minor essential changes, not substantial rewriting.
Submission Checklist
- The manuscript fits JERN’s scope and mechanistic orientation
- The correct article type has been selected
- The submission is original and not under consideration elsewhere
- The complete manuscript includes author names, affiliations, corresponding-author information, acknowledgments, required declarations, references, tables, and figures, as applicable
- The manuscript has not been anonymized, and a separate title page is not required
- The abstract and keywords meet the requirements for the selected article type
- The manuscript follows JERN’s formatting requirements and uses clearly defined and consistently numbered sections and subsections
- All tables and figures are included in the complete manuscript, numbered, cited in the text, and accompanied by clear titles, notes, or captions
- Separate figure or table files have been uploaded only when needed to preserve quality, resolution, editability, formatting, or production usability
- References are complete, formatted in the current edition of APA style, and include DOI links where available
- All funding sources and institutional support have been fully disclosed. If the work received no specific funding, this has been stated
- A conflict-of-interest statement has been included. Any financial, professional, or personal interests that could be perceived as influencing the work have been disclosed, or the authors have stated that no competing interests exist
- Any data, code, research materials, instruments, or supplementary files necessary to evaluate the submission have been included in the manuscript, uploaded as Supplementary Material or Other, or clearly described in the data-availability statement
- The author-contribution statement has been included, using CRediT roles where applicable
- Any prior dissemination and use of generative AI have been disclosed
Submit a Manuscript
JERN is currently under development. Online submissions are not yet formally open.
When submissions open, authors will submit manuscripts through the JERN online submission system.
Author Inquiries
For questions about manuscript fit, author guidelines, or future submissions, contact:
Journal of Experience-Related Neuroplasticity
Published by ERN Press
Email: admin@ernpress.com
