Editorial Statement

Extract

Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy is an international multi disciplinary journal for the publication of original research, of an experimental or clinical nature, that contributes to the theory, practice and evaluation of behaviour therapy. As such, the scope of the journal is very broad and articles relevant to most areas of human behaviour and human experience, that would be of interest to members of the helping and teaching professions, will be considered for publication.

As an applied science, the concepts, methodology and techniques of cognitive and behavioural psychotherapy continue to change. The journal seeks both to reflect and to influence these changes.

While the emphasis is placed on empirical research, articles concerned with important theoretical and methodological issues as well as evaluative reviews of the cognitive and behavioural literature are also published. In addition, given the emphasis of cognitive and behavioural therapy on the experimental investigation of the single case, the Clinical Section of the journal publishes case studies using single case experimental designs. For the majority of designs this should include a baseline period with repeated measures; in all instances the nature of the quantitative data and the intervention must be clearly specified. Exceptionally, the journal will consider case studies where, although the interventions have not been experimentally evaluated, the treatment approach and/or problem dealt with is considered to be of particular importance and clear indicators of change are provided. Other types of case report can be submitted for the Brief Clinical Reports section.