Music Perception publishes original theoretical and empirical papers, methodological articles, and critical reviews concerning the study of music perception and related topics. Articles are welcomed from a broad range of disciplines, including psychology, psychophysics, neuroscience, music theory, acoustics, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, and cognitive science. The journal publishes in the English language.
Authors are requested to submit an electronic copy to the editorial office (mpercep@queensu.ca). The electronic copy should be a single PDF file. Hard copy is no longer required. For accepted manuscripts only, a Microsoft Word version of the final version will be required for copy editing. LaTex is not acceptable. If receipt of the manuscript is not acknowledged within three working days, please contact the editor Lola L. Cuddy (Lola.Cuddy@queensu.ca).
Manuscripts are accepted for review on the understanding that they have not been published and are not presently submitted for publication elsewhere. The review process is not blind, that is, reviewers are typically aware of the identities of the authors. Authors who wish to have their identities withheld from reviewers should make a specific request in the cover letter accompanying the submission.
There are no explicit length restrictions for acceptability of standard articles. Research Reports not exceeding 3000 words, and Notes and Comments, critical comment on articles published here and elsewhere and not exceeding 1000 words, are welcome.
Books for consideration for review should be sent to the Editor.
Form and Style
The journal adheres to the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association regarding form and style. The manual should be consulted for specific items not covered in the general list below.
Organization
Manuscripts should be double-spaced throughout, including references, footnotes, tables, and figure captions. For the hard copy, leave margins of 1--1.5 inches (2.5--4 cm) on all sides. Pages should be numbered consecutively throughout. Page 1 should consist of the running head (up to 50 characters), the title of the article, and the authors’ names and affiliations (see APA 6th, p. 296). Page 2 should contain a short abstract of 100--150 words. At the end of the abstract please list five keywords or phrases. The text should follow, starting on a separate page. References, appendixes, author note (including name and complete mailing/e-mail address for correspondence), and footnotes should follow in that order, each starting on a new page. These should be followed by tables, each on a separate page, then by figure captions, starting on a new page, and then figures, each on a separate page.
Headings
Appropriate headings and subheadings should indicate the organization of the paper (see APA 6th, p. 111).
Participants
Consult the guidelines in the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association regarding terminology.
Equations
Displayed equations should be numbered consecutively. The number should be placed in parentheses to the extreme right of the equation.
Results
Refer to APA 6th (p. 138) for guidance on presentation of statistics in text. Use a zero before a decimal point when numbers are less than one, unless the number cannot be greater than one (e.g., correlations, levels of statistical significance). Report to two decimal places (some exceptions: more decimal places may be reported for Bonferroni tests and exact randomization probabilities). Refer to APA 6th (starting p. 141) for statistical abbreviations and symbols. Include degrees of freedom when reporting, for example, F, r, R, and x2 statistics. When reporting results of ANOVA, the inclusion of MSE or effect size is recommended.
References
Within the text, references should be cited by surname of the author, followed by the year of publication in parentheses; for example, “Jones (1970) has shown that. . . .” When there are two authors, cite both names, as (Smith & Jones, 1973). When there are more than two authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs. In subsequent citations, give the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year of publication, as (Smith, Jones, & Cooper, 1975) and (Smith et al., 1975). References should be typed starting on a separate page (double spaced, no extra carriage returns between citations, and in hanging indent format where, for each citation, the first line is flush left and subsequent lines are indented), and arranged alphabetically by the names of the authors. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure the accuracy of all entries in the reference list. Journal names should be written out in full. Page numbers for all chapters in books and proceedings must be included, and issue numbers only included if the journal paginates each issue from the number “1.” The following examples show the style of referencing required (see APA 6th starting p. 215 for further guidelines):
Estes, W.K. (1972). An associative basis for coding and organizing in memory. In A.W. Melton & E. Martin (Eds.), Coding processes in human memory (pp. 107-132). Washington, DC: Winston.
Handel, S. (1973). Temporal segmentation of repeating auditory patterns. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 101, 46-54.
Meyer, L.B. (1973). Explaining music: Essays and explorations. Berkeley: University of California Press
Footnotes
Authors are asked to use footnotes judiciously and, in most cases, to integrate important information in the text (see APA 6th, p. 202).
Tables
Tables must be formatted using the table function in Word, not using tabs or spaces (see formatted examples, starting APA 6th, p. 149). These should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance within the text. Each table should be typed on a separate page. A short descriptive title should be typed below the table number. Indicate in the text the approximate place where the table is to be inserted.
Figures and Figure Captions
Refer to APA 6th pp. 176-201 for figure preparation guidelines. Use a sans serif font (e.g., Helvetica, minimum 8 pt, maximum 14 pt). Symbols should be no larger than 4 pt. Axes labels should be centered, in capital then lowercase letters with units of measurement in parentheses. Indicate in the text the appropriate place where the figure is to be inserted. The figures should be numbered with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Figure captions should be typed consecutively on a separate page preceding the figures (see APA 6th, p. 199). For the review process, include the figures in the single PDF file. For accepted manuscripts, publication requirements are grayscale and color images saved as 300 dpi Photoshop TIFF files, line art (black and white figures) created in Illustrator and saved at 1200 dpi as EPS files, and music notation saved as EPS files.