Journal of Career Assessment
Over the last 25 years, the Journal of Career Assessment has provided methodologically sound, empirically based studies focusing on assessment, career development, and vocational psychology. Regarding assessment, the journal covers the various techniques, tests, inventories, rating scales, interview schedules, surveys, and direct observational methods used in scientifically based practice and research to provide an improved understanding of career decision-making. Regarding career development and vocational psychology, the journal covers all topics falling under each of these areas, especially those from a psychological perspective that have career counseling implications.
Innovative topics include:
- Career assessment strategies
- Developments in instrumentation
- Validation of theoretical constructs
- Relations between existing instruments
- Career assessment procedures
- Relations between assessment and career counseling/development
- Review articles
- Studies on career and work related variables
- Mixed methods approaches
- Intervention studies
The Journal of Career Assessment publishes methodologically and conceptually sound articles broadly in the area of vocational psychology. A primary aim of the journal is showcasing new research on the assessment of career and work related constructs and behavior. The term assessment, as used in this journal, covers the various techniques, tests, inventories, rating scales, interview schedules, surveys, and direct observational methods used in scientifically based practice and research to provide an improved understanding of individual’s career development, decision-making, and experiences in the world of work. A secondary aim is showcasing new research on any topic related to career, work, or vocational psychology, including but not limited to quantitative, qualitative, and experimental studies where ideas related to work and careers are a central part of the manuscript. The journal is also open to conceptual and theoretical contributions related to career, work, or vocational psychology. Implications for career counseling/development should be clearly noted in all manuscripts.
| Patton O. Garriott | University of Denver, USA |
| Saba Rasheed Ali | University of Iowa, USA |
| Erin E. Hardin | University of Tennessee, USA |
| Sari Akmal | Universitas YARSI, Indonesia |
| Blake A. Allan | University of Houston, USA |
| Kelsey Autin | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA |
| Rosie P. Bingham | University of Memphis, USA |
| David L. Blustein | Boston College, USA |
| Samantha Brown | Coe College, USA |
| Aysenur Büyükgöze Kavas | Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey |
| Michael Cadaret | Chatham University, USA |
| German Cardenas | Lehigh University, USA |
| Dia Chatterjee | Salem State University, USA |
| Anna Dalla Rosa | University of Padua, Italy |
| Bryan J. Dik | Colorado State University, USA |
| Jessica England | Wagner College, USA |
| Alec Eshelman | University of Wisconsin–Platteville, USA |
| Joaquim A. Ferreira | Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal |
| Nadya A. Fouad | University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, USA |
| Yun Garrison | Bates College, USA |
| Arpita Ghosh | University of Kansas, USA |
| Melinda M. Gibbons | University of Tennessee, USA |
| Shenyang Hai | Hainan University, China |
| Paul J. Hartung | Northeast Ohio Medical University, USA |
| Kimberly Howard | Boston University, USA |
| Meaghan Rowe-Johnson | Drake University, USA |
| Ae-Kyung Jung | Gyeongin National University of Education, South Korea |
| Shin Ye Kim | University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA |
| Sujin Kim | James Cook University, Australia |
| Young Hwa Kim | Seoul National University of Education |
| Bo Hyun Lee | New Mexico State University, USA |
| Bora Lee | Korea University, South Korea |
| Hang-Shim Lee | Konkuk University, South Korea |
| Nimrod Levin | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Hsin-Ya Liao | Washington State University, USA |
| Lori D. Lindley | Gannon University, USA |
| Wyndolyn Ludwikowski | Spring Hill College |
| Melanie Luety | University of Southern Mississippi, USA |
| Evgenia Lysova | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Jonas Masdonati | University of Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Koorosh Massoudi | University of Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Peter McIlveen | University of Southern Queensland, Australia |
| Francis Milot-Lapointe | Université de Sherbrooke, Canada |
| Karen O'Brien | University of Maryland, USA |
| Ugochukwu Okolie | Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike |
| CJ Park | New Mexico State University, USA |
| In-Jo Park | Jeonbuk National University, South Korea |
| Anna Praskova | Southern Cross University, Australia |
| Trisha Raque | University of Denver, USA |
| Patrick J. Rottinghaus | University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, USA |
| Yerin Shim | Chungnam National University, South Korea |
| Brian Stevenson | VA Bedford Healthcare System, USA |
| Han Na Suh | Georgia State University, USA |
| Femina P. Varghese | University of Central Arkansas, USA |
| Arne Weigold | Kent State University, USA |
| Tiffany Williams | Tennessee State University, USA |
| Baoguo Xie | Wuhan University of Technology, China |
| Hui Xu | Loyola University Chicago, USA |
| Emily Yowell | University of Southern Mississippi, USA |
| Chunyu Zhang | Shaanxi Normal University, China |
| W Bruce Walsh | The Ohio State University, USA |
| Bünyamin Atay | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA |
| Delaney Bilodeau | Virginia Commonwealth University, USA |
| André Borges | Université de Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Katie Cook | University of Tennessee—Knoxville, USA |
| Gabriel Ezema | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA |
| Jinkoo Lee | University of Missouri, USA |
| Mary O’Brien | University of Missouri, USA |
| XiYue Wu | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA |
The Journal of Career Assessment is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site [https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcareerasmnt] to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.
Sage Publishing disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal.
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.5 English language editing services
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
6. On acceptance and publication
6.3 Access to your published article
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
1. What do we publish?
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of the Journal of Career Assessment will be reviewed. Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Career Assessment, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Manuscripts of particular interest describe innovative career assessment strategies, developments in instrumentation, validation of theoretical constructs, tests of vocational theory, in-depth examinations of career-related experiences, and conceptual/theoretical contributions. Implications for career counseling/development should be clearly noted.
Full-length articles reporting a single quantitative study should be no longer than 35 pages, double-spaced, inclusive of references, tables, and figures.
Full-length articles reporting multiple, mixed-method, or qualitative studies should be no longer than 40 pages double-spaced, inclusive of references, tables, and figures.
JCA does not publish online supplementary materials. Authors may request that the reader contact the corresponding author for supplementary materials in the text of the manuscript.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance your article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
2. Editorial policies
Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.
Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
- The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.
- The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.
- The author has recommended the reviewer.
- The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgments separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
2.4 Declaration of conflicting interests
Journal of Career Assessment encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency, and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data-sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- Include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
- Cite this data in your research
3. Publishing policies
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Journal of Career Assessment and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information, please visit the Sage Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Journal of Career Assessment offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
Manuscripts should be as concise as possible, yet sufficiently detailed to permit adequate communication and critical review. Authors should follow the style of the Publication Manual of The American Psychological Association, 7th Edition (APA, 2019). Authors should prepare their manuscripts (including tables) on word-processing equipment that is capable of transmitting files by the Internet because manuscripts are copyedited and typeset from files provided by authors. Article files should be in Microsoft Word format (.doc). Authors will receive information for submitting the final copy of their manuscript by electronic means on final acceptance of their paper.
Authors will need to prepare two versions of their manuscript, the original manuscript, and an anonymized version for peer review. Please see section 4.3 for more details on preparing an anonymized manuscript.
The first page of the manuscript should contain the article title, the names and affiliations of all authors, authors’ notes or acknowledgments, and the names and complete mailing addresses of all authors. Please note the author to whom all correspondence, including proofs, should be sent. The second page should contain an abstract of no more than 200 words and five to seven keywords that will be published following the abstract. The title of the paper will be repeated on page 2.
The following sections should be prepared as indicated:
- Tables. Each table should be fully titled, typed on a separate page, and placed at the end of the paper. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Footnotes to tables should be identified with superscript lowercase letters and placed at the bottom of the table. All tables should be referred to in the text.
- Figures. Copies of figures should be sent on first submission of a manuscript; original camera-ready and electronic figures will be requested when a manuscript is accepted for publication. Electronic copies of figures can be submitted in one of the following formats: Microsoft PowerPoint or Word, Tagged Image File Format (.TIF), Encapsulated Postscript File (.EPS), or Joint Photographic Experts Group (.JPG). All figures should be referred to in text. Each figure should appear on a separate page at the end of the paper, and all titles should appear a single, separate page.
- Endnotes. Notes should appear on a separate page before the references section. Notes should be numbered consecutively and each endnote should be referred to in text with a corresponding superscript number.
- References. Text citations and references should follow the style of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition (APA, 2010).
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Where a journal uses double-anonymized peer review, authors are required to submit:
- A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymized. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.
- A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymized material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.
See https://us.Sagepub.com/en-us/nam/Manuscript-preparation-for-double-anonymized-journal for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.
Journal of Career Assessment adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the Journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Please be aware that Sage has no affiliation with these companies and makes no endorsement of them. An author's use of these services in no way guarantees that his or her submission will ultimately be accepted. Any arrangement an author enters into will be exclusively between the author and the particular company, and any costs incurred are the sole responsibility of the author.
5. Submitting your manuscript
Journal of Career Assessment is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit [https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcareerasmnt] to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the Journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
Manuscripts are to be submitted electronically (in one attachment) along with a separate attachment with the title and author page via the JCA submission site. Manuscripts will be acknowledged when they are received. Authors should not place their names on the manuscript itself because all manuscripts are peer-reviewed with an anonymize reviewing system. Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal should not simultaneously submit them to another journal, nor should manuscripts have been published elsewhere in substantially similar form or with substantially similar content.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this Journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
7. Further information
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of Career Assessment editorial office as follows:
Editor-in-Chief, Pat Garriott, Pat.Garriott@du.edu.
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.
If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@Sagepub.com