About the Journal
Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health is an international, scholarly, open-access journal dedicated to the publication of original research and academic scholarship concerning the behavioral, psychological, social, cultural, and contextual dimensions of mental health. The journal provides a multidisciplinary platform for researchers, clinicians, psychologists, counselors, social scientists, educators, public health professionals, and other scholars whose work contributes to a deeper understanding of mental health and well-being at individual, family, community, and societal levels.
The journal recognizes that mental health is shaped not only by biological and clinical factors but also by behavioral patterns, interpersonal relationships, socioeconomic circumstances, cultural environments, educational experiences, social institutions, and broader structural conditions. Accordingly, the journal encourages research that examines mental health from integrated behavioral and social perspectives and that contributes to theory development, evidence-based practice, prevention, intervention, policy, and community well-being.
Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health publishes scholarly work using quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, experimental, observational, clinical, epidemiological, psychometric, and interdisciplinary research approaches. The journal welcomes original research articles as well as scientifically rigorous review papers, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, methodological studies, theoretical papers, brief research reports, and other scholarly contributions that fall within its editorial scope.
The journal follows a double-blind anonymous peer-review process, in which the identities of both authors and reviewers are concealed during the review process. Manuscripts considered suitable for the journal are normally evaluated by two or three independent reviewers with relevant expertise. Editorial decisions are based on scientific quality, methodological rigor, originality, ethical compliance, relevance to the journal's scope, and the contribution of the manuscript to behavioral and social knowledge in mental health.
The journal is published bimonthly, with six issues per year. All published articles are made freely and permanently available online in accordance with the journal's open-access policy.
Aims and Scopes
The primary aim of Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health is to advance scientific understanding of the behavioral and social processes associated with mental health, psychological well-being, mental disorders, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and psychosocial functioning. The journal seeks to facilitate communication between disciplines and to encourage research that connects psychological and behavioral processes with their social, cultural, familial, educational, occupational, economic, and community contexts.
The journal is particularly interested in studies examining psychological well-being, mental health promotion, behavioral determinants of health, emotional and behavioral problems, coping and resilience, stress and adjustment, social support, interpersonal relationships, family processes, lifestyle and health behaviors, personality and individual differences, psychosocial risk and protective factors, and the behavioral consequences of social and environmental conditions.
Its scope also encompasses research concerning depression, anxiety, stress-related conditions, behavioral disorders, substance-related behaviors, psychological distress, loneliness, social isolation, stigma, quality of life, emotional regulation, self-concept, identity, interpersonal functioning, and other psychological or social phenomena relevant to mental health. Studies focusing on children, adolescents, adults, older adults, families, students, employees, clinical populations, vulnerable populations, and community samples are welcomed where a clear connection to mental health is established.
The journal encourages research on mental health within educational, occupational, healthcare, family, community, and digital environments. Relevant topics may include school and university mental health, workplace well-being, social media and digital behavior, technology and psychological health, community-based mental health interventions, counseling and psychotherapy outcomes, behavioral interventions, health education, mental health literacy, prevention programs, and psychosocial rehabilitation.
Research addressing the social determinants of mental health is also central to the journal's mission. This includes investigations of socioeconomic status, poverty, inequality, migration, discrimination, social exclusion, cultural beliefs, gender-related experiences, family structures, community characteristics, access to mental healthcare, public attitudes toward mental illness, and other societal factors that may influence psychological well-being or access to mental health services.
The journal welcomes interdisciplinary contributions from psychology, counseling, psychiatry, behavioral sciences, sociology, social work, public health, education, nursing, rehabilitation, health psychology, community health, and related disciplines. Manuscripts should demonstrate a meaningful connection between the research problem and behavioral or social dimensions of mental health rather than addressing mental health only incidentally.
Both basic and applied research are considered. The journal particularly values studies with clear theoretical foundations, appropriate research designs, transparent analytical procedures, ethical research practices, and meaningful implications for future research, clinical or counseling practice, prevention, education, public health, or mental health policy.
Open Access Statement
Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health is a fully open-access journal. All articles published by the journal are freely and permanently accessible to readers immediately upon publication. No subscription, registration, or payment is required to read, download, or access published scholarly content.
The journal supports open access as an important mechanism for increasing the visibility, accessibility, dissemination, and potential impact of scientific research. Making research openly available allows scholars, practitioners, students, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and members of the wider public to benefit from scholarly findings without financial or institutional access barriers.
Readers may access and use published articles in accordance with the terms of the journal's applicable Creative Commons license. Open access applies to the final published version of articles appearing on the journal website.
The journal does not impose subscription charges or paywalls on readers. Publication costs are instead supported through the journal's Article Processing Charge policy as described below.
Copyright and License
Authors publishing in Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health retain full copyright in their work. Submission and publication in the journal do not require authors to transfer ownership of copyright to the journal.
Published articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Under this license, users may share, copy, redistribute, and adapt published material for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author or authors and the original publication is properly acknowledged. Users should also provide an appropriate reference to the applicable license and indicate whether changes have been made to the original material.
The CC BY-NC 4.0 license permits broad academic, educational, and other non-commercial reuse while preserving attribution to authors. Commercial use of published material is not authorized under this license unless separate permission is obtained from the relevant copyright holder.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that material incorporated into their manuscripts from third-party sources—including figures, tables, photographs, instruments, or substantial copyrighted content—is used with the appropriate authorization when such authorization is required.
The journal's copyright policy is intended to protect authors' ownership of their intellectual work while supporting responsible dissemination and reuse of scholarly research.
Plagiarism
Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health is committed to maintaining high standards of academic integrity and publication ethics. Manuscripts submitted to the journal must represent original scholarly work and must not contain plagiarism, inappropriate copying, unattributed reproduction, or other forms of unethical textual or intellectual appropriation.
The journal uses iThenticate as part of its manuscript screening procedures. Submitted manuscripts may be examined using similarity-detection software before peer review, during editorial evaluation, or whenever concerns regarding originality arise.
Similarity reports are evaluated by the editorial team rather than being interpreted exclusively on the basis of a numerical similarity percentage. Legitimate similarities may occur in references, standard methodological terminology, institutional names, technical expressions, previously described procedures, or appropriately cited material. Conversely, even a relatively small amount of similarity may raise serious concerns if it involves unattributed copying of original arguments, data, findings, interpretations, or distinctive text.
Authors are expected to cite and acknowledge all sources appropriately. Directly reproduced material should be clearly identified and cited in accordance with scholarly conventions. Paraphrasing must represent genuine reformulation and should not consist merely of minor alterations to the wording of another source.
The journal also considers inappropriate reuse of an author's own previously published material without proper disclosure or citation to be a publication-ethics concern. Authors should clearly identify and reference relevant previous publications and should avoid redundant or duplicate publication.
Where potential plagiarism or substantial inappropriate overlap is identified before publication, the manuscript may be returned for clarification, revision, or rejected, depending on the nature and extent of the problem. If plagiarism or another serious originality concern is identified after publication, the journal may take appropriate corrective action in accordance with established publication-ethics procedures, including the publication of a correction, expression of concern, or retraction when justified.
Article Processing Charges (APCs)
Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health operates under an open-access publication model. To support the editorial, technical, production, online publication, and long-term accessibility of published content, an Article Processing Charge (APC) of 3,000,000 Tomans is applied to articles accepted for publication.
The APC is associated with publication and is not a submission fee or peer-review fee. Authors are not charged merely for submitting a manuscript for editorial consideration, and payment of the APC does not influence editorial assessment, peer-review outcomes, or acceptance decisions.
Editorial decisions are made independently on the basis of the manuscript's academic quality, methodological rigor, originality, relevance, ethical compliance, and suitability for the journal. Reviewers do not make financial decisions regarding manuscripts, and the peer-review process remains independent of the journal's payment procedures.
The APC becomes applicable only after a manuscript has successfully completed the editorial and peer-review process and has been accepted for publication. Payment of an APC must never be interpreted as guaranteeing acceptance, expedited review, favorable reviewer recommendations, or publication.
The charge contributes to costs associated with manuscript administration, editorial management, online publication, digital hosting, journal website maintenance, production processes, publication infrastructure, and continued open access to published articles.
Peer-Review Process
Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health uses a double-blind anonymous peer-review system. Under this model, reviewers are not informed of the identities of the manuscript's authors, and authors are not informed of the identities of the reviewers. This procedure is intended to reduce the potential influence of personal, institutional, professional, geographic, or other forms of bias during scientific evaluation.
Following submission, manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment. At this stage, the editorial office or editors may examine the manuscript's compliance with journal requirements, relevance to the journal's aims and scope, academic quality, basic methodological adequacy, ethical considerations, originality, presentation, and compliance with submission guidelines. Similarity screening using iThenticate may also form part of the preliminary assessment.
Manuscripts that are clearly outside the journal's scope, do not meet fundamental scientific or ethical standards, or are unsuitable for external peer review may be declined during the initial editorial evaluation.
Manuscripts that successfully complete the preliminary assessment are normally sent to two or three independent reviewers with expertise relevant to the manuscript's subject area and methodology. Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, confidential, and academically justified assessments.
Peer reviewers may evaluate matters such as the importance and originality of the research question, adequacy of the literature review and theoretical framework, appropriateness of the research methodology, sampling procedures, measurement instruments, statistical or qualitative analyses, presentation and interpretation of findings, relationship between conclusions and evidence, ethical aspects of the research, quality of academic writing, and the manuscript's overall contribution to mental health scholarship.
Based on the reviewers' reports and the editor's assessment, a manuscript may receive an editorial decision such as acceptance, revision, or rejection. Where revision is requested, authors are expected to address reviewers' and editors' comments carefully and to provide an appropriate response explaining the changes made or academically justifying points on which suggested changes have not been adopted.
A revised manuscript may be returned to the original reviewers or evaluated directly by the responsible editor, depending on the extent of the revisions and the nature of the outstanding issues. Additional rounds of revision may be requested where necessary.
Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final decision regarding publication rests with the journal's editorial authority, which considers the reviewers' reports alongside the manuscript's scientific quality, ethical compliance, relevance, and overall suitability for publication.
Peer-review materials are treated as confidential. Reviewers should not disclose, distribute, reproduce, or use unpublished information obtained through the review process for personal or professional advantage. Authors are likewise expected to engage respectfully and professionally with reviewer comments.
Where a reviewer has a conflict of interest that could affect objective assessment of a manuscript, the reviewer should disclose the conflict and decline the review when appropriate. The journal seeks to select reviewers on the basis of relevant scholarly expertise and independence from the submitted work.
Archiving and Repository Policies
Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health supports the preservation and continued accessibility of published scholarly content through its journal website and through responsible author self-archiving.
The journal website serves as the primary online archive for articles published in the journal. Published articles, together with their bibliographic and publication information, remain accessible through the journal's online platform in accordance with its open-access policy.
Because authors retain copyright and articles are distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, authors are permitted to self-archive and disseminate their published work for non-commercial scholarly purposes in accordance with the terms of that license.
Authors may deposit copies of their articles in appropriate institutional repositories, university repositories, disciplinary repositories, personal academic webpages, and other legitimate non-commercial scholarly repositories. Authors are encouraged to use the final published version where repository policies allow and to preserve complete bibliographic information.
When self-archiving the published version, authors should provide proper acknowledgment of the original publication in Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health, including the article title, authorship information, journal title, publication details, and DOI or permanent article link when available. Repository copies should not be presented in a manner that obscures or misrepresents the original source of publication.
Self-archiving should comply with the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, particularly its requirements concerning attribution and non-commercial use. The journal supports repository-based dissemination because it increases the discoverability, accessibility, preservation, and scholarly reach of published research.
Through its combination of open publication on the journal website and author self-archiving, Behavioral and Social Studies in Mental Health seeks to ensure that published scholarship remains widely accessible to the research community and other interested readers over time.
