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This blog is a platform for LSE students and alumni to contribute research, comment and analysis drawing on theory from across a broad range of disciplines within psychological & behavioural science, and to apply it to issues and topics in the world today. Contributions to the blog are not academic papers, but should offer evidence-based analysis and commentary.

General guidance

  • We accept posts of up to 1,200 words.
  • Submissions should be sent to pbs.comms@lse.ac.uk as a Word file and include all relevant images, a biography (see below) and any social media links.
  • We may ask authors to edit their work where additional research is needed, or to provide a more evidence-based conclusion.
  • Once posts have been finalised with the Editor and no additional edits are required, we will aim to publish a post within 5 working days. During particularly busy periods posts may take longer to be published. If this is the case, a date will be agreed between the Editor and the author before finalising.
  • We can not publish work that is subject to assessment.

Writing style

  • A blog is more relaxed and journalistic in style so “lead with the best”. Don’t save your argument or key analysis for the end of your piece.
  • Don’t overly rely on information contained in external sources, write your blog as a standalone piece that presents all of your argument and evidence in one place and doesn’t rely on prior knowledge from your audience.
  • Posts should be easily understandable by a non-expert audience. Avoid overusing technical and academic language.
  • Have a clear conclusion which could be a question, a provocation or a strong statement.
  • We encourage written submissions to include images and/or videos to help illustrate arguments and key points. All images and videos should have permission to be reused and/or include a reference link or name.

Links

  • Use links rather than citations for references. Links should direct readers to more detailed reports or other pieces of research, news items or other blog posts. Open access sources are preferable compared to those behind paywalls.
  • Always provide evidence for your claims and link to source material.
  • Please highlight and place a hyperlink at the relevant point in your argument where a reference should be.
  • Please avoid using footnotes.
  • Where possible, link to open access reading sources.
  • Only link to reputable sources.

Review, editing and publication

  • Articles will be reviewed by the PBS Blog Editor who may edit the blog to enhance readability. These may include shortening or summarising of text.
  • We will also add a short introduction which summarises the key findings or argument/s and notes the authors affiliation.
  • We strive to work with all authors on this editorial process.
  • We aim to publish a blog within 5 days of the final editing process.
  • If your blog is a component of your taught programme (such as PB101) or you have already discussed a blog post with a member of faculty prior to submission, please note that the blog will still go through a final edit to ensure it meets the blog style guidelines.

Author biography 

We’re thankful of our student contributors and want to recognise their hard work. When you submit a blog, please send a short three to four line biography with a suitable profile photo.

Promotion and social media

We want to make sure that students and alumni get a platform for their work and ideas and so for each successful post, PBS will share this via our social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.  We encourage you to share your posts on your social media platforms as well.

Creative Commons

Unless otherwise specified, all posts on the PBS (‘Psychology LSE’) blog are published under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). This means that you are free to republish posts unmodified but they must be properly attributed, with a link to the original article. Work may not be used for commercial purposes. If you do not wish for your article to be republished anywhere else, please contact us beforehand. Otherwise, we will assume your permission is granted for re-posting.