About the Journal
Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal dedicated to the publication of original and methodologically rigorous research in the fields of behavioral sciences, family studies, couple and marital relationships, counseling, psychotherapy, and family- and couple-based therapeutic interventions. The journal provides an academic platform for researchers, psychologists, counselors, therapists, clinicians, educators, and other professionals interested in understanding behavioral processes and the psychological, interpersonal, social, and contextual factors that influence individuals, couples, and families.
The journal seeks to strengthen the connection between scientific research and professional practice by publishing studies that contribute to theoretical development, empirical knowledge, assessment, prevention, intervention, and evidence-based therapeutic practice. Particular attention is given to research that advances understanding of behavioral and relational functioning across different stages of individual and family life and that offers implications for psychological services, counseling, family therapy, and couple therapy.
Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy is published on a bi-monthly basis, with six issues per year. The journal welcomes high-quality original research articles as well as other scholarly contributions that are consistent with its editorial policies and scientific scope. Both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies are considered, including experimental and quasi-experimental studies, clinical trials, longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, correlational research, structural equation modeling, qualitative and phenomenological research, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, mixed-methods studies, psychometric investigations, and theoretically grounded studies.
All manuscripts are evaluated on the basis of scientific quality, methodological rigor, originality, relevance to the journal's scope, clarity of presentation, and contribution to the existing literature. Submission of a manuscript does not guarantee publication. Manuscripts must successfully complete the journal's initial editorial evaluation, plagiarism screening, double-blind peer-review process, revision procedures where applicable, and final editorial assessment before they can be accepted for publication.
The journal operates according to the principles of scholarly integrity, transparency, impartial peer review, responsible research conduct, and respect for intellectual property. Editorial decisions are based on the academic merits of manuscripts and are made without discrimination on the basis of the authors' institutional affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, gender, political orientation, religious beliefs, or other personal characteristics unrelated to the scholarly quality of the work.
As an open-access publication, the journal is committed to facilitating broad and timely dissemination of scientific knowledge. Published articles are made freely accessible to readers without subscription or access barriers, supporting the exchange of research findings among academics, clinicians, practitioners, students, policymakers, and the broader scientific community.
Aims and Scopes
The principal aim of Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy is to promote scientific knowledge concerning human behavior, interpersonal relationships, family functioning, couple dynamics, psychological well-being, and evidence-based therapeutic interventions. The journal encourages research that contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms through which individual, relational, family, cultural, and social factors influence psychological adjustment and behavioral outcomes.
Within the field of behavioral research, the journal welcomes studies addressing cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and behavioral processes relevant to mental health and psychological functioning. Research may investigate behavioral patterns, emotion regulation, coping processes, psychological adjustment, personality-related processes, resilience, stress, interpersonal difficulties, behavioral problems, and other variables that contribute to healthy or maladaptive functioning. Studies examining prevention, assessment, behavioral modification, and psychological intervention are particularly relevant when they have clear implications for individuals, couples, or families.
In the area of family research, the journal is interested in the structure, functioning, development, and psychological characteristics of families across different social and cultural contexts. Relevant subjects include parent-child relationships, parenting practices, family communication, family cohesion and adaptability, family conflict, attachment processes, intergenerational relationships, family resilience, family stress, divorce and separation, remarriage, blended families, caregiving, family transitions, and the psychological consequences of significant family events. Research addressing contemporary changes in family relationships and the interaction between family systems and wider social conditions is also within the journal's scope.
A central focus of the journal is couple and marital relationships. Research concerning marital satisfaction, marital adjustment, intimacy, commitment, communication patterns, romantic attachment, conflict management, infidelity, jealousy, forgiveness, relationship stability, sexual and emotional intimacy, relationship distress, and the factors associated with relationship quality is welcomed. The journal also encourages studies examining premarital relationships, marital preparation, relationship education, separation, divorce, and post-divorce adjustment when approached from a psychological, behavioral, counseling, or therapeutic perspective.
The journal places particular emphasis on couple therapy, family therapy, counseling, and psychotherapy. It welcomes empirical evaluations of therapeutic approaches designed to improve individual, couple, or family functioning. These may include cognitive-behavioral approaches, behavioral couple therapy, emotion-focused therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, schema therapy, solution-focused approaches, systemic family therapy, mindfulness-based interventions, attachment-oriented approaches, integrative therapies, and other theoretically established or emerging interventions. Comparative studies examining the effectiveness, mechanisms, moderators, or long-term outcomes of therapeutic approaches are also encouraged.
The scope additionally includes research related to psychological assessment, measurement, screening, and the development or validation of instruments relevant to behavioral, family, marital, and therapeutic research. Studies focusing on clinical and non-clinical populations are both considered, provided that their objectives are clearly connected to the journal's disciplinary focus.
Interdisciplinary research is encouraged where it contributes meaningfully to behavioral or family sciences. Studies may draw upon psychology, counseling, psychiatry, social work, sociology, education, health sciences, rehabilitation, and related disciplines. Cross-cultural and comparative research is particularly valuable because it can expand understanding of how cultural, socioeconomic, and contextual conditions influence behavioral and family processes.
The journal ultimately seeks to publish research that is theoretically meaningful, methodologically sound, clinically or socially relevant, and capable of contributing to the advancement of behavioral science, family research, counseling, and couple and family therapy.
Open Access Statement
Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy is a fully open-access journal. All articles published by the journal are available online immediately after publication and may be accessed by readers without subscription fees, registration requirements, or other financial access barriers.
The journal considers open access an important mechanism for increasing the visibility, accessibility, and potential impact of scholarly research. Free availability of published research enables researchers, clinicians, counselors, therapists, students, educators, institutions, and other interested readers to access scientific findings regardless of their institutional or financial resources.
Readers are permitted to access, read, download, and use published articles in accordance with the terms of the journal's applicable Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Any reuse of published material must comply with the conditions of that license, including appropriate attribution to the original authors and source.
The journal does not impose subscription charges or paywall restrictions on readers. Publication-related charges, where applicable, are separate from reader access and are described in the journal's Article Processing Charges policy.
Copyright and License
Authors publishing in Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy retain full copyright to their work. Copyright is not transferred from the authors to the journal as a condition of publication.
By submitting an accepted manuscript for publication, authors grant the journal the necessary permission to publish, distribute, archive, and make the article publicly available as part of the journal's scholarly record. This permission does not transfer ownership of the copyright from the authors.
Articles are published 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 the published material for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author or authors, a reference to the original publication is provided, a link to the license is included where appropriate, and any modifications to the original material are clearly indicated.
The CC BY-NC 4.0 license permits broad academic and educational use of published articles while protecting authors against unauthorized commercial exploitation of their work. Uses of published material for commercial purposes are not authorized by the license and may require separate permission from the copyright holder.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that all material included in their manuscripts complies with applicable copyright requirements. If a manuscript contains figures, tables, questionnaires, images, extended quotations, or other material previously published by another copyright holder, the authors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions before publication.
The journal's copyright and licensing policy is designed to balance author ownership, public accessibility, academic dissemination, and appropriate protection of intellectual property.
Plagiarism
Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy maintains a strict policy regarding plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate textual reuse, and other forms of academic misconduct. All submitted manuscripts must represent original scholarly work and must appropriately acknowledge the ideas, findings, methods, and words of other authors.
Submitted manuscripts are screened for textual similarity using iThenticate plagiarism-detection software. Similarity screening may be conducted during the initial editorial evaluation and may be repeated at other stages of the editorial process when necessary.
A similarity report is not interpreted solely on the basis of an overall numerical similarity percentage. The editorial team examines the nature, location, extent, and academic significance of identified similarities. Properly cited quotations, standard methodological terminology, references, commonly used technical expressions, and unavoidable similarities may be treated differently from unattributed copying or substantial reproduction of previously published material.
Plagiarism may include direct copying without appropriate acknowledgment, close paraphrasing of another author's work without proper citation, presenting another person's ideas or findings as one's own, unauthorized reproduction of tables or figures, and other forms of intellectual misappropriation. The journal also considers inappropriate duplication of an author's own previously published work, commonly referred to as self-plagiarism or redundant publication, an important publication-ethics concern.
Authors must clearly disclose when material from their previous publications has been reused and must cite the original source where appropriate. Manuscripts that substantially duplicate previously published research without adequate justification or disclosure may be rejected.
If serious plagiarism or inappropriate duplication is identified before publication, the manuscript may be rejected at any stage of the editorial process. Where misconduct is discovered after publication, the journal may take appropriate corrective action in accordance with established scholarly publishing practices, which may include the publication of a correction, expression of concern, or retraction depending on the nature and severity of the issue.
Authors are therefore strongly encouraged to review their manuscripts carefully before submission and ensure that all sources are properly acknowledged and all quoted, paraphrased, or previously published material is appropriately identified.
Article Processing Charges (APCs)
Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy is an open-access journal and applies an Article Processing Charge (APC) of 3,000,000 Tomans for articles accepted for publication.
The APC contributes to the operational costs associated with scholarly publication, including editorial processing, manuscript management, technical preparation, online publication, website maintenance, digital accessibility, archiving, and other publishing-related services.
The Article Processing Charge is associated with the publication of an accepted article and does not influence the editorial or peer-review decision. Manuscripts are evaluated exclusively according to their scientific quality, relevance, originality, methodological rigor, and compliance with the journal's editorial requirements.
Payment of an APC does not guarantee acceptance. Editorial decisions are completed through the journal's established scientific and peer-review procedures, independently of financial considerations. Reviewers are not informed of payment-related matters when assessing manuscripts, and financial arrangements do not determine the outcome of peer review.
Authors should therefore make payment only in accordance with official instructions issued by the journal following acceptance or at the designated publication stage. The journal does not consider the payment of publication fees as a substitute for peer review, scientific revision, or fulfillment of editorial requirements.
The current APC is:
Article Processing Charge: 3,000,000 Tomans per accepted article.
Any future changes to the journal's Article Processing Charges will be announced through the journal's official website and will apply in accordance with the policies effective at the relevant time.
Peer-Review Process
Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy operates a double-blind anonymous peer-review process. Under this model, the identities of the authors are not disclosed to the reviewers, and the identities of the reviewers are not disclosed to the authors. The purpose of this procedure is to reduce potential bias and encourage independent assessment of manuscripts on the basis of their scholarly merits.
After submission, each manuscript first undergoes an initial editorial screening. At this stage, the editorial team evaluates whether the manuscript falls within the aims and scope of the journal, meets basic submission and formatting requirements, demonstrates an appropriate level of scientific and methodological quality, and complies with relevant ethical and publication standards. The manuscript may also undergo plagiarism and similarity screening using iThenticate.
A manuscript may be declined during the initial evaluation if it is outside the scope of the journal, fails to meet essential scientific or methodological requirements, contains serious ethical or originality concerns, or is otherwise unsuitable for external peer review.
Manuscripts that successfully complete the initial screening are sent for independent external review. Normally, each manuscript is evaluated by two or three qualified reviewers with appropriate expertise in the subject area or methodology of the submitted research.
Reviewers are asked to assess the manuscript's originality, theoretical foundation, methodological rigor, appropriateness of research design and statistical or qualitative analysis, clarity of results, interpretation of findings, quality of discussion, relevance of conclusions, use of the literature, ethical considerations, and overall contribution to the field.
Following peer review, the reviewers may recommend acceptance, revision, or rejection. In most cases where a manuscript demonstrates publication potential but requires improvement, authors are invited to submit a revised version. Authors should respond carefully to reviewer and editor comments and provide a clear explanation of the revisions undertaken.
Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers when the changes are substantial or when additional expert assessment is required. The number of review rounds depends on the nature of the reviewers' comments, the quality of the authors' revisions, and the judgment of the editorial team.
The final decision regarding publication rests with the journal's editorial authority. Reviewer recommendations constitute an important component of the decision-making process but do not independently determine acceptance or rejection.
The journal expects reviewers to maintain strict confidentiality concerning manuscripts assigned to them. Reviewers should not distribute, reproduce, discuss, or use unpublished information obtained through the peer-review process for personal or professional advantage. Reviewers are also expected to disclose any conflict of interest that could compromise the impartiality of their assessment.
Likewise, editors are expected to handle submitted manuscripts confidentially and make decisions based on scientific considerations rather than personal, institutional, commercial, or other inappropriate influences.
The double-blind review system, combined with assessment by two or three independent experts, is intended to promote fairness, scientific rigor, constructive scholarly criticism, and confidence in the quality of research published by Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy.
Archiving and Repository Policies
Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy is committed to the long-term accessibility and preservation of its scholarly content. Published articles remain available through the official journal website, which serves as the primary platform for accessing the journal's issues, articles, and associated publication information.
The journal also supports author self-archiving in accordance with its open-access and copyright policies. Because authors retain copyright to their published work, they may preserve and disseminate their articles through appropriate scholarly and institutional channels, subject to the conditions of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
Authors may deposit the published version of their articles in institutional repositories, university repositories, subject-based academic repositories, personal academic webpages, and other legitimate non-commercial scholarly archives. Authors are encouraged to include complete bibliographic information and, where available, a link to the version published on the journal's official website.
Self-archived copies should clearly identify Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy as the original place of publication. Appropriate citation of the published article helps preserve the integrity of the scholarly record and ensures that readers can identify and access the authoritative journal version.
The journal's self-archiving policy is intended to facilitate scholarly communication, improve the discoverability of published research, support institutional research-preservation requirements, and increase the accessibility of scientific knowledge.
The journal also maintains its published content on its own website as part of its continuing publication record. Articles, issue information, metadata, and other relevant publication materials are retained to support continued access to the journal's scholarly output.
Through a combination of journal-based preservation and author self-archiving, Behavioral and Family Research and Couple Therapy seeks to promote durable access to published research and reduce the risk that scholarly work becomes inaccessible because of changes in institutional access, subscriptions, or individual websites.
