''L'Année Psychologique'' (the "Annual Journal of Psychology") is the oldest French

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

dedicated exclusively to scientific

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

. It covers

cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, whi ...

experimental psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development ...

social psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...

neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...

psychopathology Psychopathology is the study of mental illness. It includes the signs and symptoms of all mental disorders. The field includes Abnormal psychology, abnormal cognition, maladaptive behavior, and experiences which differ according to social norms ...

, and

history of psychology Psychology is defined as "the scientific study of behavior and mental processes". Philosophical interest in the human mind and behavior dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Persia, Greece, China, and India. Psychology as a field of ...

History

Established in 1894 by

Alfred Binet Alfred Binet (; ; 8 July 1857 – 18 October 1911), born Alfredo Binetti, was a French psychologist who together with Théodore Simon invented the first practical intelligence test, the Binet–Simon test. In 1904, Binet took part in a comm ...

, this was the first French journal for scientific psychology, and is today one of the leading journals in that field in French. It was among the first psychology journals in the world, among ''

Philosophische Studien ''Philosophische Studien'' (''Philosophical Studies'') was the first journal of experimental psychology, founded by Wilhelm Wundt in 1881. The first volume was published in 1883; the last, the 18th, in 1903. Wundt then founded a similar volume e ...

'', established in 1881 by

Wilhelm Wundt Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (; ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology, was t ...

; the ''

American Journal of Psychology The ''American Journal of Psychology'' is a journal devoted primarily to experimental psychology. It is the first such journal to be published in the English language (though ''Mind'', founded in 1876, published some experimental psychology earl ...

'', established in 1887 by

Granville Stanley Hall Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1844 – April 24, 1924) was an American psychologist and educator who earned the first doctorate in psychology awarded in the United States of America at Harvard University in the nineteenth century. His ...

; the , established in 1890 by

Hermann Ebbinghaus Hermann Ebbinghaus (24 January 1850 – 26 February 1909) was a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory. Ebbinghaus discovered the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. He was the first person to describe the learnin ...

; and the ''

Psychological Review ''Psychological Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers psychological theory. It was established by James Mark Baldwin (Princeton University) and James McKeen Cattell (Columbia University) in 1894 as a publication vehic ...

'', established in 1894 by

James McKeen Cattell James McKeen Cattell (May 25, 1860 – January 20, 1944) was the first professor of psychology in the United States, teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was a long-time editor and publisher of scientific journals and pub ...

and

James Mark Baldwin James Mark Baldwin (January 12, 1861 – November 8, 1934) was an Americans, American philosophy, philosopher and psychologist who was educated at Princeton University, Princeton under the supervision of Scottish philosopher James McCosh and who ...

. The history of the creation of the journal is closely associated with that of the institutionalization of French psychology.

Théodule Ribot Théodule-Augustin Ribot (; August 8, 1823September 11, 1891) was a French realist painter and printmaker. He was born in Saint-Nicolas-d'Attez, and studied at the École des Arts et Métiers de Châlons before moving to Paris in 1845. There ...

's election to the newly created chair of Experimental and Comparative Psychology at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

in 1888 is followed by the creation of the first French laboratory of experimental psychology at the Sorbonne in 1889, under the direction of Henri-Étienne Beaunis. The laboratory's research is first published in a journal titled "Travaux du Laboratoire de Psychologie Physiologique" (with 2 volumes published in 1893 and 1894). Alfred Binet, who joined the laboratory in 1891, suggests overhauling the laboratory's communication by effectively creating a new journal. With Beaunis' agreement, he established ''L'Année Psychologique'' in 1894 to boost the outreach of the laboratory's research. The journal's orientation and reputation is associated, through its successive directors, to that of the Institute of Psychology of the University of Paris, founded by

Henri Piéron Louis Charles Henri Piéron (; 18 July 1881 – 6 November 1964) was a French psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavio ...

in 1920 and expanded by Paul Fraisse. In 1984, L'Année Psychologique became a quarterly journal of experimental psychology. In 2012, it officially became an international bilingual journal (French/English), taking the subtitle ''Topics in Cognitive Psychology''.

Directors

Since its creation in 1894, the journal had directors such as

, and Paul Fraisse, major figures that have set the scientific orientation of the journal.Fraisse, P. (1994). L'Année Psychologique - Quatre directeurs en cent ans. In P. Fraisse & J. Segui (Eds.), Les origines de la psychologie scientifique: centième anniversaire de L'Année Psychologique (1894-1994). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. * 1894-1911 :

is director. * 1912-1964 :

replaces Binet and remains director until 1964. * 1947-1994 : Paul Fraisse joins Henri Piéron as director, and will remain until 1994. * 1980-1984 : Georges Noizet shares the direction with Paul Fraisse. * 1988-1994 : Juan Segui shares the direction with Paul Fraisse. * 1995-2003 : Juan Segui becomes the sole director. * 2003-2005 : Ludovic Ferrand shares the direction with Juan Segui. * 2006-2017: Ludovic Ferrand becomes scientific director (until 2017), and

Serge Nicolas Serge Nicolas is a French professor of psychology at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Paris, Institute of Psychology of the University of Paris (2019), University of Paris since 2003. He specializes in the study of memory and his ...

becomes the editorial director. * 2017: Pascale Colé becomes scientific director.

Notes

:Though the French title literally translates to ''The Psychological Year'', the official English title is ''Annual Journal of Psychology''.

References

{{reflist Psychology journals Academic journals established in 1894 English-language journals French-language journals English-French multilingual journals