Legal and Criminological Psychology

Aims & Scope

Legal and Criminological Psychology publishes original papers which advance professional and scientific knowledge in the conjunction of legal psychology and criminological psychology.

This field, constructed as ‘forensic psychology’, is defined broadly as the application of psychology to the understanding of offenders’ behaviour, the investigative and judiciary processes that bring them to justice, their treatment and the outcomes of their criminal actions.

The topics covered include the causes of different types of crimes, psychopathy, criminal investigation, investigative interview and questioning, information eliciting, applied memory, deception detection, criminal profiling and crime linkage, professional training, legal and investigative decision making, expert testimonies, offender management, treatment and assessment, crime victimization, legal and public responses to crime.

The journal aims to stimulate conversations and debates, to serve as a platform for communication amongst various disciplines, academic researchers, professionals and practitioners, and to provide a compelling picture of current state-of-art research in the field.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	1.9
2024	2.20

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.726

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q2

h-index

Year	Value
2024	66

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	7743

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	136

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science
• Embase

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Medicine and Psychology, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• Psychopathy and recidivism: A review

  Citation: 478

  Authors: James F., Robert D., Stephen

• A fundamental attribution error? Rethinking cognitive distortions^â€

  Citation: 321

  Authors: Shadd, Ruth E.

• The role of psychopathy in assessing risk for violence: Conceptual and methodological issues

  Citation: 252

  Authors: Stephen D.

• Motivational interviewing with offenders: A systematic review

  Citation: 218

  Authors: Mary

• A cognitive approach to lie detection: A meta‐analysis

  Citation: 204

  Authors: Aldert, Ronald P., Hartmut

• The concentration of offending in families

  Citation: 200

  Authors: David P., Geoffrey C., Sandra

• Differentiating arsonists: A model of firesetting actions and characteristics

  Citation: 190

  Authors: David, Katarina

• Offender profiling and criminal differentiation

  Citation: 177

  Authors: David

• Four forms of ‘offender’ rehabilitation: Towards an interdisciplinary perspective

  Citation: 174

  Authors: Fergus

• Say it to my face: Examining the effects of socially encountered misinformation

  Citation: 165

  Authors: Fiona, Amina, Kevin, Daniel B.

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