Department of Behavioral Sciences, Purdue University Calumet.
Am Psychol. 2016 Apr;71(3):240-2. doi: 10.1037/a0040226.
The publication manual for the American Psychological Association (APA) suggests that title lengths do not exceed 12 words, yet journals do not prevent longer titles. Here, we examined title lengths in APA journals to see how many exceeded the APA's suggested limit. First, we conducted a systematic analysis of 235 articles in the current issues of 23 APA journals. A total of 52% of titles were more than 12 words long. Second, we examined articles from APA journals that were at least 50 years old to examine whether title lengths have changed over time. Our results suggested that the average title lengths have indeed increased with time. One of 2 courses should be taken. Perhaps science is becoming more complex that longer titles are needed in order to convey the primary message to the reader. If this is the case, then the APA's word limit should be increased. On the other hand, however, maybe editor and reviewers should try to enforce the current word limit to force writers to be succinct. Either way, editors should make their preferences clear so that the trend for longer titles does not continue unchecked.
美国心理协会（APA）的出版手册建议标题长度不超过 12 个单词，但期刊并没有阻止更长的标题。在这里，我们检查了 APA 期刊的标题长度，看看有多少超过了 APA 的建议限制。首先，我们对 23 种 APA 期刊的当前问题中的 235 篇文章进行了系统分析。超过 52%的标题长度超过 12 个单词。其次，我们检查了至少有 50 年历史的 APA 期刊中的文章，以研究标题长度是否随时间发生了变化。结果表明，随着时间的推移，平均标题长度确实有所增加。应修读其中 2 门课程。也许科学变得越来越复杂，需要更长的标题才能向读者传达主要信息。如果是这样，那么 APA 的字数限制应该增加。另一方面，也许编辑和审稿人应该尝试执行当前的字数限制，迫使作者简洁明了。无论哪种方式，编辑都应该明确他们的偏好，以便标题变长的趋势不会不受控制地继续下去。
