Notes for Contributors

Journal Papers

1. Introduction

Journal papers are original, scholarly outputs that report findings representing a substantial advance in the understanding of a significant problem. Journal papers can have far-reaching implications for the advancement of knowledge in a specific field.

Authors submitting to JCD&MS should delay publicising the findings of submitted papers until the peer review process is finished and full critical evaluation of the submission has been completed.

2. The manuscript

The following guidelines are offered to help authors with submission presentation:

2.1. Word count

The word count generally for papers is 3,000-5,000. However please also see Section 7 below for word count variations for different types of submission. This word limit can be increased to 7,000-8,000 words in cases of research containing empirical results.

Papers should open with an introduction of around 500 words, before proceeding to a concise, focused description of findings and end with one or two short paragraphs of discussion.

All pages should be numbered.

2.2. Cover sheet

Cover sheet[s] should always include title, list of authors, author affiliations and addresses, running head, word count [excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures], declarations of competing interest and clinical trial registration details [if applicable].

2.3. Abstract

Papers should have an abstract, separate from the main text, of up to 300 words. This is not referenced and does not contain numbers, abbreviations, acronyms or measurements unless absolutely essential. It should be understandable to readers outside the discipline.

The abstract should contain an introduction to the field; a brief account of the background and rationale of the work; a statement of the main conclusions [introduced by the phrase 'Here we show' or ‘From this research…’ or equivalent]; and finally, 2-3 sentences putting the main findings into general context so it is clear how the results described in the paper have moved the field forwards.

2.4. Keywords

A list of up to eight keywords [preferably words that do not appear in the title of the article] should be included to identify the contents of the paper.

3. References

Appropriate in-text citation should be used, and a full reference list should appear at the end of the paper. Please use the Harvard system [Author, date] for listing references [see below]. In the reference list provide up to the first six authors and then follow by et al., then the last author if this person is the senior author for the paper. Please include issue/part numbers. You can include citations to conference abstracts or unpublished work to support substantive claims. Please ensure that the introduction and discussion sections of your article cite the most recent relevant literature and not just literature from your own research group, region or country. Papers may include systematic reviews and one or two of the pivotal studies that a review has summarised.

3.1. In-text citation

3.1.1. Example: book with one author

‘According to Bell (2015: 23), the most important component of research is…

3.1.2. Example: book with two or three authors

Goldsmith and Barrett (2014) suggested that…

3.1.3. Example: book with one author

This was supported by Young et al. (2015)….

3.2. Reference list

List all entries cited in the text alphabetically by author and year of publication in a separate headed, reference section. Please follow the examples given:

Books

Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Wong, V. & Saunders, T. (2015) Principles of Marketing, 15th edn. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Books with an Editor

Groonroos, G. (2016) [Ed.]. Services Marketing, 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chapter[s]/sections of edited books

Parker, R. (2015) ‘Management of the problem’. In: D. Butcher. [Ed.]. The Definitive Guide to Management. London: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp. 23-25.

Journals

Holt, D. (2016) Branding in the age of social media. Harvard Business Review, 94[3]: 11- 23.

Newspapers

Mansell, W. & Bloom, A. (2012) ‘Parrots eats a £10,000 necklace’, The Guardian, 20 June, p. 5.

E-journal articles

Holt, D. (2016) Branding in the age of social media. Harvard Business Review [Online], 94[3]: 11- 23. Available at: http://library.beds.ac.ukv [Accessed: 21st August, 2016].

Online newspapers articles

Mansell, W. & Bloom, A. (2012) ‘Parrots eats a £10,000 necklace’, The Guardian [Online], 20 June. Available at http//www.guardian.co.uk [Accessed: 19 November, 2016].

Conference proceedings

Institute for Small Business Affairs (2016) Small firms: Adding the spark: The 23rd ISBA national small firm, policy and research conference. Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, 15-17 November. Leeds: Institute for Small Business Affairs.

Conference papers

Cook, P. (2016) ‘Developing franchised business in East London’, Small firms: Adding the spark: The 23rd ISBA national small firms, policy and research conference. Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, 15-17 November. Leeds: Institute for Small Business Affairs, pp. 127-136.

3.3. Subheadings

The text may contain a few short subheadings [not more than six in total] of no more than 40 characters each [less than one line of text in length].

3.4. Figures and Tables

Articles typically can have 5 or 6 display items [figures and/or tables]. All tables and figures should be cited in the text. Insert tables and figures into the main body of the text.

Legends should include keys to any symbols. In the full-text online edition of the journal, figure legends may become truncated in abbreviated links to the full-screen version. Therefore, the first 100 characters of any legend should inform the reader of key aspects of the figure or table.

3.5. Typeface

The text should be in Arial 11-point font, 1.5 line spacing, paragraphs should be left aligned. The title should be in bold capital letters, in Arial 14-point font and the names of the authors should be in Arial12 point font.

The first heading should be Arial in bold capital letters, 12-point font. The second headings should be Arial bold, 12-point font. Third headings should be Arial bold and italics, 12-point font.

3.6. Submission

The manuscript should comprise a single Word file [figures and tables should be separate from the text]. Manuscripts should be e-mailed to journal@londonchurchillcollege.co.uk within the time frame advertised under the ‘Call for Papers’.

3.7. Defamatory statements

Authors should refrain from making defamatory statements about specific individuals or organisations, whether they believe these are justified. We will continue to critique research and claims made by vested interests.

3.8. Permission to reprint source material

If a paper uses all or parts of previously published material, the author must obtain permission from the copyright holder concerned. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain these permissions in writing and provide copies to JCD&MS.

3.9. Histograms

Do not include histograms with three-dimensional blocks or shading as this can make interpretation difficult.

3.10. Colour illustrations

Authors are expected to pay the full cost for reproducing colour artwork. Therefore, please note that if there is colour artwork in the manuscript when it is accepted for publication, JCD&MS requires authors to defray such costs before the paper can be published.

3.11. Preparation of electronic figures for publication

Please contact JCD&MS for instructions regarding any high quality images that are included in the submission

3.12. Supporting information:

Additional material of lengthy appendices [e.g. extensive reference lists or mathematical formulae/calculations], that are relevant to a particular article but not suitable or essential for the print edition of the journal, may also be considered for publication.

3.13. English-language editing:

If English is not the first language of authors, they are advised to have their manuscript edited by a native English speaker before submission. However, JCD&MS will do its best to accommodate papers from authors in countries where the resources do not exist for this.

3.14. Papers not complying with editorial requirements:

A manuscript that does not comply with journal requirements will be returned to the author.

3.15. Ethical Principles

JCD&MS supports ethical principles. As such, when submitting papers online, authors will be asked to state that:

3.15.1. All authors have been personally and actively involved in substantive work leading to the report and will hold themselves jointly and individually responsible for its content;

3.15.2. All relevant ethical safeguards have been met in relation to patient or subject protection, or animal experimentation, including, in the case of all clinical and experimental studies review by an appropriate ethical review committee and evidence of written informed patient consent

3.15.3. Papers will be returned that contain sexist, racist or other non-acceptable. language.

3.16. Declarations of interest

Declarations of conflicts of interest are required for all submissions and should appear after the list of authors and addresses. Declarations of interest do not indicate wrongdoing but they must be declared in the interests of full transparency. Any contractual constraints on publishing imposed by the funder must also be disclosed. Declaring a conflict of interest is the responsibility of authors and authors should err on the side of inclusiveness; the time window for these financial links is within 3 years of the date of article submission.

If an undeclared conflict of interest comes to light, we reserve the right to withdraw the paper from the journal production process.

3.17. Plagiarism

Plagiarism involves using someone else’s work without appropriate attribution. If sections of text numbering more than 10 words have been copied verbatim these must be put in quotation marks and a full citation given. Copying more than a few lines verbatim is not normally acceptable unless a specific reason can be given and permission has been obtained from the owner of the copyright [and the author, if different]. We will treat plagiarism as serious professional misconduct and respond accordingly.

4. The Review Process

Each manuscript is read by a member of the JCD&MS Editorial Panel and those that are considered clearly uncompetitive or unsuited to this journal will be declined without going to full review. This process should take no more than 2 weeks.

Manuscripts that pass this stage are sent to two Reviewers [who may be Editorial Panel members] who may return the manuscript unreviewed if a serious limitation is identified. Otherwise the two Reviewers make a recommendation to the Editorial Panel, which then communicates its decision to the authors. This process should take no more than four weeks.

If authors are invited to revise a manuscript and resubmit it, they should submit the revised version within 6 weeks. An extension will usually be granted if requested. A decision on the revised version may be taken by the Principal Editor or he or she may consult an Editorial Panel Member or put the revision through another full review process, depending on the nature of the revisions that had been requested. A decision on the revised version should normally take less time than the original review process.

4.1. Evaluation Criteria

Articles submitted for publication in the JCD&MS are evaluated according to the following criteria:

4.1.1. Significance of the theoretical and methodological contributions;

4.1.2. Degree to which the manuscript fits the emphasis of the journal;

4.1.3. Appropriateness of the literature review;

4.1.4. Adequacy of the design and execution of the study;

4.1.5. Appropriateness of the analysis;

4.1.6. Quality of the discussion and interpretation of the results;

4.1.7. Clarity of presentation;

4.1.8. Implications for practitioners, academicians and scholars.

4.2. Reviewers Disclosure

Reviewers have the option of disclosing their identity to the authors by adding their name to the bottom of their review comments. We encourage this in the interests of transparency.

4.3. Appeals

Requests for appeal will usually be considered only where the author makes a case that one or more Reviewer, or the Editorial Panel, has clearly made a substantive mistake. They will not normally be considered where there is a difference of opinion about the importance of the findings or where the author believes that issues can be rectified in a revision.

It is important to bear in mind that the comments received by authors are primarily intended to help with making revisions should authors wish to submit the manuscript elsewhere. In many cases the decision not to publish will be made on grounds of priority given the pressure on space within the journal.

4.4. Proof Corrections

All manuscripts will be proof-read by JCD&MS. However, the JCD&MS will not accept responsibility for any error, which is an important reason for careful proof-reading by authors or their agents is undertaken prior to submission. Other than in exceptional circumstances, all illustrations are retained by the publisher. Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in his or her work, including changes made by the copy editor.

5. Copyright

It is a condition of publication that authors grant copyright to JCD&MS for all articles, including abstracts. Papers will not be passed to the publisher for if the author disputes copyright.Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.

6. Others forms of submissions

The following forms of submissions will be considered for publications. Please contact the JCD&MS for further criteria:

6.1. Research Reports

Research reports are papers reporting original findings from individual studies [or groups of studies]. The study or studies may be qualitative or quantitative and may involve experimental or non-experimental designs.

Authors of research reports should aim for no more than 3500 words excluding abstract, tables and references. However, we recognise that clinical trials and studies with complex methods/analyses may require greater length to ensure full reporting of all relevant aspects of methods and results.

Qualitative manuscripts may be up to 4500 words to facilitate the inclusion of direct quotations within the main text, but this is in lieu of any tables. There is no minimum word length.

6.2. Reviews

Reviews draw together a body of literature to reach one or more major conclusions. It is expected that reviews will be ‘systematic’, which means they will set out very clearly the search strategy [including key words where appropriate], the selection criteria for articles to include, and the basis for integrating findings.

A review may be up to 4000 words.

6.3. Letters

The JCD&MS publishes solicited and unsolicited letters. They may express opinions about articles published in the journal, report on a development, or comment on some issue of potential interest to the readership of the journal. They will normally be refereed. Addiction does not generally use letters to report new findings unless they extend findings of a paper published in the journal. Letters should normally be no longer than 500 words with up to 20 references. If a letter comments upon a paper already published in the journal, this should be cited at the beginning of the letter. The author of that paper may be given a right of reply.

6.4. Monographs

The JCD&MS will publish occasional monographs of 4,000-10,000 words, excluding references, abstract, title, tables and figures. Monographs constitute major pieces of writing that cannot be expressed within the usual length limits. Monographs might include extensive systematic reviews of major topics or a series of linked studies addressing a common research question. These articles will go through the usual peer review process; however, the editor will only accept monographs that are of substantial importance. There will be no appeals for rejected monographs, but rejection will not preclude authors from submitting papers based on the material as standard research reports.

Authors who are interested in submitting such a piece are advised to contact the Principal Editor of the JCD&MS in the first instance. Otherwise authors wishing to submit monographs for consideration should submit in the usual way, but should add a note in their cover letter explaining that they would like the submission to be treated as a monograph. Monographs should carry structured abstracts [no more than 300 words] and include headings similar to those of research reports or reviews.

Monographs should be structured as research reports or reviews as appropriate.

6.5. For Debate

‘For debate’ articles are opinion pieces up to 3500 words in length. They synthesise the research literature in a way that adds important new insights. They should be written in an international context and make one or two key points that are more in the way of opinion rather than fact. The point[s] will normally challenge existing thinking, raise an issue that has been neglected, take an issue forward that is currently being considered, or reinforce one side of a debate that is currently underway. It can concern matters of policy, treatment, assessment/diagnosis, theory or methodology and should be written in a lively and engaging style.

Approximately 3-4 commentaries will usually be commissioned to accompany these articles. Commentators will be chosen to provide alternative opinions on the debatable issue.

Once the commentaries have been accepted for publication, the author of the ‘For Debate’ article will be given the opportunity to respond to the commentaries, and the response will be published alongside the ‘For Debate’ article and its commentaries. ‘For Debate’ articles should follow the abstract and article style of reviews.

6.6. Commentaries

A commentary should add a further perspective or point of view to a particularly important research report or learned review. Rather than being a review of the article, authors should use the findings as a stepping stone to make one or two points of wider relevance to the field. A commentary should be approximately 500-750 words and up to 19 references. When commenting upon a research report or review, a reference should be made to this text at the beginning of the commentary and included in the reference list. There is no abstract, but commentaries should begin with a one or two sentence summary setting out the main point.

6.7. Editorials

Published at the start of every issue of JCD&MS, an editorial should be a significant piece of academic writing. An editorial is distinct from a review – it is shorter and provides a place in which one has the distinct aim of stimulating debate, identifying ideas and pushing ideas further forward. It should make one or two key points that are more in the way of opinion rather than fact. The point[s] will normally challenge existing thinking, raise an issue that has been neglected, take a current issue forward, or reinforce one side of a debate that is currently under way. It can concern matters of policy, treatment, assessment/diagnosis, theory or methodology and should be written in a lively and engaging style with the point[s] very clearly stated. An editorial should also be written from an international perspective. Editorials should be under 1000 words and should contain no more than 19 references. There is no abstract but editorials should begin with a one or two sentence statement setting out the key point being made.

6.8. Book Reviews

Book reviews should be more than simply a summary of the book’s content and should place the book in the context of other literature in the field. Reviewers should aim to make them a ‘good read’. On occasion it may be appropriate for a reviewer to offer a negative appraisal of a book but this should be done in a professional manner. The books reviewed are selected to be of interest to the journal’s readership and the reviews should identify what is good and worthwhile in the book for JCD&MS’s varied readers. Book reviews should be no more than 500 words and up to ten references.