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Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for Journal of Practitioner Research

This document provides details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to final manuscript submission to Journal of Practitioner Research.

Formatting Requirements

All submissions must be prepared and submitted as a word document. Manuscripts must adhere strictly to guidelines set in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. Double-space all text, including quotations and references, and provide 1.5-inch margins all around. References must be complete and placed at the end of the manuscript. Please place tables, charts, figures, or illustrations after the references on separate pages.

Do not include your name or any other identifying information in the abstract or the manuscript. Authors should not cite or reference their own name but instead use the word author, followed by the publication date. Alphabetize references to author under A and not under the letter of the author’s last name. Do not include titles or the names of coauthors in the “author” citations or references.

Submissions must include a title page that includes the information listed below on a separate sheet.

  • Manuscript title
  • Submission date
  • Name of author/authors, institutional affiliation, complete mailing address, business and home phone numbers, fax number, and e-mail address
  • Biographical information about each author, which may not exceed 30 words per author

At the beginning of the manuscript, please include an abstract that describes the manuscript in 100-150 words.

  • Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. These will be added by the editors.
  • Write your article in English (unless the journal expressly permits non-English submissions).
  • Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single file (Word, RTF, or PDF files are accepted).
  • Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches.
  • All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), including your tables and figures.
  • Double space your text.
  • Use a single column layout with both left and right margins justified.
  • Font:
    1. Main Body—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
    2. Footnotes—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
  • If figures are included, use high-resolution figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps).
  • Copyedit your manuscript.
  • When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.

    • Language & Grammar

    All submissions must be in English. Except for common foreign words and phrases, the use of foreign words and phrases should be avoided.

    Authors should use proper, standard English grammar. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White (now in its fourth edition) is the "standard" guide.

    Article Length

    Manuscripts, including all references, charts, figures, and tables, should not exceed 30 pages.

    ALL COVER LETTERS MUST PROVIDE A STATEMENT THAT DESCRIBES WHY THE MANUSCRIPT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED PRACTITIONER RESEARCH (ALSO KNOWN AS ACTION RESEARCH, TEACHER RESEARCH, SELF-STUDY, ETC...)

    Colored text

    Set the font color to black for the majority of the text. We encourage authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures, maps, etc., however, you need to appreciate that this will cause some of your readers problems when they print the document on a black & white printer. For this reason, you are advised to avoid the use of colors in situations where their translation to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.

    Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text. (You may need to "accept all changes" in track changes or set your document to "normal" in final markup.)

    Emphasized text

    Whenever possible use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.

    Font faces

    Except, possibly, where special symbols are needed, use Times or the closest comparable font available.

    Font size

    The main body of text should be set in 12pt. Avoid the use of fonts smaller than 6pt.

    Foreign terms

    Whenever possible, foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

    Titles

    Whenever possible, titles of books, movies, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.