Author Guidelines

General

• Journal article submissions should be approximately 5,000 words, excluding references. A word count should be supplied with the submission.
• Each submission must be preceded by an abstract of no more than 200 words.
• Submissions should be compiled as follows: title, author name, affiliation, abstract, main text, acknowledgements (where relevant), references, appendices (where included).
• For all manuscripts non-discriminatory language is mandatory. Sexist or racist terms should not be used.

Peer-review Process

As part of the submission process to JoAW, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments for the Editor).
• The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is single-spaced; uses a 10-point Arial font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
• If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review in the Author Guidelines have been followed.

Furthermore, in submitting to JoAW, you must confirm the following:

• That the content of the article is your own work or, where third party content is utilised, you have obtained permission from the third party to include their materials in this article and (where necessary) the third party has approved the article for publication;
• That you agree to grant an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, non-exclusive licence to Coventry University to publish this article;
• That the article may be licensed under a creative commons licence, as detailed in the Copyright Notice;
• That the article contains nothing that is abusive, defamatory, libellous, obscene, fraudulent or illegal;
• That the decision to publish this article rests solely with Coventry University; and
• That Coventry University may withdraw publication of the article at any time at its discretion without notice in the event that Coventry University becomes aware, or has reason to believe, that the author has not met any requirement(s) set out in this submission checklist.

When reviewing submissions during the double blind peer review process, we ask reviewers the following questions, which serve as our criteria for inclusion:

• Does the submission include an abstract (maximum 200 words) in English?
• Does the abstract convey the paper’s main points and outline the results or conclusions?
• Is the paper c. 5,000 words?
• Does the contribution address a topic relevant to the aims of the journal?
• Does the contribution take into consideration the European audience by adequately explaining “local” institutions, structures of educational systems, discourses, etc.?
• Is the paper theoretical, empirical, or experience-based?
• Does the paper refer to existing debates or issues, and make reference to relevant scholarly literature?
• Does the paper offer an explicit original contribution?
• Does the paper demonstrate an appropriate methodology or approach?
• Is the paper’s argument well-developed and well-supported?
• Is the title of the paper appropriate/acceptable?
• Does the paper include in-text citations and a list of references?
• If reporting on research, does the paper appear to follow appropriate ethical guidelines, e.g. student permission for use of work?
• Is the paper of an appropriate standard of writing in terms of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and clarity of expression?
• Does the paper contain (or reproduce) any images, tables, charts or figures which have previously been published (and may therefore need copyright permission to appear in the JoAW)?

Having answered these questions as yes/no responses or in greater detail if needed, we ask reviewers to provide summary comments for the author(s) relating to the strengths/weaknesses of the paper as a whole.

Book Reviews

Please discuss reviews with our Book Reviews Editor in advance of submitting. We suggest book reviews should be around 1,500 words, but this is flexible. Also, we ask that you try to hold a focus or argument in the piece, through, for example, critical appraisal or contextualisation.

Reviews should also follow our standard formatting guidelines for articles, below.

Dialogues

We occasionally publish dialogue pieces, and invite responses. Dialogues are normally initiated through commissions, or as part of special conference issues. Please email us if you are interested in initiating a dialogue.

Guidelines for responses to open dialogues:

• include a short abstract (max 50 words);
• and a focused, limited bibliography, to draw out the context of the responses;
• aim for a maximum of 750 words.

If in doubt please email the editors.

Ensuring a Blind Review

In recent versions of MS-Word:

1. Open your submission document
2. Select 'File'
3. Select 'Check for Issues' / 'Inspect Document'
4. Select 'Inspect'
5. Against 'Document Properties and Personal Information' select 'Remove all'
6. Save the file again

Typically this takes care of the main issues with author signature on the file and in the comments and changes made during reviewing. In cases where you refer to previous publications or conferences by author(s), please ensure you refer to the publications in the third person, rather than signalling your own research, or replace essential information which would identify the authors with: '[name redacted for anonymity]'. If in doubt, please email the editors.

Formatting

Margins should be set at 2.54 cm on all sides.

All indented material should be set at 1.27 cm.

Punctuation

Double-barrelled names and number ranges contain a hyphen (-).

Parenthetical dashes use an n-rule (–).  Parenthetical dashes should have a space on either side.

Please note: 1960s, not 1960’s.

Use of italics

Italics should be used for names of publications (books, journals, newspapers etc.) and titles of films, paintings etc.

Foreign words, including Latin ones, should also be italicised.

Numbering

Numbers one to ten should be spelt out, as should any number which begins a sentence; figures should be used thereafter.  Figures and spelt-out numbers should not be mixed in the same clause.

Numerals should always be used with percentages, units of measurement and in tables.  Please note, there should be a space between the numeral and the unit (e.g. 5 cm).

Number ranges, including those of pages in citations and references, should be given in full and elided with a dash. For example: 123-150.

Quotations

Please use single quotation marks; double marks should be used within quoted material, as necessary.

Quotations longer than 30 words should be indented.

Generally, quoted material does not need to be distinguished from the rest of the text in any other way (for example, by using italics).

Referencing

As of 2020, the Journal of Academic Writing now uses standard APA style (7th edition). We are currently working on curating support and example materials. In the meantime, Purdue offer clear guidelines on using APA style (7th edition).

Figures and Tables

All figures and tables must be cited in the main text and carry captions to explain what they are.

Captions

For figures, captions should be set below the image. For tables, captions should be set above the table. In both cases, they should be numbered sequentially using Arabic numerals; tables and figures should be numbered separately.

All images, illustrations and diagrams should be referred to as ‘figures’.  The abbreviation ‘Fig.’ should be used in the text (unless the word begins a sentence, in which case it should be spelt out in full).

Acknowledgements and permissions

If a figure, model, image, chart or table has previously been published, its reproduction in the Journal of Academic Writing will require copyright permission (even if minor modifications have been made). It is the responsibility of the author to secure such permission from the original publishers, for publication in both electronic and print formats. Proof of permission will need to be forwarded to the editor.  The author is also responsible for paying any permission fees associated with such materials. Any queries regarding this matter should be directed to the Assistant Editor.