Information and guidance for authors

Guidance for authors

Abstract submission

For papers to be considered for publication in the Norland Educare Research Journal, authors are invited to submit an extended abstract of 500 words, including any references. Submitted abstracts should:

• Indicate clearly that the paper/research falls within the aim, purpose, and remit of the journal, i.e., home-based educare, and issues pertaining to professional and parental practices.
• Provide a rationale, state the aim of the paper, and identify research objectives/ questions.
• Make explicit the theoretical framework adopted and reference to extant research/knowledge.
• Outline the study methodology (applicable to both empirical research and literature reviews).
• Raise ethical issues, beyond receiving approval from institutional research ethics committees.
• Refer to salient key findings.
• Consider implications of findings, for instance for further research, practices, policies etc, according to the focus of the paper.
• Cite and list key references.

All extended abstracts are blind peer-reviewed, providing authors constructive feedback.

Abstracts or expression of interest can be submitted by email to: [email protected] or using the online form

Length of papers

• Empirical, conceptual and methodological papers must be between 5,000 and 7,000 words, including illustrative materials, appendices, and references.
• Papers based on systematic literature reviews and scoping studies may be longer – up to 10,000 words – including illustrative materials, appendices, and references, subject to feedback from peer reviewers
• Critical reviews, commentaries and research digests must be up to 3,000 words, including illustrative materials, appendices, and references (see further guidance in this document).

Language

The Norland Educare Research Journal accepts papers in British English only. The papers should be written in plain and clear language, following the British English language rules, and academic and scientific conventions. Foreign words or expressions that convey specific meaning, have cultural connotations or denote culture-bound concepts should be elaborated for the benefit of the reader.

Structure of the manuscript

The manuscript must comply with academic writing conventions and its structure must be organised as follows:

The title of the paper

This is short and concise and contains key terms that reflect the focus of the paper and aim at attracting the attention of the reader at a glance.

The name(s) of the author(s) and their institutional affiliation

These details are removed from the full paper and submitted separately as outlined in the Submission of manuscript section below.

The abstract

The abstract concisely summarises the content of the paper. It states the aim or objectives and the research questions of the paper, the work undertaken, key results, and conclusions. The abstract should be under 200 words in length and should not contain undefined abbreviations or jargon.

Keywords

Five to seven keywords are given in italics, separated by commas and located after the abstract.

The main body of the manuscript

The main body of the manuscript is organised as follows:

The introduction clearly states the aim of the reported research, provides contextual information and makes reference to relevant published work.

The theoretical or conceptual framework locates the paper within extant theoretical frameworks and published research, and establishes the conceptual framework of the reported research. In this section, the author(s) locate their paper in relevant theories and extant literature to substantiate their argument, as well as identifying any research gaps.

Methodology and methods of collecting data

• For empirical research papers, this section should include information about the research design, research sample, analysis of data and ethical considerations, as well as discussing the trustworthiness of the reported research.
• For systematic literature reviews and scoping studies, authors should outline the methodology and steps followed in searching and locating studies, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and the method used for analysing the selected studies.
• For philosophical, position or critical review papers, authors should clearly articulate their thesis, methodological paradigm, ontology and epistemology to substantiate their arguments.
• For methodological papers, especially when referring to new and innovative methodologies and methods of collecting data, authors should discuss and demonstrate the research trustworthiness, considering ontological, epistemic and ethical arguments.

The results and discussion section presents the results of the research and critically discusses them in the context of other recent published work, indicating their significance and impact.

The conclusions and recommendations section summarises key results and may include any plans for relevant future work.

References

The reference list should include only work that is cited in the manuscript and should be according to Harvard referencing, see Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide. 11th edn. London: MacMillan.

References for work not originally published in English shall be listed in the original language of the publication and afterwards transliterated in English in square brackets. Transliterations should follow the rules for transliteration, see: www.google.com/inputtools/services/features/transliteration.html. If the title has an official translation in English, the English title is to be specified first with the original title in the brackets.

Citations, footnotes and endnotes

Direct citations of up to 40 words are included in the body text, using “ ”, followed by the name(s) of the author(s), date of publication and the page number. Citations longer than 40 words should be arranged as a separate paragraph, indented without using “ ”.

Footnotes and endnotes are not recommended.

Illustrative and/or additional material

Illustrative and/or additional material such as tables, graphs, figures, charts and photos must be carefully chosen to enhance the quality and clarity of the paper. The material should be self-explanatory and easy to read. The location of such material should be clearly indicated in the body text and the material should be submitted as separate files.

Declarations and acknowledgements

Acknowledgements: The author(s) must acknowledge anyone who has contributed towards the article but does not meet the criteria of authorship, e.g. a person who acted in an advisory capacity, has provided sources of information and/or has offered purely technical support (e.g. proofreading services) or any other general support.

Funding: The author(s) must declare all sources of funding for the reported research, if applicable. Indicate the role of the funding body, if any, in determining the aims, the design of the study, methods of collecting and analysing data, and input in interpreting and reporting findings and conclusions.

Conflict of interest: The author(s) must confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest, financial or material, associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for their work that could have influenced its outcome OR they need to draw the attention of the editor to facts which may be considered as potential conflicts of interest regarding the funding received (e.g. in determining the aims, the design of the study, methods of collecting and analysing data, and input in interpreting and reporting findings and conclusions).

Typographic guidance for manuscript preparation

Headings

• Heading 1 – Font: Calibri, size 14pt, bold
• Heading 2 -Font: Calibri, size: 12pt, bold italics
• Heading 3- Font: Calibri, size 12pt, italics
• Heading 4 – Font: Calibri, size 11, bold
• Font colour for all headings: black

Body text

• Font: Calibri
• Font size: 11pt
• Text style: normal
• Font colour: black

Page set-up

• A4
• Normal margins (top: 2.54cm, bottom: 2.54cm, left: 2.54cm, right: 2.54cm)
• Header: 1.25cm
• Footer: 1.25cm
• Double line spacing
• Insert page numbers to the right, bottom of page, calibri 9pt

Tables

• Font and font size: Calibri 11pt
• Accent colours – light grey

Table example – please keep tables within the page margins.

Diagrams, charts, graphs, illustrations and photos must be labelled as figures and the title must be positioned below them in Calibri 11pt.

Proofreading

It is the responsibility of the author(s) to proofread the manuscript before its publication.

Document saving

• Documents must be saved as .doc or .docx files.
• Tables may be created in word, saved as .doc or .docx files, or in Excel, saved as .xls files.
• Charts, illustrations, figures and photos must be saved as .jpg or .tiff files with a minimum resolution of 300dpi.

Submission of manuscript

The author or corresponding author must submit the following files:

• File 1 (with author details) includes the manuscript title, name(s) of the author(s), institutional affiliation(s), author or corresponding author contact details, and full manuscript with tables, figures, references and any appendices if applicable.
• File 2 (anonymous) includes the manuscript title, abstract, keywords, and the full manuscript with tables, figures, references and any appendices if applicable. Authors must ensure that no personal data is identifiable
• File 3 consists of the Declaration of Authorship and No Conflict of Interest.
• File 4 consists of the written permission of the publisher or author of any copyrighted work, if applicable.

Files should be named consistently, with the initial part of the paper title abbreviated and appearing the same across all files, followed by an indication of the content of each file (e.g., abstract full paper, table 1 etc.), followed by author name only for non-anonymized files.

The full manuscript must be submitted via email to: [email protected]