International Journal of Whole Schooling

Guidelines for contributors

The International Journal of Whole Schooling welcomes articles from a wide variety of perspectives - educators, parents, academics, students, advocates, and concerned citizens.

The Process

All articles submitted are first reviewed by the editors. If the editors believe the article is suitable for review, they will then remove the author name and send the piece to two members of the Editorial Review Board. The selected reviewers anonymously evaluate the article and make publication recommendations to the editors. In cases where the two reviewers do not agree, the article is sent to a third reviewer for opinion. The final decision to publish an article rests with the editors, however under normal circumstances the opinion of the reviewers will govern the decision to publish.

Types of articles

The International Journal of Whole Schooling publishes a number of different styles of articles. These include:

1) Research. Traditional or non-traditional research papers including quantitative and qualitative research styles. Central to papers of this nature is a literature review, clear outline of research objectives, description of research method, reporting of results, interpretation of results, and conclusions.

2) Voices. Personal experiences and stories which add to knowledge or provide a different perspective on a topic. These papers might highlight personal tales that add a ‘human’ element to larger principles or research. Literature and research may or may not be cited in a ‘voices’ paper, but will often be necessary if the author claims the experience can be generalized to a wider community or principle.

3) Practice. Descriptions of events, structures, or innovative teaching or administrative practices which have been found to successfully support the principles of Whole Schooling. Practice articles may be about individual students, classrooms, schools or school systems. Literature and research on the practices under discussion would be used as appropriate.

4) Analysis. Reaction to current events, policy, or practice as they relate to Whole Schooling. An analysis piece would generally be written by someone with expertise or direct experience in the area under discussion. Literature and research would generally be used to support the arguments of an author, unless the topic was so new as to be unsupported by such.

5) Review. Critiques of books, research, television programs, movies, websites, newspaper articles, speeches, and conferences. Book reviews may or may not be peer reviewed at the discretion of the editors.

6) Commentary. A commentary would be written on a current event or topic by a person with the background to make an informed comment.

Writing Assistance

One of the goals of the International Journal of Whole Schooling is to include a wide variety of different articles and authors. Articles suitable for publication could include research, opinion, reviews, critique, or ‘stories’ designed to make us further consider aspects of Whole Schooling. In order to include as many different voices as possible in the Journal, we are pleased to offer assistance with writing for those who feel they have something worthwhile to say, but not the background as an author to put together an article which would pass a rigorous review process. If you would like assistance and advice in this area, please contact Tim Loreman or Billie Jo Clausen and we will try and match you up with someone who can provide you with the help you request.

Specific Guidelines

All articles must be written in APA style, with due care to be taken with citations and referencing. As recommended by the APA Publication Manual (5th edition), articles written in the ‘first person’ are preferable unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. All articles should be double-spaced.

There is no minimum or maximum length for an article. Articles should be concise, but also long enough to adequately address the topic. Articles which are either too long or too short for a given topic are unlikely to successfully pass through the review process. Please note that there are no page charges in the International Journal of Whole Schooling for submitting authors.

We have established separate rubrics for each of the types of articles listed above. Click on the appropriate category to download a review rubric in PDF format: Research; Voices; Practice; Analysis; and Commentary. These are intended to assist you in preparing your article.

Authors will be asked to sign an author release form upon acceptance of articles for publication. Please download the form via pdf document, print, and mail to the Journal editors.

Articles are accepted for consideration year-round. All articles are to be submitted as a Microsoft ‘Word’ document or other major word processor via email to either Tim Loreman or Billie Jo Clausen .