Instructions for Authors

Instructions for Authors

1. Manuscript Submission Overview

Manuscripts submitted to International Journal of Whole Schooling (IJWS) should not be under consideration for publication in another journal, nor previously published in another journal.

Manuscripts submitted to IJWS must have an overt connection to at least one of the 9 principles of Whole Schooling.

1.1 Submission Process

1.1.1 Submission system

Manuscripts for IJWS should be submitted online at online submission & editorial system.

The submitting author is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer-review process. The submitting author must ensure that all eligible co-authors have been included in the author list and that they have all read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. To submit your manuscript, register and log in to the submission website.

1.1.2 Process for in-House Submissions

IJWS requires that editorial staff not be involved in processing their own academic work. A conflict-of-interest section is required for all manuscripts submitted by Journal staff and members of the Editorial Board. If there are no conflict-of-interests to declare, please use the following wording:

Given their role as Editor [in Chief], <NAME of Editor> had no involvement in the peer-review of this article and has no access to information regarding its peer-review. Full responsibility for the editorial process for this article was delegated to <NAME of delegated editor>.

1.2 Editorial Process and Peer-Review

1.2.1 Editorial Process

All articles submitted are pre-checked by the editors. If the editors believe the article is suitable for review, the author’s name will then be removed, and the manuscript will be sent for double-blind peer review to at least two reviewers. The selected reviewers anonymously evaluate the article and make publication recommendations to the editors. In cases where two reviewers do not agree, the article will be sent to Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member for opinion. The final decision to publish an article rest with the editors with input from reviewers .

IJWS is consistent with the principles of editorial independence presented by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). For more details, see Editorial Process.

1.2.2 Reviewer Recommendation

Authors can recommend two peers who could potentially be called upon to review the submitted manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to):

The potential reviewer has recently collaborated with any of the authors on professional projects.
An individual who is a family member of the author.
The author reports to a potential reviewer in their job (eg. Department Head of an author)

Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite any recommended reviewers to assess manuscript.

Editorial office will check to make sure there are no conflicts of interest before contacting reviewers and will not consider those with competing interests. Recommending reviewers are asked to declare any conflicts of interest.

1.3 Publication Charges

There are no submission fees. Article Processing Charge (APC) is required after a manuscript has been accepted for publication. For waivers or discounts, please contact the Editorial Office < ijws@wholeschooling.net> before submission.

1.4 Publication Language

IJWS is published in English. Either British or American English may be used, but consistency should be maintained throughout the manuscript.

2. Types of Publications

2.1 Original Research

Reports on primary, unpublished studies using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method designs. Original Research articles must follow the IMRAD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion), in line with international academic standards. The article should begin with an abstract which summarizes the entire article. The abstract must include four sections: objective, methods, results, and conclusion, but subheadings are not required.

Word limit will be 8,000 words, inclusive of abstract, acknowledgments, tables, figure legends, and references. Figures and tables should be no more than 10 and 20 – 50 references.

2.2 Review

Comprehensive overviews of specific topics. Includes narrative, conceptual, or chronological approaches. Must not include unpublished data. The abstract may be flexible.

Maximum 10,000 words are recommended; no more than 8 figures and tables; 30 – 50 references.

2.3 Book Review / Media Review

Critiques of books, research works, media, or events. Includes title of the original work, main text, and references. Book reviews may or may not be peer reviewed at the discretion of the editors. The abstract should summarize the article and may be a flexible format. The article should have maximum 3,000 words, no more than 3 figures and tables, and 3 – 10 references.

2.4 Practice

Descriptions of events, structures, or innovative teaching/administrative practices successfully supporting the Whole Schooling principles. May involve individual students, classrooms, schools, or systems. Literature cited as appropriate. Focuses on implementation and outcomes rather than formal research design. The abstract should include objective, methods, results, and conclusion. Article should have maximum 5,000 words, no more than 6 figures and tables; and 10 - 30 references.

2.5 Analysis

Reactions to current events, policies, or practices related to Whole Schooling, generally written by those with expertise or direct experience. The article should be supported by literature unless topic is entirely new. The abstract should summarize the article and may be a flexible format. The article should have maximum 5,000 words, no more than 6 figures and tables, and 15 - 40 references.

2.6 Voices

Personal experiences and perspectives adding to knowledge or offering alternative viewpoints. May highlight human elements within larger principles or research. Literature may be cited when generalizing findings. The abstract should summarize the article and may be a flexible format. The article should have maximum 3,000 words, no more than 3 figures and tables, and 5 – 15 references.

2.7 Commentary

Brief, focused articles by experts highlighting and discussing significant studies or current educational topics. The abstract should summarize the article and may be a flexible format. The article should have maximum 2,500 words, no more than 2 figures and tables, and 20 - 30 references.

2.8 Editorial

Opinion pieces from editors or invited authors. The article may introduce or contextualize special issues. The abstract should summarize the article and may be a flexible format. The article should have maximum 2,500 words, no more than 3 figures and tables, and 5 - 15 references.

2.9 Correction

Editorial pieces are designed to provide changes to previously published articles. They are reviewed only by Journal editors or members of the Editorial Board. A correction / addendum may be used to correct errors affecting scholarly record or paper integrity. The piece includes only revised elements with reasons. All original authors must agree.

2.10 Retraction

Retractions occur when major errors invalidate conclusions, or in cases of misconduct (e.g., lack of ethical approval, fabricated data, plagiarism) serves as notice that the paper should not be considered part of literature.

3. Manuscript Preparation

3.1 Accepted File Formats

Authors may use the Microsoft Word template available on our website to prepare their manuscript. If this requirement presents a problem, please contact the Editorial Office (ijws@wholeschooling.net). Accepted file formats are:

Microsoft Word file format: Manuscripts must be converted into a single file before submission. You may use any software product when preparing manuscripts but must submit in Microsoft Word format. please use the American Psychological Association style (APA).
LaTeX: Manuscripts prepared in LaTeX must be collated into one ZIP folder (including all source files and images, so that the Editorial Office can recompile the submitted PDF).
Figures: Please save and submit figures as jpg. or tif. files (see 3.3.5 for further details).
Supplementary Materials: These materials may be in any format, but it is recommended that authors use common, non-proprietary formats where possible.

3.2 Files and article structure

Uploaded files must include a title page and manuscript file. Cover letters, figures, and supplementary materials may be uploaded as needed.

3.2.1 Title Page

General information about an article and its authors is presented on a manuscript title page and usually includes the article title, author information, sources of support, word count, and sometimes the number of tables and figures.

Click HERE to see an example of Title Page.

Title. The title of your manuscript should be concise, specific and relevant. It should identify the type of article.

Author information. Authors’ full first and last names must be provided on the title page of the manuscript. The initials of any middle names can be added.

The standard format is used for affiliations: complete address information including city, zip code, state/province, and country. Affiliations of the authors indicated by numbers (not symbols); equal contribution indicated by †. At least one author should be designated as corresponding author, and his or her email address and other details should be included at the end of the affiliation section. If any of the named co-authors moves affiliation during the peer-review process, the new affiliation can be given as a footnote. Please note that no changes to affiliation can be made after your paper is accepted.

IJWS encourages the listing of authors’ Open Researcher and Contributor Identification (ORCID) and keep their Contributor Identification information updated, ensuring that their identity is uniquely linked to their research work. IJWS will display authors’ ORCID IDs on finished publications. It is an optional field which the submitting author can fill in.

Since 2025, the journal has not encouraged the listing of more than two co-first authors or co-corresponding authors. If there is a special reason to list more than two corresponding authors, please submit a cover letter providing a reasonable justification.

Availability of data and materials. This section is strongly encouraged that all datasets on which the conclusions of a manuscript depend should be available to readers, unless they are already provided as part of the submitted article. Authors who do not wish to share their data must state this fact, and also provide an explanation as to why the data are unavailable.

Author contributions. The individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified, and initials should be used to refer to each author’s contribution, e.g., GF, LH, and PG designed the research study, LH and PG performed the research, GF and MM provided data collection, MM analyzed the data. All authors contributed to editorial changes in the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. All authors have participated sufficiently in the work and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Ethics approval and consent to participate. Manuscripts reporting studies that involve human participants or human data must include a clear statement on ethics approval and informed consent, even when formal approval was waived.
The statement should include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the approval number (if applicable).

If the study did not involve human participants, human data, or ethical considerations, please include the statement:

“Not applicable.”

Situations where ethical approval may be exempted include:

Use of publicly available data;
Secondary data analysis of datasets that have been fully anonymized;
Analysis of teaching practices, educational reforms, or reflections that do not involve individual participants.

For further guidance, please refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Example of an ethics declaration:

The research protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of [Full Institution Name] (Approval No.: [XXXXXX]). All participants provided written informed consent prior to participation. For participants under the age of 18, informed consent was obtained from their parents or legal guardians.

Acknowledgment. In this section, you can acknowledge any support given which is not covered by the author contribution or funding sections. This may include administrative and technical support, or donations in kind (e.g., materials used for experiments).

Funding. List funding sources. As this section contains important information and many funding bodies require inclusion of grant numbers here, please check carefully that manuscript details are accurate and use standard spelling of funding agency names at https://search.crossref.org/funding, as errors may affect your future funding.

For single agency grants
This work was supported by the [Funding Agency] under Grant [number xxxx].
For multiple agency grants
This work was supported by the [Funding Agency #1] under Grant [number xxxx]; [Funding Agency #2] under Grant [number xxxx]; and [Funding Agency #3] under Grant [number xxxx].

Conflicts of interest. This section is required for all manuscripts. If there are no interests to declare, please use the following wording: “The authors declare there are no conflicts of interest” or “The author declares there are no conflicts of interest”. The text in this section should match the text provided in the Declaration of Interests form in the publishing agreement. IJWS recommends that the author adopt the APA conflict of interest form to reveal any possible conflict of interest.

Declaration of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process. In accordance with COPE’s stated position on AI tools, such as ChatGPT and similar AI tools based on large language models (LLMs), cannot be listed as an author of a paper. If the author(s) have used AI tools in drafting of the manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, the authors must be transparent concerning the use of AI tools. Furthermore, AI tool use must be disclosed in this section. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those portions produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics. Final decisions concerning whether the use of an AI tool is appropriate, or permissible, in a submitted manuscript lies with the journals’ editors. Specifically, the Editor-in-Chief is responsible for decisions concerning regular journal submissions, or an Editorial Board member may be appointed by the Editor-in-Chief to make such judgements in the case of a conflict of interest or for other circumstances.

Word count. A word count for the paper’s text, excluding its abstract, acknowledgments, tables, figure legends, and references, allows editors and reviewers to assess whether the information contained in the paper warrants the paper’s length, and whether the submitted manuscript fits within the journal’s formats and word limits. A separate word count for the abstract is useful for the same reason.

Specification of number of figures and tables. These numbers allow editorial staff and reviewers to confirm that all figures and tables were actually included with the manuscript.

Abstract. The Abstract should not exceed 350 words. Abbreviations should be spelled out in full on first use, unless they are extremely common in the field. Please do not cite references, figures or tables, website, equations or other graphical elements included.

Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide 3–10 keywords, avoiding plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of').

3.2.2 Manuscript

(1) Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background to clarify why the study was undertaken and what hypotheses were tested, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. The information in this section should always be referenced and must discuss the literature.

(2) Methods

New methods and protocols should be described in detail while well-established methods can be briefly described and appropriately cited. Methods that have been published in detail elsewhere should not be described in detail and avoid unnecessary detailed descriptions of widely used techniques.
SI Units should be used throughout the text.
Reseaches involving human subjects must describe the steps taken to obtain consent and to maintain confidentiality.
Statistical analyses should provide the name of the statistical test used, the number for each analysis, the comparisons of interest, the alpha level and the actual p-value for each test. It should be clear which statistical test was used to generate every p-value. Error bars on graphs should be clearly labeled, and it should be stated whether the number following the ± sign is a standard deviation or a standard error. The word ‘significant’ should only be used when referring to statistically significant results and should be accompanied by the relevant p-value. Significance indicators should be used on graphs and tables, and should be described in the figure or table legend, clearly indicating which groups are being compared. Describe any statistical software used to perform analyses.

(3) Results

Include a concise summary of the data presented in all display items (figures and tables). Excessive elaboration of data shown in display items should be avoided. Numerical data should be analyzed using appropriate statistical tests described in the Experimental Design and Statistical Analysis section. Authors must provide detailed information for each statistical test applied. If some references are needed to support the results they can be inserted in the Discussion section.

Reproducibility of Results and Statistical Analysis:

Submission of data for publication is an indication that the authors are confident of data reproducibility. Appropriate statistical analysis should be used to determine that the findings are significant. The term "significant" should be used only if such determination has been made. The probability of the significance should be stated. It is worth emphasizing that scatter plots can depict individual data points as well as measures of central tendency and variability. Therefore, when dealing with small sample sizes, IJWS now encourages authors to prioritize the use of visualizations that display the entire data distribution to describe continuous data.

(4) Discussion

This section should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and an overly discussion of published literature.

(5) Conclusions

This section is not mandatory but can be added to the manuscript if the discussion is unusually long or complex.

Summarize briefly the important points of the manuscript including a brief description of the study.

(6) Figures and Tables

Figures and Tables should be inserted into the main text close to their first citation and must be numbered following their number of appearance.

Please note that articles which are longer than 20 pages (Font style- Times New Roman; Font Size- 12; Line Spacing-1.5) including references will not be considered. If your manuscript exceeds the limit, you need to reduce the content to meet the limit.

3.3 Format of Manuscript

3.3.1 General Formatting Guidelines

IJWS follows APA style with minor modifications.

Format, revise, and correct the manuscript and save it as a MS Word document (not as a text or any other type of file). It is important that manuscripts should be written in clear, concise English and should be submitted free of grammar, spelling or scientific errors. Subsequent to submission of the manuscript, please do not send any other revised form of the same document. Such documents will not be used.
If you are including or referring to previously published text, tables, or figures, please obtain permission from the publisher by contacting them and add the comment "Reproduced with permission from, (ref #)" to the text, figure, or table legend.
All terms such as et al, etc. should be italicized.
Please do not use automatic numbering in sections, sub-sections, titles, subtitles or references. The numbering used by Word is proprietary and does not allow conversion to HTML documents. Please remove automatic numbering and manually number numbered items in text.
All supplementary materials (where applicable) should be submitted as separated files. All supplementary figures and tables must be referred to by sequential numbers in text.
Do not include footnotes throughout the text. All footnotes must be included at the end of the references and referred to sequentially by superscripted numbers both in text and in footnotes.
All files must be scanned for viruses prior to submission.
Page Layout: General. Margins of between 2 cm and 2.4 cm are appropriate.
The text of the article will follow with typical APA headings and style; Times New Roman. Font size 12, 1.5-2.0 line spacing. Alignment Justified.
The first line indents 2 characters of a new paragraph.
Sub-headings and general headings should be presented in upper case letters (capitalize the initials of all substantives).
Do not use page breaks in your manuscript.
Please apply Word's built-in style tools to set the heading levels. The format of heading levels follows the APA style.
Place a hard return after each paragraph.

3.3.2 References

All references in the reference list must be written in APA style (7th ed.).

In-Text Citations should include the author's surname and year of publication, e.g., (Smith, 2020). If citing multiple sources, list them in alphabetical order by the author's surname and separate them with semicolons, e.g., (Smith, 2020; Johnson, 2019; Lee et al., 2018). For sources with more than three authors, list the first author and followed by "et al." in all citations, e.g., (Smith et al., 2020).

3.3.3 Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be spelled out in full on first use in the manuscript (abstract, text, and figures/tables), followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, unless they are extremely common in the field.
For a term in parentheses, put the abbreviation in brackets after the term: (response time [RT]).
Abbreviations are used only if the term is used 3 or more times in the text.

3.3.4 Tables

All tables should be inserted into the main text close to their first citation and must be numbered following their order of appearance (Table 1, Table 2, etc.).
Do not submit tables in any other format such as an image, Excel file, PDF file, etc.
Each table must be a real table with columns, rows and cells.
Do not use tab to create tables.
Each piece of information should reside in its own cell.
Tables must be numbered sequentially in the text and in the table title.
Each table should have a short title. Any other text should be included at the bottom of the table and not in the table title.
Please refer to any notation within the table with sequential superscripted numbers and not by any other attribute such as a, #, etc.
If possible, please do not use abbreviations in tables.
If abbreviations are used, please list them below the table such as IFN, interferon.

3.3.5 Figures

Figure File Requirements

File type: .tif, .jpg.
Image resolution: Figures should be submitted at a high resolution ① Line Art 800 dpi, ② Combo (Line Art + Halftone) 600 dpi, ③ Halftone 300 dpi. We do not accept 72 dpi web-quality graphics (usually jpg or gif format) in which the colors are not realistic, the text is illegible, or where the images are pixelated. It is important to stress that the objective is to obtain the highest quality images available.
Color space: RGB (not CMYK).
Alpha channels: None.
Letters, numbers, and symbols on figures should be clear and consistent throughout, and large enough. Font used within the figure should be between 8 and 10 points for legibility. Label units of measure consistently with the text and legend, following AMA Style for unit abbreviations.
Solid lines should not be broken up. Any lines in the graphic should be no smaller than 2 points wide.
Do not include trial logos in figures.
Figures should be prepared with the PDF layout in mind. Individual figures should not be longer than one page and with a width that corresponds to 1 column (85 mm) or 2 columns (180 mm).
All figures should be inserted into the main text close to their first citation and must be numbered following their order of appearance (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc). In addition, file for figures can be provided during submission in a separate file.
Encourage to follow the guideline of WCAG: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#comparison-with-wcag-2-0

Figure Label & Panel Label

Use the figure label with the format: Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, etc.
Use the panel label with the format: (A), (B–D), (a), (a,b), etc.
Figure legends begin with the term Figure in bold type, followed by the figure number, also in bold type.
Figure parts should be clearly labeled. Letters and labels must be uniform in size and style within each figure and, when possible, between figures.
Limit white space between figure panels and within each panel.
Authors are strongly encouraged to limit the number of panels per figure to 6.

Figure Legends

Provide a short title (in the legend, not on the figure itself) and an explanation in brief but sufficient detail to make the figure intelligible without reference to the text (unless a similar explanation has been given in another figure).
Statistical tests used should be described in each figure legend.
All symbols used (arrows, circles, etc.) must be explained.
All abbreviations used in the figure should be identified at the end of each legend.
If previously published figures are used, written permission from the original publisher (or copyright holder, if not the publisher) is required, and the figure source must be cited in the legend.
For multi-panel figures, each panel should be described in the legend individually.

In-text Citations

Cite figures with the format: Figure 1A, Figure 1B, Figure 2, Figure 3, etc.
Cite figures in ascending numeric order upon first appearance in the manuscript file. In the published article, figures are inserted according to the placement of their first citation and caption in the article.
Lettered subparts of whole figures may be cited in any order in the text if the first mention of each whole figure is in numerical order. For example, you can cite any subpart of Figure 3 in any order (e.g., Figure 3C before Figure 3A), as long as Figs. 1 and 2 have already been cited.
If an appendix appears in your article and it contains one or more figures, continue the consecutive numbering of the main text. Appendix materials should be cited as “Appendix Figure 1, Appendix Table 1, etc.” Do not number the appendix figures, “A1, A2, A3, etc.”
Supplementary materials should be cited as “Supplementary Figure 1, Supplementary Table 1, etc.”

3.3.6 Label Styles, Units and Symbols

Labels must be prepared according to our in‐house style, be phrased in accordance to the manuscript, and free of spelling and other language errors.

*: Correspondence.

†: These authors contributed equally.

: The author's own special request.

The SI system of units is preferred. For detailed advice please refer to the guidelines in Baron DN, Clark HM. Units, Symbols, and Abbreviations: A Guide for Authors and Editors in Medicine and Related Sciences, 6th edn (2008). CRC Press, ISBN 9781853156243.

Note:

Always use a leading zero (0) before decimal points: 0.5 NOT .5.
Decimal points must use a full stop/period (.) NOT a comma (,).
A space must be inserted before measurement units: 132 bp NOT 132bp, 5 mm NOT 5mm, 1 h NOT 1h.

3.4 Supplementary Materials

Additional data and files can be uploaded as "Supplementary Files" during the manuscript submission process. The supplementary files will also be available to the referees as part of the peer-review process. Any file format is acceptable, however, we recommend that common, non-proprietary formats are used where possible.

3.5 Multimedia Materials

The author may submit all relevant multimedia materials with the initial submission to enhance the manuscript's dynamism and readability. For more details, please refer to

4. Ethics, Guidelines, and Authorship

4.1 Publication Ethics

IJWS follows the principles of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the APA Code of Conduct. Authors must ensure that submissions are:

Original – no plagiarism, duplication, or simultaneous submission.
Accurate – data reported honestly, including negative results.
Transparent – methods and materials described to allow reproducibility.
Ethical – compliant with relevant research and ethics standards.
Accountable – errors identified after publication must be promptly reported for correction or retraction.

Fabrication, falsification, suppression of data, or unprofessional criticism of others is unacceptable.

4.2 Research Guidelines

Authors should follow international guidelines where applicable:

STROBE – observational studies
PRISMA / PRISMA-P – systematic reviews & protocols
SRQR– qualitative research

4.3 Neutrality

IJWS remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims in maps, affiliations, and author correspondence.

4.4 Authorship

Each author should:

Contribute substantially to study design, data acquisition, or analysis.
Draft or critically revise the manuscript.
Approve the final version.
Accept responsibility for all aspects of the work.

Funding, data collection, or supervision alone does not justify authorship. Individual contributions must be specified, and any author changes after submission require editor approval and notification of all parties.

5. Copyright/Open Access

As an open access journal, IJWS makes all content freely available, with copyright retained by the author(s).

Articles from Volume 22 Issue 1 (2026) onward are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0). Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link, adapt, or use the full texts for any lawful non-commercial or commercial purpose, provided the original authors, citation details, and publisher are acknowledged. Adaptations, translations, and modifications are permitted under this license. Each article will carry the note:

Updated on January 20, 2026