SPIJ

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
Published by Sage Publications in association with the International School Psychology Association (http://www.ispaweb.org/). ISSN: 0143-0343

Edited By:

Caven S. Mcloughlin, Ph.D.
Kent State University, Kent, OH, US

Robert L. Burden, Ph.D.
University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

E-mail: caven

Mission: Published quarterly, School Psychology International journal highlights the concerns of those who provide quality mental health, educational, therapeutic and support services to schools and their communities throughout the World. It offers articles reflecting high quality academic research in the field as well as examples of proven best practice.

About School Psychology International journal: School Psychology International journal aims to promote exemplary practice in school and educational psychology throughout the world. It provides a forum for sharing ideas and solutions, and encouraging innovation among all professionals committed to improving the quality and provision of mental health, educational therapeutic and support services to schools and their communities Worldwide.

The journal presents descriptions of best practice, together with research studies and articles of a more speculative or theoretical nature, addressing key issues and developments in school psychology worldwide. Work that advances thinking in school and educational psychology or demonstrates practical application of new ideas and techniques is particularly encouraged.

The journal has two co-editors; one located in Kent, Ohio, USA; and a second in Exeter, England. Both are university trainers who prepare school/educational psychologists (here we'll use the terms interchangeably, as it is used worldwide).

For additional information about the School Psychology International journal, please visit the Sage Publications SPIJ web site at: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journals/details/j0188.html#DE

Editorial Policy: School Psychology International Journal publishes critical and descriptive review articles and empirical contributions of international interest in all practical and academic areas of schools and educational psychology. Periodically, issues contain review articles based on defined themes. Manuscripts should normally be between 3,000 and a maximum of 6,000 words in length, including tables, figures and references, and are evaluated by anonymous referees. Book reviews are also published.

Prospect for Acceptance of Submissions: Eight to ten-week turn-around is usual. Of all received articles, the editors immediately return about 50% as ‘not meeting the journal mission’ – these are typically small-scale research pieces that have no apparent relevance to the practice of school psychology outside a very narrow focus in small-town USA. These pieces appear to have been submitted by authors who haven’t read the journal mission (or probably haven’t even glanced at a single issue of the journal) and who have keyed-in on the journal’s title (and then have missed the significance of the ‘international’ appellation). Of the balance that does enter the peer review process, approximately 33% are eventually accepted in one form or another. Request for modifications are the norm.

Articles that have a clear agenda about or for the international community of school psychologists are encouraged and have the best chances for being accepted. Writers who use US-centric terminology or who presume knowledge of North American practice as a basis for understanding their writing are typically asked to make their text accessible to those from other, non-US, settings.

Writers are encouraged to nominate a reviewer (not colleagues, please) though this isn’t required. (Try to select a live individual and proffer a current address!). When the nominated reviewers are individuals whose work is cited then every effort is made to solicit reviews from that individual. Interestingly, over 50% of the time such solicitations are accepted and eventually received — though this can delay the review process a few weeks. We usually have three reviewers comment on the manuscript (though two readers plus the editor is often the case). We routinely invite reviews from colleagues outside the USA – this too can slow the review process. When reviews include a nominated-reviewer plus an overseas reader then they can take up to 12 weeks to gather. However, manuscripts following this route clearly have the highest rate for eventual acceptance.

Authors don’t always seem to understand that manuscripts received just before or during the summer vacation take the longest to turn-around since reviewers are then less timely in their review responsibilities during this period. L

Following the review process & acceptance of the manuscript that’s not the end of the author’s responsibilities — we use ‘fact-checkers’ to verify the exact references and citations for about 10% of the sources referenced in the piece. These are often sadly neurotic folk who delight in scrutinizing detail from arcane reference sources. Now that we have such widespread electronic tracking of published sources it’s generally possible to track down virtually everything any author can reference, including most non-English language work. If the ‘fact-checker’ can find it then the author should have been able to verify it. If we cannot locate a selected reference we routinely ask for a photocopy of that piece top be faxed or scanned-&-emailed as a .pdf file for our review. When even a single error is found in the reference set then the entire manuscript is placed on hold ‘till the author has redone the entire manuscript’s references & citations. That an author ‘missed’ a correct date, misspelled a referenced name, includes a wrong page number to a quote, etc., then it’s assumed that the problem is symptomatic of systematic error. So, for the author it’s then ‘Pass Go and forgo the $200’, and return to redo the entire citations/references. Once the work is resubmitted, the fact-checker samples another random set of the references … this process can add significant delay in publication of the work. Clearly, it’s best to have taken care of this important step prior to mailing in the work.

Following acceptance of a manuscript, there’s typically a time lag of three to four issues before the work will be printed. The author’s electronic copy of the work is used to prepare the galley proofs and they are e-mailed to the author for acceptance. Changes at this stage are only accepted for ‘printer-errors.’ Actual production and publisher-processing is done in several sites worldwide. Virtually all communication between the editors & production staff is done electronically.

Submission of Manuscripts: A manuscript will be accepted only on the understanding that it is an original contribution that has not been published previously or is under review by other journals. It’s best to state this up-front in the submission letter. Cover letters that provide a justification as to why the manuscript is a good match for the journal’s mission garner greater attention and are generally viewed as persuasive. Authors in North America & Canada (plus Asia and some other distant parts…) should submit manuscripts to: Caven S. Mcloughlin, Ph.D., School Psychology Program, 405 White Hall, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA.

Manuscript Specifications: Manuscripts should be submitted in the English language on letter-size paper, in triplicate. When submitting your manuscript, please provide double-spaced typescript with generous margins, complete in all respects including a title, the name, and address of the author(s), including e-addresses. Original typescripts and figures should be submitted together with two paper photocopies and postal mailed to the appropriate editor above. SPI does not currently accept manuscripts solely in electronic formats.

Style: Each of the following parts of a manuscript should begin on a new page and should appear in the order shown:

Text with appropriate headings, followed by address to which requests for offprints may be addressed;

Abstract Services: School Psychology International Journal is 'abstracted' by an ever-increasing number of citation/abstract services. This should be of importance to authors since the inclusions of a citation to School Psychology International Journal in a topical database dramatically increases the readership for published work. However, since abstractors rely on Abstracts that must stand-alone they content of an abstract is not a ‘teaser’ but must comprehensively summarize the article’s content.

Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)

e-Psyche

Educational Research Abstracts Online

Psychological Abstracts

Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts

Sociology of Education Abstracts

Sociofile

Sociological Abstracts

Social Services Abstracts

Child Development Abstracts & Bibliography

Spelling: Should follow the Oxford English Dictionary, and punctuation should conform to British orthographic conventions, including the use of single rather than double quotation marks except for quotations-within-quotations. But, it is worth keeping in mind that we really don't get rigid just because you spell 'program' and not 'programme'… A copy-editor handles such matters. Footnotes should be avoided.

The text should be organized conventionally: A typical experimental report is divided into Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion; review articles require a different structure that depends upon the nature of the material discussed. Apart from these details, the style of manuscripts should follow the guidelines laid down in either the 'Suggestion to Contributors' published in the most current edition of the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual. Despite all these rigid sounding recipes, if you're a prospective author for SPIJ and you're unsure on what and how to thread together your ideas into a package suitable for SPIJ, then don't hesitate to contact either of the Editors. Neither bite. Both would be happy to discuss your options on format.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and given titles that are comprehensible without direct reference to the text. Each table should be typed, double-spaced, on a separate sheet, and a separate line in the text, e.g. ‘Table 1 about here’, should indicate its approximate location. Keep in mind that Tables are intended to illustrate features related in the text. We’ve a pet peeve about authors who use Tables as a catchall for information that seems not to justify mention in the text. Tables should not act as repositories for every bit of inconsequential information that is insufficiently important to justify mention in the running text. Thus, for the most part, Tables relate salient statistics for those variables that meet the criterion of statistical significance and not serve to catalog a series of insignificant variables. Fundamentally, Tables must justify the space they consume.

Illustrations: Graphs, diagrams, and other illustrations on separate sheets should be numbered consecutively 'Figure 1', 'Figure 2', etc., and their approximate location in the text indicated in the manner shown above for Tables. Only high quality artwork can be satisfactorily reproduced. An electronic (disk-copy) image of the figure (and all text) will be requested from authors where work includes illustrations. When authors are preparing these on their desktop, they should consider the dimensions and orientation of the typical journal page. It helps if the author tries to image how the figure will actually ‘look’ on the page. The figure number and author(s) names should be written in pencil on the back of each illustration. That's in case we drop your package on the floor and need to work out which page belongs to which manuscript! Figure captions, too, should be typed on a separate sheet, and penciled lightly onto the reverse of each page.

Permission to Reproduce: If illustrations are borrowed from published sources, written permission must be obtained from both publisher and author, and a credit line giving the source added to the legend. If text material totaling 250 to 300 words, or any Tables, are borrowed ad literatim from published sources, written permission is definitely required from both publisher and author. We'll all get into BIG trouble if we skip this step. With significantly shorter quotations, it is sufficient to add a bibliographic credit. Permission letters for reproduced text or illustration must accompany the manuscript. If you have been unable to obtain permission, please point this out in the cover letter you initially send with the manuscript and copies.

Proofs: Page proofs will be returned as .pdf files to authors to allow for essential corrections. Changes other than corrections of printer's errors will not normally be permitted.

Copyright: Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that if it is accepted for publication, copyright of the paper shall be assigned to the Publisher. The Publisher will not place any limitation on the personal freedom the author(s) to use material contained in the paper in any subsequent publications.

Table of Contents: Online contents pages for the journal are accessible at http://www.sagepub.co.uk