Information for Authors

Author Information

Notes for authors of articles and book reviews

We welcome articles, book reviews and contributions from academics, researchers, policy  advisers, managers and practitioners who are working or involved in any aspect of community justice. If you wish to discuss the suitability of an idea or topic for an article, please contact the editors or a member of the editorial board. All articles are peer reviewed by at least two referees.

Manuscripts will only be considered for publication in this journal if they are unpublished and not submitted for publication elsewhere. All submissions to the journal should comply with its style guidelines (see below).

Submission of manuscripts – articles

Please send a Word version of your manuscript, including any tables or illustrations, by email to:

Email:  bjcj@mmu.ac.uk

Submission of Blog Entries – Lived Experience

Please see attached guide on how to write and submit a blog from lived experience

Presentation of manuscripts

Articles should not normally exceed 7,000 words. Please include the word count at the end of the article. If the article exceeds 7,000 words, please contact the Editor(s) prior to submission.

We can supply a template for you to use if you would like one.

Abstract – please include an abstract of up to 250 words, with up to 6 keywords suitable for indexing, abstracting, and online search purposes. The abstract should provide a concise summary of the whole paper.

Author details – Please include your name, affiliation, email address and phone number at the top of your article. Also include the names and affiliations of each co-author. Below this information, please provide a brief biography for each contributing author.

Structure – if you are using the template, please use the heading styles included to make your headings structure clear. If you are not using the template, please make sure that the heading levels are clearly defined.

Notes – keep notes to a minimum. Use footnotes, not endnotes.

Quotations – use single quotation marks for material quoted in the text. Double quotation marks can be used for quotes within quotes. Long quotations (40 words or more) should be displayed                                                  indented (if you are using the template, use the Style named ‘Quote’). Shorter quotes may be retained within the text.

Tables and figures – keep tables and figures to a minimum, and include them within the main text (not in separate files). Place table headings above tables and figure captions below figures. Use sentence case for captions.

Copyright – you are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of quotations and references. You must get permission to quote from or reproduce copyright material in your article before submitting your paper. Include any acknowledgements at the end of the paper before the notes, or, in the case of tables and figures, in the accompanying caption.

References and citations – include your references on a new page at the end of the article. We use the 6th  edition of the Manchester Metropolitan University Harvard reference system. Details and examples of all citation and reference types are available here: https://libguides.mmu.ac.uk/refguide/mmuharvard. Examples of the most common types are provided below.

 

Citations

Within the text, cite the name of the author and date of publication (Smith, 2001), and, following quoted material, the page reference (Smith, 2001:90).

Use ‘et al.’ for three or more authors. (Do not use italics for ‘et al.’)

For multiple citations in the same brackets, order them oldest to newest, separated by a semi-colon (Burrows et al., 2009; Beck, 2014)

For multiple citations published in the same year, order them alphabetically (Beck, 2014; Inala, 2014)

(For more on citations, see https://libguides.mmu.ac.uk/c.php?g=281251&p=1875092.)

 

Reference list

Include a full alphabetically ordered list of references (headed References) at the end of the article, after any notes. The reference list must include every work cited in the text with dates, spellings and titles being consistent. Two or more works by an author in the same year should be distinguished by using 2000a, 2000b, etc. Where there is more than one author of a text or article, each author’s name should be included in the reference list: do not use ‘et al.’ The date in each citation must match the date of each corresponding entry in the reference list.

References in the Reference list should conform to the following style (for more examples, see https://libguides.mmu.ac.uk/refguide/mmuharvard):

Book:

Crossley, M. L. (2000) Introducing narrative psychology: self, trauma and the construction of meaning. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Book – multiple author:

Maguire, M., Kemshall, H., Noaks, L., Wincup, E. (2001) Risk Management of Sexual and Violent Offenders: The work of Public Protection Panels. Police Research Series paper 139. London: Home Office.

Chapter in an edited book:

Dickson, D. (2006) ‘Reflecting.’ In Hargie, O. (ed.) The handbook of communication skills. 3rd ed., London: Routledge, pp. 165-194.

Journal article (print):

Carline, A. and Scoular, J. (2013) ‘Saving fallen women now? Critical perspectives on engagement and support orders and their policy of forced welfarism.’ Social Policy and Society, 14(1) pp. 103-112.

 

Journal article (online only/first online):

McCulloch, P. F., Warren, E. A. and DiNovo, K. M. (2016) ‘Repetitive diving in trained rats still increases Fos production in brainstem neurons after bilateral sectioning of the anterior ethmoidal nerve.’ Frontiers in Physiology, 7:148, pp. 1-12. [Online] [Accessed on 26th April 2016] DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2016.00148

 

Newspaper article (online):

Pells, R. (2016) ‘HMP Bronzefield: women given tents instead of accommodation when leaving London prison, inspection reveals.’ Independent, 13 April. [Online] [Accessed on 2nd September 2018] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/
home-news/hmp-bronzefield-women-given-tents-instead-of-accommodation-when-leaving-london-prison-inspection-a6981926.html

 

Style guidelines

Abbreviations – spell out all abbreviations the first time they appear, using the full name. Use full points after abbreviations such as e.g., i.e., etc., and where the end of a word is cut as in p. (page), or ed. (editor), but do not use them in acronyms such as HMSO, HMIP, UK.

Biased language – do not use sexist or racist language; use inclusive language.

Capital letters – keep capital letters to a minimum: use sentence case for all headings, and do not capitalise job titles or names of theories, models, compass points and so on.

Date format – use the format 1 January 2019.

Italics – use italics for foreign words not assimilated into English, titles of books, journals, films and works of art, and for emphasis. Do not use italics for titles of articles.

Numbers – in general, spell out numbers one to nine; use figures for 10 and above. Always use words for approximations (about a thousand) and centuries (the twentieth century). Always use figures for people’s ages (16- to 18-year-olds), units of measure (5 cm) and dates (13 March).

Person – use the first or second person (‘I’ and ‘we’) or the third person (‘the authors’) when referring to your methods, findings, etc., but please be consistent.

Spacing – Use single spaces after full points, commas, colons and semicolons, quotation marks etc.

Spelling – please use UK English. We accept ‘-ise’ or ‘-ize’ verb endings (both are correct in UK English) but they must be consistent throughout.

Publication

We will send you proofs of your article for checking. We expect you to correct any errors and respond to any queries quickly. Please mark up your amendments using Track Changes and return the file to us within 7 days. Do not make any alterations to the original text unless absolutely essential.

We will send you a link to your article once it has been published.

Copyright

The journal’s policy is to own copyright of its contributions. Therefore, before publication, we ask you to assign copyright. You have the right to re-use the material in other publications that are written or edited by you. However, we will give you permission to do so only if you acknowledge that we own the copyright and that the article was first published by this journal.

Submission checklist

Articles:

One email attachment of your article with:

  • abstract (250 words)
  • keywords (6)
  • tables and figures (if included)
  • notes and references
  • word count