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Submission Guidelines

Author Guidelines

All manuscripts for JPER should be submitted electronically at this website (https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jper/).

Although authors may initially select whether their work is submitted to the Research or Practitioner section, the editors reserve the right to decide which section and selection criteria is most appropriate for the manuscript.

In all cases, it is advised that non-native English speaking authors have their manuscripts checked by an English language native speaker before submission; this will ensure that submissions are judged on quality and relevance of content.

Manuscripts must be submitted through the website; e-mail submissions are not accepted. Submitting authors will be asked to confirm that the manuscript has been submitted solely to this journal and is not published, in press, or submitted elsewhere. You are strongly encouraged to follow the submission preparation checklist below. Unless otherwise specified, all steps are required for Researcher and Practitioner-written submissions.

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to comply with all of the following items. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to authors.

1. Length and format: Research Submissions should be in APA format and no more than 12000 words, including all tables, figures, notes, and references. Practitioner Submissions should be between 1000 and 2500 words, including all tables, figures, notes, and references. (Given the creative nature of some Practitioner pieces, this length criteria and APA format may not be applicable. We suggest that you contact the section editor if you have any questions regarding your Pracitioner submission.)

All manuscripts should be typed for 8½" x 11" paper with 1" margins on all sides, double-spaced using 12-point type. They should be in MS Word or RTF format. Any supplemental files should also be in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or Excel format. Subheads should be used at reasonable intervals to break the monotony of text. Words and symbols to be italicized must be clearly indicated, by either italic type or underlining. Abbreviations and acronyms should be spelled out at first mention unless found as entries in their abbreviated form in Merriam-Webster’s Tenth Collegiate Dictionary (e.g., “IQ” needs no explanation). Pages should be numbered consecutively.

As an international journal published in the English language, we comply with two conventions for grammar, spelling, and punctuation--specifically, UK and US conventions. The decision to follow one or the other is determined by the author's preference, whenever possible.

2. JPER discourages the use of subjective terms such as inmate, offender, or criminal. Instead, we prefer descriptive terms such as prisoner, incarcerated person, or, ideally, student. However, if you have a strong rationale for using the former within the context of your writing and profession, please let the section editor know.

3. Author identification: Every effort should be made to ensure that submission material contains no clues as to author identity. A traditional cover page is not necessary as author contact information is submitted elsewhere in the submission process. Information in text, citations, references, or footnotes that would identify the author should be masked from the manuscript file. These may be reinserted in the final draft.

4. Abstract and keywords: All manuscripts should include an abstract of 150 words. When writing the abstract attention should be focused on the following questions:

What is the general gist of the piece (i.e., what is it about)?

What is its purpose?

Who is the intended audience?

What do you expect the audience 'to do' with the information?

Please also include a few keywords (the terms that researchers will use to find your article in indexes and databases). Such a term may contain more than one word. Articles in JPER typically list 3 to 5 keywords. Some practitioner papers, specifically arts based submissions, may not require an abstract. If you have any questions regarding the need for an abstract or keywords, please email jper.connect@gmail.com.

5. Notes and references: Notes are for explanations or amplifications of textual material. They should be typed as normal text at the end of the text section of the manuscript rather than as part of the footnote or endnote feature of a computer program, and they should be numbered consecutively throughout the article. A reference list contains only references that are cited in the text. Its accuracy and completeness are the responsibility of the author(s). Reference each publicly available identifier (DOI), a handle, or a uniform resource name (URN). If necessary, this last element may be replaced by a web address and an access date. Personal communications (letters, memos, telephone conversations) are cited in the text after the name with as exact a date as possible.

6. Tables, figures, and illustrations:The purpose of tables and figures is to present data to the reader in a clear and unambiguous manner. The author should not describe the data in the text in such detail that illustration or text is redundant. Tables and figures should be entered individually as supplemental files during the submission process.

7. Prior publication: Confirm that the manuscript has been submitted solely to this journal and is not published, in press, or submitted elsewhere. If the material has been presented at a conference or is part of a research study or similar project, this must be stated.

8. Human subjects protections: Authors writing as both practitioners and researchers are responsible for respecting and complying with all human subject protections requirements, apropos to the sensitivity and risk of their work. Written permission is required for the use of prisoners’ written or art work, images and photographic images of prisoners, and so on. Contributors are responsible for obtaining such permissions and forwarding them to the editorial board.

9. Biographical sketch: Authors should complete a two or three sentence biographical sketch on the submission page. This biographical sketch will be published alongside accepted articles.

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Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:Authors retain copyright, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Privacy Statement

Although accurate contact information is essential for anyone submitting work to JPER, it is our policy not to share or sell this information to third parties.

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