Submissions

Author Guidelines

All manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original works that have not been previously published and are not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, authors affirm that the submission is exclusively being considered by this journal and that all listed authors have approved the manuscript and consented to its submission. Manuscripts that are simultaneously submitted to multiple journals, previously published in substantially similar form, or found to contain plagiarized material will be removed from consideration. Authors are responsible for ensuring the integrity, originality, and ethical compliance of all submitted work.

Preparation of Manuscripts

All submissions must conform to the standards of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition). Manuscripts that do not meet this requirement will not be processed. Manuscripts are not accepted via surface mail or e-mail.

• Types of Manuscript Submissions:
  • General manuscripts are original scholarly articles that present quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, evaluation, or practice-based research relevant to social work, mental health, children and families, human services, policy, advocacy, education, or related interdisciplinary fields. These manuscripts should contribute new knowledge to the profession through the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. Submissions should clearly articulate the purpose of the study, research questions or hypotheses, methodology, findings, and implications for practice, policy, education, or future research. Empirical manuscripts are expected to demonstrate methodological rigor, ethical research practices, critical analysis, and engagement with current scholarly literature. Articles should be well-organized, theoretically or conceptually grounded, and editorially sound. Manuscripts should generally be 15–25 double-spaced pages, excluding references, tables, appendices, and figures.
  • Review Articles are scholarly manuscripts that critically examine, synthesize, and evaluate existing literature related to a specific topic, population, intervention, policy issue, theoretical framework, or area of practice. Rather than presenting original empirical findings, review articles provide a comprehensive overview of current knowledge, identify major themes and trends within the literature, highlight strengths and limitations of existing research, and discuss gaps requiring further exploration. Review articles should demonstrate critical analysis, organization, and scholarly depth while helping readers better understand the current state of research and practice on the selected topic. Authors are encouraged to incorporate recent and relevant peer-reviewed sources and clearly articulate the implications for social work practice, education, advocacy, policy, or future research. Review articles should generally be 10–15 double-spaced pages, excluding references, tables, and figures.
• Formatting:
  • All submissions should be typewritten in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins on all sides.
  • Number manuscript pages consecutively throughout the paper.
  • Include a running head, not exceeding 50-character spaces.
  • An abstract of no more than 250 words must be included with the manuscript text and is considered in the page count. Abstracts should include problem focus, a brief conceptualization or description of innovations, and implications for social welfare. Abstracts of empirical articles should mention the research aims, methods, results, and conclusions.
  • Avoid abbreviations, diagrams, citations, and references to the text in the abstract.

Blinding Your Submission

To ensure anonymity in the peer-review process, all manuscript submissions must be fully blinded. Remove all author information (i.e., name, position, institutional affiliation, and contact information) before submitting the manuscript. Self-referential sources cited should not identify the author(s). Please label such self-referential sources as “Author,” remove titles, and place them at the beginning of the reference list. This applies to the primary author and all co-authors. Example:

• References:
  • (2024). Reference removed for blind review.
  • (2024). Reference removed for blind review.
• Text:
  • Author (2024) conducted a study in which students were held to a different standard of conduct.

Similarly, do not include names of institutions affiliated with the author(s) and research. Example:

• X University’s School of Social Work was recently awarded a grant to fund the study.

After the manuscript enters the review process, it is reviewed by two or three consulting editors. Every effort will be made to notify authors of publication decisions within 4–6 months of receipt of a manuscript.

Tables and Figures

Tables and figures (illustrations) should not be embedded in the text of the submission but should be included as separate files. Tables must be able to stand alone without reference to the text (e.g., abbreviations must be defined in notes, the title must be simple but thorough). Do not mix types of data in the same column (e.g., do not include means and standard deviations in the same column). Tables that do not meet these minimum standards will be returned to the author for revision. Figures should be completely labeled, taking into account necessary size reduction. For peer review, illustrations (line drawings, halftones, photos, photomicrographs) should be supplied as high-quality grayscale digital files, 300 dpi or higher, sized to fit on the journal page, in JPG or PDF format. Final files for printing may also be sent in EPS or TIFF format.