International Journal of Early Childhood - Additional instructions for authors
The International Journal of Early Childhood [IJEC] is a peer-reviewed
journal.
IJEC is distributed three times a year. IJEC primarily publishes original
research articles. Essays and book reviews may also be accepted.
IJEC is published under the auspices of the international organization,
OMEP [World Organization for Early Childhood Education].
Editor - Donna Berthelsen
Email: IJECeditor@qut.edu.au
This document provides additional guidance to authors about preparing a manuscript for submission. Please also read the IJEC-Springer Author Guidelines [http://www.springer.com/journal/13158] before submitting manuscripts to IJEC.
It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that a submitted manuscript is free of editorial errors and meets content and style expectations.
New Author Submissions: Please register at http://www.editorialmanager.com/IJEC/
Click the 'Register' link on the menu and enter the requested information. Upon successful registration you will be sent an email with instructions on how to verify your registration.
Criteria for manuscript evaluation
Articles should be well structured as for conventional research reports and written clearly. Strengths and weaknesses of
the manuscript will be assessed in the review process.
Criteria for evaluation of articles in the review process include:
- General relevance to the scope of the International Journal of Early Childhood;
- Research has potential to contribute to new knowledge about early childhood and early education;
- Argument for the research is well developed and theoretically informed;
- Design and methods of the research are clearly described;
- Data analyses processes are transparent and findings are clearly presented;
- Interpretation of the research findings is appropriate;
- Implications for early childhood research, policy, and practice are apparent;
- The manuscript is ready for publication in the quality of writing and presentation.
Manuscript style and formatting
Manuscripts should be presented in a conventional font (e.g., Times Roman 12pt) with at least 1.5 line-spacing with
one-inch margins.
- Research articles should not exceed 6,500 words in length at submission (for main text and references), unless negotiated with the Editor.
- Essays should not exceed 2,500 words in length.
- Book reviews should not exceed 1,200 words in length and should be submitted directly to the Main Editor.
Abstracts: Abstracts should be 150 to 200 words in length and not contain references. An abstract for a research article
is a summary of the content of the paper not an introduction to the paper.
Because IJEC is published under the auspices of the international organization, OMEP, translations of the English abstract into French and Spanish are required if the manuscript is accepted for publication.
Keywords: A list of 4 to 6 keywords should be presented under the abstract in the manuscript. These are used for indexing purposes.
Headings: No more than three levels of headings should be used across the main text of the manuscript.
Spelling: Either U.S. or U.K. spelling can be used but the selected spelling style must then be used consistently across the manuscript.
Referencing
The reference list should be formatted according to APA 6th edition. However, citations in the main text are not formatted according to APA 6th edition. This in-text referencing style is used so that Springer publications remain well formatted across a range of platforms including tablets, Kindles, Sony Readers, iPads, and other devices.
In-text referencing:
If the citation is in parentheses then the citation style is:
- One author: (Miller 1991)
- Two authors: (Miller and Smith 1994)
- Three authors or more, from first usage: (Miller et al. 1995)
- Lists of authors: (Abbott 1991; Barakat et al. 1995; Kelso and Smith 1998)
In-text citations with quotes require page numbers:
- … (Band and Weisz 1988, p. 248)
- … (McCarty et al. 1999, p. 810)
- Connell (2003) refers to these recurrent gendered hierarchies as ‘the gender regime of an institution’ (p. 53).
Review process
Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that they are original and have not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Decisions on submitted manuscripts rest with the Main Editor and the Associate Editors. Decisions are guided by comments from reviewers.
Submitted articles: When an article has been submitted to IJEC the Main Editor assesses the article and decides if it meets criteria for style and scientific quality. If it is not satisfactory, the paper is rejected. Sometimes an article may be of interest but needs to be revised before it is sent for external review. Should that be the case, the Editor will advise the author.
Blind review process: If the manuscript is accepted for external review, it will be assigned to an editor to manage the review process. It will be sent to at least two reviewers for blind review. The criteria for evaluation guide the review
process.
Feedback: Feedback to authors will indicate acceptance, rejection, major revisions, or minor revisions. For manuscripts requiring revisions, the author should consider the comments in the feedback carefully. In any resubmission, the author should respond in detail about changes made to the manuscript. This detailed response should also provide justifications as to why any recommendations were not incorporated. Submission of a revised paper does not guarantee publication and the revised paper may be sent again for external review.
Publication
Accepted manuscripts will be published according to timeliness, consideration of the subject matter, space availability, and publication schedule. For information about copyright permissions, please check the IJEC-Springer website:
http://www.springer.com/journal/13158