Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Author Guidelines

While this journal welcomes essays from a wide range of disciplines, its focus is on formation and supervision in and for the sake of strengthening ministry.  Only articles related to that focus will be considered for publication.

The journal is published in February each year.

Every volume of the journal focuses on a theme, chosen by the Editorial Board.  Articles should address an aspect of the theme, though we also welcome articles outside of the stated theme.  Sometimes a cluster of articles is submitted that can form a mini-theme or symposium within the larger issue.

Articles should not exceed twenty pages, double-spaced, or about 5000 words and should follow Chicago Manual of Style guidelines. Notes should be indicated with superior numerals and placed as endnotes at the conclusion of the article.  Normally, there is no bibliography.  A cover sheet should show the title of the article, the author's or authors' name(s), title, institution, location and email address for publication in case readers wish to dialogue with the author.  If you as an author do not wish your email address to be included, please state so when you submit an article for publication.

Determination to publish an article will be made by the Editor.  The article will be read and reviewed by at least one other member of the Editorial Board or another professional whose expertise relates to the topic of the essay.  Once an article is approved in principle for publication, it will be edited by a copy editor, for length, format, grammar and punctuation.

RP is committed to the cultivation of young and/or first time authors.  If you have an idea for a submission or a draft version of a possible article, RP would welcome the opportunity to give you feedback and guide you toward the eventual publication of your article.

The Editorial Board requires that authors use inclusive language.  The only exception is direct quotations from other authors or sources.  Potential articles that do not use inclusive language but otherwise might be suitable for publication will be returned to the author for further editing.

In addition to full length essays, Reflective Practice often includes shorter pieces, such as poems, case studies, reflections and responses to longer essays.  Sometimes RP also includes reprints of significant addresses or lectures delivered at conferences related to one of our professional organizations. 

Each issue of Reflective Practice also includes one theory paper, chosen by the Editorial Board as “theory paper of the year.”  Usually these theory papers come from people applying for Certified Educator Candidate status (ACPE) or other parallel supervisory credentialing processes.  A panel of readers overseen by the Editorial Board reviews these papers, and one or two outstanding papers are selected for publication in each issue.  We welcome unsolicited papers in this category as well.

Finally, each issue of Reflective Practice includes a dozen or so book reviews, brief reviews of newly published books in the disciplines related to this journal or on supervision in general.  Book reviews are welcome.

If you would like to submit an article for possible publication or have any questions about these guidelines, please contact our Editors, Danielle Buhuro and Matthew Floding.

Danielle.Buhuro@acpe.edu - mfloding@div.duke.edu

ACPE Theory Papers

Selected Papers by committee of readers.

ATFE Best Practices Paper

Paper selected for best practices.

Len Cedarleaf Award

Exemplary ACPE Theology Position Paper selected by a committee of readers.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

    1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

    1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.