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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, or RTF document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • Text is single-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.

Contributing

Reflecting our vision and values, we welcome a wide variety of contributions relevant to Mad Studies, including and not limited to: poetry, soap box, discussion papers, current issues, debates, interviews with leaders, cartoons, art, videos, and articles for peer review. 

We invite contributions from people whose voices have been marginalised by, and are not generally embraced by traditional academic and professional journals.  Innovation and creativity are particularly welcomed.

Categories of contributions 

Peer reviewed articles:

These might include research articles, literature reviews, or position papers. Articles to be sent for peer review will more closely resemble the structure of a published academic manuscript and would generally include:

  • Abstract or summary
  • Introduction/background
  • Methods (for research articles)
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions

Non-peer reviewed contributions:

A wide range of articles will be considered for publication in the journal and thus there is no strict guidelines for these contributions – although the Editorial team may provide some guidance on specific submissions to ensure they are consistent with the aims and scope of the journal. 

Presentation of submissions

For submission, you will need:

  • Your submission file (including text, figures and tables). This file should be
    • Blinded if submitted for peer review  
    • Include legends for all figures and tables
    • Contain a reference list (this may be presented in any style of format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript) 
  • A title page with
    • Author details (name, email address, affiliation(s)
    • Ethics approval details (if relevant)
    • Keywords
    • Acknowledgements (if relevant)
    • Disclosure of funding (if relevant)
    • Conflict Of Interest statement

Editorial policy

Our editorial guidelines were developed by those who were involved in the founding of the journal. They are subject to change and are intended guidelines not rules. When you email your submission to madstudiesjournal@gmail it will go to our editorial board to determine if it is suitable for review.

If it is not, we will be in touch with feedback  and suggestions for how your submission could be developed for publication in IMSJ or elsewhere. If your submission is determined to be suitable for review, we will send it to at least two reviewers.

This is a predominately open process, you will know who the reviewers are unless the reviewer chooses to remain anonymous. You can choose to remain anonymous or have your name shared with the reviewers. You can also list people as preferred reviewers or people who you would prefer to not review your work.  They will make comments and suggested revisions to your contribution. You will be able to respond to these comments and have open communication with the reviewers. Our goal is to support the development of the field of Mad Studies through open discussion between authors and reviewers.

We aim to support people who contribute to our journal to have their work published. Ultimately, the editorial boards decision will be final but this will be made in discussion with those who submit.

Writing submitted to the journal should be written in a style as accessible to readers as possible. The audience of this journal is intended to be everyone, from people with lived experience, service users, to clinicians and other practitioners, to academics. We recognise that these identities often overlap. Writings can be more complex if this is required to broaden understandings or discuss complex concepts and ideas. We understand people have unique ways of writing and welcome these suggestions.

We are open to publishing material that has been rejected by another journal. You could tell us about why it was rejected if you wish! We are also open to creative approaches or non-conventional approach to structuring articles. We will accept articles written in any of the standard referencing styles, Harvard, Chicago, or APA, so long as it is followed correctly and consistently.  We recommend the use of endnote or similar referencing system where possible. Our maximum number of words is 5000 and we have no minimum. Longer papers may be accepted under some circumstances. Authors will retain copyright of their material but the journal has unrestricted usage of it (for example, we would be allowed to print a physical copy of your work), or move to a new internet platform in future. Our expected turn around time is 3 months, although this may be shorter. When you submit your article please let us know if it has been published elsewhere and if it can be published in multiple places.

This journal values academic freedom of expression. This includes the right to publish things that people may disagree with. We will publish content that appears to have conflicting perspectives. We will seek to publish commentaries and counter-perspectives especially in relation to a contentious issue. This is in the hopes of furthering the field of Mad Studies. However, we will not publish any material that is defamatory or discriminatory to any group. This means we will not publish writing that demeans people based solely on diagnosis, class, physical attributes, or any forms of identity

 

We have an editorial team with diverse perspectives  who are all committed to the values and principles of the journal. This editorial group is open, so if you would like to be involved, we would love to talk to you. The current Editorial Team was selected through an expression of interest from the group who have pioneered the development of the Journal.  They are appointed for two years initially as we get our processes in place.  We will constantly review the process.  More information about the Editorial Team of the future will be posted on our webpage. We are all volunteers and this journal is not connected to any of our affiliations