I was recently asked what’s meant by the term “author guidelines”. It’s a great question, and one that I hadn’t been asked before, despite 20+ years supporting those who want to publish journal articles. Here’s my reply…
What
At first glance author guidelines could be read as the guidelines of the author, informing what, why and how you, as the author, want to approach your writing. But it’s also helpful to think about the multiple perspectives of a piece of writing, and that’s where author guidelines come in: more accurately described as the Guidelines for Authors or Publisher [Author] Guidelines made available on a journal’s web page.
Why
Guidelines for Authors will give you a strong indication of whether your writing is likely to be within the scope of your chosen journal (the most common reason for an unsuccessful submission is you’ve sent it to the wrong journal), how long your piece of writing should be, and how to structure your writing.
For example, is your chosen journal publishing unstructured 1,000-2,000-word personal and subjective accounts of learning from a project, or a 5,000-7,500-word academic article requiring a structured and objective account of a project, including supporting references. When presented in these terms, it’s easy to see why submitting to the right (or wrong) journal can make the difference in determining the likely success of your submission.
When
Even amongst those journals which initially appear quite similar, the author guidelines for each journal are likely to be slightly different. By familiarising yourself as early as possible with the latest guidelines of your chosen journal, you can structure your writing based on those guidelines, potentially saving yourself from avoidably wasting time and effort if you check later and then discover you need to rework your text before submitting.
Put simply, Publisher’s Author Guidelines can help you gain a sense of whether you’re planning to write and submit to the right (or wrong) journal and, if yes, provide a structure from which to organise your writing.
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