International Journal of Stress Prevention and Wellbeing (IJSPW)
The submission & review process: Submitted articles will be initially reviewed by an editor to verify its suitability for the journal and that it adheres to the IJSPW submission guidelines. If the article passes this initial stage, then it will then be subject to a masked reviewing process depending upon which section of the the journal it is being submitted to. Key items that they will be considering are: 1. Is the article relevant to stress prevention, stress management and wellbeing? 2. Does it address issues of interest to a broad readership? 3. If a research paper, then is the methodological rigour of sufficient standard? 4. Is it written clearly to understand? 5. Does it add to the existing knowledge-base?
Requirements Length Papers should normally be no more than 8000 words including abstract, references and figures. The editors will consider an extended article if there is a clear rationale for its submission, for example, a mixed methodology paper. However, the Editors retain discretion to publish extended papers.
Original research For articles containing original research, a structured abstract of up to 250 words should be included. The main headings should be: Background/Aims/Objectives Methods/Methodology Results Discussion Conclusions
Review articles Review articles should use these headings: Purpose, Methods, Results/Findings, Discussion and/or Conclusions.
Brief reports Brief reports are no longer than 1500 words in length. They could be a commentary, discussion, research paper or a previously presented conference poster extended to make it suitable for publication. Research protocols can also be submitted prior to the research having been undertaken. Research papers and research protocols will be subject to a masked review.
Techniques, interventions and strategies section As an applied journal, we are interested in receiving articles about stress management and prevention techniques, interventions and strategies. Articles would normally be between 750-1500 words in length.
Position papers Position papers focus on subjects or fields of work which, in the author’s opinion, need readdressing. A clear position with possible actions, should be made on the subject. Position papers would normally be between 1500-3500 words in length. The Editors retain discretion to publish extended papers. These are normally invited papers.
Opinion papers Opinion Papers are original reports and personal views on a given topic or field of work (focusing on the author’s views). Claims and assertions should be supported with facts, statistics, or published research studies. Opinion papers would normally be between 1500-5000 words in length. The Editors retain discretion to publish extended papers. These are normally invited papers.
Invited papers & keynotes Invited papers and conference keynotes will be reviewed by one or more journal two editors.
Keywords Five or six keywords are required for each paper/article.
Conference, congress and symposium reports Reports on conferences, congresses and symposia are important in order to keep researchers and practitioners up-to-date with events they were unable to attend. All submissions should include the event title, organising body, location, date and URL to the event website. (Full conference abstracts can only be included with written permission from the conference organisers.) It is important to receive prior agreement for an event submission from the editor to confirm if the event falls within the remit of this journal.
Book reviews Book reviews should include the book title, author(s) or editor(s), publisher, date of publication, number of pages, cost. We recommend that the journal editor is initially contacted to ascertain if the book is suitable for review in this journal.
Use of English Articles should use consistent spelling, grammar and language ie. American or British English.
Reference style In the reference section authors should use one of the following citation styles: APA style. It must be used consistently and authorship of cited works is adequately attributed, with all information necessary to locate cited material included. Take a look at the latest APA style (7th ed), Reference Guide.
SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Submission files and responsibilities
- Articles, reviews etc should be submitted as email attachments in MS Word, double spaced. (Postal submissions will not be accepted for consideration.)
- The files must be saved under an abbreviated title of your submission eg StressManagement.
- Author names should not be in the file title, nor in the file properties.
- The main document(s) should be free of information identifying the author(s).
- Use the third person when referring or citing previous work by the Author(s). If the author(s) can be easily identified by self-referencing and citations in the text, then in the text cite using ‘Anonymous’ eg (Anonymous, 2020). In the reference list insert: Anonymous (2020) Details omitted to aid anonymous reviewing. However, self-citations should be kept to a minimum unless they are relevant. When anonoymised papers are being submitted, also submit an additional paper without redactions so the editors can see the relevance of the references and self-citations.
- A separate file should be submitted detailing the author(s)’s name, current professional affiliation and website URL, contact details including postal and email address. One author should be identified as the corresponding author.
- Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to publish lengthy quotations, figures, tables, graphs, photographs etc., for which they do not own copyright.
- Authors are responsible for paying any copyright fees that may be payable to a copyright holder for the inclusion of their work.
- Please submit your ORCID identifier.
- Send your article submission by email to the editor: editor@nationalwellbeingservice.com and coeditor@nationalwellbeingservice.com
Paper Transfer If the Editor believes that your article is more suitable for one of our other journals published by the National Wellbeing Service Ltd, then they will bring this to your attention. If you agree to a transfer your article will be transferred automatically on your behalf. An article reformat will be unnecessary in these cases.
Figures, graphs & diagrams All figures, graphs, tables or diagrams should be in an acceptable format for reproduction and must include titles.
Footnotes, Endnotes & Epigraphs NWS journals do not use footnotes. Either incorporate the content within the main text or use endnotes. Epigraphs are often used at the beginning of a book, chapter or section. They are used far less often in academic papers. Often they require copyright permission for use as they are not considered the same as a normal citation in a journal paper. If an author wishes to include epigraphs in a NWS journal paper, then it is the author’s responsibility to obtain written permission and pay any copyright fees prior to submission.
New paper statement A statement must be submitted confirming that the paper has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration in any other publication. Publishing as an article or blog on a website still constitutes as previously published. The publisher will undertake checks on all submissions to verify if a paper has been previously published. Plagiarism or self-plagiarism is not accepted.
Ethics If a manuscript constitutes primary publication of results from a study involving human subjects, authors must affirm that it was undertaken in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the American Psychological Association or national psychology body of the country where the research was being undertaken. The research should have been approved by a relevant ethics committee. NB. Journal editors will abide the CSE’s White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications. (Scott-Lichter D and the Editorial Policy Committee, Council of Science Editors. CSE’s White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications, 2012 Update. 3rd Revised Edition. Wheat Ridge, CO: 2012.)
Plagiarism It is essential to avoid plagarism which can relate to another person’s ideas and/or words. It is always important to acknowledge and accurately cite the author or source. The NWS does check articles for plagiarism. If you are based at a university, you will generally have access to a Plagiarism Checker. If not, then we recommend that authors use the free online Check Plagiarism tool.
For further information about avoiding plagarism, please look at the APA Style 7th Edition Avoiding Plagiarism Guide.
AI-assisted technologies including Large language models, chatbots and image creators We do not accept AI-assisted technologies including Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots and image creators as co-authors of papers. Their use in writing a paper, sourcing references or contributing to a paper or research study should be noted in the submission to the journal. Their use is discouraged.
Use of photographs and images Authors must confirm the ownership of photographs and images submitted for publication. Copyright or the appropriate license for reproduction in the journal is essential. Photographs of people should include written consent. As children and young people may not be able to provide legal consent our policy from 1st June, 2024 will be not to accept them. We do not accept AI created ‘photographs’ or images as the original source they were derived from cannot be determined.
Competing interests Authors must declare any competing interests or state that no competing interests exist.
Submissions by members of the editorial team Papers submitted to the journal by a member(s) of the editorial team will have their papers reviewed and processed by an editor or editors not involved with the paper concerned.
Funding Authors must declare what, if any, financial support they received for the research.
Acknowledgments Authors are only allowed to add an acknowledgment to the manuscript after it has been accepted for publication in order to ensure the masked peer-review process. Acknowledgments are placed before the references.
Publication IJSPW has adopted a continuous online publication model. Therefore once a paper is accepted for publication, it will be uploaded to the website within 90 days subject to typesetting checks. Articles published within a given year are allocated the same volume number. Although IJSPW is an e-journal, it may be published in a print format for professional bodies or subscribers on an annual basis if requested.