Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submissions to Conversations will go through an assessment process which includes internal and external reviewers. These reviewers will have knowledge and experience related to the contents of the submission.

The peer review process is to ensure that articles selected for publication meet a high yet equitable standard of scholastic merit. Submissions will be reviewed through a double-blind process. 

When an article is submitted to Conversations, the Editorial Board will send this to two peer reviewers. Submitters are encouraged to recommend several reviewers who they believe would be appropriate to review their work. Reviewers may be selected from the Editorial Board, or a guest reviewer may be selected if deemed appropriate by the Editorial Board. These reviewers will share their opinion on the quality of the material, relevance of the content, and appropriateness for Conversations.  

After this review, the submission shall be either: (1) accepted; (2) accepted with conditions or revisions; 3) rejected but reconsidered for a later publication, or (4) rejected.

Once any pre-publication conditions or revisions have been met, the submission will be sent to the Conversations Editorial Board, and they will review the submission for commentary, recommendations, and approval for publication based on the entirety of the review process.  

The Editorial Board’s decision is final. 

For the purposes of the double-blind review process, we request that those submitting work for publication ensure that material for review does not contain any identifiable information.

Prior to submitting work for review, please ensure that: 

• The submission in the form of a Microsoft Word document file. 
• The material submitted should be in English. 
• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it submitted to another journal for consideration. 
• Submissions designated as “Journal Article Manuscript” must comply with the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual (7th ed.) guidelines. 
• DOI’s or URLs must be included for all referenced articles (as per APA 7th ed. guidelines) where available. 
• Ensure that any illustrations, pictures, figures, tables, or photographs are incorporated within the written material and not at the end. 
• Material must not include identifying information of the author. 
• Cover page is a separate document file from the main work. 

For Journal Article Manuscripts 

• The manuscript should be organized into four distinct sections: Title Page (title only), Abstract, Main Body, and References. 
• Abstracts should be no more than 500 words. 
• The manuscript should include the use of properly formatted running head (left side), page number (top right) inside the header of each page.  
• Page Font and Formatting must be: Times New Roman, pt. 12, double-spaced, 1” margins on each side, with page size being 8.5” x 11”. 
• All contents included within the manuscript (e.g. tables, figures, etc.) must be formatted per APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) 
• All manuscripts must be formatted to exact specifications of the APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) 
• Authors submitting material for publication are responsible for ensuring all third-party intellectual property rights and formal permissions from their respective institutions are cleared. 
• Authors must also confirm that their work: 
  • Is not presently being considered for publication elsewhere.
  • Does not violate the rights of any person or entity.
  • Does not contain any subject matter that contravenes any laws (including defamatory material and misleading and deceptive material).
  • Meets ethical research standards and academic integrity. For more information please see the following:
• Canada: Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans – TCPS 2 (2022) https://ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique_tcps2-eptc2_2022.html 
• USA: National Institutes of Health Guiding Principles for Ethical Research https://www.nih.gov/health-information/nih-clinical-research-trials-you/guiding-principles-ethical-research 
• World Health Organization: Ensuring ethical standards and procedures for research with human beings https://www.who.int/activities/ensuring-ethical-standards-and-procedures-for-research-with-human-beings
• International Center for Academic Integrity: https://academicintegrity.org/ 

Funding

• Authors are required to acknowledge funding received for their research or for the writing of the manuscript under a separate heading.