EPRAP Instructions for Authors

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

These guidelines apply to academic writing, for example, submissions that take a research paper format. We welcome a broad range of submissions, for example, contributions from those with lived experience of Educational and Child Psychology and related areas. In many cases, following these guidelines for such submissions will not be necessary. If you are unsure about how to prepare your submission, please get in touch with us at EPRaP@uel.ac.uk.

Style

Papers must be written in English and avoid discriminatory language. They should be aimed at an international audience, using a clear style, and avoiding jargon. Acronyms, abbreviations and technical terms should be defined when first used. Where possible, use the ‘check for accessibility’ function in your word processing software.

Inclusion of an accessible one-page summary of the submission is strongly encouraged. This could be presented using text, visuals or diagrams.

UK spellings are preferred. If notes are essential, only use footnotes. The text should be formatted using APA 7, for example, for the formatting of headings and subheadings. The text should be written in 11-point Arial font. See this EPRaP template as an example.

Each manuscript should contain:

A title page that includes:

The title of the submission
Full names of all authors
Affiliations of all authors
Orcid ID for the first author, if possible
Word count. Submissions should usually be between 1500-5000 words, excluding tables, figures and appendices.
Acknowledgements: Please include any acknowledgements, for example, thanking participants for their contribution to the research.

Following the title page comes the submission, which needs to be anonymous. The submission should include:

The title
An abstract, overview or synopsis of up to 250. The abstract should be written in an accessible way so that it can be understood by a lay audience.
Up to six keywords.
The submission: the body of the submission, tables, figures, reference list, funding statement, disclosure statement and, ideally, a one-page summary of the submission.

Tables

Tables must be numbered consecutively and typed on separate pages at the end of the submission, with no more than one table per page. Tables cannot be formatted as embedded images or image files. The approximate positioning of tables in the text must be indicated by words such as 'TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE'; they should be referred to in the text by table number only without any reference to the relative position of the table (e.g., 'See Table 1', not 'See table below'). Column and row headers must be clear and succinct.

Each table should have a short descriptive title, with an appropriate acknowledgement of source if necessary, placed above the table; if there are notes, these should appear as footnotes to the table.

Tables should be formatted in line with APA 7.

Figures

All line illustrations, graphs, diagrams, and other images are termed 'Figures' and should be referred to as such in the typescript. They should be numbered consecutively and presented in a form suitable for immediate reproduction (i.e., not requiring redrawing), each on a separate page. Figures can be in colour and they need to be of publishable quality.

The approximate positioning of figures in the text must be indicated by words such as 'FIGURE 1 ABOUT HERE'; they should be referred to in the text by figure number only without any reference to the relative position of the figure (e.g., 'See Figure 1', not 'See figure below').

Each figure should have a short descriptive title, with an appropriate acknowledgement of the source if necessary, placed below the figure.

Figures should be formatted in line with APA 7.

References

APA 7 referencing must be used.
Every citation should have a reference, and every reference should be cited.
Provide translations for non-English titles in the references.

Multimedia Content

EPRaP accepts multimedia submissions, including videos and podcasts. Please contact the editors for further information, including technical guidance.

Funding

Please state any sources of funding for the research/paper.

Disclosure

Please state whether there are any competing interests relevant to the paper.

Material Subject to Third-Party Copyright

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders to reproduce any figures, reproduce or adapt tables, quote lengthy passages of text or reproduce multimedia content. Articles cannot be published until all necessary copyright permissions have been obtained.

The copyright terms applied to published content are separate from the copyright terms of the website.