Author’s Guidelines
22 October 2015
Deadline: ongoing
International Body Psychotherapy Journal
EABP Secretariat
Tintorettostraat 29/1
1077 RP Amsterdam
The Netherlands
The International Body Psychotherapy Journal (IBPJ) is a peer-reviewed journal jointly published by the European Association for Body Psychotherapy and the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. The Journal’s aim is to offer a publication of excellent articles that stimulate an exchange of ideas by promoting the theory, practice, and research in somatic psychology and body psychotherapy.
In addition to publishing articles by authors from the somatic psychotherapy community, the Journal invites contributions from a range of disciplines such as psychology, sociology, neuroscience, and other behavioral sciences, as well as medical and health professions in order to aptly reflect the interdisciplinary aspects of somatic psychology.
The Journal is an Open Access publication. Full issues and .pdfs of individual articles are freely available on the IBPJ website. We do not charge fees to authors. IBPJ publishes Open Access in order to broaden the dissemination of quality-controlled, peer-reviewed articles on body psychotherapy.
Initial submissions should be emailed to the Editorial Team - IBPJsubmissions@ibpj.org - as a Microsoft Word attachment.
When an article is received by the IBPJ, it is first previewed by the Editorial Team and anonymized before it is sent out for consideration by three peer reviewers chosen for their particular and relevant expertise. The reviewers are given three weeks to complete their referee sheets and are asked to respond as soon as possible with their availability and interest. Additional reviewers may be selected as necessary. When all the reviews are received, they are then surveyed, anonymized, and collated by the Editorial Team for clarity.
Please allow for a total turnaround time of six weeks. You will then hear from the Editorial Team and be asked to revise your article per her directions and the constructive comments provided by our reviewers. The revision period should take one to three months as specified by the constraints of our publication deadlines. When this finalized version has been received, it will be copy edited for language and returned to you for final examination within the month before it is laid out. A .pdf copy of the laid out article will be provided and should be proofed one last time before that issue of the IBPJ is sent to the printer. No additional corrections may be made after these final examinations.
Criteria for Acceptance
Types of articles that are considered for the Journal include the following: original research articles, research reports, review articles, new methodologies, theoretical articles, and letters to the editor. A descriptive list is at the end of this document. Submission of an article to the International Body Psychotherapy Journal represents certification on the part of the author that it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Once an article is submitted, the editor-in-chief will review for the following:
- Does the manuscript inform the field and add to the body of knowledge?
- If it is a familiar topic, is there some unique perspective that enhances existing knowledge of the topic?
- Is the manuscript respectful toward other modalities or parts of the field?
- Do the findings/results/conclusions answer the research question or respond to the main thesis of the manuscript?
- Has the author explored all angles of bias to avoid findings and results that allude to something other than it purports to be?
- Are there considerations given for further similar studies based on the results of the study, or are there further questions to consider?
Acceptance, Revision, or Rejection?
If the article is deemed appropriate by the editor-in-chief, the article will then be sent to peer review, and the submission will be reviewed by three peer reviewers. Authors will receive collated, anonymized feedback within two months based on the following:
- Accept the article as it is.
- Accept the article with the provision that the author make minor revisions following the reviewers' and editor's comments. The author will then resubmit the manuscript with revisions and will undergo a second review.
- Ask the author to substantially revise and resubmit the article. The author will then resubmit the manuscript with substantial revisions and will undergo a second review.
- Reject the article if there article is not deemed by two or more reviewers to make a relevant contribution to our field or otherwise fails to meet our standards of quality. If it is felt to be suitable for another publication, we will suggest where else the author might submit it.
Please note that if the manuscript is returned for revisions, it is considered a viable contribution to the Journal. This is not a rejection. You are strongly encouraged to utilize the reviewers’ feedback and to return the revised manuscript as soon as possible in order to keep the editing and publishing process in flow. A revised manuscript should be returned in one to three months, as per the editor-in-chief’s request, Thereafter, it is reviewed for clarity and consistency of language by the editorial staff and given to the author for final proofing. No further changes may be made once this final proof is received by the IBPJ.
Format
- Title of Article
- Author’s name and title
- Abstract (150-200 words) and 3-5 key words below the abstract
- Body of the text: manuscript should be single-spaced in 10pt. Arial font with a one-inch (25 mm) margin on all four sides.
- Brief bio of author(s) listing institutional affiliations follows text: no more than 100 words with the author’s degrees, institutional affiliations, e-mail address, acknowledgment of research support, etc.
- Reference list formatted according to APA guidelines
- Appendices (if necessary)
Style Particular to IBPJ
- Authors are responsible for preparing clearly written manuscripts free of errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation. Manuscripts found to have these errors will be returned for editing. The Journal suggests that authors work with an editor (formally or informally) to review the manuscript prior to submission. The Journal will provide a list of names of professional editors if requested. The Journal does not at the moment charge authors for submissions, but reserves the right to charge a small editing fee up to 50€ if extensive editing and pre-publication preparation of references is required.
- Only one space should be inserted between sentences.
- Make sure that dashes (—) are preceded by and followed by one space (e.g. “He is — after all — a great student.”).
- Similar to British convention, please make sure punctuation is placed outside quotation marks unless the punctuation is a component of the original quoted material.
- Indent paragraph: 0.5cm
- Include page numbers, starting with the first page of the manuscript.
- The IBPJ uses: http://www.grammarly.com to check work for plagiarism. Authors are urged to check work for accidental plagiarism prior to submission. This program can also be used to proof read your article for grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Length
Articles typically range from 2,000 to 10,000 words.
Copyright permissions
If applicable, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain written copyright permissions for any images within the manuscript that are not the author’s original creation. Copyright permission must be forwarded along with the submission.
References
- The IBPJ requires APA formatting for both in-text citations and reference list. Please visit citation simplifier or http://wiki.ubc.ca/images/6/6f/Apastyle.pdf for examples pertaining to books, journal articles, on-line citations, and other forms of reference, as well as how to cite within the text.
Languages: German
- The IBPJ accepts both British and American style English.
- For Deutschsprachige Redaktion (German-speaking authors), please send submissions in the German language to German Editor, Elizabeth Marshall.
Articles will be peer reviewed in German; if recommended by the German editor, authors will be advised to translate. The final decision about acceptance lies with the editor-in-chief.
Languages Other Than German
The online Journal is published in the English language, and we encourage authors to submit their articles to the IBPJ editorial committee in grammatically correct English. However, if manuscripts are submitted in a language other than English or German, the following will happen:
- The author can present an abstract of the article suitably translated into English to the IBPJ editorial committee.
- If the article is deemed possibly suitable for publication in the IBPJ, the author will be encouraged to have the entire article suitably translated into English for further review by the editorial committee.
- If an article originally written in another language has been accepted for publication in English, the full article can also be published in the original language at the end of the English journal online.
- For final publication, the article must be fully corrected in the English language.
- The editorial committee can assist in supplying translators and language collaborators.
- The costs for translation and correction are the responsibility of the author and must be paid before publication. Payment may also be in the form of joint authorship or a combination of the two which can be decided upon by author and collaborator together.
- If you are interested in participating in our voluntary team of translators or becoming a foreign language editor, please contact Managing Editor, Jill van der Aa.
Author’s Copyright
It is a condition of publication that authors license copyright of their articles, including abstracts, to the IBPJ. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article and the Journal to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate.
We allow users to copy, use, distribute, transmit, and publicly display the work, and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship.
Submission of a manuscript to the Journal will be assumed to guarantee that it presents original, unpublished work not under consideration for publication elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, the authors agree that the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article have been given to the publishers, including reprints, photographic reproductions of a similar nature, and translations.
After publication, authors may use the material elsewhere, providing that prior permission is obtained from the managing editor of the IBPJ and the IBPJ is referenced as the site of original publication.
Suggested Types of Articles
Original Research Articles
Original research articles describe the hypothesis, a brief review of supportive literature, methods, and conclusions. The study results are reported and interpreted with implications for clinical use and recommendations for future studies. Original research articles also discuss results that allow for hypothesis elimination or reformulation, as well as report on the replication of previously published results.
Original research trials include issues related to the design and development of clinical trials (such as ethical considerations, study designs, measurements of outcome, and methods of analysis) or the results of clinical trials (including pilot, proof-of-concept, safety, and efficacy trials). The results of the research is reported, interpreted, and may include a discussion of possible implications.
The International Body Psychotherapy Journal accepts quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method studies.
Quantitative Research:
- empirical studies (without topic restrictions e.g., somatic psychology, psychopathology, education, pre- and peri-natal psychology, mindfulness )
- pilot studies
- clinical trials
- experimental studies
- correlational studies
- preventative studies
- meta-analysis
- replication studies whether successful or failed, applied or fundamental, as long as appropriately powered
Qualitative Research:
- clinical case studies
- phenomenological studies
- grounded theory
- ethnographies
- artistic research
New Methodologies
A methods article presents a cutting-edge technique that opens new avenues for experimental investigation of important issues in a field. Method manuscripts should include in the form of a brief statement: the experimental objectives, the limitations of current techniques, and a detailed protocol of the new technique. In addition, there should be data to demonstrate the power of the technique. Both quantitative and qualitative original methodologies are invited.
Theoretical Articles
A theoretical article presents an argument, synthesis, hypothesis, or theory that is based in the extant literature of somatic psychology. Theoretical articles should be closely tied to empirical data and provide novel insights into a significant question or issue. In addition, the argument or theory put forth should lead to testable predictions.
Review Articles
Review articles cover topics that have seen significant development or progress of somatic psychology in recent years with comprehensive depth, balanced perspective, intellectual insight, and broad general interest. Reviews do not merely recap the literature, they critique fundamental concepts, issues, and problems that define the field.
- general reviews
provide a synthesis of an area of study involving body psychotherapy; systematic reviews and meta-analyses are preferred - critiques
are focused and provocative, followed by a number of invited commentaries, and conclude with a remark from the main author - viewpoint articles
contain research-based commentary, preferably on currently relevant issues; the article should be based on a succinct and balanced summary of existing research on the issue - conceptual papers
Perspective and Opinion Articles
A perspective article presents a viewpoint on an important area of research. A perspective article focuses on a specific field or subfield and discusses current advances and future directions; it may add personal insight and opinion to a field.
Opinion articles allow researchers to publish their opinions on the interpretation of facts, value of methods used, weaknesses and strengths of any scientific theory, or any topic relevant to the field of research. Opinion articles allow maximum freedom of expression for researchers.
- Literature reviews
- Reviews of previous studies
- Op/Ed (which should go with letters to the editor)
- Science-based practitioner reports of interest
- Professional interests, such as education, licensing, and training issues
Letters to the Editor
We welcome critical or general commentary on any of our previously published papers.
Book Reviews
We accept book review articles from the fields of body psychotherapy and other relevant health and counseling/psychotherapy fields. Please contact the editor-in-chief if you would like to review a book or field of literature.
