Author Guidelines for Contributors to Mental Health Occupational Therapy
(Last updated February 2007)
Introduction
Mental Health Occupational Therapy is the official publication of the College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section - Mental Health and welcomes all contributions.
This guidelines aim to provide general guidance and information about how you can submit papers, articles and material for publication.
Aims of Mental Health Occupational Therapy
- To communicate and share information on occupational therapy in mental health and on wider mental health issues relevant to occupational therapists.
- To disseminate mental health occupational therapy research.
- To highlight relevant areas of theory, practice, education and management in mental health occupational therapy.
- To encourage dialogue relating to mental health policy and legislation.
- To facilitate communication and debate amongst those interested and involved in mental health occupational therapy service provision.
- To encourage occupational therapists to share good and effective practice.
- To promote continuing professional development.
- To act as a resource to assist with the practice of mental health occupational therapy.
- To provide information on current events/courses/conferences around mental health.
- To seek contributions from other contributors (e.g. service users, other health professionals, the wider community) to inform occupational therapy mental health practice.
General guidance on preparation of manuscripts
The content of all contributions should have relevance to occupational therapists working within mental health practice.
Contributions submitted for publication may take the form of:
- Research report (detailing a piece of research) (shall be blind peer reviewed);
- Practice report (feature article / short report / sharing of information about innovative practice or practical skills) (shall be blind peer reviewed);
- Other, e.g. commentary as comment on an article, opinion pieces / reflections, news (announcements, news, study days, conferences);
Please state which form you are submitting your piece as.
An abstract of up to about 200 words with a list of about four to eight key words relating to the article’s content should be submitted with all articles.
Guidelines for structured abstract for research reports:
- objective - aim of study/research question/hypothesis
- design - methodology
- participants - how many/ how selected/ in out criteria
- setting - primary/secondary care /single site
- results - main findings
- conclusions - primary conclusions and implications
Peer reviewing
Research reports and practice reports are single blind peer reviewed.
Layout
Clarity is essential and where appropriate, headings should be used to organise the content. The articles should have a clear introduction, middle and end. The introduction should mention the reasons for choosing the topics and the aims for the article. The main body should be divided into relevant sections. The conclusion should summarise the key points put forward by the article, issues arising, the implications to occupational therapy practice and the main recommendations made.
Articles should be typed in Arial, minimum 12 point, doubled spaced, on one side of A4 and all margins should be 3 cm wide.
Copyright
Manuscripts must be submitted exclusively to mental health occupational therapy, which will hold the copyright of printed articles. The author must not present the work of others as if it were his or her own work. Published work of another author that has been quoted or paraphrased must be referenced.
Ethical approval
Research pieces should state how ethical issues were addressed.
Database listing
The magazine is listed by CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature).
Confidentiality and consent
It is the responsibility of the author to obtain written consent from all the participants whose contributions, illustrations and photograph may appear in the article submitted. Copies of the consents should be sent to the editor.
Word guide
Research reports usually range between 3000-5000, whilst practice reports tend to be between 3000-4000 words.
Editorial rights
The editor reserves the right to edit and shorten articles if necessary. Minor changes to proofs are not normally sent back to the author.
Abbreviations
Abbreviation should first be written in full in the text followed by abbreviations in parentheses. Following this the abbreviation can be used within the text. Occupational therapy and occupational therapists should always be written in full using lower case. Occupational therapy and occupational therapist should always be written in full.
Illustrations, tables and photographs
Illustrations, diagrams, tables, drawings and photographs should be included if they enhance clarity, provide examples or maximise readability.
Author’s details
Please include (a) name/s (or nom-de-plume / anon) of author/s of the articles (to be published), (b) state what details (if any) you wish to be published with the article about who you are (e.g. role and contact details), and (c) name and contact details for correspondence with the editor. The author/s is also invited to provide a photograph of themselves for publishing with the article.
References
Please ensure that your manuscript is correctly referenced as follows.
References in text
Reference citations in the text must have the surname followed by the year, e.g. (Palmer 2007)
Work by different authors cited within the same parenthesis must be listed chronologically and separated from the previous reference by a comma e.g. (Wilcock 2005, Atkinson 2007)
If there are two authors indicated in parenthesis, then both should be named in the text e.g. (Henley & Schott 2006)
If there are three or more authors, only the first should be cited followed by ‘et al’ e.g. (Reder et al 2007)
If an author is cited in the text but not in parenthesis the surname is followed by the date in the parenthesis e.g. Craik (2006).
When using a direct quotation, the exact words of its author must be enclosed in quotation marks. The following must be included in brackets; original author’s surname, year of publication and page number. Quotations should be marked with single apostrophes. Double quotations are used to indicate a quotation within a quotation.
A manuscript that has been accepted but not yet published it may be cited if the journal or book publisher is named. Such references should state that the manuscript is ‘in press’.
Reference List
All references must be listed alphabetically by author.
Journals
Davies R (2006) According to the Models of Care for the Treatment of Drug Misusers, does Occupational Therapy have a Role in the Treatment of Drug Misuse? British Journal of Occupational Therapy 69(12) pp575-577
Books
Thornicroft G (2006) Shunned: Discrimination against people with mental illness. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Chapter in a book
Iwama MK (2005) Situated meaning: an issue of culture, inclusion, and occupational therapy. In: Kronenberg F, Simo Algado S, Pollard N (ed.s) Occupational Therapy without borders: learning from the spirit of survivors. Oxford, Churchill Livingstone.
Government documents
Department of Health (2006) Vocational services for people with severe mental health problems: Commissioning guidance. HMSO: DH.
Acts of parliament
The Mental Health Act (1983) Department of Health, London.
Internet
If reference is made to an internet site then the full address of the site should be shown along with the date it was accessed, for example: www.mrc.ac.uk/PDFs/mrc-cpr.pdf (26 October 2006)
Submission of manuscripts
Please email it as a word document attachment or post it as an electronic version to the editor.
Publication dates
Mental Health Occupational Therapy is published in March, July and November. Material should be sent to:
Jane Clewes, editor Mental Health Occupational Therapy, 4 Highton Court, Milton, Stoke-on-Trent ST2 7BF.
Email: cleweshj@btopenworld.com
Editorial support for contributors
Members of the editorial board are happy to advise and support potential contributors to Mental Health Occupational Therapy in the development of articles for publication. Informal enquiries can be made to Jane Clewes, The Editor, Mental Health Occupational Therapy, Email: cleweshj@btopenworld.com
