Writers Guidelines
Editorial Aim and Scope
The Journal is published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the national professional association for the career planning, placement, and recruitment of the college-educated work force. The Journal is distributed to about 3,500 career services practitioners at 1,700 colleges and universities; and to about 4,000 HR/staffing/recruiting representatives of approximately 1,500 employing organizations. Submissions should address this audience—not students.
The Journal covers the entire scope of career planning, placement, recruitment, and employment of college-educated persons. As a consequence, we seek a wide range of article topics. Some examples: Results from new techniques or innovative practices and programs developed by career services or recruitment offices; current professional issues; the significance of national or global trends that affect the field; research reports or statistical analyses of unusual significance, dwelling upon implications for the profession; examples of solutions to current problems in career services or recruiting.
Writing for the Journal
Writing can be a time-consuming undertaking, so before you write a manuscript for submission to the Journal, we recommend that you first discuss your idea with one of the editors. In addition, we ask that you submit an outline or brief summary. Both steps will prevent you from spending your time on topics that we can't use and allow us to offer you direction and advice on how to approach and develop the topic to ensure it meets our audience's needs and interests.
The Journal does not reprint articles from other publications except under unusual circumstances. Nor do we normally review manuscripts that are being considered for publication elsewhere, or that are based on information that is planned for public release prior to its possible appearance in the Journal.
Editorial Style
We prefer articles be written in an engaging, narrative style rather the in the dry, formal style of a thesis. Avoid footnotes. We encourage the referencing of data with superscript numbers in the text and a listing of these sources at the end of the article as Endnotes.
An alphabetized list of unreferenced sources may also be listed. Statistical data may be reported in tables or charts; comment on their meaningful findings, but don't repeat the data in the text. Limit any descriptions of methodology to as few paragraphs as possible; our readers are generally not so much interested in how you conducted the survey or study as they are in what you found and its possible implications.
The most successful articles based on case histories proceed through four phases in which you state the problem, describe the various efforts (successful and unsuccessful) that led to a solution, draw conclusions, and finally, offer advice to others who may have a similar problem and could benefit from your experience. (Keep in mind, too, that you will need to back up your assertions; it is not enough to say, "This program was successful." You will need to offer information that quantifies your program's success.)
Types and Lengths of Articles
Feature articles for the Journal usually run from 3,000 to 4,000 words (about 10 to 12 pages of double-spaced copy), but we are flexible and believe the subject should dictate its own length.
For example, some articles relating how the author(s) solved a problem or implemented a new program could run about 1,500 words and should be in the form of 1) this was the problem, 2) these are the steps we took to solve it, and 3) this is how it all turned out. Other shorter features or commentaries could also run about 1,500 words.
Submission Details
As noted above, we recommend that you first discuss your idea with an editor (Pattie Giordani, 800/544-5272 ext. 118, pgiordani@naceweb.org; or Mimi Collins, 800/544-5272 ext. 119, mcollins@naceweb.org) and submit an outline or summary.
You may submit your manuscript by e-mail to pgiordani@naceweb.org or to mcollins@naceweb.org. (Note: We do not accept faxed manuscripts.)
Include a short biography (of each author) with your manuscript, indicating your current position(s) and other relevant information. Head-and-shoulder photos of the authors normally accompany our feature articles.
Review of Manuscripts
We will acknowledge receipt of your manuscript and advise you of our decision on whether to accept it—or how it might be revised before it could be considered for publication—usually within eight weeks. Since we publish only four issues of the Journal during the academic year (in October, December, March, and May, with respective copy deadlines of August 1, October 1, December 1, and February 1), there is often a time lag of months between acceptance and publication of a manuscript. As possible, the Journal publishes articles in the order accepted; adjustments may have to be made to achieve a balance of content in specific issues.
If an accepted manuscript requires extensive editing and rewriting, a copy of the revision will be submitted to the author(s) for comment. Otherwise, a preview of the article as edited may not be provided.
Copyrights to NACE
All authors are asked to sign a release form in which they attest that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere, that the National Association of Colleges and Employers owns the copyright for the article, and that reprint privileges and assignments reside with the Journal.
Non-Reimbursement Policy
Because of the nonprofit nature of the National Association of
Colleges and Employers, the Journal, like most educational
publications, does not offer compensation to its authors. Authors
are sent two complimentary copies of the issues in which their articles
appear; additional copies may be purchased from NACE.
