Guidelines for authors

Introduction

Counselling and Psychotherapy Research is a journal published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and circulated to all 23,100 BACP members, as well as libraries and individual subscribers worldwide.

The journal encourages contributions from a variety of research traditions. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research is explicitly pluralist in orientation, recognising the value of qualitative, quantitative and mixed method strategies of inquiry.

Counselling and Psychotherapy Research carries articles that are of interest not only to accredited counsellors and psychotherapists, but also to members of other occupational groups using counselling skills. The journal seeks to be relevant both to a core disciplinary constituency and also a broader interdisciplinary readership. Articles should be written for practitioners, with the general aim of promoting research-informed practice.

Writing for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research

The intention of the journal is to publish research which makes an impact on practice. In most journals, papers are written primarily to be read by other researchers. In Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, papers are written for practitioners and those whose work shapes practice (e.g. policy-makers, supervisors, managers). Counselling and Psychotherapy Research is concerned to develop a new genre of research writing that combines the traditional values of research writing with an emphasis on practical relevance and application.

Articles submitted to the journal are required to be:

Readable and accessible for a practitioner audience
Authors should avoid the passive voice and technical vocabulary as far as possible. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research encourages authors to avoid a 'God's eye', rational, authoritative voice, and allow feeling, ambiguity and dialogue to be expressed where appropriate. Short papers that make their point succinctly are more likely to be accepted.

Contextualised
It is essential that readers are able to appreciate as fully as possible the real-world background or context to the study. Sufficient information is therefore required about the practice setting, client/user experiences, type of intervention, position of the author, reasons for undertaking the study, and the organisational factors that influenced the study.

Reflexive
Authors are invited to write about their personal engagement with the research, and their relationship with the intellectual and cultural traditions that inform their work. For example, authors might wish to describe how the research question arose from their own practice, and the impact that the research had on their practice.

A rationale for this type of writing can be found in McLeod, J. Practitioner research in counselling (London: Sage Publications; 1999).

Length of articles

Contributions of different lengths are invited:

• Papers of 1,500-2,500 words, including references
• Papers of 3,500-4,000 words including references

In exceptional circumstances longer papers may be published where inclusion of data (e.g. excerpts from interviews) warrant it. However, in general, shorter papers will be preferred.

Types of articles

Counselling and Psychotherapy Research invites submissions under the following categories:

• original research into counselling, psychotherapy and the use of counselling in allied professions (e.g. nursing, social work, education, health promotion, health psychology, pastoral care, etc.);
• case studies, where systematic and ethical methods of data collection have been applied;
• critical discussions and reviews of the relevance for practice of existing research studies;
• papers on conceptual (e.g. philosophical, theoretical and political) issues relating to practitioner-oriented counselling inquiry;
• studies of the cultural and historical origins and contexts of forms of practice;
• papers on methodological and moral/ethical issues associated with practitioner-oriented inquiry in counselling and psychotherapy.

Procedure for submitting a paper

Articles should be submitted as email attachments to the Editor at julia.buckroyd@bacp.co.uk

All articles must:

• be printed double spaced, in 12-point font
• include authors' names, postal addresses and email addresses on a separate cover page
• include an abstract of no more than 200 words
• report the word length (including references)
• include keywords at the end of the abstract
• repeat the title of the paper on the first page following the cover page
• have numbered pages
• use references in the format described below.

In a covering letter, the senior author should confirm that the paper has not been submitted to another journal, and indicate where in the article any necessary ethical procedures have been followed. Articles must adhere to BACP's Ethical Guidelines for both research and practice. On receipt of the submission, the Editor will confirm (by email) whether the article is being considered for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research.

All articles published in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research are independently and anonymously reviewed by at least two experienced researcher/practitioners. Authors can expect to receive reviews and an editorial decision (by email) within three to four months of submitting the article.

Around one month before the date of publication of the article, authors receive page proofs for checking. At this point, no substantial changes can be made to the paper. It is essential that proofs are checked and returned within 48 hours. On publication, authors receive one copy of the journal and 20 offprints of their paper. Additional offprints may be supplied on request, at cost.

Referencing and style conventions

References should be listed in the Harvard style as per the examples below:

Rogers C. (1961) On Becoming a Person. London: Constable.

Hanley T. (2004) E-Motion Online. Counselling and Psychotherapy. 15(1):48-9

Watkins CE. (1989) Transference phenomena in the counseling situation. In: Dryden W. (ed) Key issues for counselling in action. London: Sage Publications.

• Papers must be written in non-sexist and non-discriminatory language.
• All tables and figures should be numbered and presented on separate pages.
• Permission from copyright holders must be obtained by the author for any illustration, table, or quote of more than 100 words published elsewhere.

Copyright

In order for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research to publish your article, you must agree to the terms and conditions listed below:

• you retain (or, if applicable, your employer retains) copyright to the article you have submitted to Counselling and Psychotherapy Research;
• you grant to Counselling and Psychotherapy Research a non-exclusive licence to publish the article in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research or in any other BACP publication. This is a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to publish the article on-line, in print and in any other format in which it is now or in the future capable of existence and in any language. The article may be published in whole or in part, alone or in combination with other articles;
• Counselling and Psychotherapy Research and other publication branches of BACP may change the appearance of the article (layout and format) to ensure consistency and readability;
• you warrant to Counselling and Psychotherapy Research and BACP that the article is original and does not infringe any existing copyright or any other rights of any third party and that you have the full authority to enter into this agreement and grant the rights assigned to Counselling and Psychotherapy Research and BACP without resulting in any breach of obligation you may have;
• you are free to place the article wherever you wish, once six months has elapsed from the date of its first publication in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, but in all such cases you will ensure that Counselling and Psychotherapy Research is identified as the main publisher and the Counselling and Psychotherapy Research citation details of the article are listed;
• this agreement will accepted as valid for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, BACP, its licensees, assignees and successors in business.