Submitting a Paper to the Peer Review Section of The Column

Author Guidance

From 2012 The Column will include a peer reviewed section. This inclusion will improve the standing and quality of the publication and facilitate a wider dissemination of a range of study types in the area of the handling of people.

Each accepted paper will be granted a place of prominence in the regular publication and will be clearly segregated from other information that is included. Each paper that is submitted for this section will be peer-reviewed by 2 independent readers who will follow the NBE Referees Guidance and reporting system.

The aim of the review is to judge the quality of the article and to give a sound evaluation of why the paper has been accepted or requires changes. There are 5 possible outcomes from the review:

1. Accept: can be published now with no amendments or following minor editorial attention

2. Accept with minor revisions: will be ready for publication following minor revision by the author

3. Revise and resubmit: a major re-working of the text is still needed

4. Reject: not suitable for publication

5. Submit to another journal: outside the scope of The Column

All types of investigations are available to be included the peer-reviewed section of The Column including original research, case studies, workplace interventions, critical essays/reviews or product evaluations. The format for all submissions will however be in scientific report layout. This format will include most or all of the following:

  1. Title and Authors
  2. Abstract (up to 150 words)
  3. Introduction.
  4. This should include reference to the following: rationale, research question and clearly stated aims or objectives.
  5. Methods.
  6. A clear description of the data collection methods and analysis
  7. Results/Findings
  8. Discussion
  9. This section relates the findings to the wider literature and practice issues
  10. The discussion should include some critique of the processes used in the study
  11. Conclusions
  12. Recommendations. This should relate the findings of the study for future practice

The word count is not exclusive but the following lengths are suggested as suitable:

  • Product reviews or case studies 2000 words,
  • critical reviews or evidence based essays 3000 words,
  • research reports up to 5000 words

(These are exclusive of charts and graphs and the reference list.)

Referencing will be in the Harvard style and should not exceed 40 references.