Contributor's Guide
Psychotherapy in Australia seeks to promote the scholarly discussion and debate concerning psychotherapy practice, research and education so as to promote the development of informed practice and policy.
Original articles are published in two categories:
Non-Peer Reviewed
Articles written for the advanced practitioner on any area of psychotherapy practice, education, topical issues or policy are selected by the editorial team. Articles are expected to be well-written, clearly and logically structured and focus on specific issues of interest to the readership. The Editor of Psychotherapy in Australia retains final decision as to which articles are accepted for non peer reviewed publication.
Peer Reviewed
Submissions of manuscripts for the peer-reviewed section are encouraged for all areas of psychotherapy practice, education and research. Articles are accepted after ‘blind’ review by two independent reviews, nominated by the Peer Review Editor. Reviewers are selected for their expertise in the subject matter or with the research methods of the manuscript. The peer review process results in higher standing for published articles, especially in the academic community. Two broad categories of article meet the requirements for peer review:
literature reviews that address theoretical or
practical issues of relevance to psychotherapy,
empirical research reports.
Case Studies will be considered either as illustrative components of a literature review or as single case empirical studies.
Literature Reviews pose or seek to answer a question or identify what is known or not known about a topic. The topic is discussed in detail based on, or supported by, the existing literature in the area in question. Literature reviews require unbiased and systematic selection of publications, based on specified selection criteria and use specified search procedures and specified databases and other sources. Analysis of the literature may have a ‘narrative’ form in which the major themes and findings of the literature are extracted by the author or may use meta-analytic procedures to pool data from separate but related studies. Literature reviews may address either theoretical or empirical questions. Case studies and clinical vignettes may be used to illustrate issues raised by the review (subject to satisfaction of ethical requirements, below) .
Empirical Research articles report on data gathered using qualitative or quantitative methods or a combination of the two. Qualitative studies might report on observation, interview or focus group data or content analysis. Authors must be clear about methods used to collect and analyse qualitative data and, where appropriate should cite published references for methods used. Quantitative studies will typically use survey, experimental or quasi-experimental methods and use statistical procedures to evaluate findings. It is important that statistical procedures are clearly described, using language that will be understood by the Psychotherapy in Australia readers who are clinicians, and may be unfamiliar with the language of research.
Empirical Studies should contain a brief literature review, a statement of hypotheses or questions to be examined, a description of participant sample, methodology of the study, results and a discussion of the findings including the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research where appropriate. The standard expected is that a reader is able to clearly understand all aspects of the study and (subject to necessary materials and technical expertise) be able to replicate the study. As this journal is read mainly by clinicians cautious discussion regarding any implications of findings for practice should be included.
Pilot Studies or Multi-Case Studies articles must demonstrate a clear methodology that indicates how the work was undertaken, participant details and a discussion of the results and findings. A relevant brief literature review should be provided on the current state of knowledge about the topic of interest and questions to be examined. Authors should clearly indicate the limitations relating to sample size and/or study design and be cautious regarding practice implications.
Individual Case Report articles should provide a clinical examination and refer to literature that assists in understanding or exploring the issues raised on the topic/s of interest. Case reports will be considered for the peer-review section only when they illustrate something new or different about psychotherapy: an unusual client presentation; a distinctive therapeutic intervention; or an unusual clinical dilemma or problem. Authors should consider possible ways to further investigate the phenomenon reported and must demonstrate awareness of the limitations to generalisability of single case reports. Case reports may also be considered when presented in the context of a literature review (see above). In these circumstances, authors should make it clear that the purpose of the case report is to illustrate a process or theme identified through consideration of the literature. Case reports have the potential to violate client confidentiality and privacy. Authors of case reports must submit, separate from the manuscript, details of procedures used to protect confidentiality and privacy.
Articles for peer review should be submitted with a covering letter, requesting the peer review process, and a separate title page. To ensure anonymity, the body of the article must not identify the author. Please attach a separate sheet with your name, address, telephone, fax, email and brief ‘author notes’ describing your relevant background details (approx 20 words). Articles are usually between 3000 to 6000 words in length and MUST be submitted as an email attachment or on CD. Please use minimal formatting.
The Peer Review Editor will assign the manuscript to members of the peer review panel. After review a report will recommend one of three options: accepted for publication; recommended for resubmission after correction or revision in accordance with specific requirements; not suitable for publication (possible referral to the non-peer review section).
The Peer Review Editor will retain the final decision on suitability of articles for publication in the Peer Review section of Psychotherapy in Australia. No discussion will be entered into with the authors regarding final decisions.
PLEASE NOTE
- All articles are subject to our editing processes. Authors are consulted and are sent a copy of the article in final layout for proofing prior to publication.
- No responsibility is assumed for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or illustrations.
- Articles are only considered for publication if they are not being considered elsewhere. Please advise the editors if an article has been published or presented previously in any form.
- If a direct case study is used, the author must seek a signed agreement from the client that this information can be used for publication. All care must be taken to disguise the identity of any client referred to in any written form.
- The author must seek permission to quote from, or reproduce, copyright material from other sources and acknowledge this in the article.
- Articles may be published on the journal web site.
- It is strongly recommended that potential authors refer to the APA guide for writing research papers. A useful online resource can be found at http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/apa4b.htm
Advertising and Editorial
The journal carries a range of advertising, valued for its practical use to readers and as revenue support. Strict differentiation is maintained between advertising content and editorial content. The journal does not publish promotional 'editorial' material.
