Australasian Journal of Educational Technology |
Some parts of this document are concerned with conditions of acceptance, for example in the section on copyright, which authors should note carefully. Parts of the advice in this document have been adapted from advice prepared for ASCILITE 2004 by Roger Atkinson and the Conference's Program Committee (ASCILITE, 2004). These parts, mostly concerned with Formatting your document, are not mandatory, and there is considerable scope for flexibility, alternatives and negotiation. However, the handling of your submission through review, revision and, if successful, production processes, will be expedited if your submission conforms reasonably with a set of standards.
You should make a carefully considered judgment about the appropriateness of AJET for submission of your work. Our readers expect that AJET articles will centre upon teaching and learning as facilitated by technologies. Please read the criteria contained in AJET's [Review form], and if in doubt, spend some time scanning articles previously published in AJET, or in closely related publications such as ASCILITE's Conference Proceedings, http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences.html.
The usual length of an AJET article is 5000-8000 words (MS Word count) but occasionally lengths outside this range are accepted. Normally submissions to AJET should be unpublished and not under consideration by another journal or for a conference proceedings, except that self published articles from an institutional or personal website may be considered, and ASCILITE and other Conferences may arrange republication in AJET as a special recognition for an outstanding work. [FAQs:Republication]
In its business approach, AJET is non-profit, professional society journal aligned with open access principles. AJET relies extensively on the honorary work of volunteer editors and reviewers, supported by ASCILITE and NetSpot [NetSpot] sponsorship of the website. AJET does not charge authors for reviewing, does not charge or pay authors for publishing their articles, and does not seek any subscription income. AJET's print version was retired at the end of 2007, for cost minimisation and environmental conservation reasons.
Formatting your document
| File format and name | The preferred formats are MS Word (any version, except that .docx format is not acceptable) for Windows or Macintosh, or Rich Text Format. Word compatible files written by other software (e.g. StarOffice) may be submitted. Other formats such as PDF files may be acceptable subject to prior consultation with the Editors. Printed versions ('hard copy') are not acceptable. Compressed file formats such as 'zip' are not acceptable unless there are agreed, pre-arranged reasons.
Whilst you may use any filename for your production of the article, please change the name of your file to firstauthorname.doc (eg atkinson.doc) prior to submission. Your submission must be in a single file, that is do not send particular parts such as diagrams in a different file. | |||||||||||
| Page setup |
| |||||||||||
| Title | Arial 14 bold followed by one blank line, left aligned, sentence case. | |||||||||||
| Author names and institutional affiliation | Author 1 (bold) Department or Centre Institution | Please use 3 lines, Times New Roman 10 point, left aligned, no indent. For 2nd, 3rd... author add to the first line, except in cases of different Department or Centre, or different Institution, use separate entries, with spacing one blank line. Please place other details, such as postal, email and website addresses in 'Author contact details and bionotes' (see below); otherwise the beginning becomes too 'cluttered'. | ||||||||||
| Abstract and keywords | Abstracts shall not exceed 200 words, per MS Word word count. Use Times New Roman 10 point, left aligned, indented 1.0 cm left and right, not italicised. Do not use a heading for the abstract or headings within the abstract. Place one blank line before and after. You may if you wish add a line prefixed with 'Keywords: ' and in it place your selection of appropriate keywords (same format, one blank line before and after). This is optional because the Production Editor will do keywords. | |||||||||||
| Headings | Please use no more than 3 levels of heading and apply consistently.
| |||||||||||
| Body text | Times New Roman 10 point, left aligned, single spaced. Blank lines before and after headings and paragraphs are to be sized the same as text lines, ie. 10 point (Times NR). | |||||||||||
| Paragraphing | Use a blank line to conclude each paragraph, and no indents. Avoid using 'spacing before' and 'spacing after' (mainly because the Production Editor will use changes of point sizes for blank lines as one technique for adjusting page breaks in the printed version). | |||||||||||
| Text emphases | Please use italics, bold and underline sparingly (the main reasons are that emphasised words degrade the quality of display for on screen reading, and bolded words look the same as <H4> tagged words in html). Try to use emphases only where expected by convention, for example italics in titles of books and journals, and for proprietary names such as PowerPoint, but if you really do require emphases in running text, use italics, and very rarely bold and almost never ever underline. | |||||||||||
| Quotations | Times New Roman 10 point, left aligned, single spaced, indented 1.0 cm left and right, not italicised, without quote marks, one blank line before and after. Indents may be varied slightly from 1.0 cm to improve the fit. Referencing for the quotation may be given in the running text immediately before the quotation, or may be appended to the end of the quotation. In general, very short quotations using only a few words should be given with quote marks in your running text, whilst only longer quotations using a line or more should be formatted as quotations. | |||||||||||
| Bulleted and numbered lists | Times New Roman 10 point, left aligned, single spaced, no indents except a hanging indent 0.5 cm. Indentation may be varied slightly to improve the fit. | |||||||||||
| Footnotes | Please avoid, mainly because for html versions we have to convert footnotes to endnotes and that's a pain for editors and readers. | |||||||||||
| Referencing: In text citations | Use the author-date system in your running text (eg. Australian Government Publishing Service or APA Style). Footnoted references will be rejected.
Insert the sequence (Name, year) into the main text for a citation to a literature reference. Name refers to the family name of the author and year refers to the year of publication. To cite several authors delimit the individual authors by commas or the symbol &. The phrase et al. is valid for 3 or more authors following the first full citation. The year is written in long form (eg. 1999) and may have running lower case letters appended if you refer to more than one same year article by an author (e.g. Jones, 1999a, 1999b). Where more than one reference is used, separate each reference with a semicolon (eg. Jones, 1999a; White & Beckett, 1997). Where a quote from the source document is included in the text, please refer to the page number, as in Jones (1999a; p.125).
Examples Please make minimal use of URL citations in your running text. Cite an author or organisational name and year (where year is that stated within the item when you last viewed it, or if undated, give your year of last viewing the item), and then include the appropriate details in 'References'. | |||||||||||
| Referencing: Reference list | In your reference list (first level heading, 'References') please use APA 5th edition style. This prescribes alphabetical order by first author. Use Times New Roman 10 point, left aligned, hanging indent 0.5cm, no blank lines. The following provides examples of referencing for the main kinds of publications.
Books
Chapters in books or articles published in conference proceedings Farmer, J. (2004). Communication dynamics: Discussion boards, weblogs and the development of communities of inquiry in online learning environments. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 274-283). Perth, 5-8 December. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/farmer.html
Journal articles
Websites and web only publications The Production Editor may apply some minor variations to APA to facilitate screen reading of the online version. Wherever possible, insert URLs for references. However, do not insert URLs for publications that offer only pay per view or institutional subscriber only, on campus only, access to online full text. Date of viewing may be omitted for journal and proceedings URLs considered to be of high reliability. | |||||||||||
| Tables | Tables must be placed in their correct, appropriate locations in your running text. In general use Times New Roman 10 point and other body text specifications for all text within a table and its title, though 9 point may be used as required for narrow columns. In general all tables should have a title with consecutive numbering (eg: Table 1: Title of the table), bolded, using sentence case, centred, and located at the top of the table. For headings within tables use sentence case, with bolding and centring optional.
In designing a table, please take particular note of the printing dimensions for AJET's PDF version, 136 mm width by 201 mm height. Centre each table and select appropriate widths for the table and for each column, using percentages. Use of borders for all cells ('All', with style '1/4 point') is recommended, mainly because borders seem to be helpful for on screen reading. In columns of numbers, use centring or decimal point alignment. If your table requires explanatory text that is inappropriate for placing in your running text, place it at the bottom of the table, formatted to the same width as the table. Cell background colouring or shading may be used, but in deference to readers who may wish to use a printed copy, check that grey scale printing is not impaired. Note that the Production Editor may use a standard background colour for the first row or other elements of a table. | |||||||||||
| Figures and diagrams | Figures and diagrams must be placed in their correct, appropriate locations in your running text, and centred. In general all figures and diagrams should have a title or caption with consecutive numbering (eg: Figure 1: Caption for the figure or diagram) bolded, using sentence case, centred, and located below the figure or diagram. Use brief titles, preferably one line not exceeding the width of the figure.
In designing a figure, please take particular note of the printing dimensions for AJET's PDF version, 136 mm width by 201 mm height. We will attempt to reproduce images for figures and diagrams at the size you have selected in your submission, but for production reasons, we may have to resize. In the case of diagrams produced by using Excel or other programs to manipulate data, please take great care to select font types and sizes that are appropriate in relation to any resizing that may be done under MS Word or in the course of preparing production files. In particular, avoid using the common Excel defaults. Do not use text orientations other than horizontal. Background colouring or shading may be used in a diagram or elements of a diagram, but check that grey scale printing is not impaired, and note that when the website files are created, the Production Editor may use a standard colour or shading for elements of a diagram or figure. In the case of diagrams produced using the MS Word 'Draw' facility, please do not use 'paste as picture', because very frequently editing by the Production Editor is required for production purposes. | |||||||||||
| Acknowledgments | This is an optional section in which you may record appreciation to individuals or organisations for assisting or supporting the research work. Format as for body text. | |||||||||||
| Appendices | Use appendices very sparingly and only if essential for the proper presentation of your research. Format as for body text. In some cases, after consultation with the authors, an appendix may be placed in a separate file and accessed via a hypertext link in the main file. | |||||||||||
| Author contact details and bionotes | Please be brief. In most cases, you could copy in your email signature. Your postal address at your organisation and your email address is the mandatory, essential minimum for each author, but you may wish to include position details, website address, very brief bionotes, etc. For examples of editorial practice, see the last page of the printed versions, or the 'Authors' section above document footer in online versions, http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ | |||||||||||
| 'Authors' and 'Please cite as' notice | The Production Editor will customise and insert these for you, in the online version. For examples of 'Authors' and 'Please cite as', see any AJET article, http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ | |||||||||||
The primary reference on style is the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers (previously editions were often referred to as the 'AGPS Manual'). The spelling standard is The Macquarie Dictionary.
Reality check
You should check carefully that you document 'looks good' when viewed upon your computer screen and dumped to your printer. However, having done that, conscientiously, please accept that it's never enough to rely on your own 'looks good' view of your own work. Wherever possible, try to get one or two colleagues to read it, on screen or via printer dump. It's better for all parties that you get 'friendly' feedback from colleagues 'in house' before you are exposed to the reviewing process!
When checking your formatting, do remember that in review and production (if accepted) processes, your document will be read by three to five or more persons, probably all using different versions of MS Word, different versions of an operating system, and different platforms, with a few reading via printer dumps, most via screen only reading. Please be sparing in your use of word processor 'productivity features' such as styles and outlining, because the portability of the more complex features across platforms, etc, may be less than ideal. If in doubt about a 'feature' offered by your word processor, you could heed the KISS (keep it simple) principle.
Submission and acknowledgment
We do not have specific closing dates, as each issue of AJET is prepared for website mounting when filled with accepted articles. Please submit articles to the Editor, as an email attachment, addressed to:
From: (the contact person, normally the first author)Email for ajet-editor is forwarded automatically to the current Editor and Production Editor and may be forwarded also to one or more AJET Associate Editors. Within several days of submission you will receive an emailed acknowledgment (if it does not arrive, please inquire). Please note very carefully any advice that the Production Editor may give in the line labelled "File reading check" or elsewhere in the text. In some cases the acknowledgment may specify further action that you must undertake prior to resubmitting. In order to facilitate matters for Reviewers, documents that have faults will not be sent out for review until corrective action has been completed satisfactorily.
To: ajet-editor@ascilite.org.au
Cc: (your co-authors, if any, and if you wish to have our replies ccd to them)
Subject: AJET submission (first author full name, or family names for all authors)
AJET uses a 'double blind' review process. That is, reviewers are not given the names and institutional affiliations of the authors, and authors are not given the names of the reviewers assigned to their article. Prior to sending to members of AJET's review panel, the Editors will delete identifications of authors, as far as is possible. In practice, use of a 'double blind' process to ensure objectivity is not always effective. Reviewers may identify authors, by encountering clues within the article, or by using search engines, or by using their knowledge of 'who is doing what' in topic areas related to the article under review. Also, authors may be able to guess the identity of a reviewer, if editors do not take sufficient care when passing on reviewer advice to authors.
Reviewers are reminded in the initial invitation to review, in the text of the email message accompanying the despatch of an article for review, and in AJET's review form [Review form] that "articles under review and completed Review Forms are confidential and the contents are not to be revealed to other persons."
In the review process we seek a reasonable uniformity of perception of quality standards, a fair, unbiased approach, and helpful, formative feedback for authors. Reviewers are asked to consider a number of criteria [Review form], and their recommendations to the Editors may be supplemented by further reviews in cases of diverging recommendations. We aim for a 'turnaround time' of three months or better for the review process. [FAQs:Review process times]
Authors employed by Australian universities should note that AJET's review process is consistent with DEST's criteria (DEST, 2007) for peer reviewed journal articles, including the key points 'assessment of the publication: in its entirety - not merely an abstract or extract; before publication; by appropriately independent, qualified experts. Independent in this context means independent of the author.' AJET's advice to reviewers on criteria includes reference to 'creative work', 'originality', and increasing 'humanity's stock of knowledge'. [Review form]
Authors submitting to AJET should be aware that occasionally the Editors may discuss submissions with small groups of novice and prospective new reviewers, on a 'double blind' basis, for mentoring and workshop study purposes. Participants in such activities are required to conform to AJET's confidentiality standards and are given access to copies of submissions only for the duration of the mentoring or workshop discussion.
AJET publishes occasional policy statements on review processes and related issues in editorial pages, for example in Editorial 21(2) (Atkinson & McLoughlin, 2005).
Post-acceptance revision and editing
Notifications of acceptances are in most cases accompanied by advice from the Editors, specifying revisions which may range in character from essential or mandatory, to optional suggestions for improving the article. In some cases alterations to figures and diagrams may be requested for purposes of facilitating production of AJET's HTML and PDF versions. Usually we estimate as best we can a return date that will enable editing in time for the article to appear in the next issue of AJET. We appreciate careful attention to the revision process and prompt return of revised articles.
Although the production process includes extensive checking of references, mainly via Google searches, authors are asked to take particular care to minimise errors in referencing, and to insert URLs wherever known, especially in the case of open access journals and other online, free to the Internet publications.
Owing to time constraints, pre-publication copies of AJET articles are not normally sent to authors for proof reading. Authors are invited by email to check as soon as website mounting has been completed, and to notify any corrections to the Production Editor.
Copyright in AJET articles
Copyright in individual articles contained in Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is vested in each of the authors in respect of his or her contributions. Copyright in AJET is vested in ASET (1985-86), AJET Publications (1987-1996), and ASCILITE and ASET (from 1997). No part of AJET may be reprinted or reproduced without permission from the publishers, except that authors (or an author's employer at the time of publication) may make multiple copies of their own articles (subject to identifying each copy as an article which was published originally in AJET).This key part of this statement, applying since AJET's inception in 1985, indicates that we do not compel authors to transfer copyright to AJET, although copyright in the compilation of articles in each issue and volume belongs to AJET. The phrase "Copyright... is vested in each of the authors..." should be interpreted to include cases in which an author's employer is the copyright owner.
However, AJET's Editors reserve the right to approve requests for the making of copies for non-profit educational purposes. Whilst we will try to refer such requests to authors, under time constraints it may not be possible to do so in all cases. Authors should note that requests for a copyright permission are infrequent, owing to AJET's policy of open access, or 'free to the Internet'. Any copies that are made, either in print or on a website, whether by the authors or by other persons, must be identified as having been published in AJET. Copies of the PDF file that constitutes the definitive print version for pre-2008 articles, with embedded bibliographic information and page numbers, may be obtained from the Production Editor, or from the website in the case of post-2007 articles. In the case of the HTML version, ensure that the 'Please cite as' section in the file footer is included in any copies or remounts. [FAQs:Preprints and postprints]
AJET's Management Committee reserves the right to make agreements with the publishers of database products and indexing and abstracting journals to include AJET content and to receive electronic copies of AJET content for these purposes. These agreements, for example with EBSCO and Gale Cengage Learning, do not affect authors' retention of copyright or the open access status of AJET content.
In accordance with open access principles, it is the intention of AJET and AJET's authors that no charges be levied upon readers or educational institutions by royalty or copyright fee collection agencies, or by database vendors, for reader access to AJET's online, free to the Internet articles.
AJET is a RoMEO Green publication [SHERPA/RoMEO - Publisher copyright policies & self-archiving]. AJET publishes occasional policy statements on copyright, open access and related issues in editorial pages, for example in Editorial 20(3) (Atkinson & McLoughlin, 2004).
Grammar, spelling, style and procedure references
AJET (Australasian Journal of Educational Technology) (undated). References for editorial, production and business management purposes.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/about/ref/references.html
ASCILITE (2004). Advice to authors on preparing papers for ASCILITE 2004 Proceedings. Beyond the Comfort Zone. Proceedings ASCILITE 2004 Conference. Perth, Western Australia, 5-8 December. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/prog/asc04-advice-authors.html
Atkinson, R. & McLoughlin, C. (2004). Editorial 20(3). Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(3), iii-viii. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet20/editorial20-3.html
Atkinson, R. & McLoughlin, C. (2005). Editorial 21(2). Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(3), iii-vi. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-2.html
DEEWR (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations) (2008). Higher education research data collection. http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/research_sector/online_forms_services/higher_education_research_data_collection.htm
The Macquarie Dictionary (1997). 3rd ed. Sydney: The Macquarie Library.
Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers (2002). 6th ed. Wiley Australia. (Previous editions were known with great respect and affection as the AGPS Manual).
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001). 5th ed. Washington DC: APA.