How to Submit
Applied Learning in Social Work Education is dedicated to the exchange of knowledge between social work practicum educators in academia and in the practice community. Submissions are encouraged from directors, liaisons, practicum instructors, and teaching faculty, as well as practice educators from other countries and practitioners from other disciplines that rely on internships as part of professional education. Submissions should be focused, well organized, and editorially sound.
General Submission Guidelines
- Manuscripts should be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format to [email protected].
- Submissions must be prepared according to the standards of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition).
- Manuscripts submitted to Applied Learning in Social Work Education should not have been published with significantly similar content in another journal.
- Manuscripts should be double-spaced with margins of at least one inch on all sides.
- Manuscript pages should be numbered consecutively throughout the paper.
- Tables and figures should be cited in the text and then included at the end of the manuscript.
- A short, descriptive title should appear above each table, with any footnotes identified below.
- Figures should be labeled.
- Captions should be double-spaced.
- Authors must clearly indicate in their correspondence the specific section for which they are submitting the manuscript. See below for instructions specific to each section.
General Scholarship
General Scholarship presents formal, scholarly articles about practice, theory, and research on a variety of subjects. All papers accepted for the General Scholarship section will be eligible to win the $500 Excellence in Social Work Practicum Scholarship Award. (Please see specific information regarding the award at the end of this page.)
Possible types of papers include:
- Research focus: A paper reporting on original research, based on the systematic collection and analysis of the data or facts, with relevance to some aspect of practicum education.
- Theory focus: A paper reflecting upon and referencing one or more bodies of literature or systems of thought, and including implications for practicum education.
- Practice focus: A paper analyzing and describing innovative or exemplary practices or programs. This may take the form of a case study, narrative, or technical report. The outcomes may be improved frameworks, concepts, understandings, or structures, with relevance to practicum education.
Authors are encouraged to describe the evidence base for their content and to include a comprehensive literature review. Articles that are primarily descriptive reports of programs should be considered for submission to the Notes & Reports section.
Submissions to the General Scholarship section will be reviewed for rigor and relevance by members of a panel of noted practicum educators from the US and abroad; the partial list of consulting editors can be found in About Us.
General Scholarship Submission Guidelines
- Articles should be 10 to 25 pages in length, excluding references, tables, or figures.
- The article must be summarized in an abstract of not more than 100 words with three to five keywords for database indexing listed at the bottom of the abstract page.
- The manuscript text (including abstract), figures, and tables should be compiled and emailed as one file.
- To facilitate anonymous review, only the article title should appear on the first page of the manuscript.
- A cover page should be submitted as a separate file from the manuscript and include the title of the paper and professional titles and mailing and e-mail addresses of all authors.
- The manuscript should be made anonymous with all references to authors’ identities removed.
- Please refer to the General Submission Guidelines above.
Notes & Reports
In addition to manuscripts for the General Scholarship section, Applied Learning in Social Work Education accepts manuscripts for the Notes & Reports section. Notes & Reports features reports on innovative approaches to curriculum, instruction, and organizational models for delivering and managing practicum education programs.
Notes & Reports submissions are reviewed by Applied Learning in Social Work Education editorial staff and are not reviewed by external reviewers. Students, instructors, social work faculty, and liaisons are encouraged to submit articles to Notes & Reports.
Notes & Reports Submission Guidelines
- Submissions should not exceed 10 pages excluding tables, charts, or references.
- Notes & Reports manuscripts should be written in the same clear, scholarly style as General Scholarship submissions.
- Please refer to the General Submission Guidelines above.
Excellence in Social Work Practicum Scholarship Award
The Simmons School of Social Work and Applied Learning in Social Work Education sponsor an annual award to promote excellence in practicum education scholarship. A $500 prize will be awarded for an outstanding paper on social work practicum education. The winning paper will be announced at the Annual Program Meeting (APM) of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
In addition, papers will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- demonstrates rigor and relevance in addressing an important issue regarding practicum education
- contributes to the advancement of understanding and innovation in practicum education
Eligibility
Papers must be submitted and accepted to the General Scholarship section of Applied Learning in Social Work Education for consideration. Papers must be original manuscripts not previously published or submitted to other publications while under consideration by the jury. See above for submission guidelines for General Scholarship articles.