Author Guidelines

Submission Components

(3 Separate Files: Author Info Sheet, Article Info Sheet, Manuscript)

1. Article Info Sheet (1 page)

Using the article info sheet template provided (which must be anonymized), provide the following:

- The manuscript category (e.g., Research Article or Practice Article, )

- Type of submission. For example, Research-Oriented Submissions may consist of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods studies, literature reviews, or critical scholarship. Practice-Oriented Submissions may consist of position papers, pragmatic approaches to teaching, learning, scholarship, or design/technical approaches, or reviews (of books, videos, podcasts, film, or other produced media). 

- Affirmation that the submission has not been previously published and has not been submitted to or is not under review by another journal.

- Name of Special Issue (if applicable)

- Word Count (Excluding References)

2. Author Info Sheet (1 page)

Using the author info sheet template provided, provide the following

- Full name of the author(s) along with position and institutional affiliation, city, country, e-mail address, ORCID ID, and, if applicable, any social media accounts of the author(s). Please also provide the telephone number and mailing address of the contact author. Full author names and affiliations must also be added within the metadata on the submission online and have ORCID IDs linked in the Open Journal System.

- Statement regarding use of copyright materials. If the manuscript contains copyright materials, the author should make note of this and indicate when letters of permission will be forwarded to the Editor (or attach letters of permission).

- Affirmation that the submission has not been previously published and has not been submitted to or is not under review by another journal.

- Statements required in the manuscript sections as per the template where it might not be possible to be anonymized, such as author's contributions, ethics statement, conflict of interest, and data availability statement.

3. Manuscript Document

See Layout section below for manuscript templates, which must be anonymized both in its contents and in the file properties (e.g., in Word, this can be done in Tools/Protection and confirmation of identity removal can be seen in File/Properties).

- A manuscript or full paper should be between 4000-7000 words, excluding references and appendices). Additional media file types are welcome.

- An abstract (up to 250 words), at least 4 keywords, and the word count (not including abstract & keywords) must be placed on the first page. See image guidelines for any artwork (format, placement, resolution, fonts).

Please note, to help our copyeditors, we ask that authors refrain from using Word’s insert citation/citation options or, once accepted, we will ask authors to redo their citations/references prior to copyediting them. Authors will be expected to provide DOIs for all articles as well. 

Article Components and Criteria

Research Articles

Abstracts should include: Description of the research problem, method, basic findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Manuscripts should typically include some of the following headings, as relevant to the type of submission: Introduction (including problem statement), Literature, Theoretical / Conceptual Framework, Research Method (including ethics), Analysis, Findings and Limitations, Discussion, Impact on theory and/or practice, Recommendations for future research, Conclusion, Data Availability, References. 

Practice Articles

Abstracts should include: Description of the problem of practice, the solution/innovation, approach to / methods of design, development, implementation and evaluation of solution/innovation, key findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Manuscripts should typically include some of the following headings, as relevant to the type of submission: Introduction (problem of practice), Literature, Conceptual Framework, Design, Development, Implementation Method, Program Evaluation, Findings and Limitations, Discussion, Impact on practice, Recommendations for future practice, Conclusion, References.

Format

The submission file must be in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format. Authors have followed the instructions in the "Ensuring a Blind Review" document (available in the submission upload area) to ensure that a blind copy of their article has been submitted. Author identification must be removed from the properties of the file. While the title should appear at the top of the first manuscript page, no reference to the author(s) should appear there or at any other place in the manuscript. Authors must also delete their names from any references and citations, and have inserted "Author" in its place. Titles of published papers by the authors must be replaced with "Deleted for Peer Review."

Style Guide

The text adheres to the APA stylistic and bibliographic requirements. Please use the most current APA style guidelines and ensure the accuracy of all references and that any references cited in the text also appear in the list of references. Where available, URLs and DOIs for the references should be provided and linked. Where possible and consistent with APA, we encourage titles to be linked as opposed to URLs to support web accessibility standards. Page numbers must be provided for all direct quotes. Prepare an unnumbered reference list in alphabetical order by author. If there is more than one article by the same author, list the most recent paper first. References should include the names of all contributing authors. Ensure that all references are accurate and that any references cited in the text also appear in the reference section.

Layout

Please make the layout of your submission as simple as possible. Paper size is letter and margins are 2.54 cm (1.0”) for top, bottom, left, and right. Templates are provided as follows: 

- Research Article Template
- Practice Article Template

Text

For the body of your document, use Arial font, 11-point type size, single-spaced. The whole document should be left-justified. The text should be divided under headings and subheadings as per APA. Please use preformatted heading styles (e.g, Heading 1, Heading 2, etc., and not simply formatting font manually) to support improved web accessibility. As per APA, please ensure the URLs in references are hyperlinked. If authors choose to provide URLs for other purposes, consider hyperlinking text rather than writing out the URL to support web accessibility.

Tables, Graphs, and Figures

Minimum 9-point type size, all captions should be upper- and lower-case, bold, and centred. They must be placed in the correct location within the article. Colour may be used.

Image Guidelines

- Format: PNG, JPEG, SVG, TIFF: Common format for pictures (containing no text or graphs). Images should be between 72-100dpi.

- SVG and EPS are preferred formats for graphs and line art (retains quality when enlarging/zooming in).

- Placement: Figures/charts and tables created in MS Word should be included in the main text rather than at the end of the document. Figures and other files created outside Word (i.e. Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, TIFF, EPS, and PDF) should be submitted separately. Please add a placeholder note in the running text (i.e. “[insert Figure 1.]")

- Resolution: Rasterized based files (i.e. with .tiff or .jpeg extension) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.

- Fonts: The lettering used in the artwork should not vary too much in size and type (usually sans serif font as a default).

- ALT text: Authors must insert meaningful ALT text for all image files, infographics, illustrations, etc.

Illustrations and Photographs Halftones

Minimum of 9-point type size. Captions should be in sentence case, bold, and centred. Images must be computer-designed and submitted as embedded images in your document.

Reference List

Each article in the reference list should include the DOI, if available. If no DOI has been issued, the URL should be included in the reference and linked.

Notes, if necessary, must appear at the end of the article, before the reference list, as endnotes. Footnotes are not accepted.

Web Accessibility

Web accessibility is something we as educators, authors, content creators, and publishers must work towards together. In service of achieving equal access to information for, and social inclusion of, people with physical and cognitive disabilities, ageing populations, as well as people who are geographically, politically, economically, socially or otherwise marginalized, we ask authors to take the following steps to ensure their work meets web accessibility standards:

- Authors should use the web accessibility checker built into Word or the plug-ins for OpenOffice as they will provide specific advice to correct accessibility issues (e.g. correctly formatting tables). This may be a new step in your workflow, consider it akin to spell-checking your document.

- Where possible, hyperlink words (as you see here) and not URLs, except where required by the APA style guide.

- Please use heading styles. Authors can edit heading styles in the Word Styles Pane and in OpenOffice authors edit styles in Styles and Formatting. Using styles, as opposed to manually formatting text to create a heading, appends critical information for screen readers and assists keyboard navigators.

- ALT text must be added to all image files, illustrations or graphics. Alt text can be added in Word. Alt text can also be added in Open Office.

- Captions should be added to video files, or transcripts provided. YouTube and other platforms offer serviceable and free captioning and transcription tool for video, but we ask that authors review the output as manual editing is often required for accuracy.

- Transcripts should be provided for audio files.

Equal access to information is a human right and web accessibility is legislated in many jurisdictions around the world. OTESSA invites authors to aim towards meeting WCAG 2 standards for content by following the guidelines provided, but acknowledges that web accessibility is an evolving space and we all have a learning curve to support it.

Additional Files

OTESSA accepts supplemental files, such as open data and media files. We can have multiple files offered for each article. Any media can be submitted as a supplemental file in the submission process.

Data Sharing

All articles reporting original research data are expected to deposit all digital data, metadata and code that directly support research conclusions, tables, and figures into a recognized publicly accessible data repository at the time of submission, provided the necessary approvals and consent have been obtained. Authors must include a statement of data availability in the manuscript text indicating where the data are deposited, and provide to the editor the DOI or link to the dataset prior to submitting the production files of the accepted paper, so that they can be included in the published manuscript. Examples of data types include but are not limited to statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, and videos.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all steps necessary to protect the privacy of human research subjects have been taken. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. Any restrictions on the availability of research data must be disclosed to editors at the time of submission, and must also be disclosed in the submitted manuscript in the statement of data availability. The editor may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data. The editor can also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. If you require assistance preparing your data set for depositing in a repository, please contact a librarian at your institution. Independent scholars who do not have access to an institutional librarian may contact journal@otessa.org for next steps.

Data availability statements should provide a clear description of where data supporting the results described in the published manuscript can be obtained. In cases where data are not available publicly, the data availability statement should specify reasons why the data cannot be made public and whether authors may grant access to the data upon reasonable request.

Articles reporting research conclusions derived from publicly available datasets are required to indicate the source of the data in the manuscript following standard data citation practices.

Examples of discipline-specific social sciences data repositories:

- openICPSR

- Odum Institute Data Archive

- Qualitative Data Repository

Examples of generalist repositories

- A university data repository - Scholars Portal Dataverse (Consortium of Canadian University Data Repositories)

- Zenodo

- figshare

Audio or Video

At submission, authors have the option to provide abstracts or supplementary material in audio or video format. The video needs to be submitted along with the submitted manuscript and will be subject to peer review with final decisions made by a member of the editorial team. Captions must be added or transcripts provided to support web accessibility standards. Any supplemental files will not be checked for accuracy, copyedited, typeset, or proofread. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and functionality remains with the authors. A statement to this effect will be displayed alongside any supplemental material published.

Please supply a title and description for all supplemental files. These can be included in a separate document that is submitted. If a title and description is not supplied the following title and description will be used: Title – “[File name] - Supplemental material for [Article title]”; Description – “Supplemental material, [File name], for [Article Title] by [Author names] in [Journal Title]”. The title and description will appear in the journal and also on the record in any relevant open data repositories and will assist with the discoverability of the supplemental material online. If any materials already have been uploaded to an open data repository elsewhere, please still upload the file, but also upload a document providing the link(s) and location of the files.

All media files must be accompanied by written permission of any individuals featured in any of the media forms for print and online publication. A media release form must be completed for each individual featured and then a signed version must be uploaded along with the submission. The form is located here.

We encourage the use of an open format for file types, such as those mentioned on this list of open formats.

Embedded graphics (i.e., a GIF pasted into a document file) are also acceptable.

Zip files should be avoided wherever possible.

All media files should be tested for playback before submission, preferably on computers not used for its creation, to check for any compatibility issues.

Audio Properties

Each audio file should have a unique title and detailed content notes. Media files should be in either audio mp3 or m4a format.

Video Properties

All video clips must be created with common codecs, and the codec used should be noted in the supplemental material information that is uploaded. OTESSA will not host codec files, or be responsible for supporting video supplemental material where the codec used is non-standard. Large files can be reduced through codec (compression-decompression programs such as the open source Handbrake program), but must still be of high quality.

Videos should be at least 1280x720640x480 resolution and at least 2420 fps. The editorial team recognizes the changing nature of technology, so we will not be specific about compression types. Currently, H.264 or H.265 codecs in an MP4 or AVI container is a good choice. MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 are portable but have lower quality and larger files than the more modern codecs. We expect videos to be able to play across various devices, therefore proprietary formats, such as WMV, MKV and FLV, are discouraged. The Editors reserve the right to request authors to change the compression codec before publication. Videos should be below the 50MB mark and any video over this amount should provide a short preview to be hosted alongside the full file. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Editors.

File Size

File sizes should be kept below 50MB where possible. For files larger than 50MB, please contact journal@otessa.org for options.

Perception of Bias

Authors may enter names of any potential reviewers perceived as having a negative bias against them or their work in the Comments to the Editor section of the submission system or may email the editorial team at journal@otessa.org. In these cases, steps will be taken to ensure a fair review.

Author Information

This journal supports the use of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID, which provides a persistent unique identifier for each researcher. We will ask for the ORCID IDs from corresponding authors as part of the submission process of this journal to associate your ID to your submission. We also strongly recommend that all co-authors link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platform. Your ORCID ID will become part of your publication’s metadata, enabling your work to be attributable to you with no chance of mistaken identity. Your ORCID ID will be published with your article so those reading your work can access your profile and from there discover your other publications. If you do not already have an ORCID ID please visit the ORCID website to create one.

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for yourself and all co-authors via our online submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author to receive communication from us. The information you provide must match what appears on your manuscript. We recognize that some researchers hold positions with various academic institutions. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author’s affiliation has changed since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper.

OTESSA, as an association, uses the handle @OTESSA_org on Twitter to engage with our community and the public. There is also a decidated @OTESSAjournal account on Twitter. When using hashtags that pertain to the conference, please use the format OTESSA plus two digits for the year (e.g,. #OTESSA22). For the journal or other OTESSA-related topics, please use: #OTESSAjournal. Authors and readers are encouraged to share their work and participate in discussions around the journal and the works we publish. 

Acknowledgements

Any contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. These may include technical support, administrative support, or mentorship.

Individuals who provided writing assistance, such as a writing centre, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance). It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

Funding and Conflict of Interest

The journal requires all authors to acknowledge their funding source(s) under a separate heading or state that the research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors.

The journal requires all authors to declare any conflict of interest that may arise from the publication. If any conflict exists, authors must insert a statement at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest.’