Guidelines for Authors and Commission and Interest Group Chairs

Beginning with the Spring 2003 issue, Spring Journal issues is featuring articles dealing with aspects within one Facet of advising. Each issue will carry the title: 21st Century Advising: Facets of Advising.. (Special Populations, Administration, etc.).

Articles are being solicited from the general membership and individual commissions within each Facet area. The four Facet areas are:

Upcoming Deadlines.

Advising In the Disciplines articles will be due March 1, 2005.  The issue will be published in Spring, 2006.

Commission and Interest Group Involvement

Commission and Interest group chairs are expected to procure at least one article for their designated facet of advising issue. Commission chairs may want to consider naming a subcommittee to look at the various advising aspects within their unique area and solicit articles to address these issues. This subcommittee could then conduct a review of articles submitted through the commission. While authors are not required to submit through a commission, many may choose to do so.

Commissions and Interest Groups are categorized as indicated:

Note: If more articles are accepted for a specific facet issue than can be printed in a singe Journal, a monograph on that facet may be considered.

Guidelines for Authors and Commission/Interest Group Chairs

Articles should focus either on 1) Quantitative Research or 2) Theory of or Concepts related to Academic Advising. It is hoped that by announcing the entire series now, advisors will begin research with the idea of publishing in the facets issues. As a result, the editor hopes that the percentage of quantitative research articles will increase as more time will be available for collecting data.

It is hoped that by announcing the entire series now, advisors with interests in Advising on Different Education Levels and Advising in the Disciplines will begin research with the idea of publishing in the Facets issues. Thus the Editor hopes that the percentage of quantitative research articles will increase throughout the series.

All submission will be anonymously reviewed by a specially selected editorial board. No guarantee of publication is made; however, every effort will be extended by Journal staff to help authors make appropriate revisions to meet publication standards.

Definitions and guidelines:

ABSTRACT: An abstract, a maximum of 2-3 double-spaced pages, summarizes the proposed manuscript and explains how the topic relates to advisors. Additionally an abstract should identify all key research components (if any) that will be included in the paper.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH articles: Data-based research reflecting thoughtfully and carefully designed research on topics relevant to the field of academic advising. Authors are encouraged to relate data to general, theoretical bases and to interpret data beyond the specific nature of individual institutions. Structure of these articles should include:

Literature Review
Authors should use a comprehensive literature review to set up the thesis. They should show that the topic is related to academic advising, the proposal offers a unique perspective to the field, and the analysis is grounded in accepted theory or practice.

Design
Authors of research articles must provide critical information about their design choices. When determining the level of detail to include, authors should consider that readers may want to replicate the study at their own institutions. Therefore, authors should define the problem and the rationale used to pursue the solution presented. They might answer the question: Why is this approach better than others we could have pursued? In addition, the authors are expected to include data specific to the study: the number of participants, demographic information, and unique identifiers of sub-populations.

Analysis
The choice of data analysis must be explained (defended) in the paper. Negative results should be shown and explained. Alternative interpretations should be addressed. Weaknesses of the design and areas for further research should be included in the discussion section. While authors should avoid sweeping generalizations, they should show the connection between the literature review and the results.

THEORETICAL or CONCEPTUAL articles: These articles address concepts and ideas about academic advising. Articles in this section could, for instance, discuss academic advising models (and the theoretical foundation for these models), concepts about intellectual and personal development, foundations of career/academic advising issues, and issues specific to advising special populations.

While source documentation is critical for any professional publication, the article will be assessed for publication based on the authors' abilities to review major events, methods, theories, philosophical positions, research finding, practices, policies, etc.; to analyze the importance of findings; and to develop conclusions about the current and future impact of the study. Structure of theoretical or conceptual articles should include:

Literature Review
Authors should use a comprehensive literature review to set up the thesis. They should show that the topic is related to academic advising and that the article offers unique insights and perspectives to the field.

Body or Focus of the Article
These articles should focus on the theory and practice of working within a unique facet within advising.
Authors of facet articles dealing with a unique group of advisees should answer the following questions:

• What unique characteristics should I address when advising a student in this group?
• How does this uniqueness impact me as an advisor?
• What implications are there for advising program development or implementation?

Writing Suggestions: Use real-life, solution-based examples showing advisors and institutions doing good work with this unique group of students. Do not focus on just one advisor or program and only quote yourself if your ideas have been previously published.

Examples: Examples of good articles based upon a theory or a concept are included in Academic Advising: A Comprehensive Handbook and in Monograph #5, Advising Students With Disabilities, and in NACADA Journal Volume 14 (2), Fall, 1994. This issue includes contains several theory/concept articles that can provide potential authors with ideas regarding the structure an article not based upon original research.

Conclusion
Authors should briefly review the connection between the literature review and the body of their articles. Authors will need to draw a conclusion and briefly defend it.

Article Submission Prospective authors should follow the guidelines set forth in the APA Manual of Style, 5th edition (American Psychological Association). Specific guidelines and submission information can be found on the NACADA web site . Authors should submit articles to the Journal Editor via e-mail. 

Article Copyright
If the an article is accepted for publication, the author(s) will be sent a form to complete, sign and return to copy editor. The form confirms that the author(s):

• Grants permission to the editor to make changes in accordance with Journal style and format,
• Assigns the copyright of the article to the NACADA Journal,
• Agrees that the accepted publication is original and has not been accepted or published elsewhere.