Submissions

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Author Guidelines

Thank you for considering Practical Academic Librarianship as a venue for your research. Authors who would like to contribute to PAL are invited to submit through our online submission system:

  1. Visit https://journals.tdl.org/pal/index.php/pal
  2. Click on the “Register” tab to create a user account. You will be asked to respond to a confirmation email and login to the PAL website.
  3. Click on “View Profile” at the top right side of the page and check the “Author” box in the Roles section.
  4. Click Submissions and then New Submission, and follow the steps to submit.
  5. Please ensure that the submission does not include any author names or other means of identifying authorship.

Abstracts:  Authors should prepare an abstract of no more than 300 words and keywords (minimum of three).

References: References, citations, and general style of manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), Seventh Edition (2020). Cite in the text by author and date (Smith, 2017) and include an alphabetical reference list at the end of the article. Where there is more than one paper by the same author(s), the latest paper should be presented first.

Examples:

  • Journal: Tsai, M., & Wagner, N. N. (1978). Therapy groups for women sexually molested as children. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 7(6), 417-427.
  • Book: Brown, John Seely and Duguid, Paul. (2000). The Social Life of Information. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
  • Contribution to a Book: Hartley, J. T., & Walsh, D. A. (1980). Contemporary issues in adult development of learning. In L. W. Poon (ed.). Aging in the 1980s (pp. 239-252). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

We strongly advocate the inclusion of references to online works, especially when these are openly accessible.

If you have questions, please contact practicalacademiclibrarianship@gmail.com

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word (preferred), Open Office, or RTF document file format.
  • Any image files are uploaded separately in TIFF (preferred) or JPG format and at least 300 DPI.

Think Pieces

These types of articles are intended to spur discussion among scholars on message boards for each piece. These are not blind peer reviewed; however, they are screened by the Co-Editors. General guidelines are as follows:

1. 3-15 manuscript pages, single spaced

2. 1000-6000 words total

3. APA Style (unless inappropriate for the type of essay being submitted)

4. Abstract of not more than 300 words and as least three keywords (not more than 10)

5. The pieces should aim to ask provocative questions for future research and debate, rather than provide definitive answers.

6. We encourage the use of visual aids such as images, video clips, or links.

7. The PAL website currently only accepts .doc and .rtf formats.

In Practice

These types of articles are intended to focus primarily on experiences, tips, and other essays on practice that are not research articles, case studies, or thought pieces. These submissions may not be heavily focused on the research literature and are rather practical examples. These are not blind peer reviewed; however, they are screened by the Editors. 1. 3-18 manuscript pages, single spaced 2. 1000-8000 words total 3. APA Style  4. Abstract of not more than 300 words and as least three keywords (not more than 10) 5. We encourage the use of visual aids such as images, video clips, or links. 6. The website currently only accepts .doc and .rtf formats.

Articles

Research papers are generally not more than 25 manuscript pages, single-spaced. They conform to APA Style and include a complete bibliography. The abstract should consist of no more than 300 words and include at least three keywords (not more than 10). Double-blind peer review requires the separate submission of a cover page with name and affiliation of the author(s) and the paper. The PAL website currently only accepts .doc and .rtf formats

Special Issue: Mid-Career Reinvention

Submissions for this special issue are intended to focus primarily on experiences, tips, and other essays related to mid- to  late-career experiences in academic librarianship. These are not blind peer reviewed; however, they are screened by the Editors. 1. 2-10 manuscript pages, single spaced 2. APA Style (if applicable)  3. Abstract of not more than 300 words and as least three keywords (not more than 10) 4. The website currently only accepts .doc and .rtf formats.

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