Navigating the publication process II: further recommendations for prospective counselors.

Professional School Counseling (PSC) is considered to be the premier journal for publishing articles germane to professional school counselors, school counselor educators, and a variety of other professionals interested in school counseling. As such, PSC relies upon the submission of quality manuscripts, which are largely theoretical or research oriented in nature and intended to further the knowledge base of the school counseling profession. Prospective contributors to PSC are the greatest assets to the journal, and it is because of them that this publication continues to flourish. As part of its mission, PSC's editor and editorial board strongly encourage potential contributors to work collaboratively with them to produce relevant and informative manuscripts.

In the April 2000 issue of PSC, Sink provided various suggestions for maneuvering through the publication process. Included in his article were publication strategies for first-time contributors and possible topics for PSC manuscripts. For instance, Sink recommended these ideas: (a) familiarization with the general publication procedures and sections of PSC, (b) inclusion of a cover letter with the submitted manuscript, and (c) close adherence to the writing style presented in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 1994). In addition, he described the process by which submitted manuscripts are reviewed by PSC editorial board members and the range of possible decisions by editorial board members and the PSC editor. In the search for possible topics of PSC manuscripts, Sink suggested (a) selecting topics that had not been "extensively considered in the journal" (p. iii), (b) narrowing the range of possible topics by conducting a search of current literature reviews within the educational and counseling fields, (c) investigating current counseling and educational trends, and (d) continuing knowledge and issues important to school counseling (e.g., professionalism and ethical behavior; diversity; the day-to-day activities of school counselors, including counseling, coordination, and consulting).

The recommendations proposed by Sink (2000) can be useful for potential contributors to PSC to develop a clear understanding of the publication process and are generally applicable when considering publishing in a variety of other refereed journals. Would-be contributors to PSC might also benefit from understanding other significant areas to be addressed when developing and writing manuscripts to submit to the journal. Thus, the purpose of this article is to delineate specific and common "pitfalls" of submitted manuscripts to PSC from our vantage point as two editorial board members. Described here are familiar themes that have emerged from more than 100 article reviews and evaluations. Careful consideration of the following suggestions, in conjunction with those offered by Sink (2000), will we believe, greatly enhance the overall quality and presentation of submitted manuscripts, as well as increase the likelihood of acceptance for journal publication.

Specific Suggestions for Writing Manuscripts

In an overall review of submitted manuscripts to PSC over a 3-year period, common themes and recommendations for revision can be grouped within the following categories: (a) adherence to APA format; (b) language usage (e.g., syntax, grammar, and punctuation); (c) support and clarification; (d) organizational and presentation issues; and (e) research design, method, and data analyses.

Adherence to APA Format

By far, the most common suggestion for manuscript revision concerns adherence to APA (1994) format for writing. PSC as well as most professionally refereed counseling and education journals requires submitted manuscripts to closely conform to this writing style. The following are some of the more technical aspects of APA style and format that garner significant attention by reviewers of PSC manuscripts.

Levels of headings. Headings and subheadings (see pp. 90-93 in the 1994 Publication Manual) in manuscripts serve two primary purposes: (a) to establish the importance of each topic as indicated by the organization of the manuscript and (b) to function as an organizational outline. Many articles, for example, are submitted which contain too much information. When this information is not organized through appropriate headings and subheadings, a referee can often "get lost" in the wealth of information being presented, often missing important transitions between various levels of content.

Seriation. Seriation refers to the enumeration of "... elements to prevent misreading or to clarify the sequence or relationship between elements, particularly when they are lengthy or complex" (APA, 1994, p. 93). If elements are incorporated within a paragraph or sentence, then the elements in a series should be identified by lowercase letters in parentheses. When using separate paragraphs in a series, elements which are" ... itemized conclusions or steps in a procedure should be identified by an Arabic numeral followed by a period but not enclosed in or followed by parentheses" (p. 94).

Quotation of sources. Regularly, authors include quotations from various sources. Short quotations (fewer than 40 words) should be incorporated within the text and enclosed with double quotation marks ("...."), including the appropriate page number of the cited quote. Quotations of 40 or more words should be included in a freestanding block, with quotation marks omitted. Most refereed journals request that large blocks of quotations be used sparingly. Appropriate use of quotations can be found throughout the Publication Manual (1994); however, pp. 95-97 in the manual provide criteria that are more specific.

References and citations. Concerns related to appropriate reference and citation format fall within two categories: (a) the reference list and (b) reference citations in the text. The most common reference pitfall is that authors do not double-space references. Except for special circumstances (see p. 239 in the 1994 Publication Manual), all text should be double-spaced.

The most common pitfalls when considering reference citations in text include (a) the use of & versus and for more than one author and (b) the use of et al. when considering works by multiple authors. When joining the names in a multiple-author citation in running text, the word and should be used to associate the last author with the other(s). When citing authors in parenthetical material or tables and captions and in the reference list, the names should be joined by an ampersand (see p. 170 in the 1994 Publication Manual).

The use of et al. usually poses some consideration when citing works by multiple authors. When a work has three, four, or five authors, the manual states:

   ... cite all authors the first time the reference occurs; in subsequent
   citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by "et
   al." (not underlined and with a period after "al") and the year if it is
   the first citation of the reference within a paragraph. (APA, 1994, pp.
   168-169)

Additionally, it is extremely important for prospective authors to ensure that all citations in the body of the manuscript are included as references in the manuscript's reference list. A suggestion here is for contributors to use as a model the sample papers included on pp. 257-272 in the 1994 Publication Manual. These examples include captions that specifically address certain APA style and format considerations as well as where to find the information throughout the manual.

Other suggestions. Here are a few additional "APA style pointers." First, the running head and page numbers should be placed on every manuscript page, including those with tables and figures. The title page is page 1. Second, a descriptive abstract (up to 75 words) should be included with the manuscript. Third, statistical information should be abbreviated / symbolized correctly (e.g., mean is M and standard deviation is SD) and in the correct format (e.g., a hypothetical ANOVA main effect is presented as follows: F(2, 116) = 2.80, MSE = 0.025. Including effect sizes (ES) is informative to the readership as well. A detailed explanation of APA style for statistical and mathematical copy is presented on pp. 112-119 in the 1994 Publication Manual. Finally, a manuscript's tables and figures should clearly augment and summarize the findings presented in the narrative. Too few or too many tables and/or figures may cause the reviewers (and subsequently, the readership) to become overwhelmed or confused about the substance of the results.

Resources. There are multiple resources to assist authors with mastering APA style. While there are numerous options, these web sites are recommended: (a) Plonsky's (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) Web site entitled Psychology with Style: A Hypertext Writing Guide http://www.uwsp.edu/ psych/apa4b.htm; (b) Dewey's (Georgia Southern University) APA Publication Manual Crib Sheet Web site found at http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apacrib.html; (c) APA's Web site Frequently Asked Questions About the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.) at http:// www.apa.org/journals/faq.html; and (d) APA's Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association web site http:// www.apa.org/journals/webref.html.

As for useful books on APA style, we recommend two of many. Our recommendations are: (a) Amato's (1998) text, The World's Easiest Guide to Using the APA: A User Friendly Manual for Formatting Research Papers According to the American Psychological Association, and (b) Szuchman's (1998) work, Writing With Style: APA Style Made Easy.

A good software package available to the public is the APA-Style Helper 2.0. Released in 1999 by the American Psychological Association (see the Web site: http://www.apa.org/apa-style/homepage.html). This program, while basic, makes writing in APA format (4th ed.) relatively painless and straightforward.

Language Usage (Syntax, Grammar, and Punctuation)

As manuscript evaluators, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of authors either conscientiously proofreading the final draft themselves or having the manuscript proofread by a competent third party before submitting it to PSC. Multiple examples of improper syntax, grammar, and punctuation errors can leave reviewers with an overall negative impression of a manuscript. Repeatedly; articles are submitted for review with omitted words, awkward transitions and sentences, run-on sentences, too little/much use of paragraphs, and excessive punctuation errors.

Support and Clarification

Reviewers sometimes appraise manuscripts that lack appropriate support and clarification. Without these indispensable components of any professional article, the manuscript evaluations tend to be less than favorable.

Support. As part of a publishable manuscript, prospective authors are required to conduct a thorough literature review regarding the research in question (Sink, 2000). A thorough review should help guide the formulation of relevant research questions and the manuscript's chief aims. Specifically, the literature review should ensure that previous articles within the topic area are adequately addressed and cited. There have been several instances when manuscripts have been submitted to the journal that included outdated or irrelevant references. For example, one manuscript was reviewed in which the most recent reference cited was 10 years old, despite the fact that more contemporary research had been conducted within that area of interest. Additionally, it behooves prospective authors to include timely reference citations of other works, which have been previously published in PSC as well as the journal's predecessors, The School Counselor and Elementary School Guidance and Counseling.

Authors need to provide adequate citations when referring to facts, statistical information, and generalizations as well. Oftentimes, prospective authors provide wonderful information and conclusions found in previous research. Yet, no citation is given, leaving the reader and/or reviewer wondering about the source of the information. Citing and referencing previous work is not only helpful and useful, but is also a question of professional ethics.

Clarification. Clarification of ideas, variables, and purposes of research helps reviewers gain a better understanding of the presented material. As one example, there are times when a submitted manuscript describes a study or approach to counseling that is within a particular theoretical framework. However, although the theory may be mentioned within the manuscript, no information regarding the central idea(s) and constructs of the theory are presented. It is assumed that readers and reviewers are familiar with the theoretical underpinnings, when in fact they may not be. Contributors are, therefore, encouraged to provide at least a brief theoretical orientation to the topic under investigation, including appropriate citations.

One of the most frequent suggestions for revision concerns the need for prospective authors to include in their manuscript clarification of exactly how the findings in their manuscript may influence the work of school counselors. Specifically; according to Author Guidelines, all manuscripts submitted to PSC "should include implications or practical applications for school counselors." We recommend that most manuscripts submitted to PSC include as a heading "Implications for School Counseling," "Implications for School Counselors," or a closely related title. By including this area, the findings or the article's most important themes are clearly linked to school counseling practice. It is important to provide clear examples of how school counselors might operationalize the recommendations in their program. In other words, prospective authors need to speak to the daily work of school counselors (e.g., counseling, coordination, and consulting).

One last point of clarification includes the title of a manuscript. What might seem a trivial suggestion, the title of a manuscript should not be underestimated. It should clearly define the purpose and substance of the manuscript and be relatively short. In general, the article's title determines whether very busy counselors will read it. Additionally, prospective authors should be aware that when referees receive manuscripts to evaluate, the title page is not included with the manuscript, allowing the articles to be "blindly" reviewed. In other words, since the title page contains the name and affiliation of authors, the editor removes it before the reviewers receive it. APA's Publication Manual requires that the first full page of text include the manuscript's title at the top of the page. This further helps reviewers orient themselves to the manuscript's content and topic.

Organization and Presentation Issues

The use of APA style also helps in the organization, presentation, and flow of the manuscript. Close attention to these elements increases the article's overall "readability." Reviewers should not have to decipher the manuscript's underlying structure and organization. While chapter two of the 1994 Publication Manual overviews how to express one's ideas, we have found that authors at times do not heed this input. It is critical that the manuscript is well framed and presented in a sequential fashion. The writing should be even from start to finish, with abrupt transitions among sections to be avoided. "Overwriting" (e.g., using jargon, wordiness, and imprecise word choice) is minimized by using an economy of expression. The narrative should be descriptive and coherent, but to the point. Reviewing published manuscripts in reputable education and counseling journals can serve as models for manuscript organization and composition.

Research Design, Method, and Data Analyses

PSC encourages manuscripts that are practical, theoretical, and research-based. While theoretical and practical pieces do not include data analyses, quantitative and, to a lesser extent, qualitative studies do. Thus, it is vital that researchers pay close attention to clearly describing their research design, method, and data analyses.

Research design. As reviewers, there is no other aspect of a manuscript that brings more dissatisfaction than when authors/researchers go to extraordinary effort to collect and analyze data, only for the entire study to be rendered "flawed" because of a poor research design. Studies that do not conform to the cannons of appropriate research design, whether they are qualitative or quantitative in nature, will be rejected. Regrettably; there is no way for researchers to "go back" and fix a poorly designed study. Common research design flaws include selection bias (which jeopardizes internal validity), assumption of demographic representation and generalizability, lack of a control/comparison group in an "experimental design," ethical treatment of participants, and inadequate sample size when investigating a large number of variables. Obviously, it is incumbent on authors to make a strong case for their research design.

Method. By far, the most common flaw within the methods of empirical research is with instrumentation. In particular, the most obvious problems we have encountered are: (a) inadequate development of instruments used in a study; (b) failure to adequately report the reliability and validity information with established instrumentation; (c) use of too many instruments with schoolchildren; and (d) deployment of instruments for purposes inconsistent with their design or intent.

Manuscripts offered which describe the development of an instrument for use as a measurement variable (e.g., dependent variable) frequently lack the rigorous test construction information that is required of a reliable and valid instrument. Test construction is a rather involved process, often requiring pilot studies and complicated psychometric procedures (e.g., item and factor analyses) to be conducted. The reliability (e.g., internal consistency) and validity (e.g., content and construct validity) of the measures should also be ascertained.

When prospective authors are using established instruments, they must report the relevant psychometric information (i.e., estimates of reliability and validity). More importantly; prospective authors should only use tests within the scope of what the instruments were designed to measure. To avoid doing so is not only an ethical violation, it will produce invalid conclusions.

Finally; authors should be wary of the number of instruments being used in empirical research. This was particularly true for one reviewed manuscript that used five instruments with an elementary school population. Test fatigue is a long established threat to both reliability and validity. Additionally; results from the utilization of multiple measures can make findings quite cumbersome to interpret correctly.

Data analyses. Treatment of data through statistical analyses is quite often a concern with manuscripts submitted to PSC. Human behavior and interaction are complex processes, often requiring research designs that examine simultaneously several independent and dependent (or criterion) variables, and thus, multivariate statistical analyses are often needed. As an example, we have reviewed several manuscripts that utilized in data analyses multiple one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs), when in fact, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was warranted. The use of MANOVA controls the overall alpha level when researchers are interested in evaluating mean differences on several criterion variables such as is the case with most counseling research. Another way to control for a potential Type I error when using separate ANOVAs (or t-tests) is to perform the separate ANOVAs with a Bonferroni adjustment of the alpha level (e.g., Bray & Maxwell 1985).

Other complex methods of multivariate analyses are increasingly being seen in the counseling literature (e.g., structural equation modeling, path analysis, discriminant analysis). Similarly; qualitative researchers are using sophisticated methods, which require expertise beyond the level of many graduate programs. We, therefore, strongly advocate that would-be authors first consult with specialists in research design and data analyses before launching time-consuming investigations.

Summary

It is imperative that Professional School Counseling publishes high quality research and articles that support the work of school counselors in the field. As such, potential contributors to the journal must adhere to the publishing standards of counseling and education. We have argued here that authors follow the basic guidelines presented in Sink (2000) as well as (a) pay close attention to the details of APA format; (b) provide sufficient evidence for their assertions with appropriate citations; (c) clarify the manuscript's aims, theoretical constructs, and title; (d) attend to the organization, presentation, and flow of the manuscript; and, finally, (e) make sure the research design, method, and data analyses are sound. By doing so, authors can not only increase the probability of seeing their work in print, but also further enhance school counselors' effectiveness with students and their families.

Editor's Note: This manuscript was accepted for publication prior to the announcement of the publication of the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Manual (American Psychological Association, 2001). Some minor changes were made in the manuscript; however, it was decided to publish the manuscript as the content seemed relevant to prospective authors. The following from the manual presents a summary of the changes made in the fifth edition:

   This fifth edition builds on the fourth edition, updating and clarifying
   the formats for electronic and legal references, adding sections on the
   content of methodological and case study reports, outlining revisions to
   procedures (e.g., reporting of potential conflict of interest), and
   expanding on some of the issues involved in data sharing and verification.
   The statistics section has been largely rewritten to reflect emerging
   standards in the field (although there are still a number of disagreements
   on presentation). Instructions for manuscript preparation now take
   advantage of the nearly universal use of sophisticated word processors: the
   hanging indent is back, and authors can represent italicized and bold-faced
   entries as they will appear in print. (p. xxiv)

Reference: American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

References

Amato, C. J. (1998). The world's easiest guide to using the APA: A user friendly manual for formatting research papers according to the American Psychological Association (2nd ed.). Corona, CA: Stargazer.

American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Bray, J. H., & Maxwell, S. E. (1985). Multivariate analysis of variance. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Sink, C. A. (2000). Navigating the publication process: Recommendations for prospective contributors. Professional School Counseling, 3(4), ii-iv.

Szuchman, L. T. (1998). Writing with style: APA style made easy. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Keith M. Davis, PhD, NCC, is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Psychological Counseling at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC and has served on the Professional School Counseling editorial board for 3 years. Christopher A. Sink, PhD, NCC, CMHC, is a professor at Seattle Pacific University, Department of School Counseling and Psychology, Seattle, WA, a former PSC editor, and long-time member of the editorial board.

Correspondence regarding this article can be sent via e-mail to Keith M. Davis [e-mail].