Guidelines for Article Submissions

Article

The OACAS Journal welcomes submissions on child welfare research and practice, highlighting projects and initiatives to improve the well-being of children, youth and families. OACAS accepts the following types of submissions:

Feature articles on research, initiatives, projects or service, with a word count of 1,000 to 3,500 words. OACAS may publish longer articles, depending on the subject matter.

News articles on events and activities, with a word count of 250 to 500 words.

Opinion pieces with a word count of 100 to 500 words.

Book and video reviews with a word count of 300 to 1,000 words. Book and video reviews must note the title, author/creator, publisher/producer, year published and cost of book or video reviewed.

Topics of interest

Topics of interest include Aboriginal child welfare, child neglect, woman abuse and adult mental health.

Format and requirements

Articles are to be written according to the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Manual. Spelling should be in Canadian English (see the Oxford Canadian Dictionary). 

All articles should include a title, the name(s) title(s) of the author(s) and references, where appropriate.

Agency Consent

If an author is associated with a Children’s Aid Society in Ontario or is submitting a piece related to an initiative at a Children’s Aid Society, OACAS will require the consent of the Executive Director of the agency prior to the Editorial Board review.

The following consent form AGENCY CONSENT FORM is to be submitted along with the article.

Author Biography

Author(s) are to provide a short biography of up to 120 words, detailing education, research, employment and other relevant information, to be submitted along with article.

Visual material

Black and white charts, tables and illustrations are accepted and should be included where possible. Visual material in colour is not encouraged.

Decisions regarding publication

All articles submitted to the OACAS Journal are reviewed anonymously by the Editorial Board using a review matrix. Reviewers are not identified to the contributors and vice versa. Submitters will be informed of the decision to include the submission, request changes be made or decline the submission.

For a list of the Editorial Board members, click here.

Sending in submissions

Submissions are to be sent as MS Word files to journal@oacas.org. Please include the contact information of all authors.