Children Webmag: Guidelines for Writers

Subjects

With a few rare exceptions the subject matter of contributions needs to be related in some way to children, young people, their families or communities, or the services which they receive. We try to treat our remit broadly, so, for example, we would include an article about young adults in transition from care, but we do not publish articles which are about services only for adults.

We are happy to receive:

  • descriptions of services
  • “thinking” pieces where the author is trying out an idea or raising questions,
  • policy documents,
  • poems,
  • pictures,
  • fiction,
  • autobiographical accounts of childhood,
  • reviews of books,
  • accounts of people who have used services
  • historical articles.

Length

Since the Webmag is electronic, the length of articles does not matter. What does matter is holding the reader’s interest, and on the web it is usually better to be brief. Most of our contributions are about three pages, but if you can make your point in two paragraphs or if you have a whole thesis you want to submit, send them in.

Format

It will help if you can send contributions as attachments in 12-point Arial. Any footnotes or references should be listed at the end of the article in the normal font, and not inserted under a line at the foot of each page.

It helps to keep the layout as simple as possible. Artwork may well be lost in the process of editing and production. It is usually easier to send photographs and tables separately so that they can be inserted.

Deadline

Children Webmag comes out on the first of every month. Material needs to reach the Editor therefore by the 15th of the month before, to allow time for editing and production.

Editing

In general we edit with a light touch, and any changes we make are corrections to spelling or punctuation, adaptations of material for the web (for example by inserting subheadings to break the text up and make it easier to read), and a few bits of house style.

If a writer is struggling with their English (for example if it is not their first language) we may make more changes, but if so we will check out the edited text with you before publication to be sure that it reflects what you want to say.

If a contribution is not in English it will help if a short summary is provided in English. If the item is in a language with which we are unfamiliar we shall need to check that its contents are acceptable through a reputable referee.

We reserve the right to reject or edit material which is libellous or obscene.

David C. Lane

Editor

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.