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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • 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 adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines below.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, remove all Document Properties that have any identifying information.

Author Guidelines

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

REGISTER AS AN “AUTHOR”

To submit your reflection, you need to Register on the Reflections home page (www.rnoph.org) and follow the email instructions to activate your account.

After registering, login and hover over your username in the top, right corner of the home page, “View Profile,” and complete the details requested in the various tabs. Most importantly, click “Author” in the “Roles” tab so the “make a submission” link will be available under the “Submissions” tab on the home page when you are logged in.

FOR NARRATIVE AUTHORS

Reflections welcomes the following types of narratives:

  • A first-hand account of one or more authors’ experiences
  • An interview that highlights another person’s experiences
  • A review of one or more books in which their relevancy for the helping professions are integrated into a narrative of the author’s experiences

Guidelines for Writing a Successful Narrative

These guidelines will be used by reviewers to evaluate your manuscript:

  • Narrative: The author conveys interpersonal interactions, witnessed events, and felt experiences in a narrative format and is clear about the author(s)’ role (e.g. practitioner, recipient of service, teacher, field instructor, student, researcher, other).
  • Story: The author places the narrative within the context of a well-told story that helps readers discover new ways of thinking about the personal, the professional, and the political in our lives.
  • Portrayals: The author roots the narrative in the rich and detailed portrayal of key moments, examples, and vignettes that fully portray the interaction taking place between and among the people involved.
  • Context: The author places the reflection within an historical context, focusing on the present, and considering the implications of the narrative for the future.
  • References: The author uses references that might draw connections between the content and the published literature or that might assist the reader in understanding conceptual or theoretical conclusions about the nature of professional practice.
  • Conclusions: The author draws conclusions about the need for qualitative or quantitative research related to the issues arising from the narrative.

As you finalize your manuscript, use these guidelines to assess readiness for submission.

Prepare Your Manuscript

It may be helpful to look at articles in a published issue to use as examples of formatting. See, in particular, Kanary (2014) for more information about narrative style.

De-identify your manuscript. For example, use pseudonyms for persons and organizations that would identify you as author, and if you cite yourself, use Author instead of your name.

Manuscript length may vary from 1,200 to up to 8,000 words.

Submit as a Word file, single-space, flush-left (non-justified) with a blank line between paragraphs.

Use 13-point Times Roman font.

On the first page, center and bold your Title.

Skip one line and put Abstract flush-left, followed by an abstract not to exceed 250 words.

Skip one line and put Keywords, followed by 4-5 keywords (separated by commas) that do not appear in your title.

Skip one line and begin your narrative.

Use APA 7 style for references but do not use headers, footers or page numbers.

Bold and center primary headings; bold and flush-left subheadings.

Avoid using footnotes or endnotes.

FOR POETS, ARTISTS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

Reflections authors and readers familiar with the mission of the journal are welcome to submit poetry, artwork, and photography that fit with the journal’s purpose. We welcome creative forms of expression that engage helping professionals in poetic and visual ways.

Guidelines for art, poetry, and photography submissions

  • Is original imaginative work, not yet published in a refereed journal
  • Conveys a theme relevant to the helping professions
  • Portrays interpersonal interactions, witnessed events, or felt experiences in a creative format
  • Sparks engagement, reflection, and meaning-making
  • Contains a narrative paragraph that provides the reader with an understanding of what inspired the poet/artist/photographer to produce this creative expression

Prepare Your Submission

 In your contextual narrative:

  • Be sure there is no identifying information such as your name or the name of someone featured in your expressive work.
  • At the beginning of your narrative, center and bold your Title.
  • Skip one line and begin your contextual paragraph that introduces your submission
  • If you have references in your paragraph, use APA 7 style, but do not use headers, footers or page numbers.
  • Avoid using footnotes or endnotes.

For poetry, submit as a Word file, single-space, flush-left (non-justified) with a blank line between your contextual paragraph and the poem. 

For photography, submit a Word File in which your photograph has been embedded immediately following your contextual paragraph.

Artwork could include drawings, paintings, sculpture, collage, or any form of art that can be photographed and embedded in a Word File along with your contextual paragraph.

FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS

Submit Your Manuscript

From the Reflections home page, click the “Submissions” tab, click “make a new submission,” and follow the prompts.

Track Your Manuscript Through the Review Process

Once submitted, you will receive an automatically generated message from the Editor-in-Chief acknowledging receipt of your manuscript.

The editors will assess your manuscript to be sure it is ready to be sent out for review.

Once assessed as ready for review, your manuscript will be sent out for double-blind peer-review.

Publication decisions will take approximately three to four months. 

Once you have registered and submitted your reflection, you can login to track your manuscript’s status from your “Dashboard” (accessible by hovering over your username in the top, right corner of the home page) or by clicking “view your pending submissions" (under “Submissions” on the home page).

If you have a question, use the “Add Discussion” link in your submission record to communicate with the Editor of the Section to which you have submitted. If you need further assistance, contact the Editorial Leadership Team at reflectionseditorialteam@gmail.com.

Practice

This is a permanent section. Submissions to this section comply with the following overview.

Practice Section (Dr. Jon Christopher Hall, Editor): The process of being a practitioner or becoming a recipient of service can stimulate valuable narratives. For example, these narratives give voice to practitioners who work and advocate with individuals, couples, families, groups, organizations and communities; participate in social justice and civic engagement work; or become recipients of service in the very systems in which they have practiced.

All articles published in this section are peer-reviewed.

Field Education

This is a permanent section.  Submissions to this section comply with the following overview.

Field Education (Dr. Beth Lewis, Editor): The process of field advisement and field instruction, as well as the experience of being a student in a practicum, can stimulate valuable narratives. For example, consider building narratives around insights gained from process recordings and verbatims or from supervisory relationships or other field experiences in which co-learning occurred.

All articles published in this section are peer reviewed.

Research

This is a permanent section. Submissions to this section comply with the following overview.

Research Section (Dr. Monica Leisey, Editor): Although Reflections does not publish research results or literature reviews, the journal has a long history of publishing narratives of the personal and/or interpersonal aspects of the research process. Some examples of research narratives could be sharing the author's experience of collaboration during the research experience, engaging in the research project, or sharing lessons learned from the research process.

All articles published in this section are peer reviewed.

Teaching & Learning

This is a permanent section. Submissions to this section comply with the following overview.

Teaching & Learning (Dr. Arlene Reilly-Sandoval, Editor): The process of teaching, or being a student, continues the journal's practice of publishing narrative accounts about education and training. For example, classroom experiences, teaching innovations, university-community partnerships, continuing education, and other formal learning opportunities offer valuable insight.

All articles published in this section are peer reviewed.

Test of Notifications Section

This is for use by Rebecca and Mike to test who gets what notifications.

Impact of COVID-19 on Preparing Future Helping Professionals

Rationale

The COVID 19 pandemic has led to unprecedented challenges for professional education and leadership across a broad array of units, such as social work, psychology, criminal justice, health care, nursing, and disability services. These units are committed to preparing future helping professionals, and they are facing the challenges of financial cuts that have already closed departments and universities, necessitated furloughs and faculty and staff losses, upturned internship opportunities, and disruptions in student learning. We solicit manuscripts that tell the stories of interpersonal interactions, witnessed events, and experiences impacted by the logistics of reopening campuses while keeping students and faculty safe, embracing new teaching technologies and methodologies for online education, and interacting via media platforms. We seek rich narratives that explore all aspects of the impact of COVID19 on professional education from an interdisciplinary perspective and offer new ways of thinking about the personal, the professional, and the political in the lives of faculty, staff, students, and community partners.

Aim and Scope of Special Section

This Special Section will consider the impact of COVID19 on professional schools, campus academic units, field and practicum placements, and multiple community stakeholders. Please share your insights about potential paths forward, lessons learned, and how we can effectively prepare the next generation of helping professionals to practice in these chaotic and difficult times.

This Special Section Focuses on Narratives From . . .

Faculty, staff, students, interns, community practitioner partners and anyone impacted by COVID 19 in preparing future helping professionals for practice.

For inquiries about submissions for this special section, contact Guest Editor: Dr. Katherine Selber, Professor of Social Work, Texas State University, ks15@txstate.edu

Black Racial Injustice: Personal Reflections to Change Strategies

Call for Narratives for a Special Section on Black Racial Injustice: Personal Reflections to Change Strategies
Submissions due: February 15, 2021

Rationale

Systemic racial injustice experienced by Black people continue to plague our society and has been labeled a public health crisis.  Nakedly exposed by the death of Mr. George Floyd and subsequent calls for dismantling symbols of racial superiority, helping professionals are uniquely positioned to develop and champion effective change strategies.  Yet, maintaining such attention on this pernicious social ill long enough to not only have sustained discussions but also pursue corrective social actions elude us. Encapsulating the current racial climate and gaining popularity are four interrelated metaphors: “I can’t breathe”, “get off my neck”, “#sayhername” campaign and “all Black lives matter”. The phrase, I can’t breathe, uttered by Mr. Eric Garner and later, Mr. George Floyd, describes restricting one’s ability to (a) live in the world, (b) be creative and (c) exercise agency. The second phrase, get off my neck, a quote by Mr. Al Sharpton in Mr. Floyd’s eulogy, explains strategies to remove and eliminate restrictions and barriers. The third phrase, #sayhername campaign, originated by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw and her colleagues, encourages the inclusion of Black women in the national conversation about race and policing. The fourth phrase, all Black lives matter, a theme of a march in Hollywood and title of a book, promotes including those who identify as Queer, and Trans People of Color (QTPOC) who have experienced racial injustice.   

Aim and Scope of Special Section

Our aim in this special issue is to focus on black racial oppression from a wide range of vantage points. Using the above metaphors as lenses, the guest editors are seeking personal stories (experiences, opinions, feelings and concerns) about inherent black racism in content, context, policies, procedures, practices, interactions and relationships, just to name a few. The objective of this special issue is to illuminate personal experiences along with suggested change strategies to deal with systemic racial injustice infecting our social systems on all levels. We seek manuscripts that explore and describe details of personal interactions and reactions of black racism and oppression in all phases of professional practice and education including interactions with administration, supervisors, colleagues and clients. We also encourage manuscripts on teaching, research, advising and mentoring students and community engagement. Each manuscript must include recommendations for solutions in the context of the narrative.  

Special Section Focus

We are seeking narratives from students, practitioners and educators across all helping professionals who are willing to share their personal experiences. All submissions should range from 1200-8000 words in length.

For inquiries about the submission for this section, contact Guest Editor:

 Dr. Priscilla A. Gibson, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, pgibson@umn.edu

Additional Guest Editors:

Dr. Patricia Gray, LCSW, Silberman School of Social Work, pg202@hunter.cuny.edu

Dr. Rebecca Chaisson, rchaisson@suno.edu

 

Practicing While Black

Call for Narratives for a Special Section on Practicing While Black
Submission due: March 15, 2021

Rationale

Social identities and social group membership, privilege and oppression, characteristics of dominant and subordinate groups, microaggressions, White supremacy, allyships, and empowerment are prevalent and pervasive to practicing professionals in the current politically charged environment. Further, the coronavirus pandemic affecting the world and the United States showcases the ugly underbelly of injustices, inequities, institutional, and systemic racism. Now out in the open, the revelations affect how Black professionals engage in work within and on behalf their communities.  Further, using technology to conduct services, made Black professionals face the arduous tasks of calling and naming injustices, while simultaneously responding to the needs of individuals, families, communities, and organizations. We see the rapid changes in the political climate, communities dealing and coping with the coronavirus pandemic, but also affecting the professional environment.  As such, Black professionals must remain current with knowledge, skills, and aptitude in their professional practice. We must seek to find out how Black professionals are coping and dealing with centering and facilitating social justice and race-related issues in their approach.   The environmental conditions provide the most suitable time to look critically at the experiences of “Practicing While Black.”  Thus, there is a need for the special section in the Reflection Journal issue on this topic.

Aim and Scope of Special Section

Guest editors seek narrative expositions and reflections from professionals “Practicing While Black” with individuals, families, groups, communities, organizations, institutions, government, academics, and settings. Thoughts on the design and use of technological advances to deliver services and content to encourage practitioners to remain technologically up to date are welcome. Submissions could include personal experiences with the provision of services, gaps in and opportunities for the need for services, and hopes for ways of moving forward with your practice.

This Special Section Focuses on Narratives From

Individuals who are “Practicing While Black” on every level of providing services, effectuating change, or dismantling racism to speak to bridging the impact with larger systems, including organizations, communities, and policies. All submissions should range from 1200-8000 words in length.

For inquiries about the submission for this section, contact Guest Editor:

Dr. Patricia Gray, LCSW, Silberman School of Social Work, pg202@hunter.cuny.edu

Additional Guest Editors:

Dr. Samuel Aymer, LCSW, Silberman School of Social Work, aymer@hunter.cuny.edu

Dr. Rebecca Chaisson, LCSW Southern University at New Orleans, rchaisson@suno.edu

Michelle Desir, LCSW, Silberman School of Social Work, md1244@hunter.cuny.edu

Dr. Priscilla Gibson, pgibson@umn.edu

Dr. Shakira Kennedy, LMSW, Touro School of Social Work, skennedy@touro.edu

Dr. Nadjete Natchaba, LMSW, Vice President S:US, nnatchaba@sus.org

Dr. Patricia Riley, LMSW, Consultant,  patriley21@gmail.com

 

Confronting and Dismantling Systemic Racism within Social Work Programs

Call for Narratives: A Call for Social Work Educators to Confront and Dismantle Systemic Racism Within Social Work Programs

Submissions due: April 15, 2021

Rationale

2020 brought about a renewed awareness concerning systemic racism, police brutality and the need for criminal justice reform. Subsequently, many BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) scholars, activists and every day citizens began to reflect upon their personal narratives publicly via social media about systemic racism and intolerance in criminal justice, education and health care. As many Colleges and Universities began to develop statements condemning systemic racism, BIPOC faculty, staff, administrators and students began to speak out about the systemic racism they experience within these institutions in the form of powerful narratives through the hashtag #Blacks in the Ivory. The social work profession has historically set itself apart from other similar professions such as counseling, or psychology through its emphasis on social justice and oppressed groups. However, social work education has made little progress in developing and implementing anti-racist practices nationally across schools, colleges and departments of social work that include the curriculum, faculty development (hiring, retention, promotion and tenure, funding, pay equity, pedagogical strategies), student development (recruitment, retention, scholarships/funding) and assessment activities.

Aim and Scope of Special Section

The guest editors are particularly interested in reflective pieces of 1) personal accounts that describe and explain personal experiences of institutional racism within schools, colleges and departments of social work 2) the process of developing personal or institutional strategies for addressing, confronting or dismantling racism within institutions and 3) identification and discussion of structural constraints on institutional change and strategies for addressing these constraints.  Submissions of 1200-8000 words, from short narratives focused on a single vignette, to longer stories with multiple portrayals of interaction and references to the literature are welcome.

This Special Section Focuses on Narratives From....

The guest editors are seeking narratives from social work educators and students including tenured faculty, tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty, field educators and doctoral students.

For inquiries about submissions for this special section, contact Guest Editors:

Tiffany D. Baffour, Ph.D., M.A., M.S.S.

University of Utah, College of Social Work tiffany.baffour@utah.edu                           

Shonda Lawrence, Ph.D., LMSW, M.S.

Clark Atlanta University, Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work slawrence@cau.edu

                         

Copyright Notice

REFLECTIONS:
NARRATIVES OF PROFESSIONAL HELPING
Cleveland State University

PUBLICATION AGREEMENT

1. COPYRIGHT: In consideration for the publication of your work, if accepted and published by the journal noted above, the author(s) agree to transfer copyright of the work to REFLECTIONS: NARRATIVES OF PROFESSIONAL HELPING, Cleveland State University, including full and exclusive rights to all media now known or later developed, including but not limited to electronic databases and microfilm, and in anthologies of any kind (NOTE TO U.S. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: SEE YOUR EXEMPTION, PARAGRAPH 4 BELOW.)

2. AUTHOR RE-USES OF WORK: As a professional courtesy, the author retains the right to reprint the author's article again after publication in the journal, in any work the author is sole author, or in any edited work for which the author is senior editor. No further permission is necessary in writing from REFLECTIONS, nor will the journal require fees of any kind for this reprinting. This statement is intended to provide full copyright release for the purposes listed above, and a photocopy of this release may be used when another publisher requires a written release.

3. READER RE-USES OF WORK: The author(s) acknowledge that registered readers of REFLECTIONS and others with access to the article may use their work consistent with Fair Use under 17 U.S.C. § 107.

4. AUTHOR WARRANTIES: The author(s) represent(s) and warrant(s):
a.) that the manuscript submitted is the author's (authors') own work;
b.) that the work has been submitted only to this journal and that it has not been previously published;
c.) that this article contains no libelous or unlawful statements and does not infringe upon the civil rights of others;
d.) that the author(s) are not infringing upon anyone else’s copyright.
e.) that the author(s) are responsible for any individual or organizational names that are mentioned, as Reflections disclaims responsibility for references to individuals, organizations, facts, and opinions presented by the published authors.
f.) That the author(s) have taken care to ensure that the article does not contain any identifiable information about clients or patients except as pursuant to appropriate permissions and forms of informed consent as provided for in all relevant laws and codes of ethics.
g.) That the author(s) content in no way violates any individual’s privacy rights.
The author(s) agree that if there is a breach of any of the above representations and warranties that the author(s) will idemnify the publisher and editor and hold them harmless.

5. AUTHOR RETENTION OF PATENTS: The author(s) may have, within the article, descriptions of the author's (authors') own proprietary patents. It is not the intention of the editor or publisher to require copyright transfer of such materials. If any of these materials appear in the work, the author(s) may add personal copyright notice to patents, with this understanding:
a.) the author(s) retain copyright for said patents, with full and exclusive rights to the author's (authors') publication, not to include any other material from the article/publication;
b.) the publisher retains full and exclusive rights to publication to the article/publication in any format, including patents when published as part of the entire article or production.

6. NOTE FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: If the article is single authored by an U.S. government employee as part of the employee's official duties, it is understood that the article is not “Work of the U.S. Government.” However, if the article was not part of the employee’s official duties, it may be copyrighted. If the article was jointly written, the authors understand that they are delegating the right of copyright to the non-government employee, who must sign this agreement.

7. “WORK FOR HIRE” AUTHORS: If the article was written by an author who was hired by another person or company to do so, the article is called a “Work for Hire” manuscript. This agreement must be signed by the “employer” who hired the author, as well as the author.

8. NO AMENDMENTS: This form is not valid if the author(s) add(s) any additional constraints and amendments. Please submit the article elsewhere for publication if the author(s) do not sign the form without alteration.

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