Articles submitted to New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development shall follow the guidelines presented below for preparation and submission. Also described are the review, selection, and publication process of all articles submitted.
Manuscript Preparation Instructions:
- Format manuscript as MS Word document.
- Double-space the entire manuscript.
- Set margins at 1 inch on all sides.
- Use Times New Roman 12-point size.
- Provide an abstract of 100-150 words.
- Insert page number in the upper-right corner of the manuscript.
- Include page headers.
- Manuscripts should be between 5000 and 7500 words, including references. Tables, figures, images, and graphic displays do not have to fit within the word count but should be incorporated into the text.
- References should begin immediately following the manuscript text.
- Do not include footnotes.
- Adhere to the language, style, and format guidelines as presented in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.)
(http://www.apastyle.org).
- If your manuscript includes tables and figures, follow APA guidelines for thesis and dissertations on page 325 of the APA Manual.
Manuscript Submission Instructions:
Cover Page should include:
- Manuscript title
- Author’s full name (if the manuscript has more than one author, provide all authors’ names).
- Author’s affiliation (if the manuscript has more than one author, provide all authors’ affiliation).
- Complete contact information (if the manuscript has more than one author, provide complete contact information for all authors)
- Three key words that characterize the focus of your manuscript; do not repeat words used in the manuscript title.
- The following Warrant “I (we) warrant that this manuscript represents original, unpublished work not under consideration elsewhere. We grant NH the right to publish, distribute electronically, archive, and make retrievable the submitted manuscript, if accepted.”
Title this page with your last name and the word “cover” (e.g., “Johnson.Cover.doc”)
Original Manuscript should not include author’s name. Title this document with your last name and the word “manuscript” (e.g., “Johnson.Manuscript.doc”)
Please write in the subject line of your email, “Manuscript for NH”, include the two attachments (Cover Page and Original Manuscript), and send to the Managing Editor: newhorizons@fiu.edu .
The Review, Selection, and Publication Process:
Upon receipt of the manuscript, the Managing Editor will send an email acknowledgment. The Editors assign reviewers articles to review based on their interest, expertise, and availability. There are at least three reviewers for each submission. The reviewers use a three-step process. The first part of the review process asks the reviewers to rate the article on seven dimensions, using a Likert scale. The following criteria guide the evaluation:
- The importance of the topic.
- Clarity and coherence of the problem statement.
- Relevance and scope of the literature review.
- Appropriateness and technical accuracy of the research design and methodological rigor.
- Appropriateness of results and conclusions.
- Contribution to adult education, human resource development, or related fields.
- Presentation and quality of writing.
For the second part of the review, the reviewer writes a narrative assessment of the manuscript. In the narrative assessment the reviewer elaborates on the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, offers suggestions for improvement, and recommends other measures to improve the manuscript. In the third part of the review, the reviewer makes an overall recommendation: Conditionally Accept, Revise and Resubmit, or Reject. Reviewers usually complete their critiques within four to six weeks.
Once all reviews are returned, the Editors make a decision and prepare a statement detailing the steps the author(s) should take to improve the paper. This statement is sent by email as an MS word attachment. Those manuscripts recommended to be revised and resubmitted will go through another review process. If the decision was to conditionally accept, the author(s) make the recommended changes to the manuscript and return it to the managing editor. If the editors are satisfied with the revisions, then the manuscript will be placed in the publication queue. Approximately six weeks prior to the publication date, the editors will conduct a thorough review and copy-edit the article. The manuscript will be returned to the author(s) at this point for a final review along with a copyright release form to be signed and returned. If substantial inconsistencies exist between the manuscript and APA 5th edition, the manuscript will be returned to the author(s) to bring the manuscript into compliance with NH preparation guidelines and may lose its position in the publication queue. The initial review process takes approximately three to six months. For manuscripts designated Revise and Resubmit, the length of the process is influenced by the time it takes for the author(s) to return the revised manuscript for the second review.
For further clarification of these guidelines and policies, please contact the Managing Editor: newhorizons@fiu.edu.
