For information and instructions on manuscript submission please check here.

The Journal appears eight times a year and publishes a wide variety of articles relevant to social work in all its aspects. Articles are considered on any aspect of social work practice, research, theory and education. Major articles should not exceed 7000 words in length, excluding the abstract, but including references, tables and figures.
In addition, shorter articles are welcomed. Research notes providing a digest of research findings can be included, but should not exceed 2500 words. Although the bulk of the Journal's readership is within the UK it also has a substantial international readership and papers from overseas are welcomed. In considering papers for publication the Journal's assessors (normally two) take into account not only intrinsic merit, but readability and interest to the range of Journal readers. Assessment is anonymous. Please refer to any self-citations as 'author's own' in both text and bibliography until publication.

Preparation of manuscripts

• Articles must be word processed, ideally using Microsoft Word, for uploading to Manuscript Central, and should be double-spaced throughout allowing good margins. Authors will also need to supply a title page separate to the main text of their manuscript. This will need to include the article title, authors' names and affiliations, brief biographical details, corresponding author's contact details, and any sources of funding as an acknowledgement. The final version of the manuscript will need to include the article title, abstract, keywords and subject categories, body of text, references, figures and tables. Spelling must be consistent within an article, following British usage (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary). Spelling in references should follow the original.
• The following format and conventions should be observed:
  1. References: Authors are asked to pay particular attention to the accuracy and correct presentation of references. In-text references should be cited by giving the author's name, year of publication (Smith, 1928) and specific page numbers after a direct quotation. In-text lists of references should be in chronological order. A reference list should appear at the end and should include only those references cited in the text. References should be double spaced, arranged alphabetically by author, and chronologically for each author. Publications for the same author appearing in a single year should use a,b,c etc. Please indicate secondary references.
     • BOOK: Kelly, L. (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence, Cambridge, Polity.
     • BOOK CHAPTER: Fletcher, C. (1993) 'An agenda for practitioner research', in Broad, B. and Fletcher, C. (eds), Practitioner Social Work Research in Action, London, Whiting and Birch.
     • JOURNAL ARTICLE: Wilson, K. and Ridler, A. (1996) 'Children and literature', British Journal of Social Work, 26(1), pp. 17-36.
     • MULTI-AUTHOR ARTICLE: Where there are more than two authors, the reference within the text should be cited as Smith et al. and the date, but in the reference list the names of all the authors should be included.
     • ADVANCE ACCESS PAPERS: Papers published in Advance Access are citable using the DOI and publication date:
       
       Munro, E. R., Holmes, L. and Ward, R. 'Researching vulnerable groups: ethical issues and the effective conduct of research in local authorities', British Journal of Social Work Advance Access published July 18, 2005, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch220.
       
       The same paper in its final form would be cited:
       
       Munro, E. R., Holmes, L. and Ward, R. 'Researching vulnerable groups: ethical issues and the effective conduct of research in local authorities', British Journal of Social Work, 35(7), pp. 1024-1038. First published July 18, 2005, doi:10.1093/bjc/azh035.
  2. Footnotes: Footnotes expanding content are not normally admitted.
  3. Appendices: Appendices are not normally admitted.
  4. Statistics: Follow the guidance given here.

Articles must be original. If any of the material has been published or submitted elsewhere, this must be made clear when the article is submitted.

It is a condition of publication in the Journal that authors grant an exclusive licence to The British Association of Social Workers. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. As part of the licence agreement, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that the Journal is acknowledged in writing as the original place of publication and Oxford University Press as the publisher. The licence to publish form will be issued through Manuscript Central on acceptance of the manuscript. The form can also be downloaded from the following link: licence to publish form

Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS and similar licencing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section. Information on permissions contacts for a number of main galleries and museums can also be provided. Should you require copies of this then please contact the Oxford Journals Rights department.

Articles submitted are normally sent to two assessors and a decision is made by the editors in the light of their comments. A decision should normally be received within six to eight weeks.

The Editorial Board do not hold themselves responsible for views expressed.

Language Editing
Particularly if English is not your first language, before submitting your manuscript you may wish to have it edited for language. This is not a mandatory step, but may help to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers. Language editing does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. If you would like information about one such service please click here. There are other specialist language editing companies that offer similar services and you can also use any of these. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.

BOOKS FOR REVIEW

Books for review should be sent to:

CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY

Editors

• Submission by Editor
  Submission by the Editor or Co-Editor is not permitted.
  
• Submission by author at same institution as an Editor
  A paper submitted by an author who is at the same institution as the Editor or one of the Co-Editors will be handled by one of the other Co-Editors or by an Associate Editor who is not at that institution. The Editor or Co-Editor who is at the same institution as the author will not be involved in selecting referees or making any decisions on the paper.
  
• General policy
  If the Editor or Co-Editors or Review Editor feel that there is likely to be a perception of a conflict of interest in relation to their handling of a submission or book for review, they will declare it to the other Editors or to the Editorial Board, and the submission or review will be handled in the same way as described above.
  

Referees

• Potential conflict of interest for referee
  The invitation letter to reviewers includes the following paragraph: 'If you know or think you know the identity of the author, and if you feel there is any potential conflict of interest in your refereeing this paper because of your relationship with the author (e.g. in terms of close friendship or conflict/rivalry) or for any other reason, please declare it. By accepting this invitation, it is assumed there is no potential conflict of interest.' Standard policy will be not to use a referee if a conflict of interest has been declared, but the Editor or Co-Editors may use his/her/their discretion after consulting with one another or with the Associate Editor(s) or with the Editorial Board.
  

Authors

• Sources of funding
  On acceptance, authors will be asked to provide a statement declaring all sources of funding relating to their paper, and the statement will be printed on the title page or at the end of their paper.
  

Review Editor

• Sending Review Editor’s own book out for review
  In the case of the Review Editor’s own publications, as sole author, editor, co-editor or contributor, the Editor or one of the Co-Editors will handle the process, including the initial decision as to whether the book should be reviewed, the choice of reviewer and the decision whether to accept the review for publication. If the Editor or all Co-Editors are at the same institution as the Review Editor, then the process will be handled by an Associate Editor or by an Editorial Board member who is not at the same institution. The process will be handled in such a way that the Review Editor does not have access to information or correspondence relating to the review.
  

Book reviewers

• Potential conflict of interest for book reviewer
  The invitation letter to reviewers should include the following wording: ‘If you feel there is any potential conflict of interest in your reviewing this book because of your relationship with the author (e.g. in terms of close friendship or conflict/rivalry) or for any other reason, please declare it. By accepting this invitation, it is assumed there is no potential conflict of interest.’ Standard policy will be not to use a reviewer if a conflict of interest has been declared, but the Review Editor may use his/her discretion after consulting with the Editor or Co-Editors.