Submission Guidelines
The Student Journal of Occupational Therapy (SJOT) accepts article submissions on an rolling basis. Original, student-written work can be submitted at any time using the online Article Submission Form. Please read the Journal Policies and Manuscript Guidelines carefully and completely before submitting your work.Cover Letter
A separate cover letter is required with each submission and must be uploaded separately from the manuscript submission. The cover letter must contain the title of the article and state the purpose of the article. In order to facilitate double-blind peer-review, author information such as biographical statements should be included in the cover letter, not in the complete manuscript. The cover letter should also include a statement of ethics review if needed (see below) and any necessary disclosure of competing or financial interest.Author Biographies
Please include with the cover letter a biography for each contributing author. Biographies should be no more than 50 words per author. All biographies should be submitted separately from the body of the manuscript to maintain anonymity within the manuscript.Ethics Review
For all original research, the cover letter should also include an explicit statement that the study has been reviewed by a named human subjects or ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB). Additionally, all subjects must have completed informed consent documentation to take part in the study. IRB numbers should be included within the manuscript.Conflict of Interest Statement
A complete statement describing any conflict of interest or financial interest held by any of the authors should be included in the cover letter. Please provide details of any such conflict here. A limited statement, absent identifying information, should be included in the complete manuscript.Complete Manuscript Preparation
This section provides details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to complete manuscript submission to the Student Journal of Occupational Therapy. Please read these guidelines closely, as manuscripts that do not adhere to them may be rejected.Anonymity
To ensure double-blind review, there should be no information included in any portion of the complete manuscript that would identify the authors or their research institutions. Such references should be recast with language such as "the authors....", "the institution...", etc.Complete Manuscript
The complete manuscript submission will include the abstract, body of the manuscript, references, and all appendices as a Microsoft Word document or Rich Text File (RTF).Abstract
The abstract must be no more than 250 words for all original research articles, theory pieces, and educational practice and innovation articles. The abstract should be written in a narrative style describing the key concepts and findings of the article. The abstract submission must be uploaded with the body of the manuscript.Keywords
At least 3-5 keywords should be provided for indexing purposes, and ease of future readers finding the manuscript.Minimal Statement of Conflict or Financial Interest
Beneath the abstract should be included a minimal statement of existing conflict of interest (COI) or financial interest disclosure. To eliminate author-identifying information, a simple positive or negative assertion of such interest is sufficient here (either "The authors declare the existence of a financial/non-financial competing interest" OR "The authors declare no competing interests"). A complete statement of disclosure should be included in the cover letter.Body of Manuscript
Do NOT include a title page listing authorship or institutions. The full title of the article should be located at the top of the first page, followed by the abstract, body, and references, and any included appendices in that order. The manuscript should not include page numbers. The submission system will add these to the manuscript automatically.Formatting Requirements
Only submissions that meet the following formatting criteria will be considered for publication. Please note that capstones in their entirety will not be accepted.Spacing
The manuscript should be single-spaced. All paragraphs should be left-justified. Headings should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, with all headings in bold and title case, and utilizing centering, italics, indentations, and ending periods to indicate successive sub-headings.Font
All text should be presented in Times New Roman, 12 point font. Please note that the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, does allow for three new fonts (including Arial); however, SJOT requests that all submissions be completed in Times New Roman to maintain consistency between articles.Margins
There should be one-inch margins on all four sides of the manuscript.Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation
Authors are responsible for ensuring their manuscript has undergone full copyediting to correct for errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Manuscripts with obvious spelling, grammar, and punctuation flaws will automatically be withdrawn. All questions regarding grammar and punctuation should be referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. A few key things to note are:- All headings and sub-headings should be bold and title case
- All language used throughout the manuscript must be bias-free and respectful to all.
- Use only one space after a period.
- Capitalization should not be used for diseases, therapies/treatments, concepts or models, but ensure all proper nouns that occur within the article are capitalized.
- If three or more authors appear in a citation, upon first citation use “et al.” after the first author (or after the necessary number to distinguish the work in the reference list).
- All DOIs must be referenced using the URL link format (e.g, https://doi.org/…). For references from a link with no DOI, do not include “retrieved from,” prior to the URL; simply list the direct link, including “https://...”.
Page Length
The maximum page limit is 12-15 pages, single-spaced. This does NOT include the cover page, reference pages, and appendices. On rare exceptions, longer manuscripts will be considered on a case-by-case basis. All information should be presented in a succinct and professional manner.Emphasized text
Whenever possible use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.
