Author guidelines for Family Matters

Family Matters is the flagship research journal of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. It reports on the research and related activities of the Institute, as well as on the work of other Australian and overseas family researchers and organisations. Family Matters is published three times a year.

Family Matters aims to present contemporary research and debate on issues affecting families and promote high standards of reporting and writing that will appeal to a broad cross-section of readers with interests in family-related research, policies and programs.

Acceptance of all Family Matters articles is subject to a formal review and assessment process.

Family Matters has been assessed by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations as as satisfying the refereeing requirements for the Higher Education Data Collection (HERDC) and has been included on the Register of Refereed Journals.

Submission schedule

Issue no.	Theme	Submissions sought	Submissions closing date	Publication date
86	Family law reforms	Now	31 Jul 2010	Nov 2010
87	11th AIFS Conference	9 Aug 2010	25 Oct 2010	Apr 2010
88	11th AIFS Conference	25 Oct 2010	31 Jan 2011	Jun 2011

Note: Although each issue of Family Matters has an overall theme, articles that are not specifically related to those themes are also considered for publication.

Readership

Consistent with the Institute's charter to disseminate family research and information as widely as possible, Family Matters is designed, in its content and appearance, to appeal to a broad cross-section of readers who have an interest in the work of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, in other family-related research, and in activities and policies that promote the social and economic wellbeing of families and family life.

Family Matters subscribers include: federal, state and local government policymakers; libraries, schools and universities; health and welfare organisations; church and legal organisations, practitioners in family-related professions; media personnel; and individuals interested in keeping up-to-date with research and debate concerning families in Australia.

Family Matters is essential reading for those who work with families or want to understand and keep abreast of family research and of changes in policy, trends and issues affecting families.

Family Matters reflects diverse perspectives and analyses of family research and policy in Australia and overseas.

The contents of each edition comprise a mix of:

papers reporting findings from current Australian Institute of Family Studies research;
papers reporting other relevant family research;
shorter articles, such as a family-related "viewpoint" column, a family law update, a family trends column, and a relationships trend column; and
regular features, including Institute Activities, Institute Seminars, Book Notes.

In this document, material in categories (a) and (b) are named "research articles", and material in categories (c) and (d) are referred to as "general articles".

In an issue, a cluster of several research articles may reflect a particular theme selected by the Publications Committee. Each issue has an Executive Editor of the academic papers, designated by the Publications Committee. The Executive Editor coordinates the edition, acquires papers and liaises with authors, in consultation with the Publishing Manager and the Publications Committee.

Instructions to authors

Length

The length of research papers depends on various factors. Usually, however, from 3,000-6,000 words is a satisfactory length. (There are 700-800 words per printed page, depending on the number and size of headings, figures, tables and graphic elements.)

Title page

The title page should contain the following information:

title of the article, which should reflect the scope of its contents and should be as concise and informative as possible;
name(s) of author(s), in the exact form that is to appear on the final publication;
position, title and/or affiliation for each author;
name, address, email and telephone number of primary author; and
disclaimers and acknolwedgements, if any.

Abstract

The author information should be followed by a short, paragraph-length abstract, featuring the main aims and highlights of the paper (maximum 200 words). The abstract will not be published with the paper, but will be used to summarise the article on the AIFS website and for other purposes. Authors should also supply 4-10 keywords from the Australian Family & Society Abstracts Family Thesaurus that describe the article.

AIFS style

Submitted articles should conform to the Institute's house style. The Institute uses the referencing style described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition, 2001, but otherwise generally follows the style recommended by the Australian Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (6th edition, 2002). Spelling should conform to the Macquarie Dictionary.

Specific details about the AIFS house style and examples of usage, spelling, referencing and other important information for authors are available in the Australian Institute of Family Studies Style Guide (PDF 257 KB) .

Delivering the article

Contributions are accepted as Microsoft Word or RTF documents. Please email them to the Publishing Manager, or post an electronic copy on disk to the Publishing Manager, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Level 20, 485 La Trobe Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.

Review process

Acceptance of all Family Matters material is subject to a formal review and assessment process by the Institute's review panel. The review process will reflect the twin requirements of high reporting standards and general accessibility.

Each article is reviewed by a selection of members from the review panel and, on a case-by-case basis, by other Institute or external readers who have expertise in a particular area.

Overall, consideration will be given to whether research articles and general articles are clearly written, jargon-free, accessible and of interest to the broad range of informed lay readers that constitute the Family Matters readership, and whether articles are consistent with these author guidelines.

The following criteria will be particularly addressed in the course of the review process.

Criteria for acceptance of research articles

Subject matter
- Timeliness of topic
- Significance of the research
- Originality of the argument
Style
- Clarity of stated aims and research propositions
- Adequate and appropriate use of literature and other research
- Clear presentation and logical organisation of material
- Quality, cogency and balance of the discussion/argument
Data
- Appropriate methodological information
- Adequacy of the quality of data
- Adequacy of data analysis
- Adequacy of data interpretation
Conclusions
- Conclusions substantiated by convincing analytical argument
- Balance and relevance of policy implications and recommendations

Criteria for acceptance of general articles

Subject matter
- Timeliness of the topic
- Significance of the topic
- Originality of the argument
- Topic is of national relevance, i.e. it is not solely focused on one Australian state's and/or territory's experience
Style
- Clear presentation and logical organisation of material
- Cogency and clarity of the article
Evidence
- Factual accuracy
- Arguments are supported by references or expert observation/experience
Conclusions
- Conclusions substantiated by convincing analytical argument
- Quality and balance of the argument or information presented
- Balance and relevance of any policy implications drawn

Providing the assessment

On receiving a manuscript, the author(s) will be sent an acknowledgement that it has been received.

The manuscript is then sent to the Institute's review panel for assessment.

Authors will be informed as to the outcome of their submission. The reviewers' comments and suggestions for changes concerning articles that are accepted for publication subject to minor or major revisions will be sent to authors to assist in their preparation for suitable revision.

Upon acceptance of a submission, the author(s) will be required to complete a Copyright agreement form.

Publishing process

The accepted manuscript will be copyedited and any queries will be directed to the key author for resolution before being typeset.

Once typeset, the proofs are emailed to the key author for final corrections, but not for introduction of new or different material. The final proofs (PDF) will be sent to the key author for approval before printing. Approval can be in the form of an email acknowledgement. The article will not proceed to print until it has been approved by the key author.

The key author is provided with a PDF of the final version of their article and each listed authors is sent five copies of the printed issue.

Further information

For further information contact the Publishing Manager: phone (03) 9214 7888, fax (03) 9214 7839.