Writing an article for 'Counselling at Work'

Counselling at Work is the quarterly professional journal for BACP Workplace, the workplace division of BACP. It is published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Articles

We welcome articles offering new perspectives on current thinking; debate on practical or professional issues; theory discussions; shared experience and best practice.

Articles selected for publication are likely to be:

• Original, insightful and authoritative
• Of genuine interest to the majority of practitioners, or a sizeable group
• Well-written using clear, non-technical language
• Backed up by any available research

We are looking for pieces that inform, challenge and inspire the reader.

Article construct - some advice

Before you start, have a clear idea of the concepts and information you want to convey and why they matter. The plan of any article needs to be logical and obvious.  Ideally it will be structured with a beginning, middle and end. Often the beginning might include a rationale or overview (introduction and intent), the middle section would be the ‘meat’ of the text and the end could round up or conclude , e.g. 10% (beginning) 80% (middle) 10% (end). This is guidance only and some articles might justify not following this structure.

Consider the readership (see below) in order to inform your article and make it relevant.

If you are writing about research, please do not write an academic essay - convert your introduction, method, results and conclusions into a narrative format and pay particular attention to the opening paragraphs of your article, to engage the reader. Only include those references that are important to include of which embellish your points as too many references tend to waste space.

If you are wondering how to bring your article to life, you may wish to include brief case studies, graphs or charts to illustrate it. Please ensure you have obtained any relevant copyright or other permission (see submission requirements, below).

There is no specific writing style that is sought, rather we encourage diversity of expression, dialogue and communication to reflect our readership. Some articles may be more colloquial, others less so.

If commenting on named individuals, perhaps who are evidenced as having a particular view on a subject, consideration should be given to potentially litigious claims or language.

Where at all possible, you should back up any claims you make with substantiating evidence.

Some potential contributors might be keen to write an article that promotes a book, course or event. It is important not to stray from an editorial piece to one that might be regarded as advertising. 

Target Audience

BACP Workplace is a broad church. The majority of members are workplace counsellors or practitioners working in organisational settings. Some members work in organisations ostensibly covered by other sectors, so we have a modest membership from further and higher education, healthcare and those who practice independently.

Generally, the readership is regarded as predominately practitioner-based who will have an understanding of counselling and some knowledge of other support interventions, such as coaching, mentoring, mediation, stress management, absence management, vocational rehabilitation and trauma support. Some will have extensive organisational understanding, others less so, similarly some will be conversant with research, others won’t.

Other members work in employee assistance programme and other service providers. Currently, 100 extra copies of the journal are printed for the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) for distribution to their members.

Additional journal subscribers come from Human Resources, Occupational Health, People Management, Health & Safety and Trade Unions.

Submission requirements

• Word count - articles should range from 1,500 – 3,000 words, including references.

• References - should be provided in Vancouver style. This means that references are numbered in the text in the order in which they appear. They are then collected together in numerical order at the end of the article. Numbers appear in the text in superscript. Check out articles posted on this website.

• Case studies – they make interesting and valuable reading. However, authors submitting a case study within their article are required to state in writing that either the case study is fictitious or a composite or, if an actual case study, that the client is not now recognisable from the text and that the client's informed consent has been given.

• Copyright - the author is responsible for obtaining permission to use written or visual material from a third party and must provide evidence that this has been obtained. This includes, for example, any pictures, tables, diagrams or extracts. Copyright for the article is retained by BACP unless otherwise agreed with the editor.

• Author statement - the author should confirm that the manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere, or been accepted by any other publication, and should send a declaration that the article is their own work.

• Please include no more than 50 words of biographical information including current work, relevant qualifications, research interests etc, and confirm if you would like your email address published.

How to submit an article

Please email the editor, Rick Hughes - rick 'at' thecreativewritingservice.co.uk. 

Feel free to submit a completed article, a draft or an outline. Not every article submitted is published but any submission will receive feedback. Please include with your submission your name, address, daytime telephone number and email address, if available.

These Guidelines are not absolute and industry standards and best practice apply.

Book Review Guidelines

To assist you when writing your reviews you may wish to consider the following:

 An overview of the content

• Is the book essential or marginal reading?
• How does it compare with other similar works?
• What are the strengths and any weaknesses of the book?
• What do you regard as the ‘best’ aspect of the book?
• And any significant omissions?
• How useful is it for practitioners and why?
• Which target audience is the book aimed at and appropriate for?

Essentially, a book review should be constructive and honest beginning with your overview, followed by what you particularly enjoyed, then any omissions or limitations and completed with a conclusion and recommendation to any specific target readership.

Word count - 500 – 1000 words

 .

• Please include the ISBN, price, author and publisher details at the start of the review and your preferred credit at the end, eg counsellor and supervisor.
•  Please note that all reviews may be edited and are included at the Editor’s discretion and we expect that all work connected to Reviews is undertaken in the spirit of the Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy. 
• Please also include your name and designation or affiliation (which will be published) and add a mailing address (which will not be published) so we can mail you a copy of the journal when published.
• Please email your review, preferably in a word document attachment, to the editor, Rick Hughes - rick ‘at’ thecreativewritingservice.co.uk (replacing 'at' with @)

16th August 2011