Information for contributors

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The Department of Corrections welcomes submissions for Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal on topics relevant to all aspects of Corrections work which aim to promote professionalism and practice excellence.

Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal is a publicly funded journal which is available for download on the Corrections website  (www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/journal.html).

Submissions

We seek articles from knowledgeable professionals working in any part of the corrections arena.
Submissions may include:

  • Substantive articles: Substantive articles of around 3,000 – 4,000 words are generally requested by specific invitation to the author by an Editorial Board member. However, if you would like to submit an article, please email Corrections Journal
  • Practice articles: Contributions for practice articles are welcomed from all Corrections staff and professionals working in the wider field. Articles can include accounts of innovative or effective workplace practice, case reports, research, education, review articles, conference and workshop reports, and personal observations and should be around 1,000 – 2,000 words.
  • Reviews: We welcome book reviews of around 500 words.

All work must be the original work of the author/s.

Names and other details must have been changed to protect offender/victim confidentiality.

Submissions should not have been published before or be under consideration for publication elsewhere; should not contravene any laws, including those of defamation and privacy; should disclose any conflict of interest; and should meet any applicable ethical or research standards.

Submissions should not violate a third party’s intellectual property rights and the authors will have obtained any permissions, should these be required, for material sourced from other copyrighted publications, etc.

We may publish submissions that have been published elsewhere, if the authors have obtained the required permissions, but we will give preference to original submissions.

All articles will be considered by the editorial board of Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal.

The Department of Corrections will not make any payment for contributions to Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal and does not hold itself responsible for statements made by authors.

Style

Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal is a ‘Plain Language’ publication. Writing should be clear, concise, and avoid jargon or technical language.

We appreciate that authors may be at varying levels of familiarity with professional journal writing and for those less used to this style, we hope this won’t be a barrier to approaching us. We are always available to talk through ideas and to discuss how best to present your information.

Format

Where possible, articles for submission should include an executive summary, followed by an introduction. The body of the article should have clear subject headings, followed by references (see note below).

All authors should also send a brief biography (approx 50 – 100 words).

Referencing

Please keep notes to a minimum and follow APA (American Psychological Association) standard referencing format (http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa offers a quick guide). References should only include publications directly referred to in the text and not be a complete review of the literature (unless that is the purpose of the article).

Images

Photographs and illustrations are always welcome.

Copyright

In most instances, copyright of a submission made to Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal will be owned by the New Zealand Department of Corrections. When you are the author and copyright owner of your submission, you retain copyright in your submission, but in order to publish your submission the Department of Corrections may need to obtain a licence from you and, if relevant, any other authors before we can publish in Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal. The Department of Corrections acknowledges your moral right to be identified as the author of the submission.

Where you do not own the copyright in your submission, for example where your employer owns the copyright, you must ensure that the copyright owner has authorised you to licence the submission under the terms set out in these guidelines.

By putting forward your submission to the Department of Corrections for publication in Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal, you and any other authors of your submission (if applicable) agree to licence the Department of Corrections to publish your submission on the following terms:

  • You agree to comply with these guidelines
  • You warrant that you have the right, or have obtained such authorisation or the relevant licence/s, as may be required, including from any co-authors of the submission
  • You grant a non-exclusive and perpetual licence to the Department of Corrections in order for the Department of Corrections to:
    • reproduce, publish, communicate or disseminate your submission in any media format including in hard copy, on the Corrections website, electronic library databases, or via information service providers, as part of Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal
    • reproduce your submission free of charge for the non-commercial purposes of education, study and/or research without requiring specific permission from you (note that such reproduction will be conditional on your submission being reproduced accurately, including acknowledgement of your authorship, and not being used in a misleading context
    • allow your submission to be disseminated as a whole or part of the text, image and other content contained within your submission in text, image, other electronic format or such other format or on such other medium as may now exist or hereafter be discovered, as part of electronic products distributed by information service providers.

Please note that the Department of Corrections will not pay you for the licence or right to publish your submission. The Department of Corrections will not benefit from any financial gain as a result of you granting such a licence.

Contact us

If you would like to submit an article or review to Practice: the New Zealand Corrections Journal, or if you have any queries, please email Corrections Journal