Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • Manuscripts are submitted in two Word documents, labeled "manuscript" and "title page", with the required content of each page (see the author guidelines).
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.
  • The article should be written in Times New Roman; 12-point font; 1.15 line spacing; justified; and standardized margins of 2.54cm.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • All illustrations, tables and figures must be placed within the text at the appropriate points (not at the end of the document), and should be in their original format (not saved as an image).
  • The manuscript has been professionally language edited.

Author Guidelines

Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered,  authors can simply send the manuscript in Word documens to socialwork@sun.ac.za

Manuscripts must be submitted in two Word documents: The first document should be labeled "manuscript" and must contain the (i) title, (ii) abstract, (iii) keywords, and (iv) content of the article according to the author guidelines. (Thus not any details of authors.) The second document is a separate title page (Word document). Label this page, "title page". Indicate in this page:  (i) title of the article; (ii) abstract; (iii) keywords in alphabetical order; (iv) full names of authors (in the order they want it to be published); (v) ORCID iD email addresses of authors (starting with https://orcid.org/ ); (vi) work affiliations of authors; (vii)  cell phone numbers of each author (this will not be published); (viii) Also, please indicate the corresponding author in the title page. 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Contributions must be written in English or Afrikaans, and must be professionally language edited before submission.
  2. All articles should include an abstract in English of 100-150 words and at least five key words.
  3. All contributions will be critically reviewed by at least two referees on whose advice contributions will be accepted or rejected by the editorial committee.
  4. All refereeing is strictly confidential (double blind peer-review).
  5. Manusripts must be professionally language edited.

  6. Manuscripts may be returned to the authors, even before the start of the peer reviewing procees,  if extensive language revision is required or if the style or presentation does not adhere to the Journal requirements and instructions for submissions.
  7. Articles of less than  5000 words or more than 10 000 words are normally not considered for publication.
  8. The manuscript should be send electronically to socialwork@sun.ac.za

REFERENCING GUIDE

  1. The article should be written in Times New Romans; 12-point font; 1.15 line spacing; justified; and standardized margins of 2.54cm.
  2. References should be styled according to the adapted Harvard referencing system.
  3. Sources must be arranged alphabetically according to the surnames of the authors.
  4. References of more than one source in the text should be arranged alphabetically when in brackets: (Barry & Plain, 2007; Maputo, 1998; Sharp & Cande, 2012).
  5. The reference list should be left aligned, not justified as the rest of the article.
  6. Note the use of capitals, punctuation marks and italics in the examples below.

Two authors
Barrientos, A. & Hulme, D. 2009. Social protection for the poor and the poorest: concepts, policies, and politics. 4th ed. London: Palgrave.

Three or more authors
Copello, A. G., Velleman, R. D. B. & Templeton, L. J. 2005. Family interventions in the treatment of alcohol and drug problems. Drug and Alcohol Review, 24: 369-385.

In text: first time all the authors surnames: Copello, Velleman and Templeton (2005)…
            Thereafter: Copello et al. (2005)…

Edited book
Midgley, J. & Conley, A. (eds.). 2010. Social work and social development: theories and skills for developmental social work. New York: Oxford University Press.
(This is not a preferred method, rather refer to the author of the chapter in the book, see below.)

Chapters in an edited book
Harris, J. & Unwin, P. 2009. Performance management in modernised social work. In: Harris, J. & White, V. (eds.). Modernising social work: Critical considerations. Bristol: Policy Press.

Reference in text is made to the author of the chapter: (Harris & Unwin, 2009)

Journal article
Du Toit, A., van Der Westhuizen, M. & Alpaslan, N.  2016. Operationalising cluster foster care schemes as an alternative form of care. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 53(3): 391-413.

Thesis
Motjelebe, N. J. 2009. The social support networks of teenage mothers in Bothsabelo. Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch. (Master’s thesis)

Government documents
Republic of South Africa (RSA). 1996. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Government Gazette, Vol. 378, No. 17678. 8 May 1996. Pretoria: Government Printer.

Republic of South Africa (RSA). 2006. Children’s Act 38 of 2005. Government Gazette, Vol. 492, No. 28944. 19 June 2006. Pretoria: Government Printer.

Newspaper report
Mbeki, T. 1998. Fiddling while the AIDS crisis gets out of control. Sunday Times, 8 March: 18.

Internet references
Ruffin, N. 2009.  Adolescent growth and development. [Online] Available: http://www.wxt.vt.edu [Accessed: 18/06/2020].

ADDITIONAL EDITORIAL NOTES

Quotes from literature        
When word-for-word quotations, facts or arguments from other sources are cited, the surname(s) of the author(s), year of publication and page number(s) must appear in parenthesis in the text: Berman and Marshall (2011:108) define a migrant as “any person moving and/or resettling across an international border”.

Quotes of more than 30 words are written in a separate paragraph, indented (0.8 left; 0.8 right), no inverted commas, and written in italics:

Schultz and Alpaslan (2020) argue that a holistic framework is able to capture:           

the experiences, challenges and coping strategies of concerned significant others living with partners with substance use disorder, clearly shows  how multiple factors and systems are involved, including the extended family system, the neighbourhood, and other critical social systems (2020:432).

If a sentence or words are left out, indicate the omission by three ellipsis points.

Quotes from participants    
Researchers should not make use of participants original names in the article. Pseudonyms should be used to safeguard the participants’ confidentiality and anonymity Alternatively, a code could be given for each participate. Eg Participant 1; P2.

Quotes from participants in the study should be a separate paragraph; indented left 0.8, right 0.8; written in italics; no inverted commas; followed by the participant’s pseudonym/code in brackets, which is not italicised. For example:

 There isn’t much help available. One cannot even go to the police. It feels as if your hands are tied because they say they can do nothing, so you feel helpless and more upset. (Participant 8)

Or

Participant 8: There isn’t much help available. One cannot even go to the police. It feels as if your hands are tied because they say they can do nothing, so you feel helpless and more upset.

Tables and figures   
Figures or images from other sources should be referenced below the figure with the author(s) surname(s), date, and page number.

Please note that tables and figures designed by the article author(s) should be inserted in their original format, not saved as an image. Font style in tables should be Times New Roman, 10-point font. The top row with headings should be shaded and written in bold.

Labels for tables go above the table, figure labels are inserted below. Please note the use of italics and bold in the examples:

Table 1: Participants’ details

Figure 1: Participant’s mode of transport to work

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