ISSN 1448-0336

New Community Editorial Policy and Submission Guidelines

Overview of NC material

 

NC publishes articles and other material about or broadly relating to community development theory and practice with particular emphasis on:

(a) Manuscripts that reflect creative ways of social betterment for all, of eliminating inequality and fostering social justice, and of regenerating the ecology on which we depend for our survival.

(b) Manuscripts that encourage and further the effective and productive interaction between theories/theorists and practices/practitioners of community development; in the refereed and the thematic sections of the journal, NC will offer examples of creative theory- practice integration.

(c) Manuscripts that reflect the many forms in which the principles of community development are expressed and embodied in Australia and overseas. Poems, cartoons and other illustrative (and printable) materials are welcome.

(d) Usually, each issue of NC will feature a ‘thematic’ section, focussing on one specific and relevant aspect of Community Development (the themes for the next four issues are announced on the back pages of each issue); a ‘refereed’ section with articles not related to the ‘theme’ of the issue but aimed - more specifically but not exclusively – to also serve more formal academic purposes; a ‘networking’ section to which existing networks working in the spirt of community development are invited to contribute with shorter informative articles documenting their work and concerns; a ‘news’ section with information of (possible) interest to critical engagement in communities.

 

Articles for the thematic section

Non-refereed or refereed articles or contributions for the thematic section (or for the news and networks sections) can be up to 4,000 words with an introduction (or ‘abstract’) of 100-150 words for the longer ones, featuring the main points of the article (these introductions may be used for on the NC Website).

 

Articles for the refereed section (or for the thematic section – see above)

Articles will be refereed (in the ‘double blind’ method) by an appointed panel with experience and knowledge of the proposed topic and will normally be 3,000-4,000 words in length (but negotiable if larger). Articles will deal with community development issues and themes in a substantial, engaging and accessible way. Generally, a clear, concise, straightforward writing style, using direct language with a minimum of specialised jargon, is preferred for refereed articles; they must appeal to and be readily understood by the general NC reader rather than only by academic ‘specialists’. An introduction/abstract of 100-150 words, featuring the main points of the article, may be published on the NC website. On a separate cover sheet, authors will supply their full name, highest qualifications, current position and name of organisation if applicable. Succinct sub-headings throughout, guiding the reader, are appreciated; whilst not encouraged, endnotes are accepted as are bibliographies. The Harvard referencing style is recommended but not expected; we encourage consistency in referencing, whichever style is preferred by the author(s).

 

Copyright: Copyright of published articles is held by New Community, but authors are free to copy or use any part of the material in subsequent papers. There is no payment for authors.

 

Providing articles: Please submit electronically as an MS Word attachment; accompanying diagrams, tables and photographs or cartoons must be succinct, accessible, and produced on (a) separate document(s) with clear reference to where they should be inserted in the article.

Please forward all materials to: ncq@borderlands.org.au  marked ‘editor’ in the reference box of the email.

 

Also welcome: review essays, book reviews, letters and comments; these will generally comment on important current texts or events and contextual news in the community development (and related) area(s), outlining the relevance and value for the NC readership. Reviews are generally not exceeding 1,000 words.