Journal of Early Intervention

Guidelines for Authors

The Co-Editors and Associate Editors of the Journal of Early Intervention (JEI) seek to publish articles related to research and practice in early intervention for infants and young children with developmental disabilities, delays, or at risk for developmental delays; their families and individuals who provide services for these children and families. Early intervention is defined broadly as procedures that facilitate the development of infants and young children who have developmental delays or disabilities or who are at risk for developmental delays and/or school failure.

Our goals are to publish reports of original research, literature reviews and meta-analyses, conceptual analyses of problems and issues the field faces, and advances in research methods. Research should be interpreted broadly to include any replicable method (e.g., single case experimental studies, group experimental studies, causal comparative studies, correlational studies, descriptive studies, and qualitative studies). Manuscripts should focus on topics related to young children (birth through age 8) who are at risk for or have developmental delays or disabilities, their families, individuals who provide services to such children and families, and research methods. As a general guideline, the majority of the child participants in research reported in the journal should be age 8 or less and a majority of child participants should be at risk for or having developmental delays or disabilities.

Authors are encouraged to submit the following types of manuscripts to JEI:

1. Original research reports that have clear relevance for early intervention practices
2. Scholarly reviews including meta analyses that have clear implications for practices
3. Policy analyses that contain significant implications for early intervention practices
4. Conceptual analyses of problems and issues in the field of early intervention
5. Reports of advances in research methods that may be applied to research related to early intervention

The readers of the JEI are a diverse group which includes researchers and practitioners. Many readers are early interventionists, early childhood special educators or professionals in related areas working with young children, their interests are best represented in articles that have clear implications for practice and practitioners.

Manuscript Preparation

The Co-Editors and Associate Editors of the Journal of Early Intervention employ a blinded peer review process to promote anonymous and constructive reviews of any manuscripts submitted. The editorial team requires that all manuscripts submitted for review follow the formatting rules and conventions of the American Psychological Association found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th ed., 2010; all page and chapter numbers in parentheses below refer to that publication):

1. Authors’ responsibilities (pages 228-243)
2. Manuscript structure and content (Chapter 2)
3. Writing clearly and concisely (Chapter 3)
4. Mechanics of style (Chapter 4)
5. Presentation of data (for Table and Figure checklists see Chapter 5)

Manuscript Formatting

1. Articles should be formatted in the following manner: (a) double spaced, (b) 1 inch margins, (c) left alignment, (d) nonproportional font and 12-point font [preferably Times New Roman 12-point font], and (e) on 8 ½ inch by 11 inch paper.
2. Articles should be no longer than 35 pages total (including all references, tables, and figures).
3. Because JEI uses blind peer review, please remove all authors’ identifying information from the main manuscript file before uploading and submitting or resubmitting your manuscript.
4. The title page should consist of five elements: (a) running head of no more than 50 characters, (b) title of no more than 12 words, (c) author byline, (d) institutional affiliation, and (e) author note (see pages 24-25).
5. The page after the title page should include (a) an abstract of no more than 150 words and (b) 4 to 5 keywords.
6. The complete title of the manuscript should appear centered on the first page of the manuscript above the first paragraph.
7. Use fist line indentation for new paragraphs, using the tab key (page 229).
8. Quotations of 40 or more words should be "blocked" (pages 170-171).
9. Use hanging indents for references in your Reference section (page 37).
10. Content footnotes should be used as sparingly as possible (page 37). 
11. Accompanying figures and tables should be entered as separate files. Each should be mentioned in text by its number but location of each will be determined by the publisher after pages are typeset.
12. Appendices and supplemental materials are discussed on pages 38-39. When possible, avoid such materials. Submitted appendices and supplemental materials will be reviewed carefully for inclusion.

Writing Guidelines

1. Avoid biased language.
2. Employ “people first language” when referring to an individual or group (e.g., children with developmental delays, an adult with autism, children with Down syndrome).
3. Manuscript narrative should be written in the active voice (e.g., “The teachers assessed participants daily...”).
4. Avoid the passive voice (e.g., “Participants were assessed by the teachers daily…”).
5. Carefully avoid anthropomorphisms. An experiment cannot find or demonstrate results; the experiementer does that.
6. Avoid shifting tenses abruptly, particularly within paragraphs and related subsections.
1. Use the past tense when referring to what has been written (i.e., past events and statements) and to report the results of a study.
2. Use the present perfect tense to indicate a past action or condition beginning in the past for a period of time or that continues to the present (i.e., when the timing of the action, condition, or event is indefinite).
3. The present perfect tense is appropriate when discussing a line of research that has relevance today (e.g., “Social interaction researchers have shown...”).
4. Use the present tense in the Discussion section to discuss the basic findings and implications your research and to articulate your conclusions and opinions (this convention invites the reader to think along with you).
7. Remember that you should not be interpreting your findings in the Results section. Also do not introduce new data or findings in the Discussion section.
8. Whenever possible and if not referring to a specific individual, use plural constructions for participants or people you discuss throughout the paper (e.g., “teachers...” vs. “the teacher...,” “children” vs. “the child”); this helps avoid gender-specific language. Avoid the generalized singular (e.g., “the teacher,” “the individual with learning disabilities”).
9. Give credit to other authors when you use their ideas or their information and provide appropriate citations for important points that are made in the manuscript (see pages 169-179). All quotations require a citation and the specific page number of the material quoted.

Figures and Data Display

1. Figures must be provided as production-ready.
2. Do not use rules or tick marks smaller than 1 point in size.
3. Acceptable electronic formats for figures or other art are: TIFF, EPS, Word, or Excel. If you have trouble loading Excel files, copy and paste them into a Word document.
4. Scans must be at least 300 dpi (also sometimes called lpi).

Permissions

1. Obtaining written permissions for material such as figures, tables, art, and extensive quotes taken directly—or adapted in minor ways—from another source, including material taken from software of downloaded from the Internet, is the author’s responsibility, as is payment of any fees the copyright holder may require.
2. Because permissions often take a considerable amount of time to be granted, authors should start the request process as soon as possible.
3. The Sage Permissions Request form is available at http://www.sagepub.com/repository/binaries/RequestForPermissionForm.pdf. The form has been written to cover all necessary provisions; however, copyright holders may require use of their own form. In these cases, the author should read any forms carefully to make sure that the language is broad enough to allow publication in all formats, worldwide, as well as in both electronic and print versions.
4. Failure to obtain permission will result in either removal of the particular item or the article being pulled from the journal issue.

Electronic Manuscript Submission

JEI uses an online submission and review platform. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/dec-jei. Authors will be required to set up an online account on the SAGE Track system powered by ScholarOne. Authors will be asked to provide the required information (e.g., author names and contact information, an abstract, keywords) and to upload the “title page” and “main document” separately to ensure that the manuscript is ready for a blind peer review. The site contains links to an online user’s guide for help navigating the site (Get Help Now). Questions about the submission process can be sent to the Co-Editors or to the JEI Editorial Assistant.

Manuscript Review Process

Manuscripts will be acknowledged upon receipt. Each manuscript will be assigned to one of the Co-Editors who examine the manuscript for content and format. Manuscripts not meeting the guidelines for content or format may be returned to the author at this point. This Co-Editor will either act as the action editor or assign the manuscript to an Associate Editor who will act as the action editor for review process oversight. The Co-Editors and Associate Editors will assign the manuscript to three or four qualified reviewers; additional reviews may be solicited from the JEI statistical consultants. The review process will be “double-blind,” in that the reviewers will not know who the authors are and vice versa. Our goal is to inform the authors of the editorial decision about their manuscript within 3 months. After an initial review decision, revisions of the manuscript may be requested and additional reviews of the manuscript may be obtained before acceptance.

Copyright

After your article has been accepted for publication, authors will be required to sign a Transfer of Copyright form.

If you or your funder wish your article to be freely available online to nonsubscribers immediately upon publication (gold open access), you can opt for it to be included in SAGE Choice, subject to the payment of a publication fee. The manuscript submission and peer review procedure is unchanged. On acceptance of your article, you will be asked to let SAGE know directly if you are choosing SAGE Choice. To check journal eligibility and the publication fee, please visit SAGE Choice. For more information on open access options and compliance at SAGE, including self/author archiving deposits (green open access) visit SAGE Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.

For more information, please refer to the SAGE Manuscript Submission Guidelines.