Information for Contributors

Guidelines for contributors
JACE will publish contributions of no more than 5,000 words. The article must be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 150 words. The article must also be accompanied by an author’s biography of not more than 100 words. All contributions will be sent (following editorial approval) to two members of the international advisory board for blind review. It is a condition of publication that papers and articles published in JACE have not previously been published, and are not subsequently offered for publication elsewhere without the express permission of the Editor.

Presentation and submission of copy
Copy can only be received and processed electronically; please do not send printed copy.

e-manuscripts should be sent to the editor:
Dr Wesley Imms
email: w.imms@unimelb.edu.au

or by mail on CDROM to:

Dr Wesley Imms
Editor, Journal of Artistic and Creative Education
ACE, Faculty of Education
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Australia

• Copy should be in Microsoft Word, or a compatible word-processing program — not PDF or an unchangeable publishing or graphics program.
• Minimal necessary graphic diagrams or photographic illustrations may be incorporated or sent separately.
• 1.5 line spacing is preferred, and the paper should be in a 10 or 12 point font, with generous page margins, to make hard copy versions practicable.
• JACE uses the American Psychological Association style guide (5th edition). Due to its unique focus and online format, JACE adapts manuscripts immediately prior to publication, but requires them to be submitted using APA (5th edition).

A note on readability and references

Papers should as far as possible have an aesthetic dimension — they should be attractive to read, and be accessible to the informed lay reader. Writers for whom English is not the first language are advised to have the papers edited and proofed by an experienced English language speaker and writer. References should be meticulous but sparing, and limited to substantiating the central content — the journal is not a thesis for examination, with the writer's knowledge paraded for approval. Footnotes are discouraged — if the material is substantive, it should be in the main text; if it is digressive, it should be cut.

A note on ethics

Contributors should be sensitive to the ethical implications of their contributions. Any ethical dilemmas within the work should be acknowledged and highlighted.

For your reference, here are the websites of the ethics policies of two Educational  Research Associations:

• www.aera.net/about/policy/ethics.htm
• www.aare.edu.au/

The journal will not publish approvingly (i.e. without editorial comment) accounts of work that may have dubious ethical provenance, or that might be subject to litigation. However, the journal is not an ethical gatekeeper, and exists to disseminate a diversity of practice, to encourage cultural diversity and to stimulate debate — including debate on ethical issues within artistic and creative education.

Guidelines for reviews
JACE exists to document and disseminate accounts and critiques of research and praxis in:

• creative and innovative pedagogies and curriculum
• the artistry and aesthetics of teaching
• the role of arts and creativity in motivation and engagement in learning
• embodied, experiential and metaphorical elements of learning and curriculum
• the social and therapeutic application of these pedagogies
• arts and creativity as personal or social change agents
• collaborative and multi-disciplinary approaches to arts, research and teaching
• student-centred creative and reflective learning and curriculum and allied areas.

Many of the authors may be eminent workers and scholars in the field, but cutting-edge contemporary and experimental work from new or little-known practitioners is also encouraged. The primary audience consists of educationists, teachers, artists, social workers and community leaders with an awareness of the significance of the artistic and the creative aspects of education.
The journal encourages a range of presentational forms, within the constraints of a printed journal.

Criteria for review

• Contributions should be no more than 5000 words.
• The emphasis is on cogent and sharp analysis of issues in artistic and creative education that are not profiled significantly in other forums.
• Descriptions of innovative and unorthodox practice and conceptualisation are welcome.
• All descriptions of practice should be thoroughly contextualised, with their intellectual, aesthetic and/or social rationale — this is not a journal for purely practical or promotional accounts of practice or advice for teachers or fieldworkers.
• Reviewers will bear in mind that the language of the paper may not be not the original language of the writer, and make helpful recommendations.

Reviewers will be sensitive to the ethical implications of work they read and will identify any concerns they may have in their reports. Contributors working in formal research environments will be expected to know and explicitly follow standard Western research guidelines. The journal will not publish approvingly (i.e. without editorial comment) accounts of work that may have dubious ethical provenance, or that might be subject to litigation. Contributors should be aware of and highlight any ethical dilemmas within their work. However, the journal is not an ethical gatekeeper, and exists to disseminate a diversity of practice, to encourage cultural diversity and to stimulate debate — including debate on ethical issues within artistic and creative education. Reviewers will also be aware that there are cultural variations on ethics and acceptability.

Copyright

As host for this journal, Melbourne University’s Artistic and Creative Education (ACE) cluster within the Faculty of Education copyrights all material that is published in JACE. This enables the journal to control on the author’s behalf all requests for publishing or reprinting of their work.  Authors are required to sign an ACE copyright form declaring that their material is original and has not been published previously.

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