Submission guidelines

Prototyping Across Disciplines welcomes the following high quality, original articles:

  1. Research Article
    • 5,000—7,000 words
    • contains a 250-word abstract
    • contains 5 —10 keywords
  2. Student Researcher Study Report
    • provides an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate researchers and PhD candidates to describe their ongoing research work as opposed to a completed piece of research as would be expected if publishing in full article route
    • 2,000—3,000 words
    • contains a 250-word abstract
    • contains 2 —5 keywords
  3. Contextualised prototypes
    • Your prototype (min 1 image)
    • Your other related prototypes (min 3)
    • Other people’s related prototypes (min 3)
    • A collection of images with one-sentence descriptions 
    • 250-word abstract on why this prototype adds to expert knowledge
    • contains 2 —5 keywords

Intended Audience

This open access publication serves a broad interdisciplinary audience interested in prototyping as a research method. Authors should keep this audience in mind while preparing their submissions. 

Format and Style Guidelines

We encourage submissions written in English using the active voice; for example, it is fine to use the first person when describing your study (“We interviewed ten participants” rather than “Interviews of ten participants were conducted”). 

Please try to avoid most abbreviations and disciplinary specific jargon. If you want to use an abbreviation, please write the phrase in full the first time, followed by the abbreviation in brackets. 

Formatting

  • 1.5 spaced, Arial, 10.5 pt.
  • Use italics instead of underlining (unless it’s a URL).
  • Include page numbers.
  • Use 2.5 cm page margins.
  • Indent paragraphs to 1.27 cm, using the paragraph function in Word, rather than the “tab” key.
  • Left-align all text.
  • Insert any images, charts, tables, or figures into the document where they would appear in the published version.
  • Use the latest style guidelines of your discipline (for example, APA, MLA, Chicago).

We are open to alternatives to traditional research articles. You may submit using an alternative format if it is called for by your topic and is consistently implemented. You should explain your rationale in the cover letter. Decisions about alternate formats will be made on a case-by-case basis by the editorial team. 

Technical Guidelines for Submission

All submissions should be anonymized to facilitate double-blind peer review, with the exception of invited papers. Please remove author names and references to specific institutions or programs for the peer review process. To ensure your manuscript is fully anonymized, please follow the instructions for "Ensuring a Blind Review" found on the OJS submission screen.

Please submit in WORD (.doc or .docx) or RTF format. We cannot accept PDF files.

Ethics

For any research involving human participants, you must provide confirmation of ethics board clearance within the body of the text. 

You must also declare any Conflicts of Interest.

You must be the author(s) of the submission; you must have approved the work for publication; you must take responsibility for the content of the submission; and you warrant that the submission does not contain libelous or unlawful statements or infringe on the rights or privacy of others or contain material or instructions that might cause harm or injury.

Authors are responsible for notifying editors and providing retractions or corrections of mistakes promptly.

More detailed instructions for authors, please download this guide.