Democracy and Education

This document provides details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to final manuscript submission to Democracy and Education.

Formatting Requirements

• Do not include a title page, abstract, or author biography in your manuscript. (Begin the document with the introduction; your abstract, author biography, title header and other metadata will be added to your paper by the editors.)
• Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. These will be added by the editors.]
• Submit your manuscript, including tables and appendices, etc., as a single file (MS Word).
• Submit images as separate files with high resolution (300 dpi or greater).
• Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches; all margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1 inch (3.8 cm), including your tables and figures.
• Text should be 12 points in Times New Roman or another commonly available font, such as Arial.
• Double space your text.
• A professional copy editor will be assigned to your manuscript; however, manuscripts that are submitted with significant grammar, spelling, style, or typographical errors will be sent back to the author for revision before being sent to an editor.
• If figures are included, use high-resolution figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps).
• Copyedit your manuscript.
• When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.

Additional Recommendations

Democracy and Education primarily follows the publication style of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition). Authors should reference this manual for instruction on meeting ethical standards for data collection and reporting, basic grammar and style, and citation and reference list preparation. For some issues not covered in the APA manual, we defer to the 16th Edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.

Indenting, Line Spacing, and Justification

• Indent all paragraphs except those following a section heading. An indent should be a standard single-tab (.5 inches).
• Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text with the exception of long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.
• All text should be left-justified (i.e., flush with the left margin—except where indented).

Language & Grammar

• All submissions must be in English.
• Authors should use proper, standard English grammar. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White (now in its fourth edition) is the "standard" guide, but other excellent guides (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press) exist as well.

Article Length

• Feature Articles: Manuscripts should not exceed 8000 words, excluding reference lists, notes, and ancillary materials.
• Responses to Feature Articles: Manuscripts should not exceed 4000 words, excluding reference lists, notes, and ancillary materials. Responses may also be submitted in nontraditional formats (such as audio or video), but must include a brief introduction giving context for the submission (not more than 1,000 words).

Colored text

• Set the font color to black for the text. We encourage authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures, maps, etc., however, you need to appreciate that this will cause some of your readers problems when they print the document on a black & white printer. For this reason, you are advised to avoid the use of colors in situations where their translation to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.
• Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text. (After you review the copy editor’s changes, you will need to "accept all changes" in track changes (after rejecting any that are inappropriate). An editor will do this for you if you are not able to review and accept the changes by the deadline.

Headings

Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text. Headers should appear in bold, centered in the middle of the page, with a space above and below. Subheadings (i.e., second level headings), should be left-justified, italicized, and appear with a space above but not below. Use the same font face for all headings.

Footnotes

Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced rather than at the end of the paper. Footnotes should be in 10 pt. Times or closest comparable font available, they should be single spaced, and there should be a footnote separator rule (line). Footnote numbers or symbols in the text must follow, rather than precede, punctuation. Excessively long footnotes are probably better handled in an appendix. All footnotes should be left and right-justified (i.e., flush with the right margin), unless this creates awkward spacing.

Tables, Appendices and Figures

All tables and appendices should be included at the end of the manuscript, one per page. On the same page, you should include titles and captions as appropriate. All tables must be referenced somewhere in the main body of your paper (i.e., “See Table 1.”) and the location for where to insert the table should be clearly indicated.

If you have images or figures accompanying your manuscript, you must submit high-resolution files (300 dpi or greater), preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps). Failing that, please include .jpg, .tiff, or .gif files. Figures should be submitted under “Supplemental Materials” as separate files and must be clearly called out in the text so that editors know where to place the image. Please include a full titles or captions for all images and figures. You must submit permission to reprint any images or figures previously published elsewhere and provide full citation of the source in your manuscript.

Protecting Confidentiality of Research Participants

Authors should take care to protect the identity of research participants by either obtaining written consent from the subject to identify them, or by disguising the identity in some way (such as changing characteristics such as names, limiting description, or using composites).

Crediting Sources and Building Your Reference List

Authors must cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly ifluenced your work, and must provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge. It is also the author's obligation to provide complete references with the necessary information. Please follow the guidelines for citing and referencing works as described in the APA Manual of Style (6th Edition). Please carefully check your manuscript to ensure that all works cited in the main body of your text are included in the reference list, and that all items in the reference list are cited in the main body of your manuscript. This includes tables, graphs, images, figures, and appendices. Place your reference list after the last sentence of your manuscript (insert a line break—not a page break—and begin your references on the same page, if possible).