ISA Journal Contribution Guidelines

The ISA Journal Contribution Guidelines

ISA welcomes contributions from authors for The ISA Journal, published three times during the school year. Each Journal edition has a theme and contributions should explore this in relation to school leadership and educational practice.

The ISA Journal readership: The primary readership of the Journal consists of ISA Member Headteachers, of which there are now over 650. Some Members’ schools are new to ISA, and some Headteachers are new to the role, so in these cases the Journal will be a new publication for them. ISA schools are spread around the UK. The Journal is also sent to ISA’s Honorary Members and Life Associates (former Members), Overseas Affiliates and a selected list of other associated organisations. Each Member’s school receives three copies, so the general readership within schools is wider, to include the Senior Leadership Team, teaching staff, Governors and school proprietors. However, it should be stressed that the publication is not aimed at parents or the public. The Journal has a current print run of approximately 2100 copies.

Proposals: Article proposals are welcomed and should be a maximum of 500 words in length, outlining the key strands of your article and its relevance to ISA Headteachers. Key research references should be given. Final articles may be submitted for consideration without an initial proposal, if already complete and or where a piece has already been explored with ISA.

Length of article: The final piece would usually be 1,500 words in length, occasionally up to 2,000 words. Specific shorter, or in other cases, longer, word counts may be agreed.

Article contents: The substance of the article should be evidence or research-based, tackling current issues in education relevant to the Journal issue’s theme. The key points should be useful or inspirational to Headteachers as they continue to lead the development of all aspects of their schools. ISA Journal articles should not be closely linked to the promotion of any commercial proposition.

Referencing: If references are used, please adopt the Chicago referencing style, click here to check details. A bibliography at the end of the article should appear if references are cited.

Permissions: If a submission is adapted from a previously published article, the responsibility for permission to re-use lies with the author rather than ISA, so contributors should ensure this clearance is obtained in advance of submission. ISA can take no responsibility for breaches of copyright held elsewhere.

Editing: Submissions will be edited by ISA House ahead of deadline. After copy deadlines have passed, no further changes will be possible. ISA will contact you only where substantial revisions have been made and will otherwise assume that articles are submitted on the understanding that authors accept any minor revisions that act as corrections, or enhance style, meaning or readability.

Copyright: Copyright is held by The Independent Schools Association. ISA reserves the right to publish articles submitted for publication in The ISA Journal, on the ISA website or in any format, edited or unedited, in any other publication or to distribute via any other media. Similarly, authors may submit their articles to other publications, websites or for distribution via other media but unless substantially altered, should acknowledge original publication in The ISA Journal. ISA does not require a written request in advance for subsequent distribution or publication, providing due acknowledgement is made to The ISA Journal. Authors submit articles on the understanding that they may be quoted in any publications or press releases to media outlets.

Images: Please supply as many print-quality high-res (300dpi, minimum 3MB file size) images to accompany the text as possible, if you have them. (This is not a limiting factor for publication, but it is always very helpful. You may wish to send images separately for ease.) Authors must provide a high-resolution “head-and-shoulders” image of themselves for publication.

Deadlines: Any articles submitted after the given issue deadline run the risk of not being included.

School News: We welcome short items of news from individual schools, particularly where these elaborate the issue’s theme. These must be accompanied by suitable high-resolution images. Suggestions for School News for inclusion in the Journal should be emailed to Joseph Tomkins

Journal contact at ISA House: For all submissions, questions and suggestions about all aspects of the Journal, including advertising, please email [email protected] or call 01799 619802.

Confirmation of receipt: We will promptly confirm receipt of any submissions, but this should not be viewed as a commitment to publish at that stage. If you have not heard from us within three working days, please contact us.

Updated April 2023