Guidelines on Submitting Manuscripts

Every article submitted to JYI must have an abstract that consists of a single paragraph of ~ 250 words. In the abstract, the author must summarize why the research was conducted, how it was conducted, and the major results and conclusions. In essence, it should contain an overview of the hypothesis, methods, results, conclusions and implications of the research. References are typically not cited in the abstract, since the reader expects a more thorough discussion in the body of the article. INTRODUCTION The author should use the introduction to summarize current literature, present the problem his or her research addresses, why this problem is significant, and how it applies to the larger field of research. If the manuscript is novel or creative in some way, it should be clearly stated. The author should address relevant studies by other researchers; however, a full history of the topic is not needed. Finally, the author must clearly state the hypothesis and briefly summarize the methods used to investigate that hypothesis. JYI | March 2015  Journal of Young Investigators 1 Journal of Young Investigators The introduction should contain all the background information a reader needs to understand the rest of the author’s paper. This means that all important concepts should be defined. Remember: JYI caters to an audience of professionals and undergraduates from a variety of fields. For example, an author need not define an “electron”; however, a “Cooper paired electron” does require a definition. MATERIALS AND METHODS The author should thoroughly describe the materials and methods used to investigate the problem and should briefly describe why these methods were used. There should be enough information provided to replicate the study. This section should contain no results, conclusions, or interpretations. Information should be grouped under appropriate subheadings (e.g. Techniques, Materials, Statistical tests, etc.). Authors should be sure to include the following information, when applicable:  Experimental handling and care of any subjects (animals, plants, humans), including ethical guidelines followed by the author(s) in their use.  Description of field sites (if applicable) including physical and biological features and exact location.  Sample preparation techniques and the origins of samples and other materials (including human subjects). Note that if methods have been described elsewhere it is permissible to reference the original source in lieu of describing the methodology again. For example, “Samples were prepared using the same process described by Newton (2000).”  Details surrounding any statistical testing used, as well as the threshold used for statistical significance. RESULTS Papers submitted to JYI must have separate results and discussion sections. In the results, the author should thoroughly detail the outcomes of the experiments, tests, and/or theories developed in the research. The results should be supplemented by figures and/or tables, which should be briefly explained. An effective results section will present the key results without interpreting their meaning. All interpretation and discussion of results should be saved for the discussion section. DISCUSSION In this section, the author should restate the problem he or she was attempting to address and summarize how the results have addressed it. The author should discuss the significance of all the results and interpret their meaning in the context of previous studies done by other researchers in the field. Potential sources of error should be discussed. Finally, the author should tie his or her conclusions into the “big picture” by suggesting the implications and applications this research might have. The author should discuss how this research affects the field, what it adds to existing research, and what future experiments could be carried out. Remember: This section synthesizes the whole study and should be treated as the most important part of the manuscript. REFERENCES All Research and Review articles must contain in-text citations and a list of references in APA, 6th edition. However, please list all authors for each source in the References section, regardless of APA guidelines. Footnotes are not permitted. References may include: research articles published in scientific journals, scholarly books (i.e., not textbooks), personal communications with scientists working in the field, or unpublished data (only data, no conclusions). Web sources must be scholarly in nature, such as official reports (e.g., NASA’s Report on the Effects of Long-Duration Space Flight on the Human Respiratory System). While all of the above sources are acceptable, the majority of references used in a paper should be peer-reviewed articles. Please direct any questions about the suitability of your references to the Senior Research Editor (sre@jyi.org). APPENDICES Authors are discouraged from including appendices or supplementary figures in their manuscripts. JYI | March 2015  Journal of Young Investigators 2 Journal of Young Investigators ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS An acknowledgement section is not required; however, most papers include a paragraph of acknowledgements. This can include thanking individuals for assistance with experiments or interpretation of data, as well as thanking funding sources. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST/DISCLOSURE A conflicts of interest section needs to be included whenever a potential conflict of interest exists. For example, the author(s) must disclose any association with a company, organization, or business that could financially benefit from the results of the study. This section should be detailed and explicit, declaring any conflicts regarding design, conduct and/or execution of the study. FIGURES AND TABLES Figures and tables are important components of scientific manuscripts. Each figure or table should clarify information from the study and must be able to stand alone from the rest of the article and still be understood by potential readers. To ensure this, authors must follow these guidelines:  Do not include figures or tables in the body of the submitted article. o Submit figures as high-resolution JPEG images. o Submit tables in Microsoft Word or Excel format in a document separate from the rest of the manuscript.  Submit all captions together in a document separate from the rest of the manuscript.  All figures and tables should be ordered sequentially (1,2,3...). They should be referenced within the text in this format: “The results show [...] (Figure 2).”  Figures and tables should be simple, clearly formatted, and indicate error using standard deviation or comparable information.  Captions should include succinct title and description for each illustration, providing sufficient information for readers to understand each figure without being verbose. Note: The author must have permission to use all figures submitted with the manuscript. Review manuscripts submitted to JYI should follow similar guidelines as Research articles, with a few exceptions. GUIDELINES FOR REVIEW ARTICLES A literature review surveys research carried out by others in a particular area of study. In writing a Review article, the author must read and evaluate studies done by other researchers, instead of conducting a new study. These manuscripts must revolve around a clearly stated thesis, and should generally contain the following sections:  Title page  Abstract  Introduction  Methods: This section is optional for Review articles. If included it should cover the process used for a meta-analysis of existing literature, and may detail the author’s process for finding and selecting articles used in the paper.  Body: Depending on the topic, the author(s) may subdivide the body portion of the manuscript into several sections. The purpose of this section is to describe and evaluate studies in detail, comparing them and discussing their implications.  Discussion  References  Acknowledgements (optional)  Conflict of interest (when applicable) Note: Review articles should not contain Materials and Methods or Results sections. JYI | March 2015  Journal of Young Investigators 3 Journal of Young Investigators GENERAL FORMATTING FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS All submissions should be formatted in the following way: typewritten, double-spaced, no page numbers, no page breaks, and with no tables or figures included within the text. Equations must be written using a word processor’s equation-editor function. Authors may subdivide sections of their manuscripts as they deem necessary to effectively organize and communicate the content of the manuscript. FILE TYPE All submissions must be saved as a Microsoft Word file. We are unable to accept LaTeX, PDF, or other formats. STANDARDS FOR ACCEPTANCE JYI’s mission is to involve undergraduates in every step of the scientific publishing process and to help undergraduate research flourish. As such, the scientific quality of a manuscript is the highest priority for our editors as they review incoming papers. Quality in structure and writing are also judged in the review process for each manuscript. Papers that are strong in all three of these categories are most likely to be accepted by JYI for publication. LICENSING GUIDELINES By submitting a manuscript for review, the authors agree to abide by JYI's copyright policy. To acknowledge this agreement and indicate the Creative Commons license that the authors would like to publish their paper under, the JYI Author Contract (link) must be submitted alongside every submission as a supplementary document. JYI | March 2015  Journal of Young Investigators 4


Guidelines on Submitting Manuscripts
The Rural Educator is a peer-reviewed journal published three times per year. The primary mission of The Rural Educator is to provide educators in rural and small schools with researchbased articles on timely issues that inform education practice or have implications for rural education policy. The journal is particularly interested in receiving manuscripts related to the impact of federal and state reform policies on rural schools, funding and finance issues related to rural schools, and issues related to specific rural populations and community development. Three types of articles are accepted for publication: General Articles, Research Briefs, and Book Reviews: All manuscripts are submitted to blind peer review without reference to name or institution. Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection as soon as the review process is completed. Issues of The Rural Educator are published in the fall, winter, and spring of each academic year. All manuscripts should be submitted as an e-mail attachment to ruraledu@uwyo.edu

General Manuscript Guidelines
 Submit in MS Word (.doc or .docx).  Double-spaced.  12 point font.  Use American Psychological Association (APA) 6th Edition for style, citation, and reference guidelines.  Include tables and figures within the manuscript.  Attach a cover sheet containing the following information about the author: name, institutional affiliation, address, zip code, telephone, fax, email address, and a brief biography. This should be a maximum of 50 words.  Do not include the author's name on the manuscript.  The author will be notified of editorial changes made to the manuscript; however, the Editor reserves the right to make such changes without author approval or notification if time does not permit.

Article Guidelines
 Do not exceed 25 pages (including references).  Include an abstract at the beginning of the manuscript not to exceed 150 words. The abstract should briefly describe the problem or topic, method, participants, findings, and conclusions.
 Include a listing of 3-5 keywords covering the topics addressed in the manuscript for use in keyword searches.

Research Brief Guidelines
The Rural Educator will consider and publish "Research Briefs" to promote the dissemination of novel and important research information in a format that does not require extensive journal space. Studies published as Research Briefs have a very focused and explicit purpose, and applied relevance to rural settings. Research Briefs should be no longer than 8 pages, inclusive of tables, figures, and references. Research Briefs should include the following:  Introduction -provides a brief context for the current investigation, states its focus and purpose in a clear and cogent way, and identifies one or two main research questions;  Methods -summarizes participants, instruments, independent or intervention variables, and procedures in a succinct but clear and replicable way;  Results -presents key results in relation to the research purpose and main question (in tables and figures, whenever appropriate);  Discussion -identifies key findings and notes important implications in relation to the existing knowledge base, field-based application, interpretive cautions (briefly noting and describing limitations), and possibly future directions; and  References -includes a very limited number of seminal articles that are essential for readers to understand the nature, purpose, or methods of the research.

Book Review Guidelines
A book review should give readers an engaging, informative, and critical discussion of the work (length 750-1000 words). All references should be made in-text.

From the Editor
Welcome to the Winter 2014 issue of the Rural Educator. The articles in this edition explore a diversity of interesting topics pertaining to education in rural areas: exploring teachers' attitudes to dialect; comparing professional development provision in high and low performing schools, checking grading bias, and identifying the leadership aspects of school counselors' roles.
In the first article, Brashears studied teachers' attitudes towards the Appalachian dialect, a study which resonated with my own childhood experiences in rural Scotland, where in school we had to speak the Queen's English, yet our playground chatter was in the local Buchan dialect. How we speak belies our origins. Most frequently, to be regarded as educated people, we must conform to specific linguistic patterns and pronunciations. Discrimination because of dialect is prevalent in the US and the UK. Brashears' article invites us to reexamine our assumptions and also to take pride in our origins. I knew little about the Appalachian dialect before reading this article and so learned much during the editorial process.
Because standards-based reform emphasizes improved teaching as the best path to increased learning and improved student performance, we might expect high performing schools to be implementing the most effective professional development practices. Using Sparks and Loucks-Horsley's (1989) framework for effective professional development practices, Wallace explores professional development in high performing urban and persistently low achieving rural high schools in Kentucky. Her findings indicated that while differences existed between the two groups in how well leadership addresses teacher professional development needs and in sufficient training to utilize instructional technology, characteristics of effective professional development are not being fully implemented in either group of schools.
In the third article, Hardré considers multiple factors that may influence teachers' grading and scoring of students' class work, homework, projects and tests. While grading is to a degree subjective, it need not be biased. Intentional bias is a common criticism of teachers and has been the topic of numerous studies and reports. However, less attention has been given to unintentional sources of grading bias. Hardré identifies some of the issues relevant to teachers' unintentional grading biases and discusses both conventional and innovative ways to reduce it.
Much of my professional work has focused on graduate leadership programs; A common area that principals identify as missing from their graduate work is counseling. However, in rural schools, principals may look to their counselors to collaborate in the leadership role. In the final article, Wimberley and Brickman discuss how counselors in rural schools have unique opportunities to lead by guiding students' education in directions that best fit their career aspirations, thus impacting the region educationally, economically and socially. They discuss the unique challenges and issues present in rural schools and offer suggestions offered as to ways in which counselors can effectively undertake leadership roles.
Finally, the editorial board now invites Research Briefs and Book Reviews as well as regular articles for publication. Full submission details can be found here. http://www.nrea.net/index.cfm?pID=7936 Heather E. Duncan, Brandon University