Instructions to Authors PDF Print E-mail

Co-editors: William B. Stiles, USA • Jeanne C. Watson, Canada • Mick Cooper, Scotland

The journal is published by PCCS Books, Ross-on-Wye, United Kingdom. ISSN 1477-9757

Submission of Papers

Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies seeks to create a dialogue among different parts of the
person-centered and experiential tradition, to support, inform, and challenge each other and to stimulate their creativity and impact in a broader professional, scientific and political context. The mission of the journal is thus to encourage, and disseminate worldwide, new work on person-centered and experiential therapies, including philosophy, theory, practice, training and research. The journal will not give preference to any parts of the world, nor to any philosophical or theoretical emphases within these approaches, but will instead seek to increase our awareness and appreciation of each other's contributions, maintaining a spirit of inclusiveness to the whole person-centered and experiential field of psychotherapy and counseling.

Contributions of different lengths are invited, including both standard article-length pieces of 3000-7000 words (including references) and shorter reports and reviews of 1000-2,500 words. Articles should be submitted as email attachments to one of the three co-editors:  William B. Stiles [bill.stiles @ pcepjournal.com], Jeanne C. Watson [jeanne.watson @ pcepjournal.com] or Mick Cooper [mick.cooper @ pcepjournal.com].

Submitted papers should conform to the following guidelines:

  • - Printed doubled spaced, in 12-point font.
  • - Include authors' names, postal addresses, email addresses and 50-60 word biographic statements on a separate cover page.
  • - The first page following the cover page should repeat the title of the paper.
  • - Include an abstract of no more than 150 words.
  • - Include ‘key words' for database referencing at the end of the abstract.
  • - Report the word length (including references)
  • - All pages should be numbered.
  • - References should follow the convention outlined below.
  • - Footnotes should be used sparingly if at all.
  • - All tables and figures should be numbered and presented on separate page.
  • - In a covering letter the senior author should confirm that the paper has not been offered either substantially or partially to another publication.
  • - Permission from copyright holders must be obtained by the author for any illustration, table, or quote of more than 100 words published elsewhere.

When the paper is finally accepted for publication, camera-ready versions of any graphs, figures and diagrams need to be provided by the author(s). About one month before publication, authors will receive page proofs for checking. It is essential that proofs are checked and returned within 48 hours.

On publication, PCCS will supply the submitting author with: a PDF file of the article; a clean laser print-out; and a copy of the issue.

How does the review process work?

The peer review process is a system of mentoring. Three to four colleagues read your paper and comment on it. These reviews will be sent to you by one of the co-editors who will also write an accompanying letter that guides you through the revision process.

The review process is primarily aimed at drawing your attention to possible perspectives you might not have considered sufficiently and thus improve your work. Our editorial team has gained a lot of experience over the last six years in supporting authors through the review and revision process. We pride ourselves in thinking that we are much more supportive than other international journals. If you are publishing for the first time in an academic journal, PCEP may offer the most supportive and developmentally oriented choice. We also help with language issues. If you submit a paper in a language other than English, it will first be pre-reviewed by people who read your language. Thus translation into English only happens at a time when your paper most likely will be accepted for publication.

All our published articles have gone through such a review process and authors have generally agreed that it has helped to improve their argument and strengthen their message.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Referencing Conventions.

References should be listed alphabetically in a references section at the end of the paper.

References in the text must include the author(s) and date of publication of the piece being cited. When a work has two authors, always cite both names. When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs; in subsequent citations, include only the first author followed by et al. When a work has six or more authors, cite only the first author, followed by et al. even on the first citation

References should be laid out according to the APA style.

Republication of PCEP articles

  • The author's publication agreement with PCEP restricts republication for 12 months after original publication in PCEP. Authors wishing to have PCEP papers published in other journals after the 12-month embargo period, including in other languages or as book chapters, should send a formal republication request to the Managing Editor, including the name of the article, when it was published in PCEP; and where and when it is proposed to be republished.

  • In republishing articles originally published in PCEP, PCEP should be cited as the original source, e.g., "Previously published in Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, [year, volume, page numbers].

  • Nonauthors requesting the right to republish PCEP articles after the 12-month embargo period must contact the author of the article ask them to initiate the request for republication.

  • Information about Book Reviews

PCEP reviews current published books in any language, if they are about person-centered or experiential psychotherapies and of likely reader interest.

Please submit books to be reviewed to the Book Review Editor,

Elizabeth Freire, University of Strathclyde, Counselling Unit, 76 Southbrae Drive, Glasgow, G13 1PP - UK
E-mail: [elizabeth.freire @ strath.ac.uk]

Book reviews are published in two formats:

  1. - Regular book reviews are no more than 1500 words and do not go through an external review process.
  2. - Review essays (short article reviews) are 2000 to 3000 words; an external review process is used.

Copyright

In submitting articles to the International Journal authors are presumed to accept the copyright conditions described below:

  • - Permission from copyright holders must be obtained by the author for any illustration, table, or quote of more than 100 words published elsewhere.

  • - You retain (or, if applicable, your employer retains) copyright to the article you have submitted to the International Journal;

  • - You grant to the Journal a non-exclusive licence to publish the article. This is a wordwide, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to publish the article on-line, in print and in any other format in which it is now or in the future capable of existence and in any language. The article may be published in whole or in part, alone or in combination with other articles;

  • - The Journal may change the appearance of the article (layout and format) to ensure consistency and readability; You warrant to the Journal that the article is original and does not infringe any existing copyright or any other rights of any third party and that you have the full authority to enter into this Agreement and grant the rights assigned to the Journal without resulting in any breach of obligation you may have;

  • - You are free to place the article wherever you wish, once one year has elapsed from the date of its first publication in the Journal, but in all such cases you will ensure that the Journal is identified as the original publisher (see below);*

  • - This agreement will be accepted as valid for the Journal, PCCS Books, the World Association, their licensees, assignees and successors in business.