JTD Guidelines for Authors

Mission

The Journal of Trauma & Dissociation is the official scientific journal of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. The Journal of Trauma & Dissociation is dedicated to publishing peer-reviewed scientific literature on dissociation and trauma, seeks manuscripts on theory, basic science research, clinical treatment and research related to interpersonal trauma and/or dissociation in children and adults. The Journal welcomes contributions from a variety of different approaches including anthropological, cross-cultural, epidemiological, neurobiological, psychological, psychometric, psychotherapeutic, and social viewpoints.

Types of Articles

The Journal of Trauma & Dissociation accepts review articles, theoretical articles, original research articles, clinical contributions, case reports, and letters to the editors.  Regular articles are limited to 5,500 words and brief reports to 3000 words.  Authors should specify the type of article they are submitting. The editors may reclassify the type of submission as appropriate. The Journal does not review or publish first person case reports (accounts of authors’ personal psychological experiences). Due to our value on authenticity and veracity of crucial case information, composite case studies are not published. The Journal does not publish unsolicited book reviews but welcomes recommendations of recent books for book reviews. Book authors and publishers should send copies of books for review to either of the Book Review Associate Editors and should notify the Editors by email of the name and author of the books sent to the Book Review Editors.

Prior Publication

Submission of a manuscript to the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation represents a certification on the part of the author(s) that it is original material, and that neither the manuscript or a version of it has been published elsewhere, is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and has been approved by each author. Any form of publication other than an abstract of less than 400 words constitutes prior publication. This includes portions of symposia, proceedings, books/chapters, invited papers or any types of reports, and electronic databases. Authors wishing to submit manuscripts involving data or clinical observations previously used in published, in press, submitted (or to be submitted) papers should provide the Editor with this relevant information and an explanation regarding how those papers differ from the current submission.

Authorship

Authorship credit should be limited to those who have made substantial contributions to the article in terms of design, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and drafting and revising the manuscript. Acquisition of funding or provision of data alone is not sufficient to merit authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient either. Individuals contributing less than a key role to the paper should be recognized in an Acknowledgement. Editors may require authors to justify the assignment of authorship. Each author must take public responsibility for the content of the article.

Disclosure of Competing Interests

All forms of financial support must be stated in an Acknowledgment. Any commercial or financial involvements among the authors that might present the appearance of a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article should be disclosed in the cover letter. Such involvements may include (but are not limited to) institutional or corporate affiliations not already specified, paid consultations, stock ownership or other equity involvement, patent ownership, travel funds, and royalties received from rating scales, inventions, or therapeutic methods. The Editor may share this information with the reviewers, but such involvements will not represent automatic grounds for rejection of the submission. A statement of such involvements will accompany the article, if published. Authors will be asked to attest in writing concerning any competing interests at the time of submission.

Patient Informed Consent and Patient Privacy

Authors must have written informed consent from any patient/clients described in case study material. The authors must take steps to protect the identity of patients reported in case reports and elsewhere. Identifying information (e.g., names, initials, hospitals, dates) must be avoided or changed.  Note that authors must both protect the integrity of the case study information such that crucial details for interpretation are retained, and protect patient privacy such that non-crucial details that could violate the privacy of the patient are changed.  Authors who wish guidelines for protection of patient anonymity are referred to “Statements from the Vancouver Group, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors” in British Medical Journal 1991; 302: 1194. Authors submitting case study material will be required to complete a “Case Presentation Checklist” available here. Within the case report itself there should be a statement that the patient/client has given informed written consent for the publication and that the identity of the patient/client has been disguised by omission and alteration of non-crucial information.

Institutional Review Board Approval and Informed Consent

Papers that report results of data collected from human participants must include a statement that written informed consent was obtained from participants after adequately explaining the study’s procedures to them. Deviations from the standard written informed consent process should be fully explained. Approval by an Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee should be documented and mentioned in the written report.

Manuscript Length

Manuscript articles may be 1,500 to 5,500 words (approximately five to 18 double-spaced pages) including references and tables and figures, as appropriate to the type of article. Review articles, theoretical articles, research reports, and clinical discussions should contain a maximum of 5,500 words. Brief reports should be no more than 3,000 words. Letters to the editor may contain no more than 500 words and 3 references, and must be received within 10 weeks of the original article’s publication. Letters to the editor are reviewed in a manner similar to other manuscripts. Lengthier manuscripts may be considered for special reasons or circumstances.

Manuscript Format

Manuscripts must be prepared in a standard U.S. letter or A4 page format, double-spaced, with 1 inch or 3 centimeter margins on all sides. Text font should be proportional and with serif (e.g., Times New Roman 12 point font). Manuscripts should have the following order: Title page, abstract, text, references, tables and figures. Pages should be numbered beginning with the title page.

Title Page
Title page must include, title; authors and degrees; location of the institution and place where the work was done; corresponding author’s name, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address; word count; key words for index purposes; and acknowledgment of previous presentation, grant support, commercial support, or other credit. For mailing of a complimentary copy of the issue in which your article is published, please supply a postal mailing address for each author. Please place addresses of authors other than the Corresponding Author on a separate page immediately after the Title Page.

Abstract
A single paragraph abstract of 100-250 words must be provided.

Text
The text should contain an introduction that describes the objectives of the article and a review of the relevant scientific literature. Subsequent sections should describe the main subject matter (theoretical, clinical or research), a discussion of the subject matter, and conclusions. Research papers must include sections on methods and results, followed by discussion. Methods must contain an adequate description of instruments, research participants and statistical analyses, and results must be fully reported including the test values, degrees of freedom, whether tests were one- or two-tailed, probability and significance, and N values as appropriate. Research articles involving research with human participants must include a statement that informed consent was obtained or if not, why not.

Citations and References
For writing style and reference formats, the Journal uses the style of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition, 2010). We urge authors to consult this manual for formats not listed in the Information for Authors. The Publication Manual of the APA may be obtained from the APA Order Department, P.O. Box 92984, Washington, DC, 20090-2984, USA, www.apa.org/books/ordering.html.

Citations in Text
Use the author-date method within parentheses inserted into the text.

  1. Work by one author: (Putnam, 1989).
  2. Work by two authors: (Cardeña & Spiegel, 1993). Cite both names every time the reference occurs in the text. Use no comma between authors.
  3. Work by three, four or five authors: First text citation: (Van der Hart, Van Kijke, Van Son, & Steele, 2000). Use commas after all authors. Subsequent text citations: (Van der Hart et al., 2000).
  4. Work by six or more authors: In all text citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year of publication, e.g., (Ross et al., 1992).
  5. Organizations as authors: Spell out the name of the organization the first time it is cited in the text. The organization name may be abbreviated in subsequent in-text citations only if the abbreviation is listed with the spelled out name in the first citation. First text citation: (International Society for the Study of Dissociation [ISSD], 1997). Subsequent text citations – use either of two formats: (ISSD, 1997) or (International Society for the Study of Dissociation, 1997).
  6. Works by the same author(s) within the same year: Use the suffixes a, b, c, etc. following the date to distinguish works by the same author(s) within the same year. The first work cited in the text will be “a”, the second work will be “b”, etc., e.g., (Coons, 1994a, 1994b).
  7. If there are two or more multiple author citations with the same first author within the same year, cite the surnames of as many subsequent authors as needed to distinguish references, e.g., (Van der Hart, Nijenhuis et al., 2001; Van der Hart, Steele et al., 2001).
  8. Order of citation: When citing two or more works within the same parenthesis, list them in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author. Separate citations by semicolons. If citing the same author(s) more than once, place works in chronological order by publication dates separated by commas. Example: (Allen, 1997; Allison, 1978; Chu & Bowman, 2000; Kluft 1985a, 1985b, 1986; Kluft & Fine, 1993; Michelson & Ray, 1996; Ross et al., 1992).9. Quotations: Citations for quotations must contain page numbers, e.g., (Van der Hart et al., pp. 35-36).

Reference List
Consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for formats of types of references other than those listed below.

  1. Journal article. Putnam, F.W., Guroff, J.J., Silberman, E.K., Barban, L., & Post, R.M. (1986). The clinical phenomenology of multiple personality disorder: Review of 100 recent cases. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 47, 285-293.Titles of and volume number journals should be italicized. Journal titles should have all important words capitalized.
  2. Book. Putnam, F.W. (1997). Dissociation in children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press.Titles of books should be italicized. Only the first word of book titles should be capitalized.
  3. Edited Book: Kluft, R.P., & Fine, C.G. (Eds.). (1993). Clinical perspectives on multiple personality disorder. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press.
  4. Book Chapter Goodwin, J. (1996). Childhood DID: The male population. In J.L. Silberg, (Ed.), The dissociative child (pp. 69-84). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press.Page numbers must be included for book chapters.
  5. Association Author: American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Statement on therapies focused on memories of childhood physical and sexual abuse. Washington, DC: Author.
  6. Republished works: James, W. (1902/1961). The varieties of religious experience. London: MacMillan.
  7. Formatting. Double-space all references. Please use a hanging indent format.
  8. Authors. Please include all authors for each reference. Use commas after all authors except the last (including two author references).
  9. Order of references. List references in alphabetical order by surname of first author. List multiple references by the same author(s) in chronological order from earliest to most recent publication date. List the sole-author works of an author before co-authored works.

Graphics, Tables, Figures, and Illustrations
All graphics must be “camera-ready.” Tables should be prepared using standard word processing software (MS Word preferred). Illustrations should be prepared using either graphics software or artistically rendered in black ink so that they can be used either as they are or reduced in size. Whenever possible, figures should be submitted with the manuscript in digital form. Fonts should be proportional and sans serif (e.g., Arial). Author name(s) and manuscript name should be lightly written on the reverse of graphics. Indicate in the text the approximate placement of all graphics. Graphics including photographs are considered part of accepted manuscripts and are retained by the Publisher. If submitted graphics are unacceptable for publication, the Publisher reserves the right to redo the graphics and to charge the author(s) a fee of $35 per hour for this service.

Manuscript Style

Authors who need a guide for English journal writing may wish to refer to the Style section of “Suggestions to Authors” in Neurology 1996; 46: 298-300. The editors are recommending only the writing style section.Use gender inclusive language. In referring to human beings, authors should use the phrases “in humans,” “in humankind,” or “in human beings,” rather than the phrase “in man” or the word “man.” Authors should avoid “he” in referring to generic persons as well as the awkward “he/she” construction by making the subject plural, e.g., “Therapists should inquire about amnesia whenever they suspect dissociation,” rather than “A therapist should inquire about amnesia whenever he/she suspects dissociation.” Alternatively, when referring to hypothetical persons, authors may alternate between male and female subjects. Numbers in the text. Authors should use Arabic numerals for numbers above nine, and for designators such as Case 4 or Patient 2. Authors should spell out numbers one through nine and numbers at the beginning sentences. Use the active voice whenever possible: We will ask authors that rely heavily on use of the passive voice to re-write manuscripts in the active voice. While the use of the phrase “the author(s)” is acceptable, we encourage authors to use first and third person pronouns, i.e., “I” and “we,” to avoid an awkward or stilted writing style.

Submission and Review Process

All manuscripts must be submitted on our submission website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/WJTD.  In addition authors will need to submit the Author Assurance form that can be found at: http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/jtd/submission.html.  All submissions are peer-reviewed by anonymous reviewers. Reviewers provide written comments that are sent to the authors by the Editor. Authors are informed about the Editor’s decision after completion of the review process.  In most cases, we inform authors within eight to ten weeks following receipt of the manuscript as to the results of the initial review of their manuscripts.

Copyright Transfer

Copyright ownership of manuscripts must be transferred to the Publisher by signature of author(s) prior to publication. It is permissible for a single author to sign the copyright transfer form provided that the author is authorized by all co-authors to sign on their behalf. We will send copyright assignment forms to the corresponding author upon acceptance of a paper.

Additional Information for Authors can be found here.