Guidelines for Submission of Feature Articles

As an electronic publication for leaders of volunteer efforts, e-Volunteerism is willing to experiment with the format, content, tone and length of materials we publish. We especially encourage full use of online technology through digital pictures, links to supportive material, audio and video clips, and ideas to elicit interaction with readers. However, submissions must be:

Useful contributions to the volunteer field, either through new ideas, tested techniques, provocative questioning, or research on practical questions; and
Well-written and well-documented (and, if applicable, well-researched).

Unless otherwise stated, the following editorial guidelines are recommendations rather than requirements for written work. If you have any questions about the appropriateness or format of a possible article, you are welcome to e-mail editor@e-volunteerism.com and either Andy Fryar or Susan Ellis will get back to you with clarifying details.

If you need to know if e-Volunteerism is "peer reviewed," click here.

If you are not a subscriber and wish to have temporary access to the journal for purpose of familiarizing yourself with the content, style, and tone of previous articles, please let us know.

1. Subject

e-Volunteerism is a journal about "volunteerism." This means we are focused on volunteers, volunteering, volunteer program management, and all-volunteer group leadership. This does NOT mean other topics of general interest to the "voluntary sector" or "NGOs" (such as generic strategic planning or fundraising). However, we fully understand that the word "volunteer" is not necessarily the term of choice in many settings. Therefore, we welcome articles that speak to the full range of activities done by people without monetary profit, including such things called:

civic engagement
community service
service-learning
activism
lay ministry
pro bono publico work
donated professional services
neighborhood organizing
advocacy
time dollars
student interns

In fact, it is our hope to demonstrate the interconnectedness of these many terms.

Few volunteer-centered subjects will be rejected outright. However, e-Volunteerism will not accept any articles on "Volunteer Motivation" unless the submission truly introduces some recognizable innovation to this oft-discussed area. Authors are encouraged to be creative and to delve into new areas highlighted with innovative examples.

2. Audience

The journal reaches a sophisticated, international audience of individuals from all areas of volunteer management including the non-profit, government and for-profit sectors. Articles that contain material of an advanced level that will appeal to the interests of all of these sectors will have the greatest chance of being included in the journal. If your article focuses on a particular type of setting or volunteer role, please include a section on how you think your experience might be replicated by or applicable to other settings.

In addition, journal subscribers are leaders in both agency-based and all-volunteer organizations. Authors are encouraged to submit articles that attempt to bridge the gap between these two worlds of volunteering.

Please also note that e-Volunteerism is international in content and readership, although written in English. Whenever possible, please use expressions and examples relevant beyond your own country, or explain how your work might be adapted in a different culture.

3. Length

Feature articles should generally aim to be around 3,500 words in length. Because this is a substantially-sized submission, we ask that you separate your article into several accurately subtitled sections so that we can post the material online in segments. Please note that we insert "respond" buttons to encourage reader interaction. Therefore, you are welcome to include queries to readers within your article, should that seem appropriate.

Shorter article submissions will not be rejected on the basis of length, but may be included under categories other than "Feature Articles."

4. Schedule for Submission

e-Volunteerism is published quarterly, on January 15, April 15, July 15 and October 15. We accept submissions at any time. To be considered for the next upcoming issue, articles should be submitted no less than 60 days prior to the publication date. If the Editorial Board solicits an article, the author is asked to submit his or her final draft no later than 45 days prior to the publication date.

5. Format for Submission

Articles should be submitted in electronic form (e-mail attachments), preferably in Microsoft Word but also acceptable in ASCII or text-only format. In exceptional situations, computer disk submissions will be accepted. Only in extreme cases (you have to beg the Managing Editor) will hard copy submissions be considered.

Because it is a Web-based journal, e-Volunteerism is able to take advantage of many technological innovations in the presentation of material. We encourage authors to consider using the following:

photographs and images
audio or video clips
links to other illustrative Web pages
opportunities for interactive responses from readers
PDF files for downloading more complete information than is covered within the article
queries to readers for immediate online response

Photographs, graphs, tables and similar materials should be submitted as bitmap files (.bmp files) or .jpg files. If you do not have access to a scanner, you may mail camera-ready illustrations to us for scanning and converting to .bmp (we will, of course, return your originals).

Our editorial staff will be happy to talk with you about the use of technological creativity and other ways to make your article more engaging.

Authors should also be sensitive to stylistic differences that enhance the readability of Web-based material. Greater attention should be paid to writing in shorter paragraphs, using headings to separate and identify sections, and offering visual images to illustrate and highlight the text.

6. Language, Abbreviations, Footnotes and References

The language of articles should be inclusive and non-gender specific. All abbreviations should be explained where necessary.

Because we publish articles from all around the world and not just the United States, authors are welcome to use whatever form of English language spelling is native to their country or their education. This means that readers will find a mixture of styles and terminology from article to article. Of course, however, usage should be consistent within any one submission.

Footnotes should be treated as endnotes and should appear at the very end of the text. References should be included within these endnotes and should not appear within the body of the text. References should be verified and should be as current as possible.

All endnotes will be "hotlinked," so that when the reader clicks on the endnote number, he or she will be taken directly to the endnote text. In turn, any footnoted references available online will also be hotlinked for the convenience of subscribers, so please supply complete URLs for any such Web pages.

7. To Submit Articles to the Special Sections:

e-Volunteerism has two special sections that follow all the principles outlined here, but have additional guidelines or additional considerations as to format. Please also read the author guidelines for these sections:

Research to Practice, which publishes articles that share academic/scholarly studies in practitioner-friendly ways. Manuscripts based on research will be forwarded to section editor Laurie Mook for special editorial review. Go to for Research to Practice.
Training Designs, which offers materials to strengthen readers' skills in training and group work, often by sharing clear directions for presenting one type of training or on a universal topic (with such tools as handouts, PowerPoint^(R) slides, etc.). Go to for Training Designs.

8. Article Summary, Keywords, and Author Information

Each submission should include a brief abstract/synopsis paragraph summarizing the article. In addition, authors are asked to designate four keywords that can be used to index the article for archiving purposes.

All authors are required to submit a short biographical summary and a digital color photograph (ideally a head shot). Please indicate whether or not you wish to make your contact information public on the author page. You are welcome to include links to Web sites and publications connected to your work.

9. Editorial Authority

By submitting an article, authors acknowledge that e-Volunteerism's editorial staff will have final decision-making authority on the editing of the piece. e-Volunteerism's editors will make every effort to work with authors to create an article that meets the satisfaction of both the author and the editorial board. An author who is unable to reach an agreement with the journal's editors may withdraw his or her article from submission, so long as this is done within five days of receiving the final edits.

10. Copyright

e-Volunteerism will own the copyright for submissions that are printed in the publication, unless the article is an authorized reprint of previously copyrighted material. In the latter case, the author will be responsible for obtaining permission for e-Volunteerism to reprint the piece. For original works published under the e-Volunteerism copyright, the author will have unlimited rights to copy or otherwise re-use his or her own article without prior permission, providing e-Volunteerism is credited as the source.

11. Compensation

Authors will receive no monetary compensation for articles published in the journal. However, the authors of all feature articles published in e-Volunteerism will receive a complimentary one-year subscription (or one-year extension of their existing subscription ) to the journal. We are also happy to provide whatever information about you, your organization, or your books and other products you wish to give our readers as part of the brief biography accompanying your article, including links to any Websites of your choice.

12. Post-publication Interactivity

Everything on the e-Volunteerism site is interactive and we encourage subscribers to post responses, add references, and otherwise make the journal a true collegial forum. Authors are encouraged to monitor the postings related to their articles and are welcome to reply, in turn (although this is completely optional).

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Authors with questions about these guidelines should submit them to e-Volunteerism at editor@e-Volunteerism.com. We at e-Volunteerism look forward to working with you and showcasing your work!