Guidelines for authors

Science in School is read by teachers of all science subjects, as well as others involved in science education. Articles therefore need to be accessible and interesting to an audience with a general science background. They should not target specialists in individual science subjects.

Aim for an engaging, journalistic style. Most of our readers are secondary-school science teachers, and they should be able to use many of our articles in lessons, perhaps giving them to their students.

Note that all articles must be submitted in English. If we publish your article, we will also be happy to include translated versions on our website.

Below are details of:

• The types of article that we publish
• Our submission process
• References and resources
• Images
• Copyright
• Translations

Types of article

We are keen to receive the following types of articles. If you are not sure whether your planned article fits into one of these categories, please email us and ask before writing it.

Articles that exceed the relevant word limit (below) will be rejected.

• Scientific reports: either cutting-edge science stories or reviews of important science topics (maximum 1000 words). Remember that these articles are for an audience with a general science background rather than specialists working on your topic. Avoid unnecessary technical detail and remember to explain why the topic is important and interesting. For example, does it raise ethical considerations or have implications for everyday life or future technology?

  These articles are normally written by research or industrial scientists. Here are the articles we have already published in the cutting-edge science and science topics categories.

• Teaching activities: instructions for constructing and using innovative teaching materials, running a particularly useful experiment or carrying out a project at school (maximum 1500 words). These articles are often written by teachers.

  If your activity involves a great deal of work (many teachers do not have the time or freedom to do extensive projects), make sure you include some ideas that can be done in less time. Here are the articles we have already published in this category.

• Projects in science education: inspiring projects organised by museums, universities, ministries or other organisations (maximum 1000 words). There should be practical value for our readers: how can teachers join your project or establish something similar in their own countries? If possible, include instructions for an activity from your project that can be done in the classroom. Here are the articles we have already published in this category.

  Note that we receive many more articles in this category than we can possibly publish. Before you submit an article, therefore, please consider carefully whether it meets our criteria.

• Event reports: brief descriptions of science education events that took place at a European level. Here are the articles we have already published in this category.

  Note that we do not publish articles about national events although we are happy to advertise them in our list of forthcoming events.

• Book/resource reviews: if you would like to suggest a book, film, website or other resource for review, or would like to review it yourself, let us know. Here are the previously published reviews. Guidelines for book reviewers are available here.
• Back in the staffroom: brief, informative and entertaining articles (maximum 500 words). Here are the articles we have already published in this category.

In exceptional circumstances, we publish articles in the following categories.

• Science and society: the influence of science on society or vice versa (maximum 1000 words). Here are the articles we have already published in this category.
• Spotlight on education: Comparisons of education systems at a European level or fundamental changes to science curricula (maximum 1500 words). Here are the articles we have already published in this category.

We also welcome ideas for future articles, in particular:

• Scientific topics, see above. Here are the articles we have already published in the cutting-edge science and science topics categories.
• Interviews with scientists. Here are the articles we have already published in this category.
• Interviews with teachers. Here are the articles we have already published in this category.
• Spotlight on education, see above. Here are the articles we have already published in this category.
• Reviews of particular types of resources on the web. Here are the articles we have already published in this category.

Please email your suggestions to editor@scienceinschool.org.

Submission process

Submit your articles to us via email (editor@scienceinschool.org) as a Word (.doc), plain text (.txt) or rich text (.rtf) files. In the subject field of the email, please include the text 'Submission' followed by your full name. Make sure that you include your name, address and telephone number in the email. Do not forget to include your name in the article.

Submissions are initially reviewed by the editorial team; we may suggest that you adapt the article to suit our readership. In the next stage of selection, articles are reviewed by teachers for usefulness, interest and applicability, after which we may request further changes to your article. If your article passes this stage, the editorial board decide whether or not to publish it and we will inform you once the decision has been made.

While we make every effort to respond promptly to submissions, it may take some time before we can confirm whether we intend to publish your article.

References and resources

If applicable, list all resources (e.g. websites, books or articles) referred to in your article. If possible, these should be resources that are easily available to teachers, rather than articles in specialist journals.

You can add extra value to your article by listing further resources about the topic. These might be informative websites or materials than can be downloaded or ordered. These resources do not have to be cited in the text of the article.

Images

Images should be of print quality (minimum 300 dpi at a size of around 10 x 10 cm) and submitted as separate files (e.g. tif or jpg), not embedded in a Word document. A list of figure legends which clearly correspond to the images should be included in the text of the article.

If you are not the copyright owner of all images submitted, please note that it is your responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Please include the name and affiliation of the copyright owner of all images in the corresponding figure legend.

Copyright

Please inform us if you have submitted the article simultaneously to another journal, or if you are submitting something that has already been published elsewhere. In general, we can accept such submissions, providing you own the copyright and that you have permission from the other publishers.

If your submission is selected for publication in Science in School, you will be asked to agree to a copyright licence. We use Creative Commons copyright licences, under which the author retains the copyright and allows others to re-use the material. See here for details.

Translations

To ensure that Science in School is read as widely as possible, many of the articles are translated into other European languages and put online. If you would be willing to translate your article (if published) into your mother tongue, please let us know. Otherwise, we will try to find volunteer translators to do this.