Author Guide

Guide for Authors

Publishing with JAJJS

100%

Open Access Journal

191 Days

Submission to Acceptance

7 Days

Acceptance to Publication

$0

Article Publishing Charge

JAJJS Mission

The Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services (JAJJS) shares useable knowledge about effective practices, strategies, and standards used to impact positively the field of juvenile justice services, youth, families, and communities.

Purpose and Scope

Professionals who work with at-risk, troubled, or delinquent youth are confronted with a broad spectrum of issues, challenges, and concerns. Within the juvenile services field, individuals—direct care staff, administrators, community leaders and policymakers—need access to rigorous, interdisciplinary, translational, and applicable research. JAJJS endeavors to provide this vital research to help propel juvenile services field forward toward its full potential. To be of most value, this research should focus on critical issues and emerging trends. Ultimately, the test of utility will be how effectively practitioners can apply concepts and lessons learned on a daily basis to positively impact the lives of the youth they serve.

The journal is intended to disseminate timely information focused on critically examining a wide variety of topics related to juvenile justice, including;

Effective strategies and practice
Programming such as behavioral, educational, recreation, medical and mental health, focus groups, and life skills training
Critical issues and emerging trends within the field of juvenile services
Ethical issues in the treatment of juveniles
Leadership and training in juvenile justice
The operation and administration of juvenile facilities such as detention, corrections, residential treatment, shelter facilities, group homes, and other community-based and institutional placements for youth
Legal issues that affect juvenile justice practice

JAJJS publishes the following types of articles;

Original Research/ Empirical Study

Original research manuscripts report the results of empirical studies including quantitative or qualitative data. Submissions should highlight the originality, and scientific rigor of the research to clearly demonstrate the significance and potential impact on juvenile services policy and practice. Original research manuscripts should include the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. All key experimental procedures necessary to ensure accurate reproducibility must be provided in the methods section. If the study was pre-registered, please include the organization through which your study is registered as well as the registration number.

Literature Review

Literature review manuscripts provide a synthesis of existing research on a specific topic. While this type of submission does not aim to capture all available research on a particular topic, it offers a summary of findings from separate studies or experiments to identify patterns or draw broader conclusions. Literature reviews should describe how a field of research is progressing, and discuss gaps or challenges to be addressed in future research on the topic.

Systematic Review

Systematic reviews report the results of thorough and methodical reviews of scholarly research on a particular topic using strategies that reduce biases and random errors. Such reviews use explicit, reproducible methods to systematically search, critically evaluate, and synthesize all existing research on a particular topic. Systematic reviews may or may not include meta-analysis. Submissions of this type should include a clear summary of results that provide evidence to inform juvenile services practice and policy-making (e.g., reliable estimates about the effects of interventions, demonstrate where knowledge is lacking, or guide future research). If the study was pre-registered, please include the organization through which your study is registered as well as the registration number.

Meta-Analysis/ Panoramic Meta-analysis

Meta-analysis manuscripts report the results of systematic assessment and new statistical analysis of existing independent studies using a formal, epidemiological, quantitative study design. This submission type should include a mathematical synthesis of the results of two or more primary studies that address a similar research question in the same manner. Meta-analysis manuscripts must clearly describe methods used to compute effect size across the studies.

Panoramic meta-analysis manuscripts report the results of new statistical analysis of multiple previously conducted meta-analyses to strengthen the understanding of a particular topic.

Editorial

Editorials are brief opinion pieces exploring issues relevant to the scope and purpose of the journal. Editorials are exclusively submitted by JAJJS editors, editorial board members, reviewers, and invited guest editors for special issues. These submission types address issues within the juvenile services continuum, discuss recent advancements, or the larger context, of recent research in the field. Editorials undergo JAJJS's double-blind peer- review process, they should not include original, or previously unpublished data.

Open Access

We believe youth and families are best served when practitioners are able to access and apply rigorous contemporary research, and that research pertinent to the health and safety of youth and families should not be hidden behind a paywall. For this reason, the JAJJS has been entirely open access since our debut in 2014.

JAJJ Terms and Conditions

View JAJJS Terms and Conditions, download the PDF

Submit your Manuscript

Use the submission checklist below to prepare your manuscript for submission to JAJJS

Download and review the Submission Checklist to ensure your submission is complete.

Title page, including:
Author(s) full name(s) written as First Name then Last Name
Author(s) ORCiD Number if applicable
The institutional affiliation(s) of the author(s)
Acknowledgment of financial support (including grant numbers)
Declaration of interest
All authors must disclose any relationship, personal or financial, with other entities that could present a conflict of interest or may inappropriately influence their work
Corresponding author details: Name, address, business telephone number, and e-mail
Submission Type as outlined in the JAJJS Author Guide
Keywords, no more than five
Highlights
3 to 5 highlights of the manuscript, providing a concise overview and summarizing core findings
Written for a general audience (no acronyms, abbreviations, specialized or technical language)
Each highlight should be no more than 80 characters in length including spaces

De-identified original Manuscript in a word document, including:
Manuscripts must conform to the current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA). (http://www.apastyle.org/manual/)
Correct formatting: Each manuscript must be typewritten, double-spaced throughout, use “Times New Roman” font (size 12), and use one-inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides.
150-200 word Abstract for all articles other than editorials and commentaries
Clearly marked headings and subheadings
A list of any abbreviations used in the manuscript following the abstract
No footnotes included in the manuscript body, please use end notes if necessary
For authors whose first language is not English, JAJJS recommends that a professional editor or a colleague fluent in English edit the manuscript before submission
All tables, and figures including legends are numbered with an Arabic numeral, cited in numeric sequence, and placed within in the text of the manuscript in the desired location for publication
Figures are in JPG, or PNG format

Complete and accurate references
Any claims made in the article are supported by sources, and those sources are cited appropriately in APA format
Include a linked DOI for all references when available

Brief biographical sketch of the author(s), including affiliation, research interests, and recent publications

All necessary permissions to reproduce copyrighted information and materials have been obtained, are on file with the author, and can be submitted to the JAJJS editorial office upon request

Completed, signed and dated Publication Agreement
Download and review the JAJJS Publication Agreement

Submit
Manuscript files (Microsoft Word format only) and a signed Publication Agreement should be submitted electronically to the Editor, Aisland Rhodes, at Aisland.Rhodes@npjs.org.
The submission email should include a statement confirming that the manuscript has not been simultaneously submitted for publication or published elsewhere.

After Submission

Desk review

Submitted manuscripts that correctly follow the submission checklist will be reviewed initially at the editorial level. During desk review manuscripts are assessed for fit and relevance to JAJJS purpose and scope, as well as their potential contribution to the field of juvenile services. Submissions found to be outside the scope of JAJJS, incomplete or incorrectly formatted per JAJJS submission guidelines or APA standards, or not meeting standards of sufficient quality may be subject to desk rejection.

Double-blind peer-review

Manuscripts that successfully pass desk review then undergo double-blind peer review by a minimum of two reviewers.

Initial Decision

JAJJS average time to initial decision is 13 weeks. Reviewer feedback is made available to authors whose manuscripts require revision prior to acceptance. Revised manuscripts should be accompanied by a summary of author responses to reviewers’ comments as well as a copy of the revised manuscript with changes tracked. JAJJS is entirely online, there is no timeline for revisions or resubmissions.

Upon Acceptance

Author Proof

Once your manuscript has been accepted for publication with JAJJS, the corresponding author will receive a proof of the article via email. It is the corresponding author's responsibility to review the proof and request any changes necessary prior to publication. Articles will be placed in the cue for publication once the corresponding author has confirmed the proof is accurate and complete and approves the proof for publication.

Publication

Published manuscripts will be registered in Crossref and be given a unique DOI. The published article will be accessible through the JAJJS website.

Video Abstract

Author's whose manuscripts have been accepted for publication will be invited to prepare a video abstract. The video abstract will be displayed next to the published article on the JAJJS website and our social media to help readers find your valuable research.