Submissions

Introduction

Authors and/or book editors are encouraged to submit their book proposals online for books that are not presently under consideration by another publisher, in a format defined by the author guidelines. Submitted proposals are pre-screened by plagiarism detection software both before and after internal peer review, prior to acceptance. We allow the author to track and participate in all activities related to the processing of the manuscript, such as the review process, copy editing, layout editing, and proofreading of manuscripts, which are all managed online. The publisher utilizes multiple communication channels such as email, text messaging, and telephone calls, with the intent to provide status updates and action requests to authors. For this purpose, we ask that authors frequently visit their user profile and update it with the latest contact information.

Proposal and Peer Review Process

Upon submitting your book proposal, the editorial staff will work towards assessing the form for completeness. The first stage involves pre-assessment by our internal editorial board to determine the suitability of the book proposal. If suitable, the funder will receive a quotation for the book processing charges for consideration and approval. The complete manuscript is submitted, and the publisher conducts external peer review for approval. After formal acceptance, the funder pays the book's processing charges. The first stage involves language editing, after which the manuscript is returned to the corresponding author for review. This is the author’s final opportunity to make text changes to the manuscript and submit a revised version. At a final stage, the editorial staff will send the author one set of galley proofs, and the author will have the opportunity to mark any typographical errors. It may not be possible to incorporate author corrections in the printed version of the manuscript if the author fails to respond to proofreading requests. This will include the preparation of your index. Authors should visit their personalized homepage frequently to assess the location or stage of the manuscript. Finally, the open-access book is assigned an appropriate CC-BY license and published as a PDF and EPUB and listed on DOAB.

Book Types Accepted

Book proposals are welcomed from all academic fields, in particular the Humanities and Social Sciences, such as Religious Studies, Business Science, Sociology, Education, and Psychology. We publish the following types of scholarly books:

• Monographs: A stand-alone work of original research or in-depth literature review by one or more authors.
• Collected works: A stand-alone work assembled by one or more scholars in a field or related field, often as a supplement to a scholarly journal.
• Collective works: A stand-alone work assembled by one or more scholars in several related fields and collectively reviewed.
• Book series: A collection of volumes on a subject/field of study. Volumes can be monographs or collected/collective works. Book series usually produce one volume per year in an ongoing process.
• PhD dissertations: A stand-alone work based on a recent PhD thesis, with evidence of substantial reworking (at least 50%) and additional (new) research additions.
• Conference proceedings: A collection of shorter academic papers published in the context of an academic conference.

Timelines

A book proposed for publication in any given calendar year should be submitted no later than the end of October in the previous year. Peer review takes three (3) months from the date of receipt of the full manuscript, and if suitable, publication takes another six (6) months.

New Submission

Your Book Proposal

Thank you for your interest in publishing with ICRP Scholarly Books. We welcome book proposals for all our imprints.

Your complete proposal submission must consist of the following:

1. Book Proposal Form - Please download and complete our book proposal form.
2. Your CV (main author or editors associated with the book)
3. One Sample Chapter (or your entire manuscript as a single document when available)
4. Does your book proposal include the suggestion of a new Book Series? Series Form - Please download and complete our book series proposal form.

Your manuscript will be evaluated and considered for our ICRP Books, TEACH Books, and CONNECT Books.

The book proposal is uploaded and processed online, so you need to register and log into the book's website. Start the 4-step submission process by navigating to your User Home and selecting New Submission next to My Assigned.

How to submit a new book proposal

Each step is on a separate page. The submission process can be interrupted at any time; when you return to the site, you can continue from where you left off. Scroll down and click on the Next button to save your work and advance to the next page:

• STEP 1: Select the submission type, the series name (optional), and complete the submission checklist. Agree to our copyright and licensing policy. Save and continue.
• STEP 2: Upload the book proposal file. Select the Submission Component and proceed to click on the Upload file button and locate the file on your computer. When you have selected the file you wish to upload, click the Upload button. Save and continue. Review the document details and confirm the upload.
• STEP 3: Insert the manuscript catalogue metadata, manuscript title, abstract, list of contributors and chapters, and keywords as it is in the manuscript. Save and continue.
• STEP 4: Confirm the files for submission. Select the Finish Submission button. After completing the manuscript submission, you will receive a submission confirmation via email. You can also log into the book website at any time to check the status and review your manuscript.

If you are struggling to upload your proposal online, you can email your submission, with the above files attached, to the following address: submit@books.icrp.org.uk

In your email subject line, please use Book Proposal.

Uploading the full-text manuscript

After an internal review, book proposals may be provisionally invited and provided with our preliminary costing before submitting their full manuscript. If in agreement, the author or book editor will submit the full-text manuscript.

• Formatting requirements of the manuscript: The manuscript must be neatly prepared, spell-checked, and adhere to the following guides: (a) ICRP Scholarly Books Harvard referencing style guide and (b) ICRP Publishing house style.
• Additional documents required (if applicable): The following form (Third-party material release form) needs to be filled in and submitted with the manuscript online if copyright-protected material is used.

The author guidelines include information about the full-text manuscript to be received for publication and preparing a manuscript for submission. Other relevant information about our book policies and the reviewing process can be found under the about section.

Basic Manuscript Requirements

• Language: English (or Afrikaans)
• Title: The book’s full title should contain a maximum of 95 characters (including spaces).
• Length: Finished chapters should be between 7000-9000 words, excluding references. The total length of the manuscript should be between 90,000 (minimum) and 120,000 (maximum) words.
• Style: ICRP uses Harvard Style in all its publications. Should another referencing style be accepted or required (e.g., Vancouver in medically oriented works), please clarify with the publication office. The reference style must be used consistently throughout the manuscript.

Suggested Chapter Outline

While the content and purpose of the chapter will ultimately dictate the arrangement of the material, we offer the following chapter structure as a starting point. Keep this and any specific requests from the project editor in mind as you draft the chapter:

• Introduction and chapter ‘map’: A brief overview of the chapter, its theme, and purpose.
• Development of your topic: What is the primary (main) or related issue? Why is this an important topic? Include historical or theoretical background or reference current scholarly debate, if relevant.
• Current or proposed solutions: Examples of model practice, ideas, or programs.
• Conclusions and recommendations to readers.

Tables, Figures, Appendices

In some cases, you may find that tables, figures, or appendices are needed to fully develop a topic or make it more accessible to the reader. All tables, figures, and appendices should be appropriately referenced in the text (at least once) and submitted with the manuscript for editorial review. Ensure that all consulted sources accompany the relevant tables, figures, or appendices as a full citation. While tables and figures may be embedded in the text, they should also be sent as separate files in the program in which they were created (e.g., Excel) so that they can be reformatted, if necessary, during the final production process.

Quotes and Extracts

All material taken from previously published sources—whether quoted directly or paraphrased—should be appropriately cited in the text and accompanied by a corresponding citation in the reference list. Quotes of more than 30 words are treated as blocks (i.e., single-spaced and set in from the left margin by 12 cm).

Extracts of 400 words or more require the permission of the copyright holder to be included. Refer to the permissions section below. Similarly, figures or tables that are reprinted from previously published work require the permission of the copyright holder to be included. You are responsible for securing the necessary permissions for such material. The editorial staff at ICRP can provide guidance in requesting permission if needed, but the author must make arrangements to source permissions and pay licensing fees if required.

Writing a Research Justification Section

• Length: A written justification (maximum 500 words) signed (by providing the full name, surname, and affiliation) by the author of the book, or the volume editor (in the case of an edited book with several chapters from various contributors), explaining the contribution that the book makes to scholarship must be attached to each publication claim.
• Structure: This justification should not be an abstract of the contents or preface of the book. Instead, it should describe the methodology used as well as the unique contribution made to knowledge production.
• Declaration: There must be an unequivocal declaration that no part of the work was plagiarized or published elsewhere. The target audience must be stated.
• Second or later editions: A statement indicating that both the previous and current editions have been checked and affirming that at least 50% of the work was not previously published.

Writing the Notes on Contributors Section

• Length: Each contribution must not exceed 500 words.
• Structure: Write a brief biography that introduces each contributor, highlighting achievements, listing credentials, and any notable projects with which they are involved. Be short and concise, listing only relevant information.
• Mandatory: Include the full name, surname, affiliation, email, and ORCID of each contributor.
• Optional: Provide a photograph of the contributor(s).

Manuscript Full Structure

• Title
• Series title (if applicable)
• Research Justification
• Abbreviations, Boxes, Figures, and Tables Appearing in the Text
  • List of Abbreviations
  • List of Boxes
  • List of Figures
  • List of Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Glossary (if applicable)
• Declarations and/or Acknowledgements
  • Competing interests: This section should list specific competing interests associated with any of the authors. If the authors declare that no competing interests exist, the chapter will include a statement to this effect. Read our policy on competing interests.
  • Author contributions: All authors must meet the criteria for authorship as outlined in the authorship policy and author contribution statement policies.
  • Funding: Provide information on funding if relevant.
  • Data availability: All research articles are encouraged to have a data availability statement.
  • Disclaimer: A statement that the views expressed in the submitted manuscript are their own and not an official position of the institution or funder.
• Foreword (if applicable)
• Introduction (if applicable)
• Chapters (including references after each chapter)
• Appendixes (if applicable)
• Indexing terms (if known)

Revised Submission

After external review, the editor will gauge the revisions needed as being feasible and capable of being completed within three (3) months. Revisions will be requested by the editor via email, with instructions on how to proceed to create and upload a revised submission on the book website. In your personalized section, your submission will move in the active table from having the status External Review: Revisions Required.

When you prepare a revised version of your manuscript, it is essential that you follow the instructions given in the editor’s letter and the reviewer comments (when provided) very carefully.

Time Limits

Authors must stay within the following time limits:

• Revisions received more than three months after being requested may be sent for another review cycle at the editor’s discretion.
• Revisions received more than six months after being requested may be closed and considered withdrawn from consideration.

How to submit a revision

Submit your revision by:

1. Preparing the required three documents for uploading.

2. Uploading the three documents.

3. Informing the editor via email of your submitted revision.

4. Preparing the required three documents for uploading:

   • DOCUMENT 1: The feedback summary to the Commissioning Editor: A complete and concise, point-by-point response specifying how you have addressed each of the editor’s and reviewer’s comments. Where suggestions have not been followed, you must explain and justify your decision. This should include specific references to sections, pages, and paragraph numbers where alterations were made in the text.
   • DOCUMENT 2: Annotated version of the revisions made on the original manuscript: The annotated copy should have highlights of the changes (either by using the track changes function in Microsoft Word or by highlighting or underlining text) with notes in the text referring to the editor’s or reviewer’s query. If references, tables, or figures are moved, added, or deleted during the revision process, renumber them to reflect such changes so that they continue to be cited in numerical order. Images need only be uploaded if changes have been made to them since the previous version.
   • DOCUMENT 3: Clean version of the revised manuscript.

5. Uploading the three documents:

   • STEP 1: When you have addressed the comments and completed your revisions, log into your personalized section and click on External Review.
   • STEP 2: Once your revisions are correctly formatted and prepared, navigate to the table labeled Revisions and click on the Upload File link to begin uploading your revised manuscript from your desktop. Ensure that you upload a clean version, an annotated version, and a point-by-point version as part of your revised manuscript submission.

6. Informing the editor via email of your submitted revision: Once all three documents are uploaded, you will need to inform the Commissioning Editor via email of your submitted revision. Click on the Review Discussion and proceed to type up and send an email to the editor.