Guidelines for Submissions of Manuscripts
We invite anyone interested to submit an article, a draft, or an idea for an article to us. Below are guidelines for each type of submission.
Research to Practice Guidelines
Feature Article Guidelines
Subject and Audience
Engage (formerly e-Volunteerism) is a journal about "volunteerism" in the broadest sense of the term, acknowledging that the word “volunteer” is not necessarily the term used by all. For a fuller listing of the activities we include, please refer to the full Content Guidelines.
The Journal’s audience are sophisticated, international individuals from all areas of volunteer leadership and engagement including the non-profit, government and for-profit sectors, of both agency-based and all-volunteer organizations. Articles at an advanced level with examples that resonate beyond your country and culture will have the greatest chance of being included in the Journal.
Length & Schedule for Submission
Feature articles should generally aim to be around 2,500 words in length with accurately subtitled sections for posting online in segments. Engage is published quarterly but we accept submissions at any time. Articles for consideration should be submitted no less than 60 days prior to the publication date.
Format for Submission and Interactivity
Articles should be submitted electronically, preferably in Microsoft Word. As an online journal, authors should consider including different mediums (photographs, audio or video clips, etc) to make your article more engaging. It is anticipated authors will make themselves available for a few ‘post publication’ interactions with readers. For full details refer to the complete Content Guidelines.
Use of AI tools in writing articles
All content published in Engage should be the original work of the submitting author(s).
This does not mean that Large Language Model (LLM) / Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (e.g., ChatGPT) cannot be used, but the following should be noted:
- Submitting author(s) are responsible for the validity and integrity of their work, and should clearly identify and cite any use of LLM / AI-generated text in their submission.
- Submitting author(s) should clearly explain how they used LLM / AI-generated text and provide details of how it helped them. As a minimum this should include:
- were such tools used for creating some sections of text?;
- were such tools used to revise text that was written by the submitting author(s)?;
- what proportion of the whole article was created using text generated by such tools?
- The use of LLM / AI-generated text not originated by the author(s) without proper citation will be considered plagiarism and submissions will be rejected on this basis. If the inclusion of LLM / AI-generated text not generated by the author(s) is discovered after publication and not properly acknowledged, then the article will be removed from Engage.
We strongly suggest that if you use a LLM / AI tool, you use it to ideate rather than generate text. Use of such tools to generate concepts to help you explore issues is acceptable. Avoid using the text not originating with the author(s) verbatim unless this is essential to the article you wish to submit. Where you do use verbatim text from an LLM / AI tool, you should explicitly acknowledge this, for example, "The information in this work was [generated/revised] by ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI (https://openai.com), accessed on [DATE]."
Language, Abbreviations, Footnotes and References
The language of articles should be inclusive, non-gender specific and reflective of the English spelling native to your country. All abbreviations should be explained where necessary and footnotes should be treated as endnotes. References are included with endnotes and not within the body of the text. All references should be verified and current.
Article Summary, Keywords, and Author Information
Each submission includes a brief abstract/synopsis summarizing the article and up to four keywords for archiving purposes. Authors must submit a short biography and digital color photograph (ideally a head shot). Please indicate whether or not you wish to make your contact information public on the author page.
Editorial Authority, Copyright and Compensation
Engage’s editorial staff will have final decision-making authority on the editing of the piece. Engage'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. Authors unable to reach an agreement may withdraw his or her article within five days of receiving the final edits.
Engage owns the copyright for printed submissions. The only exception is if the article is an authorized reprint of previously copyrighted material. In the case of reprints, the author has unlimited rights to copy or otherwise re-use his or her own article without prior permission, providing Engage is credited as the source.
Authors will receive no monetary compensation however do receive a complimentary one-year subscription (or one-year extension of their existing subscription) to the Journal.