Guidelines for Submitting a CUPA-HR Journal Article

By publishing an article in the CUPA-HR Journal, you help to expand the body of knowledge about the human resource profession in higher education. You also help your career by being published in the Journal (both print and Internet versions), which reaches thousands of readers nationally and internationally.

Two types of articles are of interest to our readers. The first type of article is on an HR topic from a practical approach. This kind of how-to article describes an innovative program that has been put in place at a member institution and that could be implemented on other campuses as well. Senior practitioners in HR management are encouraged to submit articles of this nature. The second type of article presents information or observations of universal importance to higher education HR professionals. Rather than focusing on a practice at a particular university, this type of article addresses a recently emerging trend in human resource management; a technical area in need of clarification, such as immigration law; or an issue that just won't go away, such as sexual harassment or merit pay. This type of article is written by experts in a particular area of HR management or by attorneys, compensation specialists and the like.

Articles should range from 1,500 to 3,500 words. Please check your word count before submitting your article.

When we receive your manuscript, we determine whether the topic is of interest to higher education HR professionals. If the article passes the relevance test, we will contact you and forward your manuscript to subject experts for review. If the manuscript does not pass the relevance test, we will contact you and explain the reason that we feel the piece is not right for our readership. Surprisingly, a significant number of articles submitted to the CUPA-HR Journal are rejected because they are not relevant to higher education HR management.

CUPA-HR Journal reviewers have expertise in the functional areas (e.g., employment law, compensation or labor relations) covered by the prospective articles. The reviewers assess manuscripts on the basis of content (are opinions supported by facts? are the data reliable? is an original look at a topic provided?) and readability (is the point made without unnecessary rhetoric and technical jargon? is terminology used precisely? is the presentation logical?). They then recommend that articles be accepted, rejected or rewritten to address specific concerns.

Because of the number of articles we receive, a month or two might pass between acknowledgment of receipt of an article and notification of acceptance or rejection. The CUPA-HR Journal staff edits articles accepted for publication.

When planning a particular issue, we look for a good mix of articles in a variety of functional areas. From time to time, a special issue is planned to focus more fully on one particular topic. Therefore, predicting the issue in which a particular article will appear is nearly impossible. The length of the article, the timeliness of its topic and the length of time since the topic has last been addressed in the Journal are factors in the decision. An accepted manuscript may not be published until the following academic year.

All articles should be single-spaced and all pages should be numbered consecutively. Paragraphs should be indented 1/2 inch and should not be separated from other paragraphs by an extra line space. Major subheads should be initial capped, boldfaced, and flush left (that is, unindented). Subheads between major subheads should be initial capped, boldfaced and italicized and flush left.

Tables and figures should be typed on separate pages and presented at the end of the manuscript. They should be numbered consecutively as they appear in the text. Their positions in the manuscript should be indicated (for example, Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2).

Footnotes should not be used. The Journal uses the author-date reference system. This system has two parts: the text citation (which appears parenthetically just before the period at the end of a sentence and which consists of the author's last name followed by the year of publication) and the reference list (which appears at the end of the article and which contains the full bibliographic citation for each source referred to in the main text of the article).

Authors and editors are encouraged to submit manuscripts consistent with The Associated Press Stylebook.

All manuscripts are edited at the national office and returned to authors for review. At that time, authors may recommend revisions, corrections or other modifications, but final edits will be made at the sole discretion of CUPA-HR.

No. As a nonprofit association, CUPA-HR operates on a tight budget. Authors receive eight complimentary copies of the issue in which their article appears (additional copies are available at a discounted rate) and recognition for their article on CUPA-HR's Web site.

CUPA-HR holds the copyright on all manuscripts it publishes. Upon CUPA-HR's acceptance of a manuscript, the author must sign an agreement transferring the copyright from the author to CUPA-HR. Articles that are under consideration for publication by another periodical should not be submitted to the Journal. All requests for permission to publish, reprint or reproduce publications should be submitted in writing to the director of Communications at the national office.

Please send articles as a Word attachment via e-mail to journal@cupahr.org. Include all author names, professional titles, addresses (including e-mail addresses) and telephone numbers on the cover page. Also include a brief, one-paragraph biography of all authors on a separate page. Include current title, place of employment, academic degrees and the names of institutions conferring them.

Please contact the CUPA-HR editor at 865-637-7673 ext.118 or via e-mail at journal@cupahr.org.