Counselling and Psychotherapy Research considers all manuscripts on the strict condition that they have been submitted only to Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, that they have not been published already, nor are they under consideration for publication or in press elsewhere. Authors who fail to adhere to this condition will be charged with all costs which Counselling and Psychotherapy Research incurs and their papers will not be published.

Contributions to Counselling and Psychotherapy Research must report original research and will be subjected to review by referees at the discretion of the Editorial Office.

Manuscript preparation

Counselling and Psychotherapy Research invites submissions under the following categories:

a) Original research into counselling, psychotherapy and the use of counselling in allied professions (e.g. nursing, social work, education, health promotion, health psychology, pastoral care, etc.);
b) Case studies, where systematic and ethical methods of data collection have been applied;
c) Critical discussions and reviews of the relevance for practice of existing research studies.

Important note: Articles must adhere to the Ethical Guidelines for both research and practice of BACP.

1. General guidelines

• Papers are accepted only in English. British English spelling and punctuation is preferred.
• A typical article will be 1,500-2,500 words, including references. Longer contributions of 3,500-4,500 words, including references may be published where inclusion of data (e.g., excerpts from interviews) warrant it. Papers that greatly exceed this will be critically reviewed with respect to length. Authors should include a word count with their manuscript.
• All articles must be typed in 12-point font and double-spaced throughout including the reference section, with wide (3 cm) margins. All pages must be numbered.
• Manuscripts should be compiled in the following order: main text; acknowledgements; appendixes (as appropriate); references; table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); biographical outline.
• Structured Abstracts of no more than 250 words are required for all papers submitted. Abstracts must conform to PsycINFO guidelines.
• Authors should be prepared to supply three to six keywords in alphabetical order.
• Section headings should be concise.
• Please supply a short biographical note for each author (50-100 words) which will be included in the journal under Notes on Contributors.
• For all manuscripts non-discriminatory language is mandatory. Sexist or racist terms should not be used.
• Authors must adhere to SI units. Units are not italicised.
• When using a word which is or is asserted to be a proprietary term or trade mark, authors must use the symbol ® or TM.

Potential contributors may also wish to consult the following resources:

• Wilkinson, L. (1999). Statistical methods in psychology journals - Guidelines and explanations, American Psychologist, 54(8): 594-604.
• Elliott, R., Fischer, C., & Rennie, D. (1999). Evolving guidelines for publication of qualitative research studies in psychology and related fields, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38: 215-229.
• Morrow, S. (2005). Quality and trustworthiness in qualitative research in counseling psychology, Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2): 259-260.

2. Style guidelines

• Description of the Journal's article style, Quick guide
• Description of the Journal's reference style, Quick guide. Visit CiteRefs for assistance in ensuring accurate referencing according to APA style.
• In order to maintain anonymity during any refereeing process, authors are requested to refrain from, or keep to a minimum, self-referencing.
• Please use British spelling (e.g. colour, organise) and punctuation. Use single quotation marks with double within if needed.
• This journal requires a short paragraph of bibliographical details for all contributors.

If you have any questions about references or formatting your article, please contact authorqueries@tandf.co.uk (please mention the journal title in your email).

Word templates

Word templates are available for this journal. If you are not able to use the template via the links or if you have any other queries, please contact authortemplate@tandf.co.uk

3. Figures

We welcome figures sent electronically, but care and attention to these guidelines are essential as importing graphics packages can often be problematic.

• Figures must be saved individually and separate to text. Please do not embed figures in the paper file.
• Avoid the use of colour and tints for purely aesthetic reasons.
• Figures should be produced as near to the finished size as possible.
• All figures must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the paper (e.g. figure 1, figure 2). In multi-part figures, each part should be labelled (e.g. figure 1(a), figure 1(b)).
• Figure captions must be saved separately, as part of the file containing the complete text of the paper, and numbered correspondingly.
• The filename for the graphic should be descriptive of the graphic, e.g. Figure1, Figure2a.
• Files should be saved as one of the following formats: TIFF (tagged image file format), PostScript or EPS (encapsulated PostScript), and should contain all the necessary font information and the source file of the application (e.g. CorelDraw/Mac, CorelDraw/PC).

Please note that it is in the author's interest to provide the highest quality figure format possible. Please do not hesitate to contact our Production Department if you have any queries.

4. Colour

The Journal has no free colour pages within its annual page allowance. Authors of accepted papers who propose publishing figures in colour in the print version should consult Taylor & Francis at proof stage to agree a financial contribution to colour reproduction costs. Figures that appear in black-and-white in the print edition of the Journal will appear in colour in the online edition, assuming colour originals are supplied.

5. Reproduction of copyright material

As an author, you are required to secure permission if you want to reproduce any figure, table, or extract from the text of another source. This applies to direct reproduction as well as "derivative reproduction" (where you have created a new figure or table which derives substantially from a copyrighted source). For further information and FAQs, please see http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/permission.asp. This applies to direct reproduction as well as 'derivative reproduction', where the contributor has created a new figure or table that derives substantially from a copyrighted source. Authors are themselves responsible for the payment of any permission fees required by the copyright owner. Copies of permission letters should be sent with the manuscript upon submission to the Editor(s).

• Copyright permission letter template Manuscript submission

All submissions should be made online at the Counselling and Psychotherapy Research ScholarOne Manuscripts site. New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre.

Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript. One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from files to allow them to be sent anonymously to referees. When uploading files authors will then be able to define the non-anonymous version as "File not for review".

6. Books for review

We welcome new or recent books which are relevant to the focus of the journal and which you consider would be useful to review for readers. Please send relevant titles with publisher details to the Book Reviews Editor, Alison Brettle for further information.

7. Copyright and authors' rights

It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or license the publication rights in their articles, including abstracts, to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and of course the Journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Authors retain many rights under the Taylor & Francis rights policies, which can be found at http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/copyright.asp. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.

8. Proofs

Authors will receive page proofs for checking. At this point, no substantial changes can be made to the paper. It is essential that proofs are checked and returned within 48 hours.

9. Reprints

Corresponding authors can receive 50 free reprints, free online access to their article through our website and a complimentary copy of the issue containing their article. Complimentary reprints are available through Rightslink® and additional reprints can be ordered through Rightslink® when proofs are received. If you have any queries, please contact our reprints department at reprints@tandf.co.uk.

10. Page charges

There are no page charges to individuals or institutions.