Information For Authors

Note- this journal is for Sheffield Hallam student publications.

Publishing your work for the first time can seem like a daunting task - which is why we have set up this journal to help students to get over that first hurdle and hopefully to continue publishing throughout their later careers. 

The things you need to do, and the resources available for you to do this are listed below.

  • Let the Editor (Liz Laycock - E.A.Laycock@shu.ac.uk) know also your supervisor as they will usually be the second author on the paper. Students are lead authors and their name goes first.
  • Start whittling your work down to approximately 5,000 words [long paper] or 2,500 words [short paper]. The templates and guidance below will help you to determine what needs to be where.
  • Seek guidance on 'polishing' your work get rid of the spurious - choose what graphs to show. Refer to the templates given for assistance and contact your dissertation supervisor if you need more help. 

    Resources

    The Template for papers here

    The 'Rough Guide for publishing from your dissertation' by Elizabeth Laycock here

    Hughes, W (2008) Guide to preparing papers for submission to ARCOM conferences. [online] Available from here

    Hughes, W (n.d.) Guide to Preparing Papers for Submission to ARCOM conferences. Arcom Model Document here

    Will Hughes Keynote paper to The 2nd Scottish Conference for Postgraduate Researchers of the Built & Natural Environment(PRoBE), Glasgow Caledonian University, UK, 16-17 November 2005.[Refereed Papers: Practice and Process]

    Guide to preparing papers for the CME25 Conference by Will Hughes is available here 
    The ARCOM template has been used with the kind permission of the author, Will Hughes Reader in Construction Management and Economics, University of Reading

    The Process

     

  • You will submit the paper to the editorial board
  • Your name, biography and e-mail are blanked from the paper and it is given a reference number. Your work is then given to reviewes who read your work.
  • The reviewers make a decision on your work, if it is accepted with revisions they will usually return comments designed to help to refine and improve your paper. The editorial process is part of the support that we offer. Very few papers will be accepted with no editing - so please do not feel disheartened if you are asked to make changes or clarify any issues. Decisions are chosen from the list below
Accepted with no changes 
The best outcome and rare) - it will go straight to publishing
Accepted with minor changes 
This is the most common outcome. Don’t be upset by the comments.  They are there to help you. Read them carefully and see what they are asking for. It might be spellings and typos, areas where meaning is not clear, missing references, areas where more information is needed, or where sections need to be rearranged. Ask for help if you need to
Accepted with major changes 
Although this may feel like a 'rejection' this outcome still meanst that the paper is worthwhile and can be brought up to publishable quality, it simply needs more work.Read the comments carefully and ask for help if you need it.
Rejected 
There is not enough work evident in the paper or there are so many revisions needed that the reviewers can’t accept the paper in it's current version. You could re-work and resubmit for consideration in a later edition, but you will need to do much more work.
  • If you have had a request for changes you will be given a date to do these and send in the revised version.
  • Your work will be reviewed for any minor errors and formatted for print
  • SUCCESS!! You will receive a complimentary copy of your work bound up and ready for the bookshelf [or circulating to family] We hope that this will encourage youto publish more or your work or experiences in the future.