PUBLICATIONS & PRODUCTS
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Information for Authors
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is the official Journal of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) published quarterly by Informa Healthcare. AAC publishes original articles with direct application to the communication needs of persons with complex communication needs for whom augmentative and alternative communication techniques and systems may be appropriate. AAC brings together authors who have a clinical/educational and research interest in augmentative and alternative communication, transcending disciplinary concerns; and integrates theory, technology, and systems development for the assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, and education of people who use augmentative and alternative systems AAC seeks manuscripts of the following types:
Research Articles (full peer review): Research articles report the results of empirical research, including qualitative and quantitative methodologies, group, small-N and single case research designs, and systematic reviews.
Tutorials and Synthesis Articles (full peer review): This type of manuscript synthesizes an area of knowledge. Tutorials are designed to summarize ideas and concepts that are important to AAC researchers and practitioners (e.g., Venkatagiri & Ramabadran, 1995). Synthesis articles synthesize and interpret an existing body of literature (e.g. Mirenda, 1997).
Forum Notes (abbreviated or full peer review): Forum notes include brief letters to the editor, comments or discussions about articles published in the Journal, requests for research, or personal insights about issues relevant to AAC (e.g. Fox & Fried-Oken, 1996). Brief letters to the editor may be assigned an abbreviated peer review; however, more extensive manuscripts are assigned a full peer review.
Case Studies (full peer review): Case studies report the results of unusual AAC applications not conducted within the confines of a rigorous research design but with direct implications for program development and/or intervention (e.g., Odom & Upthegrove, 1997; see also McEwan & Karlan, 1990 for case study guidelines).
Research Notes (full peer review): Research notes are brief manuscripts that address methodological, statistical, or other research-related issues that are of interest to the AAC community (e.g., Beukelman & Ansel, 1995; Creak, 1996).
Technical Notes (full peer review): Technical notes are brief manuscripts that discuss a technical aspect of the field that is of particular interest to the AAC community or that contain a request for the research community to address specific technical issues (e.g., Ferrier, Fell, Mooraj, Delta, & Moscoe, 1996; Salamo & Jakobs, 1996).
Intervention Notes (full peer review): Intervention notes are brief manuscripts that present AAC intervention information coupled with a request for the research community to address an issue or to investigate some aspect of clinical practice (e.g., Robinson & Owens, 1995). Typically, intervention notes either address new clinical practices that require research attention or attempt to bring the research community's attention to areas that have been poorly or minimally researched in the past.
ISAAC Governance Reports (usually not peer reviewed): Articles related to ISAAC Governance are often included in the Journal. At times, these have been historical summaries, reports regarding the biennial ISAAC conference, reports of the management committees of ISAAC, and so on.
Book Reviews (abbreviated review): Books of either broad relevance or relevance to a specialized topic of interest to some AAC readers may be reviewed for the Journal. Authors wishing to submit a book review must first submit a synopsis of the book and demonstrate its relevance to the AAC readership.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
Manuscripts should be submitted via Manuscript Central http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/taac, where you will be given instructions for accessing the site and several submission-related documents: Abbreviated Style Guide, Submission Requirements, and Terminology and Notational Conventions. These may also be downloaded from the Informa and ISAAC websites: http://www.informaworld.com/taac http://isaac-online.org/en/home.shtml
Manuscripts should be written in English and prepared as Word files (tables and figures may be saved as Word or Excel files). Please do not submit any component of the manuscript in PDF format. They should be accompanied by a cover letter that includes the following information:
- a request that the manuscript be considered for publication;
- a statement that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not currently submitted elsewhere; and
- a statement that the ethics procedures have been followed and the standards governing research involving human participants in force in the country in which the research has been conducted have been met (note that The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) represents a minimal
All submissions are read by the Editor to determine whether they are appropriate for review in terms of content and conformity to the Journal’s submission requirements (see below). Eligible manuscripts are sent, with identifying information removed, to two or more referees and an Associate Editor in charge of the initial review process. Consulting editors send their comments and recommendations to the Associate Editor, who makes a recommendation to the Editor. The Editor informs the author of the final decision.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
All submissions MUST substantially conform to the following:
- APA style (with the exception of the cover page; see Abbreviated Style Guide for AAC’s preferred set up), as per the 5th edition of the APA Manual, for headings, running heads, type font, page numbers, margins, type font, expression of numbers, tables, figures, etc.; and
- AAC-specific requirements for length, notational conventions, terminology, and recognition of software/hardware manufacturers.
NOTE: Manuscripts that do not substantially conform to AAC submission requirements will be returned to the author for revisions prior to the review process getting underway. Authors are strongly encouraged to carefully review previously noted submission-related documents.
AAC uses a blind review process; therefore, author identification must not appear anywhere in the manuscript except for the title page. In addition, please refrain from or keep to a minimum, self-referencing.
If you experience any problems at the MC site, or have any questions about our submission requirements, please contact AAC Editorial Assistant Jackie Brown at rbutus@shaw.ca
MANUSCRIPT ORGANIZATION
The manuscript should be organized in the proper sequence (e.g., Title page, abstract, body of the manuscript, references, tables); all pages should carry the running head and page number; and the content should be organized as per APA style; that is, there should be main sections (e.g., Methods, Results) and sub-sections (e.g., Participants, Materials, Procedures) within the main sections. Please refer to the 5th edition of the APA manual for details.
As applicable, include acknowledgements for grant or contract support, and if the submission is based on a master’s or doctoral dissertation or a presentation at a scientific meeting.
Tables and Figures
These must be prepared as per APA style and cited in the text. Please be sure to use the Tables facility in Word in order to create proper columns and rows. Tabbed tables are not acceptable. See the Abbreviated Style Guide for Table examples, and be sure to refer the APA manual as required.
All figures must be in camera-ready format and self-explanatory. Again, refer to the Abbreviated Style Guide and/or the APA manual. Identifiable photographs of people must be accompanied by a signed release form.
Color figures
Any figure submitted as a color original will appear in color in the Journal's online edition, free-of-charge, and can be downloaded. Color reproductions in the paper copy of the journal will only be considered on condition that authors contribute to the associated costs. Please contact the publisher for details.
REVIEW AND PROCESSING
Review
Articles are assigned to an Associate Editor and reviewed by two or three Consulting Editors for relevance, logic, and design (but not on philosophical positions taken). The review process requires 2 to 3 months from date of receipt. Reviewers' comments will be returned to the author.
Revisions/Editing
Authors have 60 days following receipt of a summary letter from the Associate Editor to revise manuscripts; otherwise, the submission will be considered withdrawn. Once manuscripts are accepted for publication they go through an internal, final editing process prior to being sent to Informa Healthcare. The Editor reserves the right to make editorial changes that do not notably affect the meaning of the text.
Manuscripts that have been accepted for publication and have undergone an internal edit are sent to Informa Healthcare for addition of printers' instructions, final grammatical and style consistency, and technical editing. Prior to publication, the publisher will send by email a PDF proof of an article, along with instructions and guidelines, to the corresponding author for review. Corrections should be returned by email within 48 hours of receipt. Authors shall be responsible for the accuracy of references and statistical computations. NOTE: If, during the proofing phase, authors notice problems that are beyond typographical and other minor errors (e.g., a table or figure is missing), they should contact Jackie Brown at the Editorial Office immediately. She will work with the publisher to correct the errors. Only in exceptional circumstances will a second proof be issued.
Offprints
On publication, the author will be supplied with an electronic copy of his or her article as a portable data format (PDF) file; and upon request from Sally Howells (Sally.Howells@Informa.com), a hard copy of the issue in which the article appears. The PDF may be circulated to up to 50 colleagues by email; or 50 printed copies made and circulated.
COPYRIGHT
Permission
Authors are required to secure permission for the reproduction of any figure, table, or extensive (more than 50 words) extract from the text, from a source that is copyrighted or owned by a party other than Informa Healthcare or the author. This applies both to direct reproduction or derivative reproduction (i.e., when the author has created a new figure or table that derives substantially from a copyrighted source.
Copyright Assignment
It is a condition of publication that authors vest copyright in their articles to the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. When an author's work is accepted for publication, the author(s) will be asked to sign a Copyright Assignment and Agreement conveying all copyright ownership to ISAAC. This enables ISAAC to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and the Journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Copyright will be managed by Informa Healthcare on behalf of ISAAC. Authors may, of course, use their article elsewhere after publication without prior permission from ISAAC, provided that acknowledgement is given to the Journal as the original source of publication, and that Informa Healthcare be notified to update its records to show authorized use of the material. For all other use, permission from ISAAC is required.
REFERENCES
Beukelman, D., & Ansel, B. (1995).
- Research priorities in
- augmentative and alternative
- communication. Augmentative
- and Alternative Communication,
- 11, 131 – 134.
Creak, G. A. (1996). Comments on some
- statistical techniques observed in
- AAC papers. Augmentative and
- Alternative Communication, 12,
- 189 – 192.
Ferrier, L., Fell, H., Mooraj, Z., Delta,
- H., & Moscoe, D. (1996). Baby-
- babble-blanket: Infant interface
- with automatic data collection.
- Augmentative and Alternative
- Communication, 12, 110 – 121.
Fox, L., & Fried-Oken, M. (1996). AAC
- Aphasiology: Partnership for
- future research. Augmentative
- and Alternative Communication,
- 12, 257 – 271.
McEwan, I., & Karlan, G. (1990). Case
- studies: Why and how.
- Augmentative and Alternative
- Communication, 6, 69 – 75.
Mirenda, P. (1997). Supporting
- individuals with challenging
- behavior through functional
- communication training and
- AAC: Research review.
- Augmentative and Alternative
- Communication, 13, 207 – 225.
Odom, A. C., & Upthegrove, M. (1997).
- Moving toward employment
- using AAC: A case study.
- Augmentative and Alternative
- Communication, 13, 258 – 262.
Robinson, L., & Owens, R. (1995).
- Functional augmentative
- communication and positive
- behavior change. Augmentative
- and Alternative Communication,
- 11, 207 – 211.
Salamo, G., & Jakobs, T. (1996). Laser
- pointers: Are they safe for use by
- children? Augmentative and
- Alternative Communication, 12,
- 47 – 51.
Venkatagiri, H. S., & Ramabradran, T.
- V. (1995). Digital speech
- synthesis: A tutorial.
- Augmentative and Alternative
- Communication, 11, 14 – 25.
ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING SERVICES
Augmentative and Alternative Communication is currently abstracted/listed in Biosciences Information Services, Communication Services and Disorders Dome; CSA Linguistics & Language Behaviour Abstract; e-psyche; Engineering Information Databases; Psychoinfo; Linguistics Abstracts Online; the Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); and Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences.
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