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) and is published quarterly by Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 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 (a) brings together professionals who have clinical/educational and research interests in augmentative and alternative communication, transcending disciplinary concerns; (b) integrates theory, technology, and systems development for the assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, and education of people who use augmentative and alternative communication systems; and (c) provides practical and specific information to practicing professionals who support people who use or have the potential to use augmentative and alternative communication systems. AAC seeks manuscripts of the following types:
Research Articles (full peer review): Research articles report the results of empirical research. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and both group and small-N research designs are acceptable.
Tutorials and Synthesis Articles (full peer review): This type of manuscript summarizes or synthesizes an area of knowledge. Tutorials are designed to introduce or teach content that is important to AAC practitioners and researchers (e.g., Venkatagiri & Ramabadran, 1995). Synthesis articles review or synthesize an existing area of knowledge (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 are often 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 McEwen & 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, Gell, 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.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
Submission: Submissions to AAC should be accompanied by a cover letter with the following information: (a) a request that the manuscript be considered for publication, (b) a statement that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not currently submitted elsewhere, and (c) 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 requirement). Electronic submission is preferred. For electronic submissions (i.e., via email attachment), manuscripts (including tables and appendices) should be saved as Microsoft Word files (version 6.0 or later) and figures should be saved as Word or Excel documents and emailed to the Editor, Professor Ann Sutton (ann.sutton@UMontreal.ca), with a copy to the Editorial Assistant, Ms. Jackie Brown (rbutus@shaw.ca). If you have any questions about formatting, etc. please email or telephone Jackie Brown at rbutus@shaw.ca; +1 604-253-1962.
Format: Manuscripts submitted to AAC should be written in English and should conform to APA style, as per the 2001 Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition), for headings, page margins, paragraph indents, and spacing; references and citations, appendices, and acknowledgements; expression of numbers, formulas, equations, statistical values, and statistical symbols (e.g., N, SD); and especially tables and appendices, including notes. The submission also must include appropriate credit to hardware and software developers'/manufacturers' products, either by inserting the ™ symbol or by using end notes or references.
Please be sure to view the AAC abbreviated APA style guide, which includes examples and describes the Journal's preferred formatting for certain elements of a submission, such as the cover page. Go to: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/taacguide.pdf
Please note that this style guide includes only key elements of APA style; it is strongly recommended that authors also refer to the Publication Manual. Copies of the 5th edition of the APA manual may be ordered from the Order Department, APA, 1200 Seventeenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA. Orders from the United Kingdom, Europe, Africa or the Middle East should be sent to the American Psychological Association, Dept. KK, 3 Henrietta Street, Convent Gardens, London, WC2E 8LU, England.
Manuscript Length: Submissions should be no more than 35 pages maximum, including references, tables, figures, appendices, and acknowledgements. Manuscripts also should conform to the terminology policy of ISAAC as well as to notational conventions for AAC (see Terminology, below).
NOTE: Manuscripts that exceed the page length maximum and/or do not substantially conform to APA and other Journal style requirements will be returned to the corresponding author for revisions, prior to starting the review process.
Organization: (See also the Style Guide at www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/taacguide.pdf) The manuscript should be organized in the following sequence: (a) cover page that conforms to the AAC preferred style; (b) abstract (left flushed and double spaced) identified with the heading, Abstract, in upper and lower case letters, centred; (c) text of paper (double spaced throughout) that begins with the title of the manuscript, centred and includes notations of where figures and tables should be inserted; (d) references in alphabetical order; (e) appendix material (if absolutely necessary); (f) footnotes (which should be set up as end notes so that they do not appear at the bottom of each page on which they are inserted); (g) tables; (h) figure captions; and (i) figures. Each of items A to I should start on a separate page and should carry the running head and page number. In order to maintain anonymity during any referencing process, authors are requested to refrain from, or keep to a minimum, self-referencing.
Terminology: AAC adopts the terminology policy of ISAAC. Accepted terms include people with complex communication needs (rather than with severe communication impairments), people who use AAC (rather than AAC users, AAC consumers etc.), intellectual disability (rather than mental retardation), participants (rather than subjects), listeners without disabilities (rather than typical or normal listeners), participants in the control group or cohort (rather than controls or cohort), and instructed (rather than trained).
Notational Conventions for AAC. Many articles that are published in the Journal contain excerpts from either actual transcripts or examples of interactions between two or more people who use AAC or between people who use AAC and natural speakers. Articles may also include descriptions and/or examples of graphic symbols, manual signs, and other AAC modalities, as well as examples of or references to lexicons, sight words, stimulus items, labels, superordinate labels, subordinate categories, exemplars, etc.
The Journal has adopted a set of conventions to use for these transcripts, descriptions, and examples, in order to ensure consistency in how they appear in print. The set of conventions that we have adopted were originally proposed by AAC Consulting Editor Stephen von Tetzchner, and originally appeared in the book, Augmentative and Alternative Communication: European Perspectives, co-authored by von Tetzchner and Mogens Hygum Jensen in 1996. Authors who incorporate transcribed interaction excerpts in articles submitted to AAC are required to use these conventions to represent the mode(s) of communication used by the interactants.
- Naturally spoken elements are italicised.
- "Words and sentences produced with digitised or synthesized speech" are italicised and placed in quotation marks.
- MANUAL SIGNS are in capital letters.
- GRAPHIC SIGNS and PICTURES are in capital letters and italicised.
- Some manual signs or graphic symbols need more than one word in translation. When the gloss of a sign or symbol contains two or more words, these are hyphenated; for example, YOU-AND-ME or SIT-DOWN.
- s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g is underlined and has hyphens between letters.
- 'Interpretations or translations or meaning' are used for interpretation of manual sign or graphic symbol utterances. It is used when giving the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, pointing, etc.; for example, 'yes' (nodding) or 'no' (shaking the head).
- { . . . } indicates simultaneous expressive forms; for example, speech and manual signs, or manual and graphic signs. For example, {GLAD I am glad} means that the manual sign GLAD is produced simultaneously with the spoken sentence I am glad.
Reprinted with permission from von Tetzchner, S. & Jensen, M.H. (1996). Augmentative and alternative communication; European perspectives. (Table 0.1.: Notations, p. 12). London: Whurr Publishers.
In addition, references to sight words, exemplars, stimulus items, etc. should be underlined.
Please note:
- Apply the conventions throughout the body of the manuscript, including in Tables, Figures, and Appendices.
- Apply the conventions only to actual or examples of communication interactions or and/or uses of AAC; do not apply the conventions to concepts, ideas, or terms; refer to the APA manual.
- Apply the conventions to specific items and not general categories. For example, you would not underline a reference to the category fruit, but you would underline specific items in the category (e.g., grapes, bananas, and apples). The same rule applies to graphic symbols, manual signs, and other AAC.
- Do not apply the conventions to direct quotations taken from other studies, reports, etc. if not used in the original.
The following are typical examples of the use of AAC conventions:
The communication board included picture symbols for play activities (e.g., SWING, PLAY DOUGH), daily needs (e.g., BATHROOM, SLEEP), and YES and NO (see Figure 1).
Sam used his display primarily to answer open-ended questions (e.g., What do you want?, What can you see?). In most cases, he used two- or three-word graphic symbol phrases to respond (e.g., MORE-COOKIE, SEE-BIG-CAR).
The participant used five manual signs -- three for food items (SOUP, HAMBURGER, and DRINK) and two for actions (GIVE and WANT).
Transcript of a conversation between a speaking partner and a person using an alphabet display + gestures:
Speaking partner: Did you have a good time?
Person using AAC: ‘Yes’ (looks up), t-h-a-n-k y-o-u.
Speaking partner: Then what did you do?
Person using AAC: W-e-n-t h-o-m-e ‘home’ (points toward home while spelling)
When asked by the researcher to Show me PUSH, he was expected to point to the Blissymbol for PUSH.
Participants commented on the use of white text on a black background. One noted that, White text on different colored background works. Another used her VOCA to state that, “White writing is difficult to see.”
The participant was asked to match the stimulus for dog (in the example in Figure 1, a written word) to the exemplar of the GOLDEN RETRIEVER (in Figure 1, a photograph).
If you have any questions about the application of AAC conventions, please contact Jackie Brown at 604-253-1962 or rbutus@shaw.ca
Tables and Figures: Tables and figures must be in APA style, are to be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals, and are to be cited in the text. Each table should be on a separate page and should have an appropriate title. Tables should be produced in Word 6.0 or later (using the Tables facility in Word; please do not produce tables in Excel or PDF formats). All figures must be in camera-ready form and be self-explanatory. Hand drawn or crude computer-generated artwork is not acceptable. Figure legends should be prepared on a separate page and should explain each figure in detail. As applicable, the top of each figure should be signified. Identifiable photographs of clients must be accompanied by a signed release form. Photographs should be 5 x 7 inch black and white glossy prints. Color illustrations are also acceptable but will be printed in black and white unless otherwise specified. A contribution toward the cost of printing in color will be required from the author.
Copyright permission: Contributors 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 Taylor & Francis or the contributor. This applies both to direct reproduction or 'derivative reproduction' - when the contributor has created a new figure or table which derives substantially from a copyrighted source. The following form of words can be used in seeking permission:
Dear [COPYRIGHT HOLDER]
I/we are preparing for publication an article entitled
[STATE TITLE]
to be published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
I/we should be grateful if you would grant us permission to include the following materials:
[STATE FIGURE NUMBER AND ORIGINAL SOURCE]
We are requesting non-exclusive rights in this edition and in all forms. It is understood, of course, that full acknowledgement will be given to the source.
Please note that Taylor & Francis are signatories of and respect the spirit of the STM Agreement regarding the free sharing and dissemination of scholarly information. Your prompt consideration of this request would be greatly appreciated.
Yours faithfully
Acknowledgments: The following acknowledgments should be included when relevant: (a) grant or contract support; (b) presentation at professional meetings that contained all or a significant part of the information in the manuscript (usually phrased, ''This paper is partially based on a presentation at ______________________'' , specifying title of conference,
location, and date); and (c) master's thesis or a doctoral dissertation (including title, university, year, and major professor or advisor) if the manuscript is based upon such a document. Authors may also acknowledge research assistants or other staff who assisted in the conduct of the investigation/program or in the preparation of the manuscript, but who do not warrant co-authorship.
References: All literature, as well as test and assessment tools, must be listed in this section. References should be listed alphabetically, then chronologically under each author. Journal names and book titles should be spelled out and formatted in italics. Particular attention should be given to accuracy and APA style for references cited in the text (by author and date) and listed in the References.
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 Apahsiology: 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.
REVIEW AND PROCESSING
Review: Articles are assigned to an Associate Editor and reviewed by 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. The review procedure is anonymous; therefore, author identification must not appear on the manuscript except for the title page. Reviewers’ comments (blinded) will be returned to the author.
Revisions/Corrections: The Editor reserves the right to return to author(s) manuscripts that do not meet AAC requirements; to make minor editorial changes that do not materially affect meaning of text; or, on advice of reviewers to offer to accept articles contingent upon revision stated.
Edited Manuscript: Manuscripts that have been accepted for publication and have gone through the AAC editing process are sent to Taylor & Francis Ltd. 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 the article along with instructions and guidelines to the corresponding author for review, as well as a copyright release form. Corrections and alterations 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, after which another proof will be issued.
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 by AAC the author(s) will be asked to sign a Copyright Assignment and Agreement conveying all copyright ownership to ISAAC. This enables us 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 Taylor & Francis 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 Taylor & Francis Ltd. is notified so that records show that its use is properly authorized. For all other use, permission from ISAAC is required.
Offprints: On publication, the author will be supplied with an electronic copy of their article as a portable data format (PDF) file. This PDF may be circulated to up to 50 colleagues by email, or 50 printed copies made and circulated by email. Alternatively, authors may receive 50 printed copies of their article. A print copy of the issue in which your article appears will be sent on publication
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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