FOR GUIDELINES ON HOW TO SUBMIT ARTICLES TO THE MAGAZINE SEE BELOW
We hope you have found this website useful and easy to use. If you have any comments, suggestions or if you would like to request a link to your website please e-mail us at: comcare@communitycare.co.uk
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The Magazine
Community Care is available free to social care professionals. To find out if you qualify call 01444 475612, fax 01444 445441 or:
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To order your copy now click here and then click on 'Business & Finance' and then Community Care.
To advertise jobs in the magazine contact:
James Frowde
Email: james.frowde@rbi.co.uk
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James Frowde
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Carol Trusty
Email: carol.trusty@rbi.co.uk
To place a classified advertisement in the magazine or in the Purchasing Directory contact:
Carol Trusty
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Jonathon Barnes
Email: jonathon.barnes@rbi.co.uk
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Address
Community Care Magazine
Quadrant House
The Quadrant
Sutton
Surrey, SM2 5AS
UK
Tel: (Editorial) 020 8652 4861/4699
Fax: (Editorial) 020 8652 4739
Tel: (Advertising) 020 8652 8870
Fax: (Advertising) 020 8652 3979
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING NEWS, PRACTICE, LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE AND OPINION ARTICLES TO COMMUNITY CARE MAGAZINE
NEWS (back to guidelines)
News stories are generated from a variety of sources, including press releases, telephone calls, attending conferences etc. Reporters are looking for stories that will interest people working in the social care field in all agencies and with all service users. Developments that will affect the working conditions and services delivered by social care staff are of great interest to us. Information should be presented in a clear, concise, and accessible way. If you would like to submit an idea/press release, always include contact details for the key people involved, and ensure they will be available when the information is released. Let us know about an event at least a week in advance. We welcome submitted photos but they must be interesting (line-ups of people do not make good pictures) and of a professional standard. Information for news stories should be submitted by fax to 020 8652 4739 or email (300dpi, 10x15 cm, sent as a jpg) to to comcare.news@rbi.co.uk
OPINION (back to guidelines)
Letters for publication:
The editor of Community Care welcomes letters for publication in the magazine. Topicality is an important consideration in selecting letters for publication, as is the style of writing and whether the letter makes a new point and is relevant to a large number of readers. The editor reserves the right to edit letters. Shorter letters are more likely to be selected for publication. Letters which mainly promote the writer's service or organisation are unlikely to be accepted. Letters can be sent by post or fax to the editor, or by email to comcare.letters@rbi.co.uk All letters, however received, must carry the writer's name and full postal address, which can be withheld if required. In normal circumstances, the writer's name and location will be published, along with a job title and agency name if relevant.
This Life Column
This column is for social care service users to write about their own experiences. A This Life should be no more than 570-words long and must be written in the first person. Good advice is to limit the length of sentences (30 words is a good guide) and to try to avoid starting each sentence with "I". Good This Life columns tend to be focused on one particular issue or period in someone’s life, rather than more general pieces.
Please send This Life contributions to Janet Snell (janet.snell@rbi.co.uk) for consideration. Contributors are identified at the bottom of their column. Pieces can be published under a false name, although you will need to include your name and address for Community Care’s payment purposes.
Diary Column
The Diary column is for social care practitioners to write about their typical working week. A Diary has to be 600-words long and each day should cover what they would usually do. The writing style should be short and snappy and include anecdotes that other readers can identify with. Please submit Diary contributions via email if possible to Janet Snell (janet.snell@rbi.co.uk). Diaries are always anonymous but Community Care will need your name and contact details / address for payment purposes.
The Big Picture / Front Line Focus / Service User Voice
This opinion column is for people to write a focused piece on one particular social care issue they feel strongly about. The columns are 390 words long and should be submitted to Janet Snell (janet.snell@rbi.co.uk). Anonymous pieces are acceptable but Community Care staff will need to know the writer’s identity and address. .
PRACTICE (back to guidelines)
Community Care is committed to providing practical information on tackling the day to day challenges of working in health and social care.
We welcome contributions to the following:
Practice on the web
The practice section on the website is expanding. We will be looking to showcase best practice examples from around the country. We will be featuring – exclusively to the web – best practice centring around a number of themes. The first of these will be:
If you think we should know about the good work you are doing around these subjects. Then let us know.
Risk Factor
Workers share their experience of a particular case where their judgement was required in a risky situation. We look at the case history, the risks involved, discuss why decisions were made and what outcome was achieved. If you have a case you would like to share, we'd like to hear from you. One of our writers will come to visit and interview you for the feature. Email, graham.hopkins@rbi.co.uk
Good Practice
This feature looks to showcase good practice that is working well. We look to feature schemes, projects or ideas that have recently improved in some way. This might be following some user consultation or involvement, a complaint, research, or just the result of wanting to do things differently. If you are involved with or aware of any good practice that is delivering results, then we want to hear from you. Email, lauren.revans@rbi.co.uk
Practice Panel
This feature is proving very popular. Every fortnight one of our five practice panels (one each for older people; children & families; mental health; learning difficulties; and physical disabilities) drawn from teams up and down the country comment on a live case study provided by our readers. If you have a case study you think our panel can help with, please get in touch. Email, graham.hopkins@rbi.co.uk
Book reviews
We are always seeking interest from potential reviewers. Simply send in your details and your areas of specialism and interest, and we'll get in touch.
For all the above, or for more information, please contact Graham Hopkins on 020 8652 3106 or e-mail graham.hopkins@rbi.co.uk
LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE GUIDELINES (back to guidelines)
Introduction
We invite contributions from everyone in social care to our Learning by Experience section. As the title implies articles must be based on research which is directly relevant to social care practice, reflecting the writer’s learning experiences in an academic or practice setting. The research must be sound but can have been done in a variety of circumstances: it might be anything from a small research project undertaken by a practitioner working on the front line to a major piece of academic research carried out in a university. But it must have clear implications for social care practice and these must be spelt out in the article.
Rules on Format
It is important that these rules are followed to the letter. Articles which are not presented by the rules cannot be published. They must consist of two main components, one for Community Care magazine, the other for our website www.communitycare.co.uk
Magazine Component
This must be presented schematically under the following sub-headings:
• “What I learned” – summary provided in the form of 3 – 5 brief bullet points [100 words in total]
• “How I learned it” – brief description of method[100 words]
• “Why it’s important” – summary [100 words max]
• “How it influences practice” – summary provided in the form of 3 – 5 brief bullet points [100 words in total]
• “What else to read” – list of references/resources, eg books, research papers, internet sources [100 words max]
• “Author details” – name(s), brief job description(s), email contact address(es)
Web Component
This must be presented as follows:
Main article: This can be any length up to 2,000 words. Please follow the basic advice on writing features given below. Style should be informal and accessible – please avoid jargon, focus on findings and practice implications rather than method.
Implications for practice: The main article MUST include a section on the implications of the research for practice. The length of this section, part of the maximum of 2,000 words of the main article, should be in the range 100 – 500 words.
Abstract: A short description, in no more than 75 words, of the main themes and findings set out in the article.
References: These must be numbered and cross-referenced to the text. All references must have the following: name of the report, book or article; its authors; when it was published; who published it; and – if appropriate – where to get it and price.
Further information: useful web links, suggestions for further reading, etc.
Author notes: Notes on author/authors, giving brief details of career and interests.
Advice on writing articles
Articles are welcomed from anyone involved in social care. They must involve Learning by Experience, through a piece of formal or informal research as set out in the introduction above. The following criteria will be useful –
Articles should be:
• Genuinely interesting and useful to a substantial proportion of professionals working in social care
• Ground-breaking and original
• Authoritative, accurate and well-founded
Style:
• Before you start, have a clear idea of concepts, information and arguments you are trying to get across and why they matter
• Use straightforward language, avoiding the use of jargon. Say what you mean.
• Include case studies in the main article where possible
• When writing about research please do NOT use the traditional report format of “introduction, method, results, conclusion”. Features must be a discussion of findings and their implications for social care practitioners and service users. Any discussion of the research method as such should be kept to the essential minimum.
How to submit a Learning by Experience article:
• To be considered for publication, material should be submitted exclusively to Community Care, which requires the copyright for all published articles. We are unable to accept articles which have been, or may be, published elsewhere.
• Please submit by email. Articles should be sent as Word attachments to the executive editor, Mark Ivory, at mark.ivory@rbi.co.uk Articles not submitted according to the above guidelines cannot be considered for publication.
• Due to the large amount of material we receive it is likely to be several weeks before a decision is made whether to accept the article for publication. In the meantime you should receive an email acknowledging receipt.
• If your article is accepted for publication you will be notified and you will receive copyright and acceptance forms which must be signed and returned. We are unable to offer payment, but articles reach a wide social care practitioner audience, are a excellent way of disseminating important information to the front line, and provide recognition of good work in the research field.
• If a submitted article is not suitable for publication, we will let you know as soon as we can.
Many thanks for your interest in Community Care.
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