European Journal of Counselling Theory, Research and Practice
The European Journal of Counselling Theory, Research and Practice (EJC-TRAP) is a peer reviewed, hybrid based journal. Authors can choose between Open Access (OA) for an article publishing charge (APC) fee of £250 plus VAT or subscription publication for no fee, based on their preferences, institutional or funder requirements. (The publishers reserve the right to upload a viewable article PDF online if the subscription option is chosen.)
Submitted articles will be initially reviewed by an editor(s) to verify its suitability for the journal and that it adheres to the EJC-TRAP submission guidelines. However, submissions may be subject to rejection by the editor(s), a process referred to as a desk rejection.
If the article passes this initial stage, then it will then be subject to a non-identifiable review process depending upon which section of the the journal it is being submitted to. If papers contain 15% or more self-citations, then the citations should not be anonomised (see Submission files and responsibilities section below).
The journal is a non-AI publisher and manuscripts found to contain AI generated content are rejected.
Key items that the editors will be considering are:
1. Is the article relevant to applied positive psychology?
2. Does it address issues of interest to a broad readership?
3. If a research paper, then is the methodological rigour of sufficient standard?
4. Is it written clearly to understand?
5. Does it add to the existing knowledge-base?
Notice
We are temporarily not accepting article submissions whilst we develop a revised policy regarding the use of Artificial intelligence (AI).
Requirements
Length
Research and discussion papers should normally be no more than 3500 words including abstract and figures. The editors will consider an extended article if there is a clear rationale for its submission, for example, a mixed methodology paper. However, the Editors retain discretion to publish extended papers.
Abstracts
The abstract should offer a concise and coherent summary of your article, clearly reflecting its psychological focus. It should outline the purpose of the paper, key theoretical or empirical contributions, methodology (where relevant), major findings, and main conclusions or implications for psychological theory, research, or practice. The abstract must be able to stand alone, allowing readers to assess the relevance of your article to their interests without consulting the full text. Please ensure the abstract does not exceed 250 words. References should not be included in abstracts.
Review articles
Review articles should use these headings: Purpose, Methods, Results/Findings, Discussion and/or Conclusions.
Brief reports
Brief reports are no longer than 1500 words in length. They could be a commentary, discussion, research paper or a previously presented conference poster extended to make it suitable for publication. Brief research papers will be subject to a masked review.
Research & study protocols
Research and study protocals can be submitted to this journal for publication prior to undertaking the research. Protocols without ethical approval will be peer reviewed. At the discretion of a Co-editor, protocols with ethics approval may be published without peer review.
The main headings should be:
- Background/Aims/Objectives
- Methods/Methodology
- Intervention
- Proposed measurements and statistical analysis
- Discussion
- Declarations, Funding, Ethics approval
Position Papers
Position papers focus on subjects or fields of work which, in the author’s opinion, need readdressing. A clear position with possible actions, should be made on the subject. Position papers would normally be between 1000-3500 words in length. These are normally invited papers.
Opinion Papers
Opinion Papers are original reports and personal views on a given topic or field of work (focusing on the author’s views). Claims and assertions should be supported with facts, statistics, or published research studies. Opinion papers would normally be between 1500-5000 words in length. These are normally invited papers.
Techniques, interventions and strategies section
As an applied journal, we are interested in receiving articles about counselling techniques, interventions and strategies. Articles would normally be between 750-1500 words in length. Short articles will be reviewed by one or more journal editors.
Invited papers & keynotes
Invited papers and conference keynotes will be reviewed by or more editors.
Keywords
Five or six keywords are required for each paper/article.
Conference, congress and symposium reports
Reports on conferences, congresses and symposia are important in order to keep researchers and practitioners up-to-date with events they were unable to attend. All submissions should include the event title, organising body, location, date and URL to the event website. (Full conference abstracts can only be included with written permission from the conference organisers.) It is important to receive prior agreement for an event submission from the editor to confirm if the event falls within the remit of this journal.
Book reviews
Book reviews should include the book title, author(s) or editor(s), publisher, date of publication, number of pages, cost. We recommend that the journal editor is initially contacted to ascertain if the book is suitable for review in this journal.
Use of English
Articles should use consistent spelling, grammar and language ie. American or British English.
Reference style
In the reference section authors should use one of the following citation styles: APA style. It must be used consistently and authorship of cited works is adequately attributed, with all information necessary to locate cited material included. Take a look at the latest APA style (7th ed), Reference Guide.
SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Submission files and responsibilities
- Articles, reviews etc should be submitted as email attachments in MS Word, double spaced. (Postal submissions will not be accepted for consideration.)
- The files must be saved under an abbreviated title of your submission eg StressCounselling.
- Author names should not be in the file title, nor in the file properties.
- The main document(s) should be free of information identifying the author(s).
- Use the third person when referring or citing previous work by the Author(s). If the author(s) can be easily identified by self-referencing and citations in the text, then in the text cite using ‘Anonymous’ eg (Anonymous, 2020). In the reference list insert: Anonymous (2020) Details omitted to aid anonymous reviewing. However, self-citations should be kept to a minimum unless they are relevant. If there are more than 15% self-citations, to ensure that the reviewers can adequately check the quality and source of the references, they will be sent non-anonymised manuscripts. When anonymised papers are being submitted, also submit an additional paper without redactions so the editors can see the relevance of the references and self-citations.
- A separate file should be submitted detailing the author(s)’s name, current professional affiliation and website URL, contact details including postal and email address. One author should be identified as the corresponding author. Do not use pro-nominals, for example, Dr or Prof. Do not use post-nominals, for example, MSc or PhD.
- Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to publish lengthy quotations, figures, tables, graphs, photographs etc., for which they do not own copyright.
- Authors are responsible for paying any copyright fees that may be payable to a copyright holder for the inclusion of their work.
- Please submit your ORCID identifier.
- Send your files by email to: editor@nationalwellbeingservice.com and coeditor@nationalwellbeingservice.com In the email subject, include EJC-TRAP.
Figures, graphs & diagrams
All figures, graphs, tables or diagrams should be in an acceptable format for reproduction and must include titles.
Footnotes, Endnotes & Epigraphs
NWS journals do not use footnotes. Either incorporate the content within the main text or use endnotes.
Epigraphs are often used at the beginning of a book, chapter or section. They are used far less often in academic papers. Often they require copyright permission for use as they are not considered the same as a normal citation in a journal paper. If an author wishes to include epigraphs in a NWS journal paper, then it is the author’s responsibility to obtain written permission and pay any copyright fees prior to submission.
New paper statement
A statement must be submitted confirming that the paper has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration in any other publication.
Publishing as an article or blog on a website still constitutes as previously published. The publisher will undertake checks on all submissions to verify if a paper has been previously published.
Plagiarism or self-plagiarism is not accepted.
Ethics
If a manuscript constitutes primary publication of results from a study involving human participants, authors must affirm that it was undertaken in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the national counselling or psychology body of the country where the research was being undertaken. The research should have been approved by a relevant ethics committee. Book reviews, discussion and debate papers do not generally need approval by an ethics board or committee.
Plagiarism
It is essential to avoid plagarism which can relate to another person’s ideas and/or words. It is always important to acknowledge and accurately cite the author or source. The NWS does check articles for plagiarism. If you are based at a university, you will generally have access to a Plagiarism Checker. If not, then we recommend that authors use the free online Check Plagiarism tool. Plagiarism can lead to a desk rejection.
For further information about avoiding plagarism, please look at the APA Style 7th Edition Avoiding Plagiarism Guide.
AI-assisted technologies including Large language models, chatbots and image creators
We do not accept AI-assisted technologies including Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots and image creators as co-authors of papers. However, spell checkers and AI can be used to assist in checking spelling and grammar. All AI use should be stated in the submission. If you are based at a university, you will generally have access to a AI detector checker. If not, then we recommend that authors use the free online Scribbr AI detector. Papers are checked using AI detectors for AI created or assisted content. AI created or assisted contents can lead to a desk rejection.
Use of photographs and images
Authors must confirm the ownership of photographs and images submitted for publication. Copyright or the appropriate license for reproduction in the journal is essential. Photographs of people should include written consent. As children and young people may not be able to provide legal consent our policy will be not to accept them. We do not accept AI created ‘photographs’ or images as the original source they were derived from cannot be determined.
Competing interests
Authors must declare any competing interests or state that no competing interests exist.
Submissions by members of the editorial team
Papers submitted to the journal by a member(s) of the editorial team will have their papers reviewed and processed by an editor or editors not involved with the paper concerned.
Funding
Authors must declare what, if any, financial support they received for the research.
Acknowledgments
Authors are only allowed to add an acknowledgment to the manuscript after it has been accepted for publication in order to ensure the masked peer-review process. Acknowledgments are placed before the references.
Publication
EJC-TRAP has adopted a continuous online publication model. Therefore once a paper is accepted for publication, it will be typeset, checked and signed off by the editor and author(s) and then uploaded to the website. This process usually takes under 90 days, subject to typesetting checks. In order to publish accepted articles promptly, National Wellbeing Service journals will use article numbers instead of the traditional method of continuous pagination through any particular volume. (Page numbers will still be used within each article.) Although EJC-TRAP is an e-journal, it may be published in a print format for professional bodies or subscribers on an annual basis if requested.
Article Processing Charges
There is a Open Access (OA) Article Processing Charges (APC) option of £250 plus VAT if the author(s) wish to retain their copyright.