Please use these instructions if you are preparing a manuscript to submit to Bereavement. Bereavement considers all manuscripts on the strict condition that:
Most of our readers will have completed some form of counselling training and read basic texts on bereavement. Consequently, some understanding of the topic can be assumed although we try to avoid the use of jargon in order to make the material accessible to readers from a variety of disciplines. Articles should be consistent with the aims and scope of the journal.
Please ensure your manuscript in anonymised, with a separate title page (including author names and emails).
Please ensure you have followed the style guidelines in your manuscript.
Do NOT use your name in the manuscript file name
Bereavement accepts submissions in the following formats. Please note all original articles, literature reviews and viewpoints must include the following:
Original research: Original articles either reporting on new research on bereavement, systematic reviews, or outlining a new contribution to theory in this area. Length should be no more than 8000 words including references, tables, and figures, excluding abstract and key words. Manuscripts that greatly exceed this will be critically reviewed with respect to length. Authors should include a word count with their manuscript. Supplementary files are not included in the word count. If provisionally accepted by the editor, your paper will be sent for double-blind peer review. The reviewers and editor will judge the validity, significance and originality of your work.
Literature reviews: Literature reviews including scoping and rapid reviews. Length should be no more than 8000 words including references, tables, and figures, excluding abstract and key words. Supplementary files are not included in the word count. If provisionally accepted by the editor, your paper will be sent for double-blind peer review. The reviewers and editor will judge the validity, significance and originality of your work.
Viewpoints: Shorter topical pieces on issues affecting bereavement care practice, policy, research and the support of bereaved people. These are designed to discuss and reflect on a topic of contemporary relevance in bereavement research, practice or policy and are written in a discursive style. Viewpoint articles may also include reports of projects that have not yet been evaluated to the level to be presented in a research article, or which draw on professional or personal experiences of bereavement. Length should be 1000-2000 words, excluding references. Please keep your references to a maximum of 10. Viewpoints should have key words. If provisionally accepted by the editor, your paper will be sent for double-blind peer review. We encourage authors to contact the editorial office in the first instance with a short proposal or to discuss ideas.
In conversation: Interviews with service providers, academics, policymakers and other stakeholders engaging in innovative work in the field. Length should be no more than 8000 words including references. These are usually commissioned, and we encourage authors to contact the editorial office first with a proposal.
Themed sections: Curated by editors and guest editors on a key topic in bereavement research and practice. Themed sections should consist of up to 7 original articles and a short editorial. Guest editors are responsible for managing the peer review process in accordance with Bereavement’s guidelines. If interested in guest editing a themed section of Bereavement please submit a proposal to the editorial office. In your proposal please provide as much information as possible on the following:
Rapid responses: To encourage discussion and debate within the journal we invite rapid responses to published articles. Length should be 300-500 words including references.
Editorials: Occasional editorials written by the editor-in-chief and editorial board to add context and background to published articles.
If you wish to include any material in your manuscript in which you do not hold copyright, you must obtain written permission from the copyright owner before submission. Such material may be in the form of text, data, table, illustration, photograph, line drawing, audio clip, video clip, film still, screenshot, and supplementary material. This applies to direct (verbatim or facsimile) reproduction as well as ‘derivative reproduction’ (where you have created a new figure or table which derives substantially from a copyrighted source).
You must ensure appropriate acknowledgement is given to the permission granted to you for reuse by the copyright holder in each figure or table caption. You are solely responsible for any fees which the copyright holder may charge for reuse. The reproduction of short extracts of text, excluding poetry and song lyrics, for the purposes of criticism may be possible without formal permission on the basis that the quotation is reproduced accurately and full attribution is given.
Bereavement is an open access peer reviewed journal. Accessible and interdisciplinary, it reaches a range of relevant audiences, including practitioners, volunteers, and students, as well as academics, researchers and all those with an interest in the impact of death on people’s lives
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