The Journal welcomes contributions from professionals concerned with customer management and/or the contact centre industry including market briefings; best practice articles; case studies; new approaches and techniques; legal and regulatory updates; empirical research; or other material of relevance to contact centre management professionals. They can be more descriptive (and less analytical) of current business practice and need not display in-depth knowledge of previous academic work in the field.
The Journal also publishes traditionally styled academic papers which will be expected, at a minimum, to display a sound knowledge of previous work in the area and some original research content. All papers must have clear implications for business practice.
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The journal's target readers are seasoned customer management and contact centre professionals and not seeking articles at an introductory level
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Articles should focus on providing detailed analysis of new thinking, market trends and developments or actionable 'how-to' guidance on best practice
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Articles should not seek to promote a product or service or simply tell a 'good news' story
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Articles should be supported by references, examples, statistics and case studies wherever possible
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Articles should be written in a professional, 3rd person format, not in an informal 1st person style or as a press release
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We welcome the involvement of any number of co-authors you find necessary
Submission specifications
Articles, papers, case studies and reviews should be between 2,500 and 5,000 words in length. Comments and briefings should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words long.
Copy should either be sent electronically or as hard copy. If sent electronically, papers should be sent on disk or via email with a note of the software used. Alternatively, two hard copies should be submitted to the publisher, typewritten and double-spaced, on A4 or US letter-sized paper. See 19 below for details of where to send copy.
Submissions should be typewritten, double-spaced, on A4 or US letter paper and supplied electronically, preferably in Word for Windows format. Please see below for details of required formats for figures, photos, tables and screen dumps.
Up to 12 bullet points summarising the principal management implications of the submission should be included.
All papers should be accompanied by a short abstract, outlining the paper’s aims and subject matter and up to six keywords detailing the paper’s main points.
All papers should be accompanied by a short (about 80 words) description of the author(s) and, if appropriate, the organisation of which he or she is a member. Authors should also include a head and shoulders portrait of each author. These should be sent in black and white as gif or tiff files (minimum resolution of 600dpi) where possible.
Papers should be supported by detailed actual or hypothetical examples, wherever appropriate.
Authors should not seek to use the Journal as a vehicle for marketing any specific product or service.
Authors should avoid the use of language or slang which is not in keeping with the academic and professional style of the Journal.
Titles of organisations, etc. should be written out first in full, followed by the organisation’s initials in brackets, and thereafter the initials only should be used.
References
Papers should be supported by references. These should be set out in accordance with the Vancouver style — that is, they should be referred to by number in the text with superscripted numbers (like so¹) and set out in full in numerical order at the end of the text.
Examples of references from different types of publications
a.
Journal article: Author(s) [last name, initials, punctuated with full stops], (year of publication), article ‘Title’,
Journal Title, volume, issue, page range.
For example: Surname, A.B. (2006), ‘Instructions for authors’,
Journal of Customer & Contact Centre Management, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 2-3.
b.
Book: Author(s) [last name, initials, punctuated with full stops], (year of publication), ‘Book Title’, Publisher’s name, town of publication. Note: if the book is an edited volume, insert ‘(ed)’ after the author(s) name, (e.g. Surname, A.B. (ed) 2006, etc.).
c.
Chapter in edited book: Author(s) [last name, initials, punctuated with full stops], (year of publication), ‘Chapter title’, in Author(s) last names and initials (eds) ‘Book title’, Publisher’s name, town of publication, page range.
d.
Material from a website: Author(s) last names and initials (year of publication) [if this information is available] ‘Title of web page being cited’, available at http:\\… [give full URL], last accessed on …
For example: Surname, A. (2006), ‘Article title, on awebsite.com, available at
http://communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1127498, last accessed on 25 January 2007.
Authors are asked to ensure the references to named people and/or organisations are accurate and without libellous implications.
Figures
Photographs, figures and tables supporting papers should be submitted where appropriate. Electronic copies of photos should be provided as GIF, TIFF or BITMAP (minimum resolution 300dpi) files. The acceptable electronic formats for submitting figures are: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EPS files with fonts embedded or TIFF files. Tables may be submitted as MS Word or Excel files.
(i) Figures may be supplied in colour by the author but will only be printed in colour if deemed necessary by the Publisher. Authors are required to ensure where possible that figures reproduce clearly in grey-scale. Figures should be submitted in electronic format, preferably in MS Word, Excel or PowerPoint. More detailed graphics should be submitted as EPS files with fonts embedded or as TIFF files.
(ii) Figures should be referred to in the text and numbered consecutively. They should be supplied separately from the main body of the text, with their approximate final positions, and legends marked within the main text.
(iii) Figure legends should describe the figure content and should be understood independently from the text.
(iv) Most figures will be set single column (82 mm), or double column width (173 mm) (where necessary landscape (220 mm). Figures should be prepared to publication size with all labeling in Times New Roman, no smaller than 10pt.Where appropriate, a reasonably sized key should be included in the right-hand corner.
(v) Abbreviations should be avoided in figures. If abbreviations or symbols are used in the figures they should be explained in the figure legend, if they have not been explained in the key.
(vi) Line charts, bar charts and pie charts should be two-dimensional, with single categories, a generous margin, and grey-scaled backgrounds (with a 25% tint). Appropriate scales should be used and sources should be quoted.
(vii ) Bar charts should have two categories or more and at least five observations; otherwise the data should be presented in a table. Horizontal lines should be used to mark the major values on the y-axis.
(viii) Line charts should show changes over long time spans and should have at least ten observations.
(ix) Pie charts should be used to show proportions and have a minimum of four segments, and a maximum of twelve.
Photos
19. Photos can be supplied in colour (see point 18 (i) above) or as good quality black and whites. They must be of sufficient quality with respect to detail, contrast and fineness of grain to withstand the unavoidable loss of contrast inherent in the printing process. Their approximate final positions should be indicated in the text. Electronic copies of photos should be provided, where possible, as GIF, TIFF or BITMAP files (minimum acceptable resolution 300 dpi).
Internet Screen Dumps
20. Internet screen dumps should have a white background to increase the contrast between the illustration and the background and should be provided electronically as BITMAP, with a minimum acceptable resolution of 300 dpi. Their approximate final positions should be indicated in the margin of the text. Authors should be aware that graphics supplied with low resolution are not guaranteed to reproduce well and should be avoided whenever possible.
Peer review
All contributions sent to the Publisher, whether they are invited or not, will be sent to the Editor and also submitted to referees for double-blind peer review. Authors should be aware that papers submitted to or under consideration for the Journal should not be simultaneously submitted for review to any other publications.
All contributions sent to the Publisher must bear the author’s full name and address, even if this is not for publication. Contributions, whether published pseudonymously or not, are accepted on the strict understanding that the author is responsible for the accuracy of all opinion, technical comment, factual report, data figures, illustrations and photographs. Publication does not necessarily imply that these are the opinions of the Editor, Editorial Board or the Publisher, nor does the Board accept any liability for the accuracy of such comment, report or other technical and factual information. The Publisher will, however, strive to ensure that all opinion, comments, reports, data, figures, illustrations and photographs are accurate, insofar as it is able to do so. The Publisher reserves the right to edit, abridge or omit material submitted for publication.
The author bears the responsibility for checking whether material submitted is subject to copyright or ownership rights, e.g., photographs, illustrations, trade literature and data. Where use is so restricted, the Publisher must be informed with the submission of the material.
No contribution will be accepted which has been published elsewhere, unless it is expressly invited or agreed by the Editor and the Publisher. Papers and contributions published become the copyright of the Publisher, unless otherwise stated.
All reasonable efforts are made to ensure accurate reproduction of text, photographs and illustrations. The Publisher does not accept responsibility for mistakes, be they editorial or typographical, nor for consequences resulting from them.
Submissions should be sent by e-mail or by post to: Daryn Moody, Publisher, Journal of Customer & Contact Centre Management, Henry Stewart Publications, Russell House, 28/30 Little Russell Street, London WC1A 2HN, United Kingdom.