Submitting to the Canadian Journal of Art Therapy
Types of Submissions
All articles follow APA Publication Manual (7th edition) guidelines and abide by CATA/ACAT Ethics Standards and ethical research practices.
Art Therapy Research (Articles section)
These articles describe original research completed by the author(s). Include the following information in the article:
Research intention (purpose, problem, and question)
Context, participants and recruitment, consent and confidentiality
Methodology (general research approach and theoretical orientation) and methods (data collection, analysis)
Findings
Limitations (validity/reliability, challenges)
Implications for art therapy practice
Recommendations for future research
Cover Artwork
A JPEG artwork, along with a brief written artist statement (200-400 words) that explores the special issue theme or meaningful art therapy topics.
Art Therapy in Practice (Practical Applications and Tools of Art Therapy Practice)
The section may include: inquiries about integrating practice-based art therapy research, helpful descriptions of art therapy work as it unfolds on the ground, front-line program descriptions, and art therapy innovations. The work is grounded in art therapy literature and contemporary research.
Art Therapy Approaches (Theoretical Contemplations and Inquiries based on Historical and Contemporary Research)
This section includes theoretical discussions and inquiries about contemporary and historical art therapy practices. The work is grounded in art therapy theory, literature and contemporary research.
Soundings (Perspectives, Opinions, Proposals, Artistic Responses)
This is a section for succinct submissions describing a particular area of relevance to art therapy that highlights innovation, artistic ingenuity and imaginative perspectives. Its intention is to incorporate pioneering ideas, creative responses and aesthetic resonance. The writing style may be expressive, poetic or literary while still retaining references to art therapy theory and practice and APA standards of academic writing.
Anti-Colonial, Indigenous and/or Two-Eyed Seeing Approaches to Art Therapy
This section centralizes anti-colonial, Indigenous, and Two-Eye Seeing art therapy research and practice with an anti-oppressive and decolonized lens. It highlights the work of Indigenous art therapist researchers and practitioners, with a focus on arts-based Indigenized ways to communicate, explore, and experience art therapy Knowledge. Submissions are open to include storytelling formats, poetic inquiry, and academic research with expanded referencing that may include Indigenous Wisdom, Dreams, Elder Teachings, and Land-Based Research. Section editor: Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte.
It is important to note that anti-colonial and Indigenous art therapy practices and research, as a lens, are integral to each journal publication in addition to this section.
Book Reviews
Submitted book reviews should identify and discuss the thesis of the book, the sources used, theoretical frameworks of the book, recommended readership, and information about the author. Length: 850-1000 words.
Submission Guidelines
The CATAJ receives all manuscript submissions electronically via its Editorial Manager site. Editorial Manager allows for rapid submission of original and revised manuscripts, and facilitates the review process and internal communication between authors, editors, and reviewers via a web-based platform.
Ensure that your manuscript is blinded for peer review before you upload it online.
Preparing Your Paper
Structure
Your paper should generally be compiled in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list).
Word Limits
Papers submitted contain generally between 2000-4000 words. Please include a word count for your paper.
Format-Free Submission
Authors may submit their paper in any scholarly format or layout. Manuscripts may be supplied as single or multiple files. These can be Word, rich text format (rtf), open document format (odt), or PDF files. Figures and tables can be placed within the text or submitted as separate documents. Figures should be of sufficient resolution to enable refereeing.
There are no strict formatting requirements, but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to evaluate a manuscript: abstract, author affiliation, figures, tables, funder information, references. Further details may be requested upon acceptance.
References can be in any style or format, so long as a consistent scholarly citation format is applied. Author name(s), journal or book title, article or chapter title, year of publication, volume and issue (where appropriate) and page numbers are essential. All bibliographic entries must contain a corresponding in-text citation. The addition of DOI (Digital Object Identifier) numbers is recommended but not essential.
The journal reference style will be applied to the paper post-acceptance by Taylor & Francis.
Spelling can be US or UK English so long as usage is consistent.
Note that, regardless of the file format of the original submission, an editable version of the article must be supplied at the revision stage.
Taylor & Francis Editing Services
To help you improve your manuscript and prepare it for submission, Taylor & Francis provides a range of editing services. Choose from options such as English Language Editing (which will ensure that your article is free of spelling and grammar errors), Translation, and Artwork Preparation. For more information, including pricing, visit this website.
Checklist: What to Include
Author details. Please ensure all listed authors meet the Taylor & Francis authorship criteria. Read more on authorship.
Should contain an unstructured abstract of 250 words. Read tips on writing your abstract.
You can opt to include a video abstract with your article. Find out how these can help your work reach a wider audience, and what to think about when filming.
Any number of keywords. Read making your article more discoverable, including information on choosing a title and search engine optimization.
Funding details. Please supply all details required by your funding and grant-awarding bodies as follows:
For single agency grants
This work was supported by the [Funding Agency] under Grant [number xxxx].
For multiple agency grants
This work was supported by the [Funding Agency #1] under Grant [number xxxx]; [Funding Agency #2] under Grant [number xxxx]; and [Funding Agency #3] under Grant [number xxxx].Disclosure statement. This is to acknowledge any financial or non-financial interest that has arisen from the direct applications of your research. If there are no relevant competing interests to declare please state this within the article, for example: The authors report there are no competing interests to declare. Further guidance on what is a conflict of interest and how to disclose it.
Data availability statement. If there is a data set associated with the paper, please provide information about where the data supporting the results or analyses presented in the paper can be found. Where applicable, this should include the hyperlink, DOI or other persistent identifier associated with the data set(s). Templates are also available to support authors.
Data deposition. If you choose to share or make the data underlying the study open, please deposit your data in a recognized data repository prior to or at the time of submission. You will be asked to provide the DOI, pre-reserved DOI, or other persistent identifier for the data set.
Supplemental online material. Supplemental material can be a video, dataset, fileset, sound file or anything which supports (and is pertinent to) your paper. We publish supplemental material online via Figshare. Find out more about supplemental material and how to submit it with your article.
Figures. Figures should be high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for color, at the correct size). Figures should be supplied in one of our preferred file formats: EPS, PS, JPEG, TIFF, or Microsoft Word (DOC or DOCX) files are acceptable for figures that have been drawn in Word. For information relating to other file types, please consult our Submission of electronic artwork document.
Tables. Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text. Readers should be able to interpret the table without reference to the text. Please supply editable files.
Equations. If you are submitting your manuscript as a Word document, please ensure that equations are editable. More information about mathematical symbols and equations.
Units. Please use SI units (non-italicized).
Copyright, Republishing and Royalties
If your submission is accepted, permission to include it on our website in digital form is assumed unless otherwise specified.
Please do not submit articles that are presently under consideration elsewhere. These are are not eligible for CATAJ editorial review.
The Editorial Board reserves the right to make changes necessary to ensure correctness of grammar, clarity of presentation and to edit accepted manuscripts in conformance with CATA Journal style, standards and APA guidelines.
Material in the CATAJ does not reflect the endorsement or official perspective of the Canadian Art Therapy Association or the Editorial Board of the CATA Journal.
Copyright statement: When authors submit their article, they will be asked permission for standard copyright and rights assignment for the journal. Authors will assign their copyright to the Canadian Art Therapy Association and grant T&F exclusive rights to publish on the association's behalf. Please note that artwork always belongs to the author.
Support for Authors
Taylor and Francis offers support for writing research articles and preparing them for submission. Learn more >>