Writing for the Bulletin
Letters to the editor
A letter is the simplest way to communicate your opinion. Be brief and concise. Limit yourself to 250-300 words and focus on just one concept or idea. A lengthy letter is more likely to be discarded, or the editor will decide what information will be cut in order to fit. Include your name, address, daytime phone number, your status and your place of work.News and feature articles
The usual word limit for two-page Bulletin feature articles is 1,350 words, plus up to six references. You can include up to three tables or charts. A one-page Bulletin article is about 650 words in length. News items can be brief (50-75 words) or up to 350 words (half a Bulletin page).- Please write in an accessible style. Look at articles you and your colleagues have enjoyed reading.
- Never use a long word if a short one will do. Sentences of more than 25 words are hard to read, so try to split them up to make them shorter.
- It is okay to be personal. For example, if you are writing about your own practice, say 'I' rather than 'the author' or 'the present post-holder'.
- Spell out abbreviations the first time you use them. For example, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS).
- Avoid jargon, or explain it: not all your readers will be specialists.
- Do not use the passive voice. For example, if you write, 'A decision was made not to assess patients over 60 years old', the obvious question (and one which the editorial team will ask you) is, "Who made the decision?" Better to write, "The multidisciplinary team made a decision not to assess patients over 60 years old."
- Photographs are very welcome, but they must be clear and of good quality and you must obtain written consent to publication from patients or carers. Remember, the Bulletin is available online to members and any written consent must acknowledge this. Send hard copies of photographs by post or email high resolution (300 dots per inch) JPEG files. Photographs taken from websites are too low in resolution to print in Bulletin. Scanned images from books and magazines cannot be used for copyright and technical reasons.
References
These appear in the text in brackets (Harulow, 2005).
Use the following format for references at the end of an article:
For example:
Beitchman, J. Seven year follow-up of speech-impaired children. Journal of Child Psychology 1996; 37, 961-970.
Copley B, Forryan B. Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People. London: Cassell, 1997.
Submitting your contribution
It is a good idea to contact the editor before submitting a news or feature article. Do not submit the same article to other magazines or journals at the same time, and do not submit an article that has already been submitted to another publication. If you have written a different article on the same topic for another magazine, please discuss this with the editor. Send articles by email and include your postal address and a phone number.Copyright
The RCSLT retains the copyright of any article accepted for publication. We normally permit re-printing, with due acknowledgement, by not-for-profit organisations, but please contact the editor first.What can you expect from us?
We will attempt to publish your news piece or letter in the next available publication. We will acknowledge receipt of your feature article within one month and will inform you whether it has been accepted within six to eight weeks. If your article is accepted, the editor will contact you with queries either when accepting it or at a later stage when doing detailed editing. Feature articles are usually published within six months to a year of receipt. All articles and letters are edited for style, length and clarity.If your article is not accepted, we will offer suggestions for alternative publication.
Send your contributions to:
The Editor, RCSLT, 2 White Hart Yard, London SE1 1NXemail: bulletin@rcslt.org
tel: 020 7378 3004