About Campus aims to provide a space for dialogue among colleagues with different perspectives who share a passion for student learning in postsecondary education. Our magazine strives to tell stories that explore innovative pedagogies and practices that influence the experiences and lives of college students in and out of the classroom. The articles in our magazine present experience and knowledge from a unique mix of researchers, public figures, professionals, faculty members, students, and those working in both student affairs and academic affairs. About Campus grounds insights and perspectives of the many practitioners and researchers who are thinking creatively about higher education, testing new ideas and practices, and assessing the effects of the policies on college campuses. 

An About Campus article blends narrative, storytelling, and scholarship to explore a topic related to our shared agenda of “enriching the student learning experience.” These topics should be timely, original, and relevant to a broad audience of educators. Articles are accessible in their use of defined, inclusive, and practical language. Each article refers to relevant current literature while being grounded in examples, specific stories and even metaphors to demonstrate the topic’s significance. An About Campus article presents possible solutions or new approaches that are applicable to various sectors of higher education. Additionally, while we encourage authors to be specific about the phenomena they’re exploring through submissions, we also want authors to be thoughtful about how these specific experiences can speak to broader trends, issues, concerns, and/or practices that readers in various different contexts could learn from and apply in their own daily practice. 

To help with support potential authors in the submission process, the editorial team created this video with tips on how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in the magazine. The video below and its transcript provide an important roadmap for formatting your manuscript and ensuring it moves swiftly through the review process.

In the video, we highlight a few exemplar pieces which may be helpful in the formatting of a manuscript. One of the articles, A Developmental Lyft: Car-ride Conversations Fueled by Questions and Depth by Jonathan Kroll, is available online. The other two articles will be available soon. If you do not have access to these publications through ACPA and/or a library but would like to review the publications, please contact us at AboutCampusMag@gmail.com.

Tips for Submissions

The editorial team created a helpful video which outlines tips for how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in the magazine. The video below and its transcript provide an important roadmap for formatting your manuscript and ensuring it moves swiftly through the review process.

In the video, we highlight a few exemplar pieces which may be helpful in the formatting of a manuscript. One of the articles, A Developmental Lyft: Car-ride Conversations Fueled by Questions and Depth by Jonathan Kroll, is available online. The other two articles will be available soon. If you do not have access to these publications through ACPA and/or a library but would like to review the publications, please contact us at AboutCampusMag@gmail.com.

Manuscript Types

Features (4000-5000 words)
Leading thinkers and researchers, practitioners on the front lines, and leaders in higher education explore far-reaching and critical topics, analyze new research, and detail implications for practice. Features provide an in depth look at issues in a range of areas affecting higher education. They draw upon current literature to offer appropriate background for the issue (although they do not include a traditional literature review), present results of new research, and explore new perspectives. Each feature approaches a timely topic from an original angle and shows how the topic affects student learning in a variety of contexts.
In Practice (1800-2400 words)
In Practice articles profile innovative campus practices that foster student learning. Describing best practices in a college or university setting, each article describes the purpose, context, and players involved in implementing the practice; uses assessment data to report the learning outcomes of the practice; and includes implementation challenges and strategies to address them. Articles offer readers key insights to help them adapt this practice to multiple contexts.
Taking the Pulse (1800-2400 words)
Taking the Pulse articles examine one of the most essential, but also most challenging, issues involved in successful educational practice: how to determine whether students are learning. These articles profile assessment practices that are accessible to a wide audience and useful in a variety of contexts. Each article should provide readers with practical ideas and principles about using assessment as a tool to inform their everyday work.
Views from Campus (1800-2400 words)
Views from Campus has candid first-person portraits and stories that model how educators work with students in various contexts to promote learning. These stories shed light on the special issues and challenges faced by those who live and work on our campuses — students, faculty, and staff alike. Stories can range from the humorous to the heartbreaking. These articles can examine personal experiences, campus events, everyday life events, or special moments.
Bottom Line (1800-2400 words)
These provocative, persuasive articles bring readers’ attention to a particular issue or challenge facing higher education. Authors clearly state their position, draw upon evidence as necessary to make their case, and show how the issue or challenge affects student learning. These articles should call readers to action and help them consider how the issue or challenge affects their own practice.

Preparing and Formatting Your Manuscript

Authors are encouraged to use a writing style that couples narrative, storytelling and scholarship in enhancement of the specific topic. Articles should frame issues concisely to attract readers’ attention, develop ideas clearly and dynamically, and provide a practical application for the importance of these concepts in a wide range of educational contexts.

Language Use
About Campus has a magazine-style format and approach. When it comes to article language, authors are encouraged to use first-person point of view when appropriate. An active voice must be utilized wherever possible. Additionally, the author should attend to jargon-free and inclusive language, providing definitions for the reader when necessary and utilizing gender-inclusive terms and construction as appropriate.
Citational Approach
Authors should be selective in their use of references and to identify fully all references within the text of the article. These in-text references will include embedded links to the author, institution, practice or research. When references are included, context should be provided in order to benefit the flow of the article. While our magazine does not use APA format for the in-text references, each article will have a reference list in APA style at the end of the article.
Word Limits
Authors must attend to the word limits according to the article type with their submission. Article submissions that extend beyond the marked word count will be returned automatically for revision.
Masked Review Process
Our magazine utilizes a masked review process. Authors must remove any identifying information from their manuscript. This includes the author’s name within the text, location and university affiliation, and self-citations of published work.
Additional Formatting Information
Submissions include the main manuscript of the article. The manuscript must be 12-point Times New Roman font, double spaced and with indented paragraphs. Font size and style should remain the same for titles, subheading and special texts. The manuscript should not include running headers. While not required, authors can also include a title page, brief biographies and relevant research data with their first submission.
Pull Quotes (for Revised Manuscripts Only)
Because About Campus is scholarly magazine, we often feature short quotes of the article through the layout of pages. Pull quotes are no more than 20-25 words, and each page of the manuscript features one pull quote. When you submit your revised manuscript, you will also need to submit a second document with your selection of pull quotes. You will also need to designate this second document as the pull quote document in ScholarOne when you submit your final revised manuscript.

The Editorial Team reserves the right to send back all submissions that do not follow the formatting guidelines detailed above.

Editorial Process

Once your manuscript has been submitted, the Editorial team will review and provide appropriate feedback. Editorial Team members and authors will correspond until manuscript is at a final draft stage. Most manuscripts have several rounds of revision.

The Editorial Team will notify you when your article has been accepted for publication. Once an article is ready for publication, it becomes a part of our warehouse of articles from which we choose when we put together issues of the magazine.

When an article is slated for a particular issue, authors are asked to sign a copyright transfer agreement and provide pull quotes. Additional information on pull quotes is included above in the formatting section. 

Submitting a Manuscript

About Campus submissions are managed through an online portal hosted by SAGE. To create an account and submit a manuscript, please visit the following link: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/aboutcampus.

Article reviews may take six to eight weeks for an editor to respond to your manuscript. While it is possible for the first draft of an article to be accepted for publication, most manuscripts will go  through at least one round of revisions. Questions about the review process can be directed to the editors. 

For general inquiries, please use the following journal contact form.