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Note. The Guidelines for Contributors is also available at the American Journal of Occupational Therapy manuscript processing system website; go to http://ajot.submit2aota.org and click on “Instructions for Authors.”
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The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). We welcome the submission of manuscripts that are relevant to the study of occupation and the practice of occupational therapy. Categories of peer-reviewed articles include feature-length articles, case reports, brief reports, and issue papers.
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Publication goals include the following:
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Effectiveness studies (outcome studies), systematic reviews, and meta-analyses
Efficiency studies (studies assessing interventions for such things as patient satisfaction or cost and time efficiency)
Studies establishing the reliability and validity of occupational therapy instruments
Studies linking occupational engagement to participation and health
Studies exploring a currently debated topical or professional issue (The Issue Is articles).
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AJOT uses the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2010) as the style guide. Consult this manual for style questions unless specified otherwise in these guidelines.
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To submit manuscripts, go to http://ajot.submit2aota.org/ and follow the online instructions.
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Manuscripts must be submitted with the authors’ explicit written assurance that the manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by any other publication. The journal cannot assume responsibility for the loss of manuscripts.
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AUTHORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
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Signatures. Before publication of any accepted manuscript, all authors must provide original signatures for the statement of authorship responsibility, the statement of financial disclosure, and the statement of copyright release. The Copyright Transfer/Author Certification/Financial Disclosure Form may be downloaded from the AJOT submission website. Signed forms must be submitted upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication.
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The statement of authorship responsibility is certification that each author has made substantial contributions to (1) the study conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) the drafting and revision of the article; and (3) the approval of the final version. Moreover, each author takes public responsibility for the work.
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Author order. The order of authors in the byline follows APA guidelines. The principal contributor appears first, and subsequent names are in order of decreasing contribution. Authors are encouraged to limit the number of coauthors to six or fewer.
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Feature-Length Article
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Feature-length articles include (1) original research reports that focus on philosophical, theoretical, educational, or practice topics and (2) critical reviews (including meta-analyses) that offer systematic review and critical analysis of a body of literature as related to occupation and occupational therapy. Feature-length articles should include a section summarizing the implications of the research for occupational therapy practice; this section should include a bulleted list of the key points. (25 pages ...