Organization Development Network

Submission Guidelines

The OD Practitioner is a journal published by the Organization Development Network since 1973. The journal provides a forum for the exchange of applied research, vanguard ideas, theories, and practice. The purpose of the journal is to challenge the OD practitioner to critically reflect on theory and practice and to share practice development with colleagues. The journal is published quarterly, January, April, July and October. The OD Practitioner welcomes the submission of articles by authors who are practitioners of OD, clients of OD processes, Human Resources staff who have partnered with OD practitioners, or are practicing OD in their companies, and academics who teach OD theory and practice. For complete information, you may also download the complete Submission Guidelines for Potential Authors (PDF). For information or to discuss your article idea, contact John Vogelsang, managing editor, +1.718.638.8362.

Editorial Policy
Partnering with Editors
Editing an Article for Publication
Other Publications
Policy on Self-Promotion

Editorial Policy

The OD Practitioner is a Peer Reviewed Journal. Two members of the OD Practitioner Review Board review the article and agree whether or not they will recommend the article for publication. When a positive decision is made, one of the Reviewers will work with the author until the article is ready for publication. The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision with regard to which reviewed articles will be published and in which issue of the journal.

Partnering with Editors

The OD Practitioner is the product of a partnership between authors and a peer review team of seasoned practitioners and academics. The names of authors appear on the front of the journal and the Review Board names appear inside the front cover. The Editor and members of the Review Board evaluate the acceptability of materials submitted and work with authors to refine their articles for publication.

The OD Practitioner Editor is committed to coaching practitioners who have an interest in contributing to the journal and is available to discuss topics and help clarify your article’s focus and impact prior to your actual writing of the article. Authors who partner well with the Editor and the Review Board members follow this step-by-step process:

1. Contact the Editor at jvogelsang@odnetwork.org to discuss your topic. Together you develop a perspective that will fit the focus of a “Topic Issue” or warrant inclusion in a Non-topic Issue.
2. Submit your article by e-mail to ODPsubmit@odnetwork.org. The deadlines for submitting articles are as follow:

Summer issue	April 1
Fall issue	July 1
Winter issue	October 1
Spring issue	January 1

3. Two members of the Review Board will review your article. Upon deciding it is acceptable for publication, one of them will call or e-mail you with feedback on your article, including recommended changes. He or she may ask you to make changes that require you to rewrite parts of the article. Once you have made the recommended changes you will work with the OD Practitioner Editor to prepare your article for publication. Please be aware that there is no guarantee that your article, even if accepted at this stage, will appear in a particular issue.
4. Once the Editor has decided to publish your article in a particular issue you will be contacted to submit to the Editor a 60 - 75 word biography covering your professional work, specific interest or expertise, educational background, and number of years in the profession.
5. If your article is accepted for publication you will be sent a PDF “galley proof” of the article for your final approval before publication. At this stage you may make only minor changes to the text. So as not to delay publication, immediately return the corrected galley proof to the Production Manager at DC Typography, 209-9th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. After publication, the OD Practitioner will send you three complimentary copies of the issue.

 

Editing an Article for Publication

Length

Articles are usually no more than 4,000 words (approximately 6-14 pages double-spaced).

Content

Review Board members will evaluate the material submitted as to its contribution to the field of OD and whether it provides an adequate mirror of current practice. We encourage practical reviews of theory, interventions and experiments within the art and science of organization development. Our readership seeks clarity about what does and does not work in the practice of organization development. Service to this audience is a key criterion for evaluating submissions.

Style

The OD Practitioner welcomes articles that:

• include cases, illustrations, and practical applications
• are lively and succinct
• reflect critically on issues related to the current practice of OD
• clearly state the purpose and content of the article
• present ideas logically and with clear transitions
• are gender-inclusive
• avoid jargon and overly formal expressions
• avoid self-promotion

While the Editor and Review Board members will work with each author to improve articles for publication, they will only accept submissions that are professionally written, according to the best of Standard English writing practices.

Footnotes and References

Citing within the text is acceptable and a list of References at the end of the article is expected in most articles.

The OD Practitioner uses the APA Style. This style use parenthetical reference citations within the text of the paper, for example, (Attenborough, 1984, p. 205).

Examples of References at the end of the article:

Book Citation:

Attenborough, D. (1984). The living planet: A portrait of the earth. (2nd ed.). Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

Chapter in Edited Book:

Hartley, J.T., Harker, J.O., & Walsh, D.A. (1980). Contemporary issues and new directions in adult development of learning and memory. In L.W. Poon (Ed.), Aging in the 1980s: Psychological Issues (pp 239-252). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Graphics

Camera-ready graphics that enhance an article are encouraged. The OD Practitioner reserves the right to resize graphics when necessary. We prefer graphics to match OD Practitioner’s three-, two-, or one-column, half-page or full-page formats. If you have questions or concerns about graphics or computer art, please contact the Editor.

Submission

Please submit your material via e-mail with your article as an attachment, preferably in Microsoft Word. Text should be double-spaced with paragraph indents and section headings. Please do NOT use any formatting other than standard paragraph text. If you used the Track Changes feature in MS Word, please select “accept all changes” and then turn off Track Changes.

Other Publications

The OD Practitioner publishes only original articles, not reprints from other publications or journals. You may publish materials first published in the OD Practitioner in another publication as long as the publication gives credit to the Practitioner.

Policy on Self-Promotion

Although publication in the OD Practitioner is a way of letting the OD community know about your work, and is therefore good publicity, the purpose of the journal is to exchange ideas and information. Consequently, it is the policy of the OD Network to not accept articles that have marketing or advertising of the author’s practice as a central part of the writing.