Author and Publisher Responsibilities – Hogrefe Ltd

Introduction

This section is for authors who are interested in submitting a psychometric product to Hogrefe Ltd. It provides a clear indication of the author’s responsibilities in the publishing process and what they can expect from Hogrefe Ltd in return. While each product is different, these guidelines provide a framework upon which the author should structure their work. For information on submitting a product proposal, or more detail on the publication process, please contact Hogrefe Ltd on 01865 402900 and ask to speak to the publishing department.

Author responsibilities:

1. General

i. It is important that the author meet the contracted date for the submission of the work along with any other deadlines requested from the production department in the latter stages of the publishing process. All communication and queries should be responded to quickly and clearly to minimise delay to the publication date.

ii. Ensure product manuals are fully supported by references to empirical data and examples from case studies.

iii. It is the author’s responsibility to check that all references to named people and/or organisations do not contain any libellous implications.

iv. Products are published on the understanding that the accuracy of the opinion, factual reporting, data, figures and illustrations contained in the materials is the responsibility of the author.

v. It is the author’s responsibility to acknowledge all material protected by copyright and legislation and to supply Hogrefe Ltd with written permission from the copyright holder (publisher/author) on submission of the manuscript. Hogrefe is to be informed in writing of any item that is restricted or currently awaiting confirmation of permission and includes:

• Pictures.
• Figures.
• Text (extracts amounting to more than 400 words, or a series of extracts amounting to more than 800 words).
• Tables or edited tables taken from other published works; this includes work created by the author which was then assigned to a publisher other than Hogrefe Ltd.
• A company or organisation on which a case study has been based.
• References to products, software, trademarks or the reproduction of logos/emblems/insignias.

vi. It is the author’s responsibility to guarantee that any product submitted to Hogrefe is not under consideration by any other publishers.

vii. Hogrefe will not accept any product that has been published elsewhere or has been made freely available in the public domain unless it is expressly invited or agreed by Hogrefe.

viii. Submitted products are reviewed by Hogrefe and may be sent to one or more specialist readers for review advice and feedback. The author/s will be expected to revise their work in keeping with the feedback supplied and within the timelines agreed.

ix. Psychometric product manuals should be modelled on the ideal customer for the product, and therefore the author needs to be able to demonstrate a sound knowledge and realistic understanding of the intended audience. This should also describe populations for which the test is intended, i.e. whether it is nation-specific, and whether it can be adapted for other populations.

x. Authors translating and adapting foreign language products for a UK audience must check with Hogrefe Ltd that the items have been properly translated before gathering norm data.

xi. The author will be supplied with the typeset 1st proofs of the material for checking and correction; it is the author’s responsibility to ensure that they are corrected thoroughly and to keep corrections to a minimum. Please note that 1st proof correction stage is not an appropriate time to remove or add large sections of text or to add 2nd thoughts as it effects the typeset pagination and may cause delays to the publication process. Authors must be aware that if they make more than 10% of changes to the text at this stage, they will incur a typesetting charge.

2. Manual structure

[Please note that the manual should be written in the 3rd person.]

i. The front end of the manual should include the following:

• Author’s acknowledgements.
• About the authors (brief professional biographies, no more than a paragraph per person.
• List of figures and tables.
• Table of contents.

ii. Chapter 1: Overview. The overview is essentially a brief version of the subsequent contents of the manual. At each point the reader should be referred to the pages (or chapter) where more detail can be found. It should cover the following:

• The construct being measured (i.e. ability/temperament/motivation/etc) and the model on which the test is based.
• Design of the assessment tool.
• Applications..
• Good practice guidelines (specific to the instrument – the manual should have a later chapter on good practice grounded in the clinical/occupational setting)

iii. Chapter 2: The Conceptual Framework. Exact content will vary depending on the instrument but is should be a detailed account of the summary in Chapter 1 and include the rationale for construction.

iv. Chapter 3: Administration and Scoring. This chapter should cover:

• Administration media.
• Materials, administration conditions, instructions and timing.
• Computer-based administration (online and offline).
• Scoring instructions if scored by hand (including what to do about missed responses etc). Normative groups should be mentioned here with a full description of the characteristics of the sample and when collected (the norm tables themselves will be in the appendix).

v. Chapter 4: Interpretation and Feedback: This chapter should include:

• Scale by scale interpretation.
• Interpretation of combinations of scores.
• Giving feedback.

vi. Chapter 5: Development and Psychometric Properties. This should cover:

• Stages in the development proces.
• Reliability (internal/test re-test and any other types).
• Validity (construct/content/face/criterion-related).
• Adverse impact (gender and ethnic groups).
• Age, education and experience effects.
• Group differences.

vii. Chapter 6: Case Studies.

viii. Chapter 7: Directions for Future Research.

ix. Back end of the manual should include the following:

• References.
• Appendix One: general guidelines for fair testing.
• Appendix Two: testimonials (if available).
• Norms.

3. Submission of manuscript and test components

i. When submitting a manuscript a printed hard copy (as well as an electronic copy) of the material will need to be provided.

ii. The hard copy of the submitted manuscript should be printed as single-sided A4 documents.

iii. The manuscript should be prepared in a single serif font (Arial, Times New Roman) and set in a 12pt font type throughout.

iv. The manuscript should be organised into chapters and each new chapter should start on a fresh sheet of the manuscript.

v. All material should be double spaced, including quotations, tables, notes and references.

vi. Text should be aligned to the left only and none of the material should be centred.

vii. Headings and subheadings should not be indented.

viii. Automatic endnoting/footnoting functions should be used on word processing software to create footnotes.

ix. The script should be paginated at the bottom right hand corner. Pagination should remain consistent and start after the prelims. Do not paginate each chapter individually.

x. All paragraphs should be separated by and extra line space and start new paragraphs should not be indented but start full out to the left hand margin.

xi. Italics should be used sparingly and not used within the manuscript to emphasise the product name.

xii. All headings are to be justified to the left. It is important to use no more than 4 levels of headings – please see below as a guide for emphasising heading importance which should remain consistent throughout the manuscript:

• A Headings – 16pt bold.
• B Headings – 14pt bold.
• C headings – 14pt bold italic.
• D headings – 12pt italic.

xiii. Please reference the work throughout using the author-date system (also called the Harvard system). Comprehensive guidance will be provided upon request.

xiv. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that all work has been referenced fully and correctly in line with the author-date system. Any sections of text not fully referenced or corrected at 1st proof stage may not be included in the publication.

xv. The electronic files containing the manuscript should be organised in the following fashion where appropriate.

• Manual Preliminary matter.
• Manual Individual chapters.
• Illustrations, figures and tables.
• Test Components.

xvi. All files supplied to Hogrefe Ltd should be backed up electronically by the author to enable re-supply of disks that may contain errors or access failure.

4. Tables, illustrations, captions and figures

i. Tables are to be named in sequence relating to their appearance within the specified chapter (i.e. tables within chapters 5 will be named ‘Table 5.1’, ‘Table 5.2’, ‘Table 5.3’ etc). This is also applicable to any figures or illustrations within the chapters (i.e. ‘Figure 5.1’, ‘Illustration 5.1’ etc).
ii. All tables, illustrations and figures are to be supplied within the text as well as separately in an electronic file. It is important to name the electronic files using the following conventions (the same convention applies to figures and illustrations):

• Folder: ch01_tables
• Files:    ch01_tab1.1; ch01_tab1.2; ch01_tab2.1; ch01_tab2.2

iii. Textual data should be aligned to the left within a table, all numerical data is to be aligned decimally.

iv. The author should signify the positioning of a table by using the following convention where applicable <INSERT TABLE 2.1 HERE> (this also applies to figures and illustrations).

v. Any footnotes to be applied to a table, figure or illustration should be identified clearly.

vi. All captions are to be numbered to correspond exactly with references made to the illustrations, tables or figures in the text and the artwork.

vii. Where appropriate and agreed any artwork or tables that require redrawing should not be included within the text but should be cited using the <INSERT TABLE 1.1 HERE> and supplied to Hogrefe Ltd as a separate file or as a hand-drawn graphic on A4 paper.

viii. All illustrations or figures should be supplied to Hogrefe Ltd using appropriate software such as Adobe Illustrator and supplied as EPS, Tiff file or high resolution jpegs and named appropriately.

Publisher’s responsibilities:

i. The publishers will provide the author with a comprehensive description of what is expected for the product manual and supporting material’s structure, style and content (i.e. appropriate section headings and chapter requirements) in line with the Hogrefe house style.

ii. The publishers will ensure that all feedback and guidelines for revisions are given to the author in a clear, constructive and timely manner.

iii. The publishers will provide editorial assistance and feedback, copy-editing, proof-reading, typesetting, design, print and binding services as part of the contractual arrangement.

iv. The publisher will provide the author/s with complimentary advance copies of the fully printed and bound material and test components.

v. The publisher will archive all electronic copies of the material supplied along with all print ready pdfs of the finished material for future reference.

vi. The publisher will record and archive any author corrections or public notified corrections pertaining to the material after the initial publication date of the first release. All corrections will be applied to future releases/reprints of the material once approved by the author/s.

vii. The publisher will notify the author in advance of any deadlines expected that will require the author’s time and attention (i.e. 1st proof authorial corrections). The author will be supplied with a comprehensive schedule of the production process in advance of the material entering the production process along with guidance for correcting proofs in an accurate and timely fashion.