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Guidelines for Authors

Purpose

It is important that your paper takes the reader to new insights, i.e., beyond that which is already known from discussions in other publications (with the exception of review papers which offer an extensive survey of a particular aspect or discipline). This innovative potential distinguishes a journal paper from other forms of publication such as book chapters.

Structure

Please make sure that your paper contains the following parts.
See also the Word template for regular papers.

• Title, optionally subtitle
• Author(s) with affiliation(s) and email(s)
• Meta information, structured abstract of about 200 words (see right), up to 6 key words
• Introduction: The first chapter initializes the contact between author and reader, and should be guided by the question: “Why should the reader get involved with my paper?”
• Main text: Ideas should be presented in a logical sequence — “Is there a clearly defined progression of information? Does one paragraph lead smoothly into the next?”
  The writing style should be simple, using as few words as possible. Conciseness and brevity are valued.
• Conclusion:
  • Provides a summary — “What main points did I make, what did I show?”
  • Discusses the paper’s relevance — “How is my paper related to constructivist approaches?”
  • Optionally it may provide an outlook — “What could be done next?”
• Alphabetical list of references. References must not be included as foot-/endnotes
• Biographical note and photo of each author.
• List of at least 5 potential reviewers who are not in a direct working relation with you and who are suitable for double-blind peer-reviewing.

Text

• Overall length: 3000–9000 words
• Use simple single-column format
• To emphasize, use italics type (no bold)
• As few footnotes as possible
• Submission format: .doc, .rtf, .html
• For each graphic use a separate file; photographs should have at least 300dpi

Layout and graphics

• The paper must be written in English. If English is a foreign language for you, please ask a native speaker of English to proofread your article before submission
• The paper must be original work and must not have been published elsewhere
• The copyright remains with the author and is licensed under a Creative Commons License, http://creativecommons.org
• If you use copyrighted material (long quotes, photographs, figures, etc.) you must obtain the permission from the respective copyright holder before submitting the final version of your paper.

Metainformation

Paper type • Which type of inquiry do you follow? Choose from: conceptual; empirical; synthetic (formal or computational models); survey (guiding summary of a field); perspective (of senior researchers)

Background(s) • Which is the disciplinary background of your paper? Choose from: biological; cognitive; computer science; education science; engineering; epistemological; historical; philosophical; physics; physiological; psychological; sociological; add a new discipline if necessary.

Perspective • From which perspective do you argue in your paper? Choose one from: biology of cognition; constructivist evolutionary epistemology; cybersemiotics; enactive cognitive science; epistemic structuring of experience; non-dualizing philosophy; radical constructivism; second order cybernetics; theory of autopoietic systems.

Structured abstract

Context • What is the current situation in your discipline with regard to the topic of your paper? Why is it a problem in your discipline at the moment?

Problem • Which problems do you want to solve? What are the reasons for writing the paper or the aims of the research?

Method • What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the paper? How are the objectives achieved? What are the main method(s) used for the research?

Results • What was found in the course of the argumentation? What is the solution to the problem you pose?

Implications • What is the value of the paper? For whom are your insights beneficial? What do you suggest for future research? Are there identifiable limitations in the research process? What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified? What changes to practice should be made as a result of this paper?

Constructivist content • What is the connection with constructivism? Does the paper link to one of the constructivist approaches covered by the journal? Do you argue in favor of a new constructivist perspective?

Key words • What are the six most important concepts and notions in the paper? Don’t repeat key words already used in the meta information.

Citing in the text

• Surname of author(s) no comma Year
• More than three authors: use the the first author’s surname followed by “et al.”
• All quotes have to be accompanied by a page specification.
• Every page specification must be preceded by a colon in both text and reference part.

Examples

• Glasersfeld (2006) argued…
• “… text.” (O’Regan & Noë 2001: 940)
• Langley et al. (1987: 103) showed that…

List of references

• As a rule, use a simplified Harvard-style
• Except for the first word paper and book titles are not capitalized
• Journal titles are capitalized
• No comma between surname and initials
• Page specifications are preceded by a colon
• Always list all authors (no “et al.”)

Examples of books

Langley P., Simon H., Bradhaw G. L. & Zytkow J. M. (1987) Scientific discovery. MIT Press, Cambridge.

Piaget J. (1954) The construction of reality in the child. Ballantine, New York. Originally published in French as: Piaget J. (1937) La construction du réel chez l’enfant. Délachaux & Niestlé, Neuchâtel.

Examples of book chapters

Foerster H. von (1984) On constructing a reality. In: Watzlawick P. (ed.) The invented reality. Norton, New York: 41–62.

Maturana H. R. (1978) Biology of language: The epistemology of reality. In: Miller G. A. & Lenneberg E. (eds.) Psychology and biology of language and thought. Academic Press, New York: 27–63.

Examples of journal articles

Glasersfeld E. von (2005) Thirty years radical constructivism. Constructivist Foundations 1(1): 9–12.

O’Regan J. K. & Noë A. (2001) A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24(5): 939–1031.

Example of electronic sources

Brook A. (2008) Kant’s view of the mind and consciousness of self. In: Zalta E. N. (ed.) The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu on 31 July 2008.

Reprints and translations

Please cite the reprint or translation from which you quote or which you actually read and add a note about the original publication.