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Policies

Contents

Philosophy of TAPESTRY

For more information, please see TAPESTRY Aims and Scope page.

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Who Can Submit?

Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in TAPESTRY provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

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Author Guidelines

Articles should report original research, present an original framework that links previous research, educational theory, and teaching practices, or present promising practices involving a variety of school-based personnel or social and community services. Full-length articles should contain no more than 7,000 words, including any figures, drawings, and tables, as well as an abstract of no more than 150 words. Author bios and affiliations should not exceed 50 words. Commentaries and book reviews should not exceed 3,000 words.

Manuscripts are being solicited in the following categories:

Research and Theory Articles

Description of and research on innovative approaches that address the educational needs of ELLS. This may include perspectives from a variety of disciplines, focusing both on instructional and support services. For example:
  • Description of and research on innovative models of teacher training or of collaboration between ESOL-specialists and mainstream teachers and other school personnel.
  • Discussion of policy making, standards or assessment development that directly impact English language learners and their families.
  • Description of and research on innovative applications of technology in the teaching of language skills that foster academic growth.

Effective Practices from the Field Articles

Description of successful application of successful or promising practices in instructing and providing support services to ELLs. For example:
  • Descriptions of classroom instruction that fosters student achievement.
  • Descriptions of how standards and assessment influence classroom instruction.
  • Descriptions of the roles of school- and support personnel directly charged with the education of English language learners.
  • Descriptions of clinical experiences or special programs for school- and support personnel (guidance counselors, speech pathologists, school nurses, social workers).

Commentaries

Discussion of issues of concern to ELLs and their families, supported by research and/or theory, including reactions to issues presented in books or articles.

Book Reviews

Reviews of recent (published within past two years) professional books, textbooks, or electronic resources published for researchers and practitioners in the field of educating school-aged English language learners.

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General Publication Policies

The following policies are applied to all articles, reviews, and commentaries submitted for consideration or published:

  1. All submissions must conform to the requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and citations, which must be in the required format. Manuscripts may be rejected if they do not meet the APA requirements.
  2. Manuscripts that have already been published elsewhere or are being considered for publication elsewhere are not eligible to be considered for publication in The Tapestry Journal. The (first) author is responsible to inform the editor of the existence of any similar work that is already published elsewhere or is under consideration for publication elsewhere.
  3. Authors of accepted manuscripts will assign to The Tapestry Journal the permanent right to electronically distribute the article.
  4. The editors of The Tapestry Journal reserve the right to make editorial changes in any manuscript accepted for publication for the sake of style or clarity. Authors will be consulted only if the changes are substantial.
  5. The views expressed in The Tapestry Journal do not necessarily represent the views of the journal editors, the institutions associated with the ESOL MIAMI grant, or the U.S. Department of Education.
  6. The Tapestry Journal expects authors to adhere to ethical standards for research involving human subjects. All manuscripts submitted for consideration must meet the human subjects review established by your institution.

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Peer Review Process

All article manuscripts submitted to The Tapestry Journal go through a multi-step review process.

Initial internal review.

The editors and associate editor of the journal first review each manuscript to see if it meets the basic requirements for articles published in the journal (i.e., fit with one of the three categories; that it reports on original research or presents an original framework linking previous research, educational theory, and teaching practices, or present promising practices involving a variety of school-based personnel or social and community services), that it is of sufficient quality to merit external review, and that it conforms to APA (6th edition) format. This initial step takes approximately 1–2 weeks.

External review.

Submissions that meet the requirements above are then sent out for blind peer review from two experts in the field. Reviewers are typically selected from the journal’s editorial board. In cases where the article’s topic does not match current reviewers’ expertise, the editors may solicit additional reviewers that possess the necessary experience. This second review process takes approximately 6 weeks.

Editorial review.

Following the external review, the editors discuss the reviewers’ findings and make publication decisions. Authors are sent copies of the external reviewers’ comments and are notified as to the decision (accept as it is, accept pending changes, revise and resubmit, or reject). Articles and commentaries that require minor changes will be reviewed by the editors when the manuscripts are resubmitted. Contributions requiring major revisions will be sent back to the initial reviewers for a second review.

Once an article or commentary has been accepted for publication, the associate editor sends an Assignment of Copyright form to the (first) author that must be signed and returned before the work can be published.

The Tapestry Journal seeks to publish three to five full-length articles and up to two commentaries in each issue. Articles and commentaries accepted for publication are typically included in the next available issue, except if the work represents a good fit with an occasional special themed issue. The editors discuss this option with the author upon the initial notification of the publication decision.

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General Submission Rules

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). Please note: "publication" in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. In addition, by submitting material to TAPESTRY, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at TAPESTRY. If you have concerns about the submission terms for TAPESTRY, please contact the editors.

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Formatting Requirements

TAPESTRY has no general rules about the formatting of articles upon initial submission. There are, however, rules governing the formatting of the final submission. See Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for details. Although bepress can provide limited technical support, it is ultimately the responsibility of the author to produce an electronic version of the article as a high-quality PDF (Adobe's Portable Document Format) file, or a Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or RTF file that can be converted to a PDF file.

It is understood that the current state of technology of Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) is such that there are no, and can be no, guarantees that documents in PDF will work perfectly with all possible hardware and software configurations that readers may have.

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Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

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Rights for Authors and STARS

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to STARS all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal--use exceptions described below.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of STARS, requires credit to STARS as copyright holder (e.g., STARS © 2023).

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from STARS provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

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General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the STARS website and/or software agree not to misuse the STARS service or software in any way.

The failure of STARS to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between STARS and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

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