Submission Guidance

Submission Guidance

Before submitting a manuscript, please ensure that your paper meets our submission requirements.

We welcome manuscript submissions based on original research, literature reviews and critical reflections which are novel in their research and questions. Submissions are open to all undergraduate students, from any institution across the world. The manuscripts submitted can be based on any subject, as long as the author(s) are undergraduate students, or recent graduates who submit a paper based on their undergraduate research, within approximately 6 months after graduation. We also publish collaborative papers which celebrate work between academic researchers and student researchers. If you have been involved in a joint staff-student project and / or have written a joint paper please submit it to us, clearly stating that it is collaborative work, and we will consider it for publication. Please note the lead and corresponding author on collaborative pieces must be an undergraduate student. The journal is completely open access, meaning there is no charge for submitting a manuscript, no processing charges (APCs) and is freely available to read.

Accepted manuscripts for Reinvention

  • Original Research and Literature Review Articles: Between 2,000 - 5,000 words for the body text. Excluding abstract, keywords, glossary, references and appendix. 

  • Critical Reflections: Up to 2,000 words for the body text. Excluding abstract, keywords, glossary, references and appendix and the project information the Critical Reflection is based upon.

Your paper should be:

  • 2,000 and 5,000 words in length for original research between and up to 2,0000 words for critical reflections. Not including the abstract, bibliography and any appendices;
  • as interactive as possible and to include tables, diagrams and links to films, photographs and other websites where appropriate;
  • original written material. Permission will be required to publish a paper that has already been published or submitted for review elsewhere;
  • prepared according to the Style Guide on this website and appropriate permissions must have been obtained to reproduce any copyrighted images or content. This includes the main paper, footnotes, titles, tables, and quotations.

Papers will be rejected at Editorial Board screening which:

  • do not adhere to the criteria and in a suitable format for a peer-reviewed journal, including essays. It's well worth reading the associated guidance documents;
  • include content which does not conform to the journal style guide. For guidance on how to write for publication consult the Submission Guidance;
  • are produced for assessment during a student's degree before the assessment has been completed.

Formatting your Manuscript for Submission

All submissions should be electronic and should be in Word, do not upload your manuscript as a PDF. Submissions should be made via the on-line submission form. If any advice or assistance is required with this process please contact the journal team on email at reinventionjournal@warwick.ac.uk.

Papers must be submitted in the following order:

1. Page one: All authors' full names, discipline, department(s), university/universities, postal address, email addresses. 
2. Page two: Title Page.
3. Page three: Abstract of 100-200 words, followed by around 6 keywords.
4. Page four onwards: Main text - the manuscripts should be between 2000 and 5000 words.
5. Following main text: Acknowledgements, appendices, glossary and references.

Tables, graphs, maps, URLs and any other additions to the text should be contained in the correct place in the text and given clear file names and attached with the submission as separate files. Any additions to the text that cannot be contained within it, such as video clips, should be uploaded to the submissions form separately with a note in the text to indicate where the resource should be located. All such items should be formatted in accordance with the guidance on this website (see Style Guide). The responsibility to obtain copyright for the reproduction of any images, tables, maps, graphs, etc, lies solely with the author. Authors should ensure that they have obtained copyright to reproduce any such additions to their text before submitting their work to the journal.

If papers reach peer review, the papers are made anonymous using double-blind peer review; the author's name and affiliation, as well as footnotes and acknowledgements identifying the author, should appear only on a separate page (Page one, only). For co-authored articles, one author should be designated as the corresponding author, to be responsible for communicating with editors and the publisher and for relaying information to and from the other authors.

The editorial staff shall complete the review process and decide within twelve months of submission acknowledgement. If the author does not receive a decision within twelve months, s/he may choose to withdraw the manuscript by notifying the editor.

Other considerations:

  • Don’t just send in an essay or report you have previously written. A written journal article needs much more than this – if you’re unsure, check out other articles published in Reinvention, or in journals in your own subject area. Be aware that you will have a fair amount to do on your original work to turn it into a paper.
  • If your research was part of a group project, consult your supervisor. You need to clear your plan to publish a journal article on the results of your research with either your research supervisor or other members of the group that you did the research with before submitting your research for publication.
  • Read the style guide before you start. All articles submitted to a journal must conform to their style guide. Those that do not will almost certainly be returned to the author without being read, so be aware of the requirements before you start. Please read and adhere to the Reinvention style guide if you wish to send your work to us.
  • Make sure you use an academic style and references. Your written paper will need a full bibliography, referencing works you have cited as well as those you have used to inform your work. Make sure you use a formal style of writing.
  • Ensure you have identified a gap in the literature. Academic journals require submissions to address a gap in the existing research literature. Make sure you are clear in your paper why your article is of interest to readers and how it is different to academic work already published on the subject.
  • Back up your assertions. Be aware that you should be able to justify everything you say: there should be no generalisations such as ‘everyone knows that …’ or ‘it’s true that most people tend to …’. Also, don’t extrapolate from your findings that something is generalisable: even if your experiment has found something to be true, it does not mean that it holds true for the entire population, ensure that your conclusions are in line with the scale of your research.
  • Check your permissions. If you have included images, tables, figures, etc., which are not your own, be aware that we, and other journals, can only publish them if you have obtained specific permission from the copyright holders (we can help you with this if required).
  • Abstracts and keywords. An abstract and keywords are necessary for most journal articles, and you need to think about them carefully; they are how readers will find your paper and decide whether or not they wish to read it. An abstract of 100–200 words should be submitted with all articles. This should summarise your article: the subject, the key research question(s), your methodology, results and conclusion. Authors should supply around six keywords for indexing and abstracting purposes. Keywords (which can be short phrases rather than individual words) should be as precise as possible to guide readers who are searching for an article on this subject. Imagine you were searching for your article online: which words or phrases would you use to search?
  • Pay attention to ethics. Be aware that it is your responsibility to ensure that your research and its presentation are ethically sound. You must have permission from participants in your research to reproduce their words, image, responses, etc even if you have anonymised their contributions.
  • Check your work. Don't send your work off as soon as you have finished writing it. Leave it for a day or two, and then proofread your paper carefully and don’t rely on the spell checker. If necessary, read your work from the back page forward so that you can concentrate on the proofreading and not get caught up in the argument. Double-check all of your equations, tables, figures, etc for accuracy. Think about asking someone else to look at your work to check it - you will often see what you think a sentence should say and not what it actually does!

Please ensure you adhere to the submission criteria here:  

Submit your article via the On-line Submission Form. Before submitting your manuscript, please check it follows our submission requirements.  

Understand what to expect from the editorial process. 

The following steps offer guidance in understanding Reinvention’s editorial review and publication process.  


If you'd like to understand more about how to prepare your paper for submission to Reinvention, please register for one of our training workshops or email reinventionjournal@warwick.ac.uk