Terms and Conditions of Submissions

In submitting a manuscript for review, authors agree to the following terms and conditions:
The online submission form must be completed in full. All fields are mandatory unless specifically noted otherwise.

  1. Submissions cannot be returned.
  2. Make sure all information is accurate and complete. Incorrect information could delay review or disqualify your submission.
  3. An acknowledgement post card is generally mailed to the primary contact or lead author within a week of submission.
  4. All manuscripts undergo a blind peer review process. Reviewers do not know who the authors are, and CWLA does not identify its reviewers to authors.
  5. Although the peer review process generally takes three to six months, sometimes the process may be longer for some manuscripts. CWLA cannot guarantee a specific timeframe for review of a manuscript.
  6. Submission of an article does not guarantee acceptance.
  7. Outcomes of reviews: Reviewers can choose to (a) accept a manuscript for publication, (b) accept a manuscript conditional on requested revisions, (c) reject the manuscript but suggest revisions and invite the author to resubmit, or (d) reject a manuscript entirely. If an author is asked to resubmit the article with revisions, the article may go through further review.
  8. Acceptance of a manuscript for publication does not guarantee a specific issue in which it will be published. Manuscripts accepted for publication go into a queue based on the original submission date.
  9. If a manuscript is accepted for publication, author(s) must transfer copyright to the Child Welfare League of America.
  10. Accepted manuscripts undergo editing after review and before publication. Authors will have the opportunity to review edited drafts.
  11. If a manuscript is accepted for publication, the author or authors must be able to respond to all queries the managing editor may have while editing for publication, including but not limited to providing full reference citation information when missing, clarifying confusing language, providing full author biographical information, and so on.
  12. Author(s) warrant(s) the manuscript has not been and is not being published elsewhere and that the author(s) is/are the sole owner(s) of the material in the manuscript.
  13. Author(s) warrant(s) he/she/they has/have changed identifying information in any case material included in the manuscript, where the exact nature of that information is not of major importance.
  14. Author(s) warrant(s) he/she/they has/have written permission from those agencies from which case material has been drawn to use said material. Client and individual identities in all case material included in the manuscript has been disguised.
  15. If for some reason identifying information cannot be changed or disguised, author(s) warrant(s) he/she/they have written permission from the individual(s) and/or agency(ies) in question to include said information in the article.
  16. Author(s) warrant(s) he/she/they has/have written permission to use any material in the text, including tables, charts, drawings, large quotations, etc., owned or copyrighted by another party.
  17. The Child Welfare League of America has the right of final editorial approval of the manuscript.
  18. CWLA reserves the right to reproduce published issues of Child Welfare, in part or in whole, in various alternative media, including but not limited to the Internet and CD-ROM. In addition, CWLA is a partner in a project to develop online training courses based on CWLA books and issues of Child Welfare. Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication acknowledge that CWLA may develop such products without further consent from authors, and that authors may not have an opportunity to review such products based in part on their published articles.
  19. CWLA does not provide authors reprints of published articles; CWLA will email authors a PDF of a published article on request.
  20. Please DO NOT RESUBMIT manuscripts if you have already received a manuscript identification number. Resubmitting creates a duplicate record with a new identification number and results in considerable delays in processing and reviewing your manuscript.
  21. Please DO NOT send in hard copies of your manuscript unless specifically requested to do so by the editors. You will be able to upload your manuscript electronically during the submission process.