Publishing of the Journal

Starting from 2025, the journal will be publishing 2 issues per year, one in Quarter 1 and one in Quarter 4, with the possibility of one-off special editions. 

There is a permanent open call for abstracts, where authors can submit their abstracts. If, upon review, they are considered fit for the journal, they will be published in the next available issue. 

The journal is now in the process of collecting abstracts for the 2025 Q4 edition. Interested authors are to submit their abstracts as soon as possible by sending an email on: ssw@um.edu.mt and/or  claudia.psaila@um.edu.mt. For consideration for publication in Volume 4 (issue 3), November 2025, abstracts need to be received by the 5th February 2025. Authors are to expect initial feedback from editors within 8 weeks of submission. Guidelines can be found below.

Guidelines for authors

• The word count for each article should be between 4,500 – 6,000, excluding the reference list.
• Submissions should adhere to the latest APA (American Psychological Association) referencing style (7^th edition). Kindly refer to the latest Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
• Submissions should in British English.

• Manuscript submissions should include the following
• Title page including the title of the manuscript and the names and institutional affiliations of the author(s), as well as complete contact details for the corresponding author.
• Main text including an abstract (maximum 250 words), keywords (between 3 - 6), references, tables and/or figures where relevant, declaration of funding sources and/or conflicts of interest, and any special acknowledgements.

• Any articles referring to empirical studies with primary data collection from individuals, must be submitted along with ethical clearance obtained to carry out the study, either from a university ethics board or a body which would have originally provided the ethical clearance or approval for the study.
• The authors will be asked to submit along with the final version:

• A disclaimer form to be provided by the Journal Administrators
• A Turnitin or other relevant plagiarism check report

• Any changes made in response to the reviewers’ comments must be submitted:

• In track changes
• With an accompanying table explaining where each of the reviewers’ comments have been taken into account.