Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
  • Text is double spaced on 8.5 x 11 inch pages with one inch margins on all four sides.
  • Text uses a 12-point font and employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses).
  • Manuscripts should not exceed word maximums for the submission type:
    - Abstract: 100 words
    - Article: 7,000 words
    - Research and Practice Note: 3,000 words
    - Book Review: 1,000 words
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it submitted to another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The manuscript and files for review have been completely de-identified.
    De-identification instructions can be found here or requested from cjpe@evaluationcanada.ca.
  • All figures, tables, and illustrations must be numbered and placed in the manuscript where they should appear. They must also be uploaded in separate files as “supplementary files not for review.”
  • Manuscripts must conform to APA 7 (the referencing format of the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.)

Author Guidelines

Introduction

  • Articles of up to 7,000 words (including references) on evaluation theory and practice, including innovative methodological approaches, original empirical research, standards of practice, strategies to enhance the implementation, and reporting and use of evaluations.
  • Research and Practice Notes of up to 3,000 words (including references) presenting examples of innovative evaluation practice and cases.
  • Book Reviews of up to 1,000 words providing a critique of authored and edited volumes of interest and relevance to the evaluation field.

Please note that the Journal does NOT publish evaluation summaries or reports. The purpose of the journal is to advance thinking in our field - if you have been involved in a unique evaluation project, the journal is interested in your reflections on the process (e.g., practice note), an empirical investigation of the impact your approach had (e.g., research article) or another innovative account of the experience.

Lead authors with Indigenous ancestry contributing articles that honour traditional knowledge and kinship are welcome to submit their work for consideration in the general stream of submissions, however we encourage you to consider Roots and Relations before making your decision.

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check their submission's compliance with all of the following items. Submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

General

  • Manuscripts may be submitted in English or French.
  • The manuscript is submitted through our online portal.
    • Accepted file formats are OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect.
    • Text is double spaced on 8.5 x 11 inch pages with one inch margins on all four sides.
      Manuscript uses a 12-point font and employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses).
  • Manuscripts should not exceed word maximums for the submission type.
    • Abstract: 100 words
    • Article: 7,000 words
    • Research and Practice Note: 3,000 words
    • Book Review: 1,000 words
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The manuscript and files for review have been completely de-identified.
    De-identification instructions can be found here or requested from cjpe@evaluationcanada.ca.

Figures, Tables, Illustrations

  • All figures, tables, and illustrations must be numbered and placed in the manuscript where they should appear.
  • All figures, tables, and illustrations must also be uploaded in separate files as “supplementary files not for review.” Should your article be accepted, these high-quality files will be used in the publishing process.
    • Figures and illustrations should be uploaded as individual JPG, TIF, or PDF files with a minimum of 300-dpi resolution.
    • Tables should be uploaded as OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, WordPerfect, or Excel document file format.

Referencing Style

  • Manuscripts must conform to APA 7 (the referencing format of the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.)
    • Where available, DOIs for the references have been provided.
    • All authors of manuscripts accepted for publication that do not conform to APA style will be charged a copyediting fee that must be paid before the manuscript is published.
  • Content footnotes are discouraged and should be used only when absolutely necessary.

Peer Review Process

All submitted manuscripts will be subject to a double blind peer review by up to four expert members of the evaluation research community. Authors are required to ensure that all clues to their identity are removed from manuscripts submitted for potential publication. Copies of the reviewers’ comments will be sent to authors with identities withheld.

As outlined in the Author Guidelines, the manuscript and files for review must be completely de-identified before submission. De-identification instructions can be found here or requested from cjpe@evaluationcanada.ca.

Peer review is a critical step in publishing scholarly work, and many authors and reviewers have questions about the process. We have prepared information packages for both authors and reviewers participating in CJPE peer review. Please download the resource that is relevant to you. Questions and comments are welcomed at cjpe@evaluationcanada.ca.

Articles

Submissions of up to 7,000 words on evaluation theory and practice, including innovative methodological approaches, standards of practice, strategies to enhance the implementation, reporting and use of evaluations. Articles reporting original empirical research on evaluation are of particular interest.

Manuscripts will be evaluated through double-blind peer review in relation to:

  • Interest and relevance to evaluation practice in Canada and abroad
  • Clarity and conciseness of the article.
  • Originality of the issue, method or practice reported in the article.
  • Sufficient review of literature and appropriate theoretical foundations.
  • Credibility of the analysis.
  • Validity of conclusions and implications.


Further information about our peer review process can be found below.

Research and Practice Notes

A Research and Practice note is a brief, structured description and analysis of a subject of importance to evaluation practice. This type of manuscript results from the systematic examination of one or many dimensions of evaluation practice and seeks to share lessons learned with other practitioners and researchers.

These papers should be no longer than 3,000 words including references. The dimensions of evaluation practice that could be the subject of a practice note include (but are not limited to): managing an evaluation function, planning evaluation work, designing evaluation methods and data collection strategies, engaging evaluation stakeholders, employing innovative evaluation methods and strategies, conducting evaluation projects, reporting and communicating evaluation results, fostering evaluation use, and teaching evaluation.

Research and Practice Notes should be structured in the following way:

  • Introduction and/or context section to orient the reader
  • Brief description of the dimension(s) of practice being examined, with references to relevant literature
  • Overview of method(s) used to systematically examine or analyze the dimension(s) of practice to extract what was learned (e.g., reflective case study, post-mortem, key informant interviews, analysis against theoretical model or framework, etc.)
  • Description and analysis of what was learned, with emphasis on highlighting the factors that are thought to account for success (or lack of success)
  • Conclusions and implications for evaluation practice, theory and/or research, in Canada or elsewhere

Manuscripts will be subject to double-blind peer review. The evaluations will be based on the following criteria:

  • Relevance to the practice of evaluation
  • Credibility of the analysis
  • Validity of conclusions and implications
  • Originality
  • Clarity and conciseness
  • Reader interest

Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Non-commercial license: CC BY-NC 4.0. This licence allows anyone to share the work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it at no cost and without further permission, provided that appropriate attribution of initial publication in the journal is given, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.

An example of attribution to used is as follows:

The article, {insert article title}, by {insert author name(s)} has been reproduced from the CJPE under a Creative Commons Non-commercial license: CC BY-NC 4.0. 

Please link the article title directly to the article location on our website.

Privacy Statement

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