The instructions below are specifically directed at authors that wish to submit a manuscript to Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. For general information, please visit the Publish With Us section of our website.

Nordic Journal of Music Therapy considers all manuscripts on the strict condition that they have been submitted only to the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, that they have not been published already, nor are they under consideration for publication or in press elsewhere. Authors who fail to adhere to this condition will be charged with all costs which the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy incurs and their papers will not be published.

Contributions to the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy must report original work and will be subjected to review by referees at the discretion of the Editorial Office.

Manuscript preparation

1. General guidelines

• Papers are accepted in English. American or British English spelling and punctuation is preferred provided usage is consistent throughout.
• A typical article is in the range of 4,000-6,000 words (exclusive of figures and references). Papers that greatly exceed this will be critically reviewed with respect to length.
• Abstracts of 200-250 words are required for all papers submitted.
• Each paper should have 3 to 6 keywords.
• For all manuscripts non-discriminatory language is mandatory. Sexist or racist terms should not be used.
• Authors must adhere to SI units. Units are not italicised.
• When using a word which is or is asserted to be a proprietary term or trade mark, authors must use the symbol ® or TM.

• Empirically based research (quantitative and qualitative studies)
• Literature-based research (theoretical studies, historical research, and review articles)

• Essays
• Perspectives on Practive
• Dialogues and Debates

3. Style guidelines

• Minimum one and maximum two levels of headings can be used in the texts. Section headings should be centred, while sub-section headings begin flush left. Headings should be in bold. Italics should be used to emphasize words in the text. Other typing instructions: Use only a single space after all words and punctuation, including periods. Use carriage return only when you want a new line. Do not use the tab key to indent.
• Quotations should not be in italics, and should be enclosed by double quotation marks (use "smart quotes" which indicate beginning and ending of quote). Display long quotations (quotations of more than 20 words) in a block separate from the rest of the text with a blank line above and beneath. Use indent 1.25cm from left margin. 
• Description of the Journal's reference style, Quick guide. Visit CiteRefs for assistance in ensuring accurate referencing according to APA style.

4. Figures

• It is in the author's interest to provide the highest quality figure format possible. Please be sure that all imported scanned material is scanned at the appropriate resolution: 1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for colour.
• Figures must be saved separate to text. Please do not embed figures in the paper file.
• Files should be saved as one of the following formats: TIFF (tagged image file format), PostScript or EPS (encapsulated PostScript), and should contain all the necessary font information and the source file of the application (e.g. CorelDraw/Mac, CorelDraw/PC).
• All figures must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the paper (e.g. figure 1, figure 2). In multi-part figures, each part should be labelled (e.g. figure 1(a), figure 1(b)).
• Figure captions must be saved separately, as part of the file containing the complete text of the paper, and numbered correspondingly.
• The filename for a graphic should be descriptive of the graphic, e.g. Figure1, Figure2a.

Tables and figures must be ready for printing.

5. Colour

The Journal has no free colour pages within its annual page allowance. Authors of accepted papers who propose publishing figures in colour in the print version should consult Taylor & Francis at proof stage to agree a financial contribution to colour reproduction costs. Figures that appear in black-and-white in the print edition of the Journal will appear in colour in the online edition, assuming colour originals are supplied.

6. Reproduction of copyright material

Contributors are required to secure permission for the reproduction of any figure, table or extensive extract (more than fifty words) from the text of a source that is copyrighted or owned by a party other than Taylor & Francis or the contributor. This applies to direct reproduction as well as 'derivative reproduction', where the contributor has created a new figure or table that derives substantially from a copyrighted source. Authors are themselves responsible for the payment of any permission fees required by the copyright owner. Copies of permission letters should be sent with the manuscript upon submission to the Editor(s).

• Copyright permission letter template

7. Informed consent

Manuscripts must include a statement that informed consent was obtained from human subjects. Authors should protect patient anonymity by avoiding the use of patients' names or initials, hospital number, or other identifying information.

8. Code of experimental ethics and practice and confidentiality

Contributors are required to follow the procedures in force in their countries which govern the ethics of work conducted with human or animal subjects. The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) represents a minimal requirement.

For human subjects or patients, describe their characteristics. For human participants in a research survey, secure the consent for data and other material - verbatim quotations from interviews, etc. - to be used. Specific permission for any facial photographs is required. A letter of consent must accompany any photographs in which the possibility of identification exists. It is not sufficient to cover the eyes to mask identity.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the confidentiality of patients is maintained. All clinical material used in your article must be disguised so that it is not recognisable by a third party. Where possible and appropriate, the permission of the patient should be obtained. Authors are invited to discuss these matters with the editor if they wish.

9. Drug names

Generic rather than trade names of drugs should be used, although trade names may be mentioned in parentheses in the first text reference to the drug.

10. Competing financial interests

A competing interest exists when your interpretation or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Authors should disclose all financial and non-financial competing interests.

Authors are required to complete a declaration of competing interests and submit it together with the manuscript. All competing interests that are declared will be listed at the end of published articles. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read 'The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests'. Please consider the following questions:

1. In the past five years have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? Is such an organization financing this manuscript? If so, please specify.

2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? If so, please specify.

3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the manuscript? Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript? If so, please specify.

4. Do you have any other financial competing interests? If so, please specify.

If you are unsure as to whether you, or one of your co-authors, has a competing interest please discuss it with the editorial office.

11. Affirmation of authorship
All authors are expected to have made substantive intellectual contributions to, and to have been involved in drafting or revising the manuscript. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship. With the submission of a manuscript, it is assumed that all authors have read and approved the final manuscript. 

12. Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the above criteria for authorship, should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include those who provided general, technical, or writing assistance Acknowledgement of funding/grants are also included in this section.

Manuscript submission

All submissions should be made online at the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy ScholarOne Manuscripts site. New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre.

Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript. One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from the files to allow them to be sent anonymously to reviewers. When uploading files authors will then be able to define the non-anonymous version as “File not for review”.

Books for review

Nordic Journal of Music Therapy has an active policy on book reviews. We want to present constructive and critical reviews of the most important recent books within the field. Are you interested in reviewing a book, please write to the Cochavit Elefant, book review editor. Include a brief presentation of yourself and a complete reference to the book you want to review. The journal has no possibility to pay reviewers, but you will of course receive a free copy of the book you review. 

Copyright and authors' rights

It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or license the publication rights, including abstracts, to The Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and of course the Journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Authors retain many rights under the Taylor & Francis rights policies, which can be found at http://www.informaworld.com/authors_journals_copyright_position. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.

Exceptions are made for Government employees whose policies require that copyright cannot be transferred to other parties. We ask that a signed statement to this effect is submitted when returning proofs for accepted papers.

Reprints

Corresponding authors can receive 25 free reprints, free online access to their article through our website (www.informaworld.com/rnjm) and a complimentary copy of the issue containing their article. Complimentary reprints are available through Rightslink® and additional reprints can be ordered through Rightslink® when proofs are received. If you have any queries, please contact our reprints department at reprints@tandf.co.uk.