Submission Guidelines

Journal of Security, Intelligence and Resilience Education

ARTICLE TYPES

JSIRE will publish research articles and commentaries. While research articles will typically use the scientific method, be based in theory, and collect and analyze data, commentaries can be letters to the editor, sounding boards, special reports, or perspectives. 

Regardless of the type of submission, all submissions must address some aspect of the scholarship of teaching and learning in the security studies, or the intelligence or the emergency management/resilience disciplines.  

GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Manuscripts of up to 5,000 words (excluding tables, figures, and references) should be submitted to Dr. John Comiskey at jsireeditor@monmouth.edu.

All research papers submitted to JSIRE undergo a blind, peer review by at least two reviewers (see reviewer board). Non-peer reviewed submissions, such as sounding boards, etc., are reviewed by the JSIRE editorial board to determine suitability for publication. For all submissions, authors will be informed of the editorial board’s decision to accept as submitted, revise and resubmit, or reject.   

Research that involves human subjects must include documentation of institutional research board permission on the part of a college/university or organization.

Authors with questions regarding suitability of proposed manuscripts for the Journal of Security, Intelligence and Resilience Education (JSIRE) or wishing to propose topics for review articles are encouraged to email the JSIRE Editor-in-Chief at: jsireeditor@monmouth.edu. The JSIRE Editor-in-Chief will try and respond to you by e-mail within one (1) week.

COVER LETTER

All submissions should include a cover page that includes the title, full names, and organizational affiliations of each author, as well as the author with whom JSIRE should communicate. A detailed email description of your submission, including whether your submission is a research paper, sounding board contribution or a text review is essential.

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

All submissions to JSIRE should be emailed as MS Word documents. Manuscripts should be submitted as a single Word document, double-spaced with 1” margins using Times New Roman 12 pt. font, and pages numbered in the footer.

TITLE PAGE

Include a title page with:
  • Manuscript title
  • Each author’s name, highest degree, and affiliation/institution
  • Contact information for one corresponding author

ABSTRACT

All submissions must be accompanied by a maximum 150-word abstract that includes:

  • Background: Problem being addressed in the study
  • Methods: How the study was performed
  • Results: Salient results
  • Discussion & Conclusions: What the authors conclude from study results

REFERENCES

References should follow the current (7th Edition) American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Guidelines.  References first cited in a table or figure legend should be numbered so they will be in sequence with references cited in the text at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned.

The following are sample references:
  1. Jackson, B. (2008). The problem of measuring emergency preparedness: The need for assessing “response reliability” as part of homeland security planning. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
  2. Marino, J. (2008, January 21). How effective is your response plan? Disaster Recovery Journal Online. Accessed June 22, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.drj.com/tools/model/howeffective-is-your-response-plan.html 
  3. Marks, L. & Potter, M. (2004, July/August). Drilling for results: The quest for objective exercise evaluations. Homeland First Response, 2(4), 32-34.

Numbered references to personal communications, unpublished data, or manuscripts either “in preparation” or “submitted for publication” are unacceptable. If essential, such materials can be incorporated at appropriate places in the text.

TABLES, FIGURES AND GRAPHS

All tables, figures and graphs should be included at the end of the manuscript. Provide a title for each table, figure, or graph. 

BIO SKETCHES

All contributing authors must also include a 50-75-word bio at the time of their submission.  

GUIDELINES FOR TEXT REVIEWS

Text reviews are also welcome. Like commentaries, text reviews are not peer reviewed, but offer important insights and perspectives to the security studies, intelligence, and emergency management/resilience academies.  

JSIRE recommends that interested authors adopt the following format for their review, keeping the overall length of their review to less than 5,000 words. Please format your text review as follows:

I. Name of text, authors and author degrees and certifications/credentials, ISBN number, price, pages, publisher (picture of the cover if available).

II. Review the table of contents.

III. Review of the content as follows:

  • Is the primary audience undergraduate or graduate students (or both)?
  • Is the content accurate?
  • Is the content thorough and professionally presented?
  • What are the strong points and weaker points of the text?
  • What is the quality of the writing? Is the voice appropriate?
  • Is the organization of chapters as well as the content within each chapter well done? Are there student learning objectives at the outset of each chapter? Is there a conclusion at the end of each chapter?
  • Is the quality of the references, the appendices, the tables, graphs, charts, and other visual aids appropriate?
  • How would you rate the “teachability” of the content? Do the chapters read well? Are there good examples, sample problems, anecdotes, etc.? Are there specifically highlighted aspects of HS accessible to the student (such as sidebars, case studies, etc.)?
  • What is the quality of supporting materials: For example, is there a teacher’s guide with sample case studies, problems, and their solutions as well as sample test questions, sample graphics, PowerPoint slides, etc.? Does the text come with a CD or web-based support?

IV. Final recommendation; either a thumbs up or down statement. This is the, “Would you use it in your program” litmus test. Your language here should be polite and respectful.

V. Your name, degree, credentials, and place of employment.

GUIDELINES FOR COMMENTARY SUBMISSIONS

Commentaries are important submissions that discuss pertinent, time-sensitive, or other perspectives on security, intelligence, or resilience education. Commentaries can take the form of sounding boards, letters to the editor, special reports, or perspectives.

Sounding Boards are scholarly pieces that offer professional opinions or commentaries focusing on security, intelligence or resilience policy or education issues.  Sounding boards do not need to be tied to current issue articles. Sounding boards are well thought out discussions of relevant security, intelligence and resilience education issues, concerns, emergent trends, teaching technique and modalities, etc. Sounding boards should have no more than 3,000 words and a maximum of five figures. 

Special Reports are thoughtful discussions about miscellaneous topics of special interest to the security, intelligence, or resilience communities.  Maximum of 2,000 words and two figures.

Perspectives typically discuss timely, relevant, or emerging topics in security, intelligence, or resilience education in a brief, accessible style.  Maximum of 1,500 words and three figures.

Letters to the Editor typically comment on recently published JSIRE articles, novel cases, or other topics of current interest to the security, intelligence, or resilience communities. Letters to the editor should contain no figures and be a maximum of 500 words.