Why and How to Write Articles for
The Diversity of Love Journal: Knowledge from Research and Practice
The main purpose of the journal is to share research-based and practice-based knowledge about love with a wide audience of researchers across disciplines and other interested people. The International Institute of Love Studies (https://love-studies-institute.org/) publishes this journal.
An article should be written in plain language, accessible to scholars across disciplines. This journal’s articles differ from academic articles in that they serve different purposes and belong to different genres. Scholarly articles in this journal are journalism that gives research-based knowledge away to other scholars and the educated public in a narrative genre.
An article in this journal is published with all the author’s journalistic rights. There are no formal contracts or copyright agreements. The copyrights are managed just by the common, fair scholarly and journalistic practices that prohibit plagiarism and self-plagiarism. The proper references are up to the author.
The article should be concise and relatively short. Its recommended length should be approximately 400 to 800 words, but it can be a little shorter or longer depending on the topic. The journal’s articles cover the themes of relationships, love, and other associated topics in cultural contexts.
What can you write about?
- You can write your article based on a previously published academic article, whether it was published recently, several years ago, or many years ago. You just need to compile and summarize your research in a rephrased and narrative format, highlighting the key concepts, main ideas, and results of your academic article. In the article, you can include references to your originally published academic article and other suitable publications by other authors. This will bring more public visibility to your previously published article. The articles in this journal are typically focused on one, two, or three main ideas.
- You can write an article as a review of two, three, or more academic articles you have published, if those articles are about the same focused topic. Then, you can compile, review, and merge the materials from those articles into one article in a plain summary. Converge the key points from two or more publications into one cohesive narrative text.
- You can write an article on a new topic that has not yet been presented in your previous academic publications. You may not even plan to submit it to any other publication outlets for some reason because, for instance, it is a small piece of knowledge that is not academic or systematic in nature. For such pieces, the articles in this journal are good, and occasional scholarly observations and stories about diversity of love and cultures are welcome. The articles may include one or more case studies.
- You can write several articles on several topics related to your research or scholarly observations. If your article turns out to be too lengthy, consider splitting it into two or three articles by extracting two or three main ideas. These can be like a series of articles with connecting references within each one.
The writing suggestions for a good article:
- An article shall cover one focused topic with subsections. The article should not cover two or more focused topics. In the latter case, it is better to write two or more articles. The article should catch the reader’s attention.
- How to pitch an article. The article pitch is a concise summary of the article idea, along with a possible title. Be focused and brief. Grab the reader’s interest.
- Select the key points and catchy ideas for your article and summarize them in one short paragraph of roughly 160 characters to describe what your article is about. Consider this piece to be a pitch.
- Describe the main ideas and content of selected content presented in an academic article, a part of a scholarly article, or several articles in narrative style.
- An article shall be written in a narrative style rather than in the style of a research report, which is typical for many academic publications. Write the text smoothly in a simple, narrative, yet scholarly style. Use transition words to connect ideas, facts, and conclusions.
- Personal observations, stories, case studies, or citing others’ observations and stories will make articles lively and more interesting to read.
- The article for this journal shall be from 400 to 800 words in length.
- The article should use, preferably, no more than 10% of sentences in passive voice.
- The article should preferably not use too many lengthy sentences and paragraphs.
- The text shall present ideas and facts that can be interesting for scholars and the educated public. Your purpose is to describe and summarize the knowledge on the topic presented in the academic article(s) in a narrative text accessible to the educated public.
- You should compose a cohesive and logical structure for a text about the main topic of your article.
- The text shall describe the main theoretical ideas and corresponding facts, data, or other evidence in support in narrative style (along with corresponding contextual references to the sources in APA style).
- Generously use subheadings to structure the text around the main units of knowledge and findings. Help the readers focus their reading attention.
- Generously use paragraphs to structure the text and help focus the attention of readers.
- An article must have the corresponding citations and references to the sources (according to APA style).
- Select a picture that could serve as the featured image for the article. You are free to use any freely available sources.
- You can use pictures, summary tables, or infographics to illustrate your article.
Once your article(s) is completed and accepted, it will be published on the web page of the Journal in the Open Access format. It may serve for you as a good way to give your academic work more public visibility. I believe the ideas and results of your past publications can be no less valuable than your recent publications.