Author Guidelines

Healthy Childcare® is a bimonthly publication devoted to health and safety needs in the childcare setting. With a circulation of more than 25,000, Healthy Childcare® (launched in December of 1997) is the only publication in the early childhood arena dedicated to health and safety in the early care and education setting. Each issue of Healthy Childcare® includes five articles which address health and safety issues:

• Medicine Chest: Medicines, treatments, preventive measures, clinical information.
• In Sickness & Health: Health promotion, illness, disease prevention.
• Nutrition Action: Nutrition information, cooking activities, nutrition education ideas.
• Safety First: Safety awareness and promotion in and around the childcare setting.
• Health & You: The health and well-being of the childcare worker.

Each issue also includes health education activities for the young child, reproducible mini-posters and parent information sheets, and information from other organizations dedicated to the health and safety of children.

Healthy Childcare® readers are child caregivers and teachers in a variety of settings--large and small; center-based, group care, and family home; mother's day out; after school care; etc. While we do have parents who read Healthy Childcare®, they are not our primary audience.

Potential Authors

Healthy Childcare®, does accept unsolicited manuscripts; however, manuscripts must follow the guidelines stated below. Manuscripts that do not follow these guidelines, including formatting and cover letter, will be returned to the author. Examples of articles can be seen on our website, in the library of articles. Please take the time to review articles to see how they are structured and the types of articles we include. As our publication has evolved, you may note differences in the writing style. Please review the more recent articles (those published in the past two years) as examples of writing style.

Author Credentials

Our readers look to Healthy Childcare® as a health and safety resource and thus, our authors must have appropriate professional experience. Authors must be employed and/or credentialed in an area of childcare health and safety. We are looking for health professionals, such as physicians, nurses, dentists, health educators and childcare health consultants, registered dietitians, licensed pharmacists, physical therapists, speech pathologists, etc., who are familiar with the needs and interests of childcare providers. We also consider early childhood educators and childcare providers who have special interest and knowledge in areas of health and safety. Submissions from free lance writers who do not have appropriate backgrounds will not be considered.

Topics

Authors may suggest topics for publication. Please take the time to review previous topics and do not submit manuscripts that duplicate these topics. A complete list of topics covered in previous articles can be seen on our web site, in the library of articles. Manuscripts must be directly related to a specific health and safety issue in the childcare setting. We do not cover general child development or administrative issues. It is best to send a query letter to Dr. Charlotte Hendricks, Editor, to determine if your topic fits our publication.

Content

Healthy Childcare® is a hands-on, how-to-implement publication. Manuscript text must be clear and concise and written at a 4th-6th grade reading level. Each manuscript should include the following components (although these specific headings are not necessary):

• Introduction: Get the reader's attention and increase their awareness of the topic; show how or why the specific topic/issue is important in childcare.
• Description of topic/issue: Describe the topic, such as the specific safety issue, communicable disease, etc. If applicable, explain how the childcare provider can recognize the situation, disease, or hazard. Illustrate how the topic/issue can affect children or the childcare environment.
• Recommendations: Include practical and specific actions to prevent or resolve the situation/issue. We do not accept any advertising or solicitation, so do not recommend brand-name products or specific services which must be purchased.
• Parent Connection: Include ideas which caregivers can use to involve or inform parents (one-two sentences).
• Resources: Include resources such as toll free numbers and web sites which will be helpful to our readers. All resources are listed in our "sidebars," the area alongside the article, not in the article, and do not count as part of the two-page text content.

We do NOT endorse or promote specific products or agencies, or accept advertising, so resources are generally limited to professional organizations or associations.

References

It is important that our reviewers be able to check specific information for accuracy. If you have attributed a fact or a position to an agency, or have included statistics in your text, please provide us with the reference you used for this so that we can verify that this is factual. For example, if you state the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on immunizations, provide us with the AAP source (i.e., specific website) you used.

One way to let us know a reference is to insert a comment for that text (follow MS Word instructions for inserting comments.)

Length and Formatting

Manuscripts are between 1,000-1,200 words; this is about two pages, single spaced throughout. Indent the first line of each paragraph; do NOT add spaces between paragraphs. The manuscript should be two, single-spaced pages. Resources and references are in addition to these two pages.

• Entire manuscript should be typed in Times Roman or Ariel, 12 pt font. Title and section headers may be boldfaced. Do NOT include italics, underline, or boldface in the text.
• Insert headings as appropriate in the manuscript. Headings may be boldfaced.
• If bullets are used, use the standard * bullet that Word defaults to. DO NOT include check marks, icons, or other formatting to bullets.

DO NOT include:

• Headers or footers.
• Tables, charts, or illustrations in the text. If you believe a table is essential to the content, then note the placement in the text (i.e., “Insert Table Here”) and include the table at the end of the text.
• Footnotes or numbered references (superscript).

Style Points:

• Our name is Healthy Childcare® and we use childcare as one word, not two. Please set your spell check to change “child care” to “childcare.”
• We do not use contractions. Avoid use of don't, can't, wouldn't, etc. These words must be spelled out. (i.e., “do not” rather that “don't.”)
• We speak TO our audience and address them as "you." No uses of "we," "they," or "I." Avoid referring to personal experiences. You may describe an experience, but do not indicate that it is “your” experience.
• Our audience includes childcare teachers or providers; not parents. Avoid use of terms such as "your" child or "your" baby.
• We refer to “childcare programs” rather “centers.” Likewise, avoid the use of "classroom" or "class." Nearly 50 percent of our readers have home based childcare programs and articles must address a variety of childcare environments equally.
• Similarly, our audience is NOT a K-12 school-based environment; so references to school administration or other school issues typically do not apply.