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Submissions

Why publish with JISD?

✔ Open access — your work is freely shared worldwide

✔ Connect with a global Indigenous readership and contributors

✔ A welcoming space for both community knowledge and academic research

 

Thinking about submitting? 

We encourage submissions from:

  • Indigenous scholars and researchers
  • Community members and knowledge keepers
  • Students and emerging voices
  • Practitioners working in Indigenous communities

Information For Authors

Interested in submitting to this journal? 

We recommend that you review the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Author Guidelines. Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.

Login or Register To Make a Submission

submission

JISD publishes three types of articles

Types of Submissions:

Research Articles (4,000–7,000 words): Must follow a clear methodological structure, including introduction, literature review, methods, findings, discussion, & references

Policy Articles (4,000–7,000 words): Evaluate programs or policies using primary or secondary sources, follow a structured format of introduction, background or framework, analysis, discussion with recommendations, & references

Commentaries (<1,500 words): Offer scholarly commentary or opinion intended to interpret, critique, or persuade on an issue or policy, & must remain respectful

Before you submit, ensure the following:

The manuscript must not be under consideration by another journal. All materials submitted to JISD must be:

  1. Unpublished
  2. Original

Submissions must include:

  1. Title Page (saved separately), see details below.
  2. Blinded manuscript
  3. Include figures, tables, and images at the end of the article. Each should start on a new page.

An email confirming receipt of the document(s) will be sent by the Managing Editor. The JISD is not obliged to publish an article submitted for consideration. Author(s) of articles not accepted for publication in an upcoming issue may or may not be invited to resubmit a revised article for a later issue.

 

  • Length & Citations: Research/Policy articles: 4,000–7,000 words; Editorials: <1,500 words. APA citations with DOIs/working URLs are required. 
    *As of Sept 8, 2025, reference lists are excluded from the word count.
     
  • Peer Reviewers: After submission, articles are reviewed for suitability, Indigenization policy compliance, and formatting, with authors notified within three weeks if rejected without review. Accepted articles undergo a double-blind review by two reviewers.
     
  • Indigenization Policy: The Journal of Indigenous Social Development (JISD) requires authors working with Indigenous communities to use respectful, ethical, and decolonizing methods, substantiate their relationship to the communities discussed, and include Indigenous contributors whenever possible. As of May 29, 2025, all submissions must include an Indigenization Statement outlining each author’s relationship to the Indigenous communities, their positionalities, and the lands on which they reside.
     
  • Manuscript Preparation: Manuscripts must be submitted in Word or RTF without any identifying information, titles, abstracts, acknowledgements, or page formatting, as all author and article details are entered separately in the online submission system.
     
  • Format: Articles must be formatted on 8.5" x 11" pages in portrait orientation (landscape only for wide visuals), using 12-point Times New Roman, double-spacing, 1" margins, left-aligned text, and consistent English (Canada, US, or UK). Abstracts must be a single unindented paragraph of 150–250 words, separate from the article body, summarizing the study’s purpose, procedures, findings, and conclusions without abbreviations or citations. 
     
  • Keywords: List 3 to 10 keywords for indexing purposes.
     
  • Tables, Figures, and Images: Tables, figures, and images should be placed at the end of the article on separate pages, numbered in order, formatted with clear titles or captions, and presented according to JISD’s guidelines for spacing, headings, and image quality.
     
  • Title Page Submission: Authors must submit a separate title page that includes full author information, confirmation of authorship and originality, corresponding author details, and names of four eligible peer reviewers. The title page must also include required statements regarding contributor roles and may contain unblinded author and acknowledgment sections.
     

  • AI/LLM Use: JISD acknowledges that generative AI tools can assist with manuscript preparation but stresses their limitations, such as inaccuracy, lack of contextual and cultural understanding, data constraints, and embedded biases, and therefore urges authors to use them cautiously and responsibly. Authors must disclose and verify all AI use, avoid plagiarism, recognize AI’s limitations, ensure accuracy of AI-generated content and citations, and follow APA requirements, which mandate disclosure, prohibit AI authorship, and require proper citation of AI-generated material.

    Please refer to the APA website below for ‘How To’ citation details:

    https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt
     

  • Duplicate Publication Policy: JISD requires all submissions to be original, not under review elsewhere, and free from duplicate, redundant, or “salami” publications, allowing secondary publication only with prior approval, full transparency, and proper citation. Manuscripts violating these standards may be rejected or retracted, and authors must disclose all overlapping work and prior dissemination, with potential institutional notification in cases of confirmed misconduct.

End Note

The JISD policy will be subject to ongoing discussion and updates as we become more familiar with, and responsive to, how emerging technologies advance or hinder the process of preparing manuscripts and research for publication. We will review in due course

Copyright Ownership Policy

  1. Purpose

This policy outlines the copyright ownership, licensing, and permissions framework for all materials published in the Journal of Indigenous Social Development (JISD). It seeks to balance respect for author rights, community knowledge sovereignty, and the journal’s commitment to making scholarly work accessible.

  1. Ownership of Copyright
  • Author Retention of Copyright: Authors retain copyright of their published work.
  • License to Publish: By submitting and publishing with JISD, authors grant the Journal a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to publish, distribute, and archive the work in perpetuity.
  • Community Knowledge Rights: Where works are based on Indigenous knowledge, cultural protocols, or community-shared intellectual property, the author affirms that appropriate permissions have been obtained and that community rights are recognized alongside individual copyright.
  1. Licensing Framework
  • Open Access Commitment: JISD is an open-access journal. All published works will be freely available without subscription barriers.
  • Creative Commons License: Unless otherwise agreed, all articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.
    • Readers may share the work with proper attribution.
    • Commercial use and derivative works require explicit permission from the author(s) and JISD.
  • Alternative Licensing: Authors may request a different Creative Commons license, subject to approval by the editorial board.
  1. Responsibilities of Authors
  • Authors must confirm that their work is original, does not infringe on the rights of others, and that all necessary permissions for use of copyrighted or community-owned material have been obtained.
  • Authors agree to respect Indigenous data sovereignty principles, including attribution of source communities and observance of cultural protocols in dissemination.
  1. Responsibilities of the Journal
  • JISD will acknowledge and respect community-held knowledge and may include disclaimers or restrictions where requested by source communities.
  • JISD will ensure long-term digital preservation of published works through institutional repositories and scholarly databases.
  • The editorial board may withdraw or restrict access to published works if significant ethical, legal, or cultural concerns are identified.
  1. Requests for Reuse
  • Non-Commercial Use: Readers are encouraged to share and cite published works for educational and research purposes with full attribution.
  • Commercial or Derivative Use: Requires written permission from both the author(s) and JISD.
  • Community-Directed Restrictions: If a community has stipulated limits on dissemination or use, those restrictions will override general reuse rights.
  1. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed every three years, or sooner if prompted by legal, ethical, or cultural considerations. Updates will be made in consultation with authors, editors, and Indigenous communities

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.