Free Format: Focus on your research

Your time is valuable and should be spent on your research, not re-typing reference lists. Free format submission helps make getting your manuscript ready to submit easier and faster.

If you submit to a journal that offers Free Format, either directly or by accepting an invitation to transfer your manuscript to that journal, you don’t ever need to worry about formatting requirements. Simply submit your manuscript in the format of your choice, and 

ICRP will update the formatting for you into journal style if your manuscript is accepted for publication

How does the free format work?

Check out our step-by-step Author's guidelines for submitting to a Free Format. Submit in to .docx format. The file uploaded into the .pdf format will be removed.

If you accept a transfer to a journal that offers a Free Format, a draft submission will be started for you, and your manuscript files and details transferred to that journal. You will have the opportunity to make changes before finalizing your submission.

• Read your chosen journal’s author guidelines on their homepage, but you do not need to reformat before finalizing your submission.
• Format your manuscript and your references in the style or format you’d prefer. Be sure to use a consistent format throughout.
  
  • References should be in APA 6th Format including author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, article title (where required), year of publication, volume & issue/book chapter, and pagination. Including the DOI is highly encouraged.

 

• Be sure to include all the required sections for the manuscript.
   
• Abstract (220-250 words)
• Keywords (5 to 7 words)
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions

Go to your chosen journal's submission site.

Upload all your manuscript files.

If your manuscript is accepted for publication, ICRP will format your manuscript for you to match the journal’s style.

How to ensure all files are anonymized

To ensure the integrity of anonymous peer review, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties:

• The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, with "Author" and year used in the references and footnotes, instead of the authors' name, article title, etc.
• The authors of the document have removed personal information from the file properties by taking the following steps:
  • Microsoft Word for Windows:
    • Go to File
    • Select Info
    • Click on Check for Issues
    • Click on Inspect Document
    • In the Document Inspector dialog box, select the checkboxes to choose the type of hidden content that you want inspected.
    • Click Remove All
    • Click Close
    • Save the document
  • Microsoft Word for MacOS:
    • Go to Tools
    • Click Protect Document
    • Select Remove personal information for this file on save
    • Click OK and save the file
  • PDF:
    • Go to File
    • Select Properties
    • Remove any name in the author field
    • Click OK
    • Save the document