OT Practice magazine author guidelines

OT Practice® is the clinical and professional magazine of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). It serves as a comprehensive, authoritative source for practical information to help occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants to succeed professionally.

OT Practice focuses on news and practical information that occupational therapy practitioners need to succeed professionally. Articles should include concrete examples and demonstrate the distinct, unique contribution and expertise of occupational therapy practitioners.

Submissions to OT Practice should support occupation-based practice by reflecting the language of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process or the language of an occupation-focused model.

Consistent with the Guidelines for Supervision, Roles, and Responsibilities During the Delivery of Occupational Therapy Services, the roles of the occupational therapist and occupational therapy assistant should be clarified as appropriate.

We welcome unsolicited manuscripts and consider them for both feature articles and departments. Please email a draft of your article otpractice@aota.org. Include your name, address, and a phone number where you can be reached during the day. You will be notified after it has been reviewed for publication.

Nonmembers may submit manuscripts, but preference is given to member submissions.

We are happy to work with AOTA members who haven't written for a publication before or who would like some additional assistance. We're here to help!

Submissions should be a maximum of 2,000 words total, including references, tables, and figures (about 10 double-spaced, typed pages). There is no minimum length.

Submissions must be in Word. We are not able to review pdfs.

AOTA uses the APA style guide, with a few modifications. We will make any necessary style changes to accepted manuscripts during the editing process.

We present only new articles in OT Practice. Do not send manuscripts that are being considered elsewhere or have already been published.

Using other people’s ideas is an important way to build on the body of professional knowledge. However, you must acknowledge these ideas by citing the original source. If you are using text exactly as it appears somewhere else, use quotation marks and include the page number(s). References must be up to date and reflect the most current practice ideas.

AOTA requires authors to disclose at the time of article submission whether they used generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology or Language Models during the creation of their work. Authors must describe how the AI was used, and how AI-generated content was evaluated to ensure accuracy, integrity, and originality. AI should not be used to generate original content.

You must submit a signed release form from the copyright holder in the name of AOTA for previously published tables and figures, or for tables and figures created by someone other than yourself. Authors are responsible for obtaining releases for all copyrighted materials before publication and for any associated fees. The staff of OT Practice can provide you with the appropriate copyright forms.

Articles published in OT Practice are copyrighted by AOTA and may not be published elsewhere, in whole or in part, without written permission from AOTA. By submitting an article to OT Practice, you are granting us permission to publish all or part of it. Before publication, all authors must sign a copyright release form. We encourage you to submit the completed form(s) with your manuscript.

Photographs are always welcome. We prefer them in color, and they should enhance your article by showing people doing something. The best photographs have a simple background and good lighting.

Digital photographs must meet the following criteria:

• 300 dots per inch (dpi) or 1600 x 1200 resolution (depending on your settings).
• 3 inches x 5 inches minimum; 8 inches x 10 inches maximum.
• JPEG (Mac or PC version), TIF (Mac or PC version), or EPS (Mac version only). Please send the photos as attachments, not embedded in the text.

When in doubt, take photos at the highest resolution your camera offers.

You must submit a signed release from each identifiable subject or subject’s guardian in a photograph before publication. You must also submit a release from the photographer if you do not own the photo. If your article and photos are accepted, the OT Practice staff will provide you with the necessary release forms. Any fees associated with printing author-submitted photos are the responsibility of the author.

All accepted articles are edited by the OT Practice staff for clarity, length, adherence to AOTA style, and reflection of the terminology and construct of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process or other models in the field. OT Practice editors use the APA style guide in addition to an in-house guide. OT Practice is not peer reviewed, although articles are reviewed by practitioners with expertise in the subject area.

Before publication, all articles are returned to the author for a final review.

• Don't write about things practitioners could or should do. Write only about what they are doing.
• Tell us your story. Why is this topic important?
• Provide strategies that readers could apply the next day.
• Where appropriate, include approaches that didn't work or lessons learned. This provides a broader picture of your intervention.
• When discussing emerging practice areas, include information about reimbursement.
• Use case examples to demonstrate your points.
• Read your story out loud. If you have to pause at an unnatural breathing point, the sentence is probably too long.
• Use the active voice.

• Manuscript in Word, via e-mail, no longer than 2,000 total words
• Signed copyright release form from each submitter.
• The title of the article and each author’s name in the order in which they should appear in print, their credentials, and short biography
• High resolution photos (if using) attached as JPEGs (not embedded in the Word document)
• The contact author’s address, email, and phone number(s).

Email your manuscript and releases to otpractice@aota.org.

By email: otpractice@aota.org

By phone: 800-SAY-AOTA (800-729-2682), ext. 2652 (members) or 301-652-2682, ext. 2652 (nonmembers)

By mail: OT Practice, AOTA, 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929

By fax: 301-652-7711