Guidelines for Authors

Thank you for choosing mindfulrelation.com. The blogs posted on mindfulrelation.com will be available to readers from all walks of life. Your goal as an author is to write a piece that is scientifically sound and thought provoking. Take this opportunity to share your scientific research, ideas, and work experiences in a simple way without using academic language (jargon) while still maintaining intellectual integrity. When you write, think how you would explain your perspective to your family member or a friend with little background knowledge in your area of study. Many readers will stop reading if they find the writing difficult or uninteresting. If you are unable to convey some content in an ordinary language, you may use scientific terms, but ensure that you clarify their meaning in a simple language proceeding the scientific terms.

Order 

We recommend that your post be in the order shown below:

• • Title
  • Author
  • Teaser 
  • Significance 
  • Body
  • For Further Reading 
  • Brief biography about author

• Keywords

Blog Length 

The blog length should be between 800-1500 words. 

Facts vs. Speculation

Your blog should clearly distinguish between actual research findings and your opinion. You can speculate about research findings and/or their scientific implications provided you clarify what is a fact versus your personal interpretation.

In text Citations/References

In your blog, avoid using in text citations as that could make your post uninviting to the lay readership. If you are reviewing or sharing findings from a specific journal article, you must add full reference of the article at the bottom of your blog. You are welcome to hyperlink the relevant resources if they are not copyright protected.

When you write about your own research or experiences, refer to yourself as ‘My research…’ or ‘My colleague (s) and I found….’ .  When referring to other researchers, you may say ‘Researchers at San Jose State University reported that…’ or ‘Evan Adams and Sam Cramer reported…’. You are welcome to include up to a maximum of five references at the end of your blog under the heading ‘For Further Reading’. 

The Opening Sentence/ Paragraph

 Start your post with an opening sentence that would grab readers’ attention quickly. Ideally, the first couple of sentences should summarize the most important aspects of your post in an interesting and engaging way such that readers would want to continue reading. Remember your blog does not include an abstract. Therefore, you should share the crux of your post within the first paragraph.

You may use humor, an interesting fact, novelty, paradox, a provocative question, or even a current event that enables you to capture your readers’ attention while also setting up the stage for the rest of your post.  

Title

Write titles that are short, interesting, informative, and fun. Avoid titles that sound academic. 

Teaser

Include a teaser sentence in your post after the title and authorship. Teaser is a short engaging sentence that amplifies the title. The teaser should not be more than two sentences long. 

Significance

In a couple of sentences, describe why is your topic significant/relevant for readers.

Formatting 

Use 12-point, Times New Roman font with double-spacing throughout the blog. Do not indent your paragraphs, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

• Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. 
• In your writing, consider using active voice, rather than passive voice. Active voice is preferred because it normally creates strong sentences. However, you may use passive voice if using active voice in some sentences creates awkward content.
• Conclude your post with a takeaway message embedded in the last paragraph. 

Multimedia

Add photos to make your blog more reader friendly. Ideally, the image should encapsulate the topic of your article. Before adding the image, please ensure it is not copyrighted. You could use a free or paid image, provided you are legally permitted to use it.

Helpful Tips 

• You may include hyperlinks in your blog that could lead readers to an article in the public domain. Do not include a pdf copy unless it is legally permissible to distribute (e.g., Open Access). If you are sharing your own article, check with your publisher if you are permitted to share publicly. You could also link the article to the publisher’s page via DOI. 
• Include a short author biographical summary at the end of the post.  
• Include up to five keywords that describe your topic. Readers usually search keywords to find posts that interest them on mindfulrelation.com.

Take home Message 

Use words that are easy to comprehend (avoid jargon).