Submit an Article

Long Term Care welcomes article ideas and submissions from people knowledgeable in the long term care sector.

Editorial Guidelines

Long Term Care is a national/professional magazine published quarterly by the Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA). Consequently, it is not an academic, peer-reviewed journal. The magazine is directed to people involved in every aspect of long term care: boards/owners, administrators, management and front-line staff, volunteers, residents and families. As such, it reaches a broad audience of service providers and consumers in community-based, home care, retirement home, nursing home, homes for the aged and chronic care hospital settings.

Content

Editorially, the magazine is divided into six sections: Frontlines, Features, Departments, Bulletin Board, Fast Tracks, Back Talk and The Final Touch. On average, two feature articles and four to seven departmental articles appear in every issue, with departments covered according to availability and suitability of solicited and unsolicited articles.

• Frontlines: an opinion piece on a timely and topical issue (400-500 words): usually a solicited piece

• Features: a broad, philosophical or practical examination of issues or trends facing long term care providers and consumers (1,500-2,500 words)

• Departments: a concise, clear, useful, “how to” informational look at a variety of issues under four department sections (800-1,500 words): Management (administration, legal issues, finance, marketing, community relations, human resources, owner/board issues); Resident Health (nursing, rehabilitation, food services); Resident Life (activities, volunteers, spiritual and pastoral care); and Environment (housekeeping, laundry, maintenance, safety, landscape and architecture, staff health and well-being)

• Bulletin Board: calendar of events pertinent to the long term care sector (submissions should include event name, date, location, registration information and contact person)

• Fast Tracks: press releases and short, newsy articles of interest to people working and living in the long term care environment; information on medical/health advances related to the care of elderly people is welcome (length varies, but word count should not exceed 150)

• The Final Touch: a personal experience or human interest story (500-750 words)

Style

Writing style must reflect the editorial focus of the magazine, which is published to provide practical, “how to” information to a broad range of readers involved in long term care. The primary aim of every article is to impart advice or information that will improve residents’ quality of life.

Long Term Care is a magazine, not a peer-reviewed journal. Editorial style must reflect this. The magazine follows standard magazine journalistic principles and practices:

• catchy lead or opening;
  
• developmental style (the article builds on previous paragraphs to reach a conclusion);
  
• tips, bulleted points and/or sidebars that help to précis or list important information;
  
• a conclusion that sums up the article’s message;
  
• use of the 3rd person, not the 2nd or 1st person (with the exception of Frontlines and The Final Touch); and
  
• simple, easy-to-understand language (clear, concise and free of jargon and unnecessarily technical terms).

Although provincial examples are welcome, the article must have national appeal. The word “resident” is preferred to the words “patient” or client.”

Photographs, illustrations, charts and/or tables are encouraged, as these increase the magazine’s readability and friendliness. (For feature articles, send colour prints: for departments, etc., send b&w prints.) When submitting photographs, provide captions and photo release forms (a sample form may be requested from the Editor).

A short list of suggested reading material is preferred at the end of the article to a list of references. However, Long Term Care prefers that articles not contain this type of academic-oriented material.

Submission Details

Individuals should submit their ideas and/or completed articles to The HLR Publishing Group. Electronic versions in either Wordperfect or MS Word are preferred.

Other

2. Editorial policy prevents the publisher from printing product information, promotional articles or public service announcements. Public service organizations are directed to send fact sheets containing information relevant to the long term care sector that can be reproduced in whole or part.