General information: Contributions for the Zeitschrift für Evaluation - Journal of Evaluation (ZfEv) are subdivided into two categories:
- Originalbeiträge (original research articles): Scientific, theoretical and conceptual contributions, results of empirical studies and contributions from practice regarding current issues are published either under the rubric ‘Theorien, Methoden und Praxis der Evaluation’ (theories, methods and practice of evaluation) or summarized referring to a ‘Themenschwerpunkt’ (thematic focus). All manuscripts submitted as ‘Originalbeiträge’ undergo a double-blind peer review. The assessment of the manuscripts takes into account (1) the suitability referring to thematic focusses of the journal, (2) the adherence to scientific standards, and (3) the gain of scientific knowledge. The claim to originality demands that the submitted manuscripts have not been published previously in another place or rather have not been submitted elsewhere until their final acceptance or rejection.
- Information & Service: Practice reports, debate pieces, conference reports, reviews of current publications, presentations of evaluation institutions etc. as well as the section DeGEval ...Info with information on current activities of the DeGEval Evaluation Society for Germany and Austria.
Submission of manuscripts: Manuscripts are to be submitted via email to the editorial office as a file in a standard word processing program (Microsoft Word, Word Perfect) or RTF-format. Graphics or figures should be sent additionally as a PowerPoint or Excel file (please agree with the editor beforehand if you wish to use different formats).
Manuscript guidelines: When writing manuscripts for ZfEv the following information should be taken into account:
- Layout: Margin top, bottom, left, right 2.5 cm; font: ‘Times New Roman’; font size: 12pt; single-spaced; no header/footer; no hyphenation or control characters; for emphasis only italic type (no bold or underlined type); own terminology may be placed in single quotation marks, double quotation marks are to be used for direct quotations only.
- Length: Original research articles should be between 15 and 30 printed pages (approx. 4,500 to 9,000 words) in length. Contributions for the category 'Information & Service' are normally limited to 10 printed pages (approx. 3,000 words). Contributions to DeGEval ...Info should not exceed five printed pages (approx. 1,500 words).
- Title page: Should include the English title (short and descriptive), subtitle if necessary; the names of the author(s) (academic title if applicable), their institutional affiliation (name and address of institution(s)), as well as email addresses.
- Second page (applies only to original research articles): As cover page, but without name, institution and address, plus English abstract (max. 1,000 characters incl. spaces, approx. 120 words) and a maximum of four English keywords as well as the German translation of the title, subtitle if applicable, a German abstract (max. 1,000 characters incl. spaces, approx. 120 words) and four German keywords.
- Text from third page on: Chapters must be subdivided numerically; footnotes have to be numbered continuously, they must be marked by superscript numbers without brackets and they have to be listed at the end of the page.
- Legibility: Manuscripts are to be written in a gender-sensitive manner and have to be checked for grammar, spelling, etc. as well as for appropriate linguistic quality before submission. Please be consistent in using either American or British English.
- Tables/Figures: Tables/Figures have to be titled ‘Table’ or ‘Figure’, they must be numbered chronologically and they have to bear a title.
- Bibliographical references: Direct and indirect quotations have to be inserted into the text by adding references in brackets that refer to the bibliography (‘American citation style’). There is a semicolon between different references, and a comma in case of multiple citations of the same author. If there are more than three authors, please put ‘et al.’ after the first author. Examples: (Scriven 1967, 1991); (Mertens/Wilson 2018; Rossi/Freeman/Lipsey 1999); (Chelimsky 2014: 528); (Dahler-Larsen 2017: 245).
- Bibliography: All references occurring in the text have to be listed completely and in alphabetical order in the bibliography at the end of the manuscript. The bibliographical details have to be arranged as in the following: Last Name, First Name (Year of Publication): Title: Subtitle. Place of Publication: Publishing House (Edition).
- Examples for bibliographical references:
Chelimsky, Eleanor (2014): Public-Interest Values and Program Sustainability: Some Implications for Evaluation Practice. In: American Journal of Evaluation, 35 (4), pp. 527-542.
Dahler-Larsen, Peter (2017): Critical Perspectives on Using Evidence in Social Policy. In: Greve, Bent (Ed.): Handbook of Social Policy Evaluation. Cheltenham/Northampton: Edward Elgar, pp. 242-262.
Mertens, Donna M./Wilson, Amy T. (2018): Program Evaluation Theory and Practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Rossi, Peter H./Freeman, Howard E./Lipsey, Mark W. (1999): Evaluation: A Systematic Approach. Thousand Oaks et al.: Sage (6th Ed.).