Online Submissions

600-1000 words

In order to provide content which meets the needs of women, FREEFLOW articles should be factual information on a topic e.g. How to cope with changes to your body after birth

• Easy to read and understand magazine style (directed at women and families)
• Edited by the project lead (and editorial board if required) and uploaded to the site recognising the author for their important work.
• Provide factual reassurance and education – with the aim to enable women and families to ask for what they want and need during their childbirth journey.

Illustrations
Please try to provide good quality photographs (high res jpegs), diagrams or illustrations to go with your article. If you want to use or adapt illustrations from another source, it is your responsibility to obtain written permission to reproduce the material and to credit it accordingly. Photographs need the permission of both the photographer and all subjects within the pictures.

Please submit all pictures and other illustrations as high res jpegs or pdfs separately not embedded images, but clearly highlighting where in the article it should go.

For example, title images prior to upload as Yoursurname_Image 1 and then add Image 1 to the appropriate place in your article. Don’t worry if you don’t have any relevant images for your article as All4Birth can source these for you.

Confidentiality
Please be aware of issues of confidentiality. You may require permission from individuals/institutions discussed in your article. We reserve the right to anonymise where appropriate before publication.

Copyright
All material is accepted for publication on the understanding that it has not been published before and is not due for publication elsewhere. The copyright of all material accepted for publication lies with the Publisher. 

Peer review process
All original research and review papers are subject to external peer review. Papers are acknowledged and assessed for general suitability for publication. Articles are then sent for anonymous external peer review by experts in the relevant field. Following the review, the Editor reserves the right to revise material or to return it to the author for amendments before accepting it for publication. We also reserve the right to amend material during production in accordance with house style and the demands of space and layout. 

Promotion of products or services
We cannot include references to private companies, products or services. If you are writing as owner or employee of a company, brand names etc. will be changed to be more generic. Where a further resources section is included, this is designed to provide sources of information to the reader, not to list or promote products, companies or even particular books.

Charities can appear, at our discretion, within the further resources, but only alongside a variety of alternatives, usually based in the NHS or equivalent.

Inclusivity principles

• We believe that diversity is our strength, and view All4Birth as an inclusive platform to amplify the voices of women, birthing people and maternity professionals of all genders, ages, races, religions, ethnicities, abilities and sexual orientations.
• We believe that inclusion — honouring and celebrating the unique traits and contributions of each individual person — fosters creativity and growth. We are committed to creating a safe space for all. We are inclusive of the non-binary or transgender community, therefore, at All4Birth, we will use both terms ‘women’ and ‘person/people’, sometimes written as birthing people, as well as referring to chest-feeding as appropriate. In addition, we endeavour to recognise and address our unconscious biases which may limit our inclusivity principles.
• We will work to uphold diversity in all levels of our publication, from authors and contributors to editors and section editors, in the spirit of participation and collaboration.
• We believe that transparency — openness and honesty in our communication and actions—builds trust and underlies everything we do.
• We believe that respect — for others, for ourselves, and for the work we do—is the foundation of our publication, and our work as midwives and healthcare practitioners.
• We believe that kindness and compassion are powerful forces which promote healing and love, and should be present in the articles we publish, and in all of our interactions with others.
• We believe that empathy — the ability to put ourselves in others’ shoes and understand and share others’ feelings—allows us to build bridges, and is the cornerstone of our publication, and of safe and effective midwifery care.

Please ensure you respect all our guiding principles in your articles. The editors reserve the right to make necessary changes to articles to ensure our principles are upheld.

Author information: you will need to provide information: name, role, workplace, preferred title, Twitter or Instagram handle (if applicable).

100-word summary: In addition to the word counts (as stated), a 100-word summary is required to provide an overview of the article. Avoid using the same language that is in the main text.

Main body article as described in the types of article, adhering to the following house style:

• Font and formatting: Use Arial font, size 12. Do not use line spacing, but do add one line between paragraphs. Headings and sub-headings in bold, further sub-headings in italic. If you have included boxes of writing (possibly as extras or illustrative comments), please ensure these appear as text within the article (with borders, if you wish) rather than as separate items; this is to ensure they are easily accessible for our editorial team, but also so that the text is included in the word count.
• References: Use the AMA numerical style, also known as the Lancet numerical referencing style.The following links can guide you https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/ama/sample-reference-list and https://www.bcit.ca/files/library/pdf/bcit-ama_citation_guide.pdf.We recommend the use of referencing management software, the inbuilt package in Word is usually sufficient. Please do not use footnotes. In general, aim to use references sparingly.An example

Whilst important issues, mainstream and social media are awash with the denigration of ‘normal birth’ aka physiological birth, ignoring the statistics that normal birth in the UK is at an all-time low¹. This highlights that medicalised birth is already the norm. Despite extensive quantitative and qualitative research that emphasises improved psychological and physical outcomes for physiological birth^2,3, current debates appear to centre around a mistrust in women’s bodies and midwives’ intentions.

References

1. Downe S, Finlayson K. Interventions in normal labour and birth. https://www.rcm.org.uk/media/2341/interventions-in-normal-labour-and-birth.pdf Accessed November 1, 2018.
2. Renfrew M, McFadden A, Bastos MH, Campbell J, Channon A, Cheung N, Silva D, Downe S, Powell Kennedy H, Malata A, McCormick F, Wick L, Declercq E. Midwifery and quality care: findings from a new evidence-informed framework for maternal and newborn care. The Lancet 2014; 384(9948):1129-1145.
3. Downe S, Finlayson K, Oladapo O, Bonet M, Gülmezoglu A. What matters to women during childbirth: A systematic qualitative review. PLoS One 2018; 13(4): e0194906.

Images: We welcome the addition of illustrations as they enhance articles. Please ensure that all illustrations (photographs, diagrams etc) are sent as VERY HIGH RES jpegs or pdf attachments in addition to showing them in the article – we are unable to extract embedded illustrations. Please read the guidelines to ensure that the APPROPRIATE PERMISSIONS ARE OBTAINED.

Head-shots: We feature head-and-shoulders pictures of authors. Please submit a picture of each author, which must be VERY HIGH RES (minimum 1MB), on a plain (if possible white) background, nothing extra and nothing cut off (such as some of your hair or head), in focus and preferably smiling.

Submission checklist:

Main article with summary and references completed
High res attached as jpeg or pdf with permissions (if applicable)
Head shot of each author, high res (minimum 1MB)

Note: References are not required in real life stories unless you are directly quoting or referring to another text or evidence.