Aims and Scope: Mind, Culture, and Activity (MCA) is an international forum for the publication of peer-reviewed articles that examine the relationships between the human mind, the sociocultural environments they inhabit, and the way that mind and culture are constituted in a wide variety of human activities. We seek to promote dialogue among different schools of thought about these relationships, and encourage both interdisciplinary and international contributions. Particular emphasis is placed upon empirical research grounded in theoretical approaches that locate culture and activity at the center of attempts to understand human nature and research that attends to the methodological problems associated with the analysis of human action in everyday activities.
We consider several types of articles: substantial contributions that present syntheses of theoretical and empirical research devoted to a significant topic (up to 8,000 words); commentaries responding to articles published in MCA (up to 2,500 words); letters or brief notes presenting challenging new ideas or observations (up to 2,500 words) and; creative works (up to 2,500 words). We also include book reviews commissioned by the Editors (up to 2,000 words), and shorter book notes. Please keep in mind when you are preparing a manuscript that our readership includes anthropologists, psychologists, linguists, sociologists, educators, and interdisciplinary scholars. Please avoid jargon that is familiar only to researchers in one field. All submissions will be blind reviewed. To facilitate reviewing, a separate cover page with the title, author’s name, affiliation, electronic mail address, and telephone numbers must accompany each manuscript. This information should not appear anywhere else on the manuscript. Authors are requested to submit an electronic file to Manuscript Central at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mca. For other correspondence, e-mails may be sent to the Editors at contactmca@lchc.ucsd.edu.
The manuscript should be prepared using MS Word. Authors must check the relevant questions on the Manuscript Central system or accompany each manuscript with a statement that it has not been published elsewhere and that it has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material from other sources and are required to sign an agreement for the transfer of copyright to the publisher. As an author, you are required to secure permission if you want to reproduce any figure, table, or extract from the text of another source. This applies to direct reproduction, as well as “derivative reproduction,” for example, when you have created a new figure or table that derives substantially from a copyrighted source. All accepted manuscripts, artwork, and photographs become the property of the publisher.
Manuscripts should be prepared according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) (6th ed.). This includes inserting page numbers, a running head of 50 character spaces, and an abstract of not more than 100 words. The abstract should not include abbreviations, diagrams, or references. Also, do not over use quotations, blocked quotes, and references. APA also requires a particular style of in text citation by author and date (e.g., Smith, 1983) and the preparation of a reference list.
Reference list examples:
Journal article: Anderson, A. K. (2005). Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 154, 258–281. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.134.2.258
Book: Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life (2cd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Chapter in a book: Nelson, K. (1995). From spontaneous to scientific concepts: Continuities and discontinuities from childhood to adulthood. In L. M. W. Martin, K. Nelson, & E. Tobach (Eds.), Sociocultural psychology: Theory and practice of doing and knowing (pp. 229-249). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Illustrations: Illustrations, including line drawings, halftones, photos, and photomicrographs, should be submitted in files separate from the manuscript as clean originals or digital files generated by the application used to create the image, not embedded in a Word document. Digital files are recommended for the highest quality reproduction and should follow these guidelines: (1) 300 dpi or higher; (2) Sized to fit on page; and (3) TIFF, JPG or PSD format only. Only semi-tone or black-and-white images will be accepted. Color reproduction is not available.
Color Reproduction: Color art will be reproduced in color in the online publication at no additional cost to the author. Color art will be considered for print publication if supplied at a minimum of 300 dpi; however, the author will be required to bear the full cost involved in color art reproduction. Please note that color reprints can only be ordered if print reproduction costs are paid. Print rates: $900 for the first page of color; $450 per page for the next three pages of color. A custom quote will be provided for articles with more than four pages of color.
Tables and Figures: Tables and figures should be consistent with APA style and should be included as separate files. A short descriptive title should appear above each table with a clear legend and all units must be included. Figures should be completely labeled, taking into account necessary size reduction. Captions should be entered as required on the Manuscript Central system while uploading the image files.
While images must be provided in separate files in the native format and the abstract entered separately, these should still be included in the Main Document uploaded to the ManuscriptCentral system.
Proofs and Reprints: Page proofs are sent to the designated author using Taylor & Francis’ Central Article Tracking System (CATS). They must be carefully checked and returned within 48 hours of receipt. Authors for whom we receive a valid email address will be provided an opportunity to purchase reprints of individual articles, or copies of the complete print issue. These authors will also be given complimentary access to their final article on Taylor & Francis Online.