How to Submit

Materials for review should not have any author identification. Include this information in the cover letter only. All written materials should be presented as sharp, clear printouts and must be double-spaced with at least one-inch margins on all sides. The accompanying electronic files should match the printout exactly. Send the packet to Joanne Hodges, Director of Publications, NCTM, 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1502.

Review Process

1. After all author or editor names have been masked, manuscripts and written proposals are sent to eight outside reviewers by the Reston office. The reviewers receive a form to guide them in their evaluation.
2. These outside reviewers are selected from a cadre of volunteer NCTM members, many of whom have been authors themselves. Every attempt is made to match reviewers' expertise and interests to the materials being sent to them. For many materials, a range of interests is represented in the reviewer selection so that the views of supervisors, researchers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and others are included with those of classroom teachers.
3. The reviews are collected and sent to the members of the Educational Materials Committee with a copy of the material for further review.
4. The committee meets twice a year, usually in the late spring and late fall. The EMC determines which projects to pursue, and authors are then notified of the committee's decision about their submission. Whether the submission is a proposal or a manuscript, the more nearly complete the material is, the more likely it is to reach early acceptance by the EMC. However, authors may occasionally find it advisable to submit a proposal prior to writing a full-length manuscript. Manuscripts developed from proposals that have been deemed appropriate are subject to further review and possible revision before final acceptance.
5. The EMC releases approved manuscripts for publication and they are processed as staff and budget become available.
6. The office staff, on behalf of the EMC, notifies authors of the EMC's decisions.
   • If your material requires revision, you will be given a short deadline to complete it and to submit a revised disk and printout.
   • For videos and software, you will be asked to send a master copy to the Reston office. For a videotape, this should be a one-inch master. For software, this should be a clean, virus-free disk with any accompanying documentation and written teacher materials.
7. This completes the review process, unless revisions have been requested by the EMC, in which case members of the committee will review the changes prior to releasing the manuscript for publication.

How Long Does It Take?

The review process can take anywhere from three months to a year or more, depending on when the material is submitted and the completeness of the submission. When a proposal or manuscript is submitted too close to an EMC meeting, there may not be time to complete the outside review phase before the meeting. Therefore, that submission may not be discussed until the next EMC meeting. If more complete information or revisions are needed, further delays may occur. The average review time is six to nine months, however.

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