Paper Submission Guide

We welcome you to submit a research brief/paper to present at our symposium! We assemble a wide range of researchers, and have several dozen practitioners attend to join in on the discussion. 

This year (2024) you are invited to submit a brief abstract or summary of your research and findings. From these preliminary submissions select authors will be invited to present their research and submit a short paper, as per the submission guide below. The short paper is only required for those selected to present their work at the symposium, although we do try to accommodate all relevant research projects.

Paper Submissions: Authors are encouraged to submit any previously unpublished work or repackaging current projects that may have appeared in a recent long-form paper in any way related to led outdoor or adventure risk or safety research. Topics may include but are not limited to: safety management systems, risk assessment, accident analysis, standards, regulation, safety performance, safety culture, guide specific research, etc. 

The abstract or summary for consideration is informal and only a couple of paragraphs, and just includes: 

• context of the research and research question
• methods, data set and collection (in brief i.e. 1 paragraph)
• key findings

From these submissions a collection of researchers will be asked to proceed to author a short paper and present their findings at our symposium. Short paper guidelines below.

The symposium is held online, in conjunction with the Wilderness Risk Management Conference. The symposium is free for all. Paper presenters have to register for the WRMC conference at regular conference rates if you intend to go to the conference. Conference 'speaker rates' apply only to conference workshops, which you may consider applying to present at - your work matters, so get it heard! 

Empirical quantitative and qualitative papers are equally welcome. Theoretical/non-empirical papers may be considered for their relevance.  Symposium presenters will be selected based upon these criteria: 

a. Relevance of research to led outdoor and adventure risk and safety 

b. Contribution to breadth of symposium topics 

c. Quality of research

Papers are due prior to the symposium and will be blind peer reviewed for final acceptance/presentation at the symposium. Papers are published in a digital symposium publication available for free to readers via the symposium website and can be cited as peer reviewed symposium publication.

Submission Guidelines: Paper submissions are required only for those selected to present based upon their abstract/summary. Short paper due dates will be arranged with the author after invitation to proceed, but are due before the symposium as short papers are reviewed and published online in conjunction with the symposium. 

It is important that authors follow these instructions. Papers that do not follow these formatting instructions may be returned to their authors for revision. 

Page limit: Maximum 7 pages double spaced (this includes title, abstract, tables, figures, and appendices, and references). A good target is 5 pages plus app/ref.

Title and Abstract: Include title of paper and full contact information for author(s) (highlight the corresponding author); Abstract: 120 words maximum 

Body: Papers should include a brief Introduction and Literature Review providing basic context for the work, and separate sections titled Methodology, Findings, Discussion and Conclusion. The focus of the paper is on your methods and findings, not the Lit Review. Lit Review can be limited to one paragraph, unless more context is required to discuss Findings.

Formatting: The format of submissions must conform to the APA (7th edition) style guide in terms of margins, spacing, title, abstract, and headings. The required font for papers and symposium proposals is Times New Roman 11. Submissions should be 1.5 space. Please check spelling and grammar before submitting your paper; your paper will not be copy-edited after submission. Papers must be submitted in a single file in Microsoft Word format. 

Copyright: If the full text of the paper is included in the Digital Symposium Proceedings, authors still retain the right to use and publish their paper. 

Student Submissions: If the author of a paper is a student, this should be indicated on the title page by adding the word “student” in brackets after their last name. Students must also indicate their status by adding the word “student” in brackets after their last name when submitting the paper. 

Submit to: Dr. Clare Dallat, WRRS Co-Chair (contact here)