Submissions are encouraged to challenge our collective assumptions about the humanitarian system. We welcome papers that deal with concepts of leadership in the humanitarian system, as well as ideas useful to humanitarian decision-makers, or that interact with core concepts of the humanitarian system.
In 2024, authors of accepted papers will receive a small honoraria payment of 200-300 AUD, depending on the number of authors on a paper. Staff of the two partnership institutions that comprise the CHL, Deakin University and Save the Children Australia, are welcome to submit papers but are ineligible for honoraria payments.
We encourage prospective authors to read this Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document before writing and submitting their paper online.
Submissions for 2024 are now closed
Submissions for the Humanitarian Leader for 2024 are now closed. We expect to hold our next call for papers in late 2024/early 2025. Please email research@cfhl.org.au with any queries.
Submission guidelines
Papers need to meet the following requirements to be considered:
- A word count of approximately 5,000 words. Papers significantly under or over the word count may be returned to the author. Word count does not include abstract, author information, leadership relevance response, or bibliography
- Papers can be written in first or third person
- Spelling and punctuation should be as polished as possible in submission. Accepted papers will receive professional copyediting
- Referencing must be in APA7 format
- A 150-word abstract must be included, as well as a 50-100 word leadership relevance response answering the question: How does this paper inform humanitarian leadership practice? (Both the abstract and response are excluded from the overall word count)
- The paper should be in MS Word
- Images should be submitted in JPEG or PNG format as separate files, and have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
Publication process
If your paper is accepted by the Editor, the CHL Communications Team will work with you through the following process:
- The editorial team will run submissions through an academic integrity check as part of the screening process
- All papers are copyedited by a professional editor
- Any significant changes or queries are returned to the author for review and comment
- The paper is finalised and proofread
- A designer completes the layout of the paper
- The paper is published on OpenJournals@Deakin and highlighted on the CHL website
- The paper is promoted via the CHL communications channels, including social media and EDMs
Copyright details
The author/s retain ownership of the intellectual property in their working paper and grant to the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership the right to publish the Working Paper on our website. The author/s warrant to the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership that their Working Paper does not infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights, nor does it contain any defamatory material.
Publishing in the Humanitarian Leader will not prevent later publication in a journal and all rights remain with the author/s.
Academic writing resources
The information below has been developed to support student academic writing skills and is equally useful for Working Paper preparation.
- Deakin’s Academic Skills Guide includes information on a variety of skills that prospective authors may find useful for Working Paper preparation. In particular Academic Style of Writing offers information to build academic writing skills, and the Choosing the right words and the Academic Phrasebank may be useful for language choice and academic writing more broadly.
- Critical thinking, reading and note-taking provides tips on literature analysis and critical thinking to develop a ‘stand-point’ or research question.
- Literature Review outlines the structure and language used in academic material.
- If you are a current Deakin student, you can access writing support with a Deakin Language Advisor.
- APA referencing includes information on the required citation format
How to submit | Contact us
Submissions are currently closed at this time.
