Call for Papers

Afterschool Matters is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship, and consciousness in afterschool education. Published by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time with legacy support from the Robert Bowne Foundation, Afterschool Matters serves practitioners who work with youth in out-of-school time (OST) programs, as well as researchers and policymakers in youth development.

We are seeking articles for future issues of the journal, beginning with Fall 2023. Scholarly or practice-based work on all aspects of OST programming for children and youth, from a variety of disciplines and academic perspectives, will be considered. We welcome submissions that explore practical ideas for working with young people in OST programs. Personal or inspirational narratives and essays are appropriate for our section “Voices from the Field.”

All articles, whether scholarly or practice-based, should connect theory to practice and should be broadly applicable across the field. Articles must be relevant and accessible to both practitioners and academic researchers.

We invite you to discuss possible topics with us in advance. A broad variety of topics will be considered, including the following:

• Innovative program approaches in creative youth development, STEM, civic engagement, social and emotional development, or academic improvement

• Research or best-practice syntheses

• Key aspects of program leadership and administration

• OST system-building, such as cross-city and statewide initiatives

• Expanded or extended learning time and the OST hours

• School-community partnerships that support OST programming

• Physical activity and healthy eating

• Special needs youth, immigrant and refugee youth, or other vulnerable populations in OST

• Youth-centered participatory action research projects

• Gender-focused research and policy initiatives related to OST

Published by the National Institute on Out-of-School-Time (NIOST), Afterschool Matters is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship, and consciousness in afterschool education.

Submission Guidelines

• For consideration for the Spring 2024 issue, submit your article no later than November 15, 2023, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Submissions should not exceed 5,000 words.

• Submit your article electronically in Microsoft Word or rich text format. Use 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides. Leave the right-hand margin ragged (unjustified), and number pages starting with the first page of text (not the title page, which should be a separate document).

• Include a separate cover sheet with the manuscript title, authors’ names and affiliations, and the lead author’s phone number and e-mail address.

• The names of the authors should not appear in the text, as submissions are reviewed anonymously by peers.

• Follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (2019), for reference style guidelines. Present important information in the text and do not use extensive footnotes.

We welcome inquiries about possible article topics. To discuss your ideas, please contact:

Georgia Hall, PhD

Director & Senior Research Scientist

National Institute on Out-of-School Time

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Submit manuscripts electronically to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.