About this journal

Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities’s ( RAPIDD's) purpose is to disseminate research, encourage its translation and relevance to practice and policy, and generate informed debate on contemporary issues that matter to the quality of life of people with intellectual disability and their families. Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities will inform the design and delivery of support that is important for people with intellectual disability and their families to facilitate social inclusion and engagement. Its focus is also the practices and structural adjustments necessary to enable mainstream services and communities to be inclusive and respond appropriately to people with intellectual disability.

Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities will provide a forum to identify pressing research questions, practice and policy issues. The Australian context and the pursuit of a more inclusive society for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are the core focus of the journal. Also of interest are comparative perspectives that explore similarities and differences with other contexts and groups of people with disability. The journal publishes original research, concise reviews of contemporary research or literature, critical or descriptive analysis of policy and programs, evaluative case studies illustrating application of research to practice, as well as conceptual papers that bring new ideas or theoretical perspectives to the field of intellectual and developmental disability.

The journal will establish a means of constructive dialogue between the different perspectives of managers, practitioners, academics, families, people with intellectual disability, advocates, funders and policy makers. It will provide space to consider interfaces and respective roles of communities, families and service systems, both disability and mainstream. The content will be characterised by the quality, rigour and clarity inherent in a peer reviewed publication and be relevant and accessible to its intended audience of people with disabilities, families, service providers, academics and policy makers. The contents of Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities are a combination of papers commissioned by editors and those submitted through an open process by anyone with an interest in the field. All papers are peer reviewed before publication and will not exceed 4000 words.

Peer review policy

All articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and double anonymized refereeing. Authors also have the option of a single anonymized peer review if they wish. When a paper is “double anonymized”, authors should ensure that they are not identifiable in any form in the submitted manuscript (e.g., self-citations are “author’s own” in the review copy of the paper). In the case of single-anonymized peer review, the names of authors are still removed from the review copy of the paper but the author’s identity can be disclosed within the body of the manuscript (e.g., self-citations provide the author’s name). Reviewers should not comment negatively on a paper because it contains identifying information within the body of the text. In both types of review, the identity of the reviewer is never disclosed to the author, and reviewers should always treat manuscripts confidentially. The decision of the Editor is final.

Editor
Professor Christine Bigby, LaTrobe University, Australia

Associate Editors
Dr Chris Fyffe, Adjunct Professor, La Trobe University; Disability Consultant, Bendigo, Australia
Dr Ilan Wiesel, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Editorial Board
Dr Tal Araten-Bergman, La Trobe University, Australia
Dr Sam Arnold, Western Sydney University, Australia
Professor Susan Balandin, Deakin University, Australia
Dr Julie Beadle Brown, Tizard Centre, University of Kent, UK
Dr Angus Buchanan, Curtin University, Australia
Professor Monica Cuskelly, University of Tasmania, Australia
Dr Karen Fisher, University of New South Wales, Australia
Dr Brent Hayward, The University of Melbourne, Australia
Adrian Higgins, Disability Consultant, Nelson, New Zealand
Professor Deborah Lutz, Catholic University of Applied Sciences Freiburg, Germany
Professor Magnus Tideman, Halmstad University, Sweden
Dr David Treanor, The University of Tasmania, Australia