research & resources

In Essence

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Subscribe

In Essence is the bi-annual journal of the IFPA and is distributed to all federation members worldwide, free of charge.

Irrespective of whether you are a practising aromatherapist, aromatherapy student or simply have a passing interest, it is a great source of scientific and evidenced based information.

Each issue provides up-to-date industry news and updates, as well as case studies, research notes, essential oil profiles and educational pieces provided by subject matter specialists. It offers a section on professional practice to help you stand out in a field that is getting more and more competitive. We bring our subscribers up to date on jobs, clients, industry developments, and, most importantly, on the importance of routine skill reviews and self-care for practitioners.

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Write for us

Both IFPA members and non-members are welcome to submit editorial pieces to the IFPA’s twice-yearly journal In Essence. Editorial contributions can range in length from short (news, events, letters, reviews) to long (feature pieces or case studies).

Please note that the IFPA does not pay for feature articles or editorial contributions; however, IFPA members may earn CPD points as follows:

  • News item; report of an aromatherapy visit, event, or meeting; book review: 1 CPD point per 500 words
  • Feature article or case study: 3 CPD points

Editorial contributions

The themes covered in In Essence feature articles are diverse and authors from both inside and outside the aromatherapy industry are encouraged to submit.

Articles by aromatherapy practitioners include:

  • Reports of setting up and running an aromatherapy practice, or practising aromatherapy in a specialist area
  • Sharing information on audit or research projects
  • Case studies
  • Features on the uses, properties and chemistry of essential oils
  • Reports from regional groups
  • Opinion pieces on professional issues or new developments
  • Aromatherapy-related travel articles
  • Reports on major conferences and events.

A wide range of elements from the larger field of complementary medicine and health are also included, to supplement our expert writings on aromatherapy. Examples include:

  • Integrated health practice
  • Other complementary therapies such as reflexology or herbal medicine
  • Legislation on complementary and alternative medicine
  • Marketing, business and professional support
  • The essential oil industry
  • Research into essential oils
  • The conservation of essential oil and carrier oil-bearing plants.

Authors should bear in mind that the target audience is IFPA members who are all professionally qualified or students of aromatherapy. So, articles of interest will be those that broaden or deepen understanding of essential oils and aromatherapy practice (either in the UK or abroad), or introduce new developments, concepts or approaches from the wider world of complementary medicine and health.

Please note that articles in In Essence are educational; therefore, those written solely to promote one or more commercial products, without reference to research or practice, are unlikely to be accepted.

Contributions should be written in Microsoft Word and be double spaced. Please email article submissions to: [email protected] with Article Submission in the subject line.

General notes and house style

Length:

Feature articles are generally between 1000-3000 words but, depending on the topic, longer articles can also be accommodated.

Style:

Depending on your chosen topic, your writing style can be formal such as for case studies or reports, or more conversational, for example, personal experience articles or opinion pieces.

Punctuation :

  • Do not use full stops in initials or abbreviations. For example, USA not U.S.A. and eg not e.g.
  • When you mention an abbreviation for the first time spell out what it stands for eg World Health Organisation (WHO).
  • Use double quotation marks for reported speech eg The client reported: “I feel less tired since my treatment.”
  • Foreign words eg in vitro, in vivo, and Latin botanical names should appear in italic.
  • Try to avoid exclamation marks.

Spelling:

  • English spelling is used throughout In Essence eg criticise, not criticize; realise, not realize etc.

Watchpoints:

  • Practice is a noun (eg in my aromatherapy practice) while practise is a verb (eg I practise aromatherapy).
  • Always check the spelling of complementary eg complementary therapy, not complimentary therapy.

Permissions:

  • If you are writing a case study, you must seek the client’s written permission for information on their case to be published in In Essence.
  • If you are using a figure, diagram or photograph which has been used elsewhere you must obtain permission from the original publisher to use it in an article for In Essence.

Illustrations and photographs

  • As mentioned above, make sure that you have permission to use an image if it is not your own. If you wish to use images from previously published material, you must seek permission to reproduce from the original publishers and authors.
  • Photographs to accompany an article should be emailed separately from the article document as a colour JPEG or TIFF file. Do not embed images in the article text. If scanning from an original image or photograph, please use the following settings: 300dpi, colour, 100% size.

References:

  • References: A list of References includes works you have cited in the article.
  • Biography: A Biography is a list of all the works you have consulted in preparing the article.
  • Always check your references and/or biography before submitting your article
  • In Essence uses the Harvard system of referencing. For this, articles are referenced in the text with the author’s name and date of publication in brackets eg (Tisserand, 2013) and a full list of articles is provided at the end of the text.
  • The references list at the end of the article should include all the sources you have cited in the text. This list should be in alphabetical order in the following style:
  • Tisserand R (2013) Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals, 2nd edition, Churchill Livingstone
  • For material published online the reference should provide: the name of the author, the title of the article or report, the date or year of publication, and the URL.
  • You should obtain permission from a source if you wish to cite personal communications.

After submitting an article

When you submit an article, it will be read by a member of the Editorial Team and may be sent to another practitioner for a second opinion. Once an article is accepted you may be contacted regarding minor changes or clarifications. You will receive a proof of the article before publication and it is possible at this stage to make minor amendments.

We will include the following information about you:

  • Your professional biography at the end of the article - 50 words maximum
  • Your email address and website. Do not include facebook, twitter etc.
  • A headshot picture of yourself, please supply in Jpeg format with a resolution of at least 300dpi.

For further information, please contact the IFPA office

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Back Issues

We have a whole library of In Essence back issues available to members. To access these, please log in to the members area of the website.

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