Author guidelines

The Editorial Board invites submissions from across the social sciences, humanities and related applied areas, including psychology, sociology, social care, economics, social policy, urban studies, education, criminology, geography and media studies.

Proposals for special theme issues are also welcome. They should normally comprise at least five related articles of around 5000-8000 words each, plus an Introduction or editorial. Suggestions for special/themed issues should be addressed to the editors in the first instance.

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you carefully read and adhere to all the guidelines and instructions to authors provided below. Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

Each manuscript should contain

Title Page

The author must attach a separate file containing full title and subtitle (if any). The title should be brief and informative. The title page must also include the corresponding author’s full contact information (including email address, mailing address, telephone number and institutional affiliation), as well as the names and institutional affiliations of all co-authors.

Abstract

Up to 250 words; should briefly specify (1) the purpose of the submission, (2) the approach/design/methodology used, (3) the main contribution of the submission. The abstract is not included in the article word limit.

Keywords

A list of up to 6. Avoid general terms.

Main text

Word count should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words for a research article and up to 3,000 words other journal sections (reviews, commentary, etc.). This should include notes and references, but excludes illustrations, figures, tables, video and audio content or any other type of material used in supplementary appendices.

Manuscript style

File types

Only electronic files conforming to the journal's guidelines will be accepted. Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, XLS.

Reference Style

The Journal manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the Harvard referencing style guidelines.

Abbreviations and symbols

Abbreviations and symbols should be defined in full in the first instance. Avoid any use of abbreviations in the article title and abstract.

Submitting supplemental files

Supplemental files will be subjected to peer-review alongside the article.

English language

RJLSS is published in British English, or French.

Double blind review

Authors’ Agreement:

Authors submitting to RJLSS take responsibility for the guarantees given therein and may be held accountable for any breach thereof. Note that this procedure is instead of, but just as valid as, signing the agreement on paper.

The submitting author shall be the point of contact throughout the peer review and proofreading process (if applicable).

The submitting author warrants that s/he is authorized by all co-authors to submit this version of the manuscript and to be their spokesperson during the review process and beyond.

The submitting author warrants that this manuscript – or a very similar version – has not previously been previously published nor is it under consideration elsewhere.

The submitting author warrants that the submitted manuscript is original, and that neither it nor any illustration or supplementary material, or any part thereof, are in any way in violation of any existing original or derivative copyright.

The submitting author warrants that the submitted manuscript contains nothing obscene, indecent, objectionable or libelous according to generally accepted norms.

The submitting author warrants that any interests that might impair the credibility of the manuscript are disclosed in the cover letter to the Editor, which letter may be uploaded at the same time as the manuscript.

The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF document file format.
Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

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