Author Guidelines
Socialist Studies: the Journal of the Society for Socialist Studies is an interdisciplinary journal with a focus on describing and analysing social, economic or political injustice, and practices of struggle, transformation, and liberation across the world. The Journal seeks to make a major contribution to scholarly and political debates among the progressive left in academic, policy and movement circles by publishing original research of high standards.
The Journal’s scope is intentionally wide-ranging, inviting submissions from varied disciplinary perspectives. The Journal includes core theoretical and empirical research papers, with occasional special issues principally devoted to particular themes. In addition, the Journal publishes shorter notes and comments, as well as book reviews.
Socialist Studies: the Journal for the Society of Socialist Studies, has adopted new citation and formatting requirements for submissions to the journal. Please verify that submissions conform to these new guidelines.
We are now using the OJS online submission system, and encourage you to submit articles and book and media reviews through this site.
Guidelines for Submitting Articles for Peer Review
Please respect the guidelines for submitting articles.
Failure to do so will cause unnecessary delays in processing and publishing your manuscript. Please use these guidelines as a checklist prior to submitting manuscripts.
a. Original manuscripts only
The aim of the Journal is to publish original research and contributions. Manuscripts will be considered only if they have not already been published, and are not currently under consideration for publications, elsewhere.
Manuscripts should note contain substantial elements of material published or accepted for publication elsewhere. If an article has an ISBN or ISSN number it is considered to have been published, regardless of where it has been published.
Manuscripts that have been previously rejected by the Journal should not be resubmitted.
Exceptionally, the publication of translations of articles may be considered. Authors should write to the editors with a rationale, if seeking to publish a translation of an article.
b. Refereeing
If considered suitable by the editors, the manuscript will be refereed by two anonymous referees. The review process is “blind”: authors and referees do not know the identities of the others. In the event of disagreement amongst referees, the manuscript will be sent to a third referee. As a result of the peer review process, the editors may recommend revisions.
Authors will be notified that a submission is being sent out for review within two weeks of receipt. Normally, the first round of review will take one month. In exceptional cases, this process may take longer if there are difficulties identifying potential reviewers.
Reviewers are recruited by the editorial board based upon their familiarity with the topic at hand.
c. Length of papers
The Journal rigorously enforces these word limits:
Articles: 8000 words
Commentaries and Notes: 4000 words
This must include all text : title, abstract, keywords, main text, acknowledgements, end notes and references. This total must also include space allocation for all table and figures (500 words for one page, 250 words for less than a page). If your manuscript exceeds this, you will be asked to shorten it before it is sent for review.
d. Manuscript content
-an informative title
-an abstract of 150 words maximum
-up to five key words
-the main text, including footnotes at the bottom of the page
-acknowledgements
-references
-tables and figures
e. Anonymisation
Authors should ensure that manuscripts are fully anonymous. Manuscripts should not contain any identifying information. The main file of the submission should include the article title, but not the author’s name ; all first-person references in the primary text or footnotes must be removed before submission.
Guidelines for Submitting Book Reviews
Socialist Studies: the Journal of the Society for Socialist Studies has two types of book reviews: for recent and ‘classic’ books. For recent books, the Journal has a policy of reviewing books that have been published in the last 18 months. In addition, the Journal publishes reviews of ‘classic’ or ‘forgotten classic’ books that have a specific, renewed interest in the context of contemporary critical studies.
The review should provide a clear idea of the content of the book and critical comment, within the word limit. The reviewer should consider the author’s intentions and the readership at which the book is aimed.
Since the Journal is an interdisciplinary journal, reviewers should avoid jargon and technical terms that may be inaccessible to readers from other disciplines.
Reviewers should avoid any comments that might be construed as personal abuse and should not use language that is racist, sexist, homophobic or disablist.
Book reviews do not go through the peer review process. However, the editors have final decision-making power regarding whether or not submitted book reviews are published.
a. Additional guidelines for review essays
Be sure to give adequate coverage to all books reviewed.
Provide a title for your review essay.
b. Word limits and time frames, from receipt of a book to be reviewed
Single book 1000 words 2 months
Joint reviews 1500 words 3 months
Review essays 3000 words 4 months
c. Specific conventions for Book Reviews
Reviews should be typed in a word processing package using double spacing, using Times New Roman font.
References should be avoided if at all possible; if essential, they should be referenced using in-text Chicago style conventions. See
Style Conventions, below, for full details.
Quotations should be indicated using single quotation marks. Page numbers should be cited. Long quotations of 40 words or more should be set out as extracts.
Reviews should begin with the following information, in this format:
Biggs, Lesley and Pamela Downe, eds. 2005.
Gendered intersections: an introduction to women’s and gender studies. Halifax: Fernwood. ISBN 1-55266-154-7. Paperback: 49.95 CAD. Pages: 400.
See overall style conventions, below.
d. File Format: Review Essays
i. Essay title
ii. Reviewer name and affiliation
iii. Books reviewed, format as above
iv. Main text
v. Notes
Commentaries, Debates and Research Notes
The journal will also consider publishing individual commentaries, debates, and research notes in cases where a peer-reviewed article is not the appropriate forum for an issue. If you are interested in such a submission, please contact the editors directly.
Media, Arts, and Culture
This section seeks reviews and analyses of other media besides academic monoraphs and anthologies. This include, but are not limited to, DVDs, music, internet-based and live performances. Interested contributors should contact the section editor directly (listed under "About - Editorial Team"
Style conventions for all submissions
a. Manuscripts should be typed in a word processing package using double spacing (including long quotations) and Times New Roman font with 2.54cm margins on all four sides.
b. Pages should be numbered consecutively, including references.
c. Paragraphs should be indented with no additional spacing between paragraphs.
d. Quotations should be indicated using single quotation marks. Long quotations of 40 words or more should be set out as extracts.
e. Canadian spelling should be used.
f. Dates should be in the form ‘4 January 2010’.
g. Delete points from ‘USA’ and similar abbreviations, as well as from contractions like ‘Dr’. When using uncommon abbreviations for the first time, the entire phrase should be spelled out e.g, World Trade Organization (WTO).
h. In-text and end of article references should follow in-text Chicago-style formatting. In-text references should include the author’s name, date of publication and page numbers in brackets, e.g., ‘(Smith 2001, 67)’ or ‘Smith (2001, 64-67) has argued…’ ; for general reference, ‘Smith (2001) maintains that…’ The corresponding reference list should be in alphabetical order at the end of the paper, before tables and figures. All references should appear in a Reference List at the end of the paper as follows:
Biggs, Lesley and Pamela Downe, eds. 2005.
Gendered intersections: an introduction to women’s and gender studies. Halifax: Fernwood.
Falquet, Jules. 2006. “Hommes en armes et femmes ‘de services’: tendances néolibérales dans l’évolution de la division sexuelle et internationale du travail”.
Cahiers du genre 40, no.1: 15-37.
In multi-authored articles, the names of all authors should be given in the reference list. In the text, if there are more than two names, give the first name and ‘
et al.’.
A concise guide to Chicago-style citation formatting is available at
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/chicago-turabianstyle.pdf. The relevant information begins on page 5 under the heading ‘In-Text Author-Date Parenthetical Citations and Reference List System’.
i. Footnotes should be numbered, in order, at the bottom of the page. Footnotes should be used for explanatory purposes only.
j. Tables and Figures should be on separate pages at the end of your manuscript and should contain only horizontal lines. Each table requires a short, descriptive title and column headings should clearly define the data presented. If necessary, suitably identified footnotes should be included below. Clearly indicate all units and measures and cite tables in the main text.
Line drawings and photographs should be supplied as EPS of TIFF files in black and white only.
k. Since the Journal is an interdisciplinary journal, authors should avoid jargon and technical terms that may be inaccessible to readers from other disciplines.
l. Authors should avoid any comments that might be construed as personal abuse and should not use language that is racist, sexist, homophobic or disablist.
m. To protect the identity of research participants, authors should use pseudonyms and remove any information that might identify any individuals described in the study.
Any further questions about submissions should be addressed to the editors.
