Guidelines for Refereed Conference Proceedings

Guidelines for Refereeing Process for Conference CD

For Section Convenors

TASA ’04 is required to produce Refereed Conference Proceedings on a CD (in pdf format). The refereed paper-givers will each receive DEST points. The CD of Refereed Conference Proceedings will include all accepted papers which are submitted by email by the due date of 31 July 2004.

Paper length must be a maximum of 3000 words, including a 200 word abstract.
Papers must be emailed to the TASA ’04 Conference Convenor, Katy Richmond through the web or directly by email to by the due date of 31 July 2004.
Paper versions of papers will not be accepted.
Unrequited revised versions of papers will not be accepted.
The referencing and layout format for acceptance in the TASA’04 Refereed Conference Proceedings (the CD) must follow the Guidelines for Submission of Papers for CD (attached). These follow Sage’s guidelines for the Journal of Sociology with additional requirements of margins, font, heading size, etc.
The Guidelines for Submission of Papers for Refereed Conference Proceedings (the CD) should be sent to potential paper-givers. These Guidelines are also on the web at
Accepted paper-givers will be provided with 20 minutes to speak to their papers at the conference.

Referees:
The TASA Manuscript Review Form (below) must be used to provide a consistent format for review of papers and feedback to authors. It can be emailed to referees & returned similarly.
Each paper should be refereed by two people, one of whom could be the Section Convenor.
All refereeing must be completed by 15 October 2004 in order for the CD to be produced in time for the conference.
Section Convenors are advised to make use of the TASA Executive Committee, Journal of Sociology Editors, and their nominees and TASA’04 LOC members as referees.
Katy Richmond, as Conference Convenor, is required to know the names of referees utilised by each Section Convenor, but will not be informed of the titles of papers that each referee reads. The referee process is in all other respects confidential.
In no case is a paper-giver permitted to be told the names of any of the referees.

Grounds for accepting papers:
Papers should be accepted where they meet acceptable scholarly standards and submission requirements. Section Convenors should look for competent professional papers that are sociological in nature. It is generally expected that most papers will be accepted, subject to minor corrections.
It should be noted that the standards required for a conference paper are not as high as that for a journal article, and that the process of publishing TASA’04 Refereed Conference Proceedings should be viewed as a collegial exercise in professional development.

Feedback to authors:
The outcome of the refereeing process should be communicated to authors (via email where possible) by the end of September at the latest, earlier if revisions are likely to be required.
Summarised comments drawn from the TASA Manuscript Review Form are to be sent to paper authors but not the referees’ comments themselves.
It is acceptable to ask authors for minor revisions where required, though papers requiring substantial revision should normally be rejected.
Given that many of the submitted papers are likely to be authored by early career academics and postgraduate students, the refereeing process should be viewed as a professional development exercise that provides constructive feedback to authors in a sensitive manner.
In providing feedback and in requesting revisions, please make clear distinctions between academic matters and matters of style, format etc. required for the speedy production of the CD.
Revised papers must be returned to the Section Convenors by 10 October 2004 and if deemed to have reached an acceptable standard after revision should be forwarded by email to the Conference Convenor by 15 October 2004.
Rejected authors should be invited to submit their paper in the non-refereed section of the conference.

Appeals:
Where an author disagrees with the decision of referees, he or she should:
be allowed to submit a written response to the referee feedback - this should be sent to the Section Convenor by 15 October 2004
have the paper reviewed by a third party who is nominated by the Conference Convenor.
In the case of a review by a third party, the final decision rests with the Conference Convenor after consultation with the Section Convenor.

Author requirements:
It is a requirement that the authors of accepted papers register for the conference by the early-bird registration deadline of 15 October 2004.
It is the responsibility of the Section Convenor to remind those who submit papers for refereeing of this requirement.
The Conference Convenor will confirm with Section Convenors of the conference registration status of paper-givers whose papers have been accepted for the CD. Those not registered by 15 October 2004 will have their papers removed from the CD publication process, but they may submit their paper in the non-refereed section of the conference. This firm deadline is necessary in order to complete the CD in time for the conference.

TASA’s postgraduate conference scholarship applicants
Section Convenors will be informed of the names of applicants who are also applicants for TASA’s postgraduate conference scholarships in early August. These papers should be refereed very early in the process to ensure that applications for scholarships can be processed quickly.