‘Social Research Practice’ journal - Author guidelines
January 2015 v2
Introduction
Social Research Practice is the journal of the Social Research Association (SRA). It launches in 2015 and will aim to produce two issues per year, containing around four articles each of around 2,500-4,000 words. The issues will be freely available online at the SRA website.
The journal will publish practice-based research. Articles need to be well-written and easily readable. We are planning a ‘best paper’ award each year to encourage this.
The expected readership will be diverse, including researchers and those who use research from a wide range of social research fields and disciplines, and at all levels from very new to very experienced.
Editorial aims and policy
The journal is for anyone working in social research or social policy, whether they are a producer or a user of research. It will:
· Cover practice-based rather than pure academic research (accepting that this distinction is a loose one).
· Have its main, but not exclusive focus on methodological matters; but also present findings themselves where these are likely to be of wide interest.
· Feature accounts of applications and case studies that will have practical value for research colleagues, rather than discussion of philosophical principles and theory.
· Highlight the impact of research on practice and on policy.
· Focus on innovative techniques, but without excluding useful research based on more traditional methods.
· Cover the full range of approaches – quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, etc.
· Have an ethos of high quality research that aims at minimising error given its constraints.
· Encourage openness from authors – honest admission of problems encountered, and learning from mistakes.
The overall aim of the journal is to encourage and promote high standards of social research for public benefit.
Policy for members of the SRA
Social Research Practice is not, as with many journals, a benefit provided solely to members. However it could not exist without the support of the membership, so as a broad principle we will give priority to submissions from SRA members - while ensuring quality standards are paramount. This means that amongst submissions of comparable quality, those from SRA members will have priority.
Editorial board
Social Research Practice is managed by the editor Richard Bartholomew. It also has an editorial board consisting of 30 senior figures in social research. The role of a board member is to source submissions and to review articles at the editor’s request. The board comprises practicing researchers in a range of discipline, who work in government departments, agencies, research institutes, the voluntary sector and as independent consultants:
Alison Park / CLOSERAndrew Thomas / TNS BMRB
Angela Ellis Paine / Third Sector Research Centre
Bev Bishop / Health and Safety Executive
Bob Erens / London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Catherine Owens / College of Policing
Clarissa White / Independent consultant
David Johnson / Department for Energy and Climate Change
Debbie Collins / NatCen Social Research
Dr Liz Brewster / Leicester University
Dr Paula Mayock / Asst Prof, school of social work & social policy
Emma Wallace / National Children’s Bureau
Gerry Nicolaas / Ipsos MORI
Isabella Pereira / Ipsos MORI
Joel Williams / TNS BMRB
Jouni Kuha / London School of Economics
Justin Davis-Smith / NCVO
Justin Guttman / Consumer Futures
Kandy Woodfield / NatCen Social Research
Kevin Pickering / Ipsos MORI
Lisa Calderwood / IoE
Matt Barnard / Head of Evaluation, NSPCC
Nick Moon / GfK NOP
Patten Smith / Ipsos MORI
Sam Clemens / Ipsos MORI
Simon Anderson / Independent consultant
Siobhan Campbell / DECC
Stephen Morris / Department for Communities and Local Government
Susan Purdon / Independent consultant
Suzanne Hall / Ipsos MORI
Submissions
The editor is happy to receive outlines, or summaries of proposed articles, where an author is not sure if a proposal is suitable. Please email: with ‘Social Research Practice’ in the subject header.
Articles must not have been previously published, and not currently in submission to any other e-journal.
Software
Please send us your article in the MS Word document template provided on the SRA website.
Title
No longer than 15 words in total. It should give the reader a good idea of the subject.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required. It should summarise your article as clearly as possible, without jargon, abbreviations, links or references. Maximum of 150 words.
Literature review
This is not required. In its absence we would expect the article to include some context-setting and justification of the paper’s importance, to include relevant background information such as the policy context, why the research is important, and how it came about.
Article length
Between 2,500 and 4,000 words, although we will consider shorter articles. You need to supply a word count.
Funding
If you are writing about a piece of funded research, please say who the funders were.
Copyright
The author(s) holds copyright of his or her material. As Social Research Practice is freely available on the SRA website we don’t need to licence your article. You are free to use the article elsewhere but we ask that you do this only 6 months after publication with the SRA, and let us know if you are planning to do this.
Style guide
Articles must be supplied in the MS Word document template downloadable from the SRA website.
Readability
Social Research Practice is an online-only journal. Please write in short sentences and paragraphs to help the online reader.
Format of articles
· Single spaced
· A4, portrait orientation, with standard margins (around 2.5cm) left and right
· Align text to the left
· Font colour – black only
· Font: Please use Calibri, size 12 (if unavailable, Arial or Times New Roman)
· For emphasis use bold, not italics or underline
· Use ‘single quotation marks’ if referring to a document
· Numbered or bullet-pointed lists are fine, but avoid creating lists with tabs
· Do not use the ‘Review’ function in Word to insert Comments in the text
· Leave the ‘header’ section of the document blank
· In the footer, insert page numbering (plain number, bottom right) but no text
· In general, avoid any but the most basic formatting.
Headings
In bold, font size 14. Please don’t number headings, and don’t use the ‘Styles’ function in Word to create, number or format headings or sub-headings.
Sub-headings
In bold, font size 12.
Images, tables and figures
· Include these within the text, placed where you want them to appear. Use a logical numbering sequence
· Images such as photos must be saved at 300 dpi resolution before you insert them in the document
· For each image, if you are not the copyright holder, you must get permission from the owner to use the photo in our publication, and add ‘OWNER NAME, reproduced with permission’ immediately below it.
Lists
· Should be auto-numbered or bullet-pointed, but please don’t create lists with tabs or spaces
· First word in upper case
· Only the final bullet has a full stop at the end.
Capitals
Keep to a minimum, as this increases readability. Use for the names of people, places and organisations. We use lower case for job titles.
Numbers
· Spell out one to ten. Use numerals for 11 and above
· For dates, use 1 and 2 rather than 1st and 2nd
· Use % rather than percent.
Verbatim quotes
Please ensure that the quoted words of research subjects could not be used to identify individuals. If you are not sure, don’t use them. For lengthy quotes please ensure you have permission to use them and add ‘quoted with permission’.
Formatting: if the quote runs over more than two lines, make it a separate paragraph, indented once from the left. Identify direct speech by “double quotes” but use ‘single quotes’ if paraphrasing.
Formulae
Please keep mathematical formulae as simple as possible, and consider whether there is another way of expressing the issue, as formulae will not be read or understood by many readers.
Abbreviations and acronyms
Spell out in full at first use, with the acronym in parentheses, eg. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Thereafter just use the acronym. There is no need to spell out if it is widely familiar, eg. UK, MP.
Footnotes
Use these sparingly and keep them short.
References to books, reports and journal articles
Excessive references to other published work is discouraged.
In your text, please cite by Surname and year, as in these examples: (Jones 2012) or (Smith & Jones, 2012).
At the end of your article, in the template box provided, please list the books and journals cited in your article. Do not add references to items not cited there.
The list should be in alphabetical order by (first) surname. Some examples:
References to books and reports:
N. Surname, N. Surname, and N. Surname, (year of publication), Title of book, Where published: Publishing organisation.
References to Journal articles:
N. Surname, N. Surname, and N. Surname, (year of publication), Title of journal, issue/n, pages.
In the References section you can add weblinks to the books and articles listed, but please note that links which fail after publication cannot be updated. Start at ‘www’ (not ‘http//’ unless there is no ‘www’). Links should be wrapped around the title of the book/journal (if you’re not sure how to do this, just add the link after the reference). Please test links before submission.
Links in the text
When referencing a book, report or journal article, please don’t add a link to it in the main text (just in the References section, see above). But if your article references an item on the web that is not published in a book or journal article, please add a weblink to an appropriate part of the text, for example “in her blog post”. Start at ‘www’ (not ‘http//’ unless there is no ‘www’). Please test links before submission. Links which fail after publication cannot be updated.
Please do not add any internal hyperlinks to other parts of your article, references, etc.
Acknowledgements
If needed, these should be in a separate section at the very end of the article.
Peer review
Papers that the editor considers potentially suitable for Social Research Practice will be reviewed, usually by one or more members of the editorial board. The editor will have the final decision about publication.
We take a supportive approach to authors. Submissions from new writers will be encouraged, whether they are early career researchers or mid-late career researchers who have not previously written for a journal. Standards will be maintained, but peer reviewers will be notified when a paper is written by a novice author and will be expected to be encouraging in their comments, whether those comments are favourable or otherwise.
Reviews will not be ‘blind’ so reviewers will see the author’s name. Whether or not their comments are passed back to the author is at the editor’s discretion. However the identity of reviewers will not be disclosed to the author.
How to submit an article
Please write your article directly into the MS Word document template provided on the SRA website. LINK TO BE ADDED.
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Social Research Association www.the-sra.org.uk