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Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

Policies

Author Instructions

The following Guidelines provide an overview of the submission requirements and review process and are designed to assist authors in the preparation of their manuscripts for publication in the Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences. It covers details of the review process and the presentation and formatting style that are required for all paper submissions and that will be checked in copyediting if your manuscript is accepted for publication. To avoid delays in manuscript processing, all authors and co-authors who wish to have their papers considered for publication should review and observe the following submission requirements:
  1. All manuscripts submitted for review must include a non-refundable, processing fee as follows: $10 for IASS members (this fee is waived for members who submit papers presented at previous IASS annual meeting). The fee is $25 for non-IASS members. There is no cost for students and associate members. Papers will not be processed without payment.
  2. Make all checks to: Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences (IASS) and attach to letter and manuscript submission. Payment may also be made online via PayPal and indicate in your submission letter.
  3. BE SURE TO INCLUDE A COVER LETTER; ABSTRACT with KEYWORDS; and PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY with both email/electronic and hard copy submission of manuscripts. Failure to do so will delay processing of your paper.
    • Authors must provide full and complete contact information as follows: 1) name, 2) faculty or student status including rank or undergraduate/graduate student, 3) discipline and department affiliation, 4) university institution, 5) institutional mailing address, 6) email address, 7) work and alternate phone.
    • Cover letter should state the author/co-authors is/are submitting their paper for review for possible publication in the Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences. Authors and co-authors must state that their work has not been published anywhere previously and agree to comply with all requirements outlined in these Guidelines including a willingness to publish their paper in the Journal if accepted and to agree to assign copyright to IASS should their paper be accepted.
  4. Papers must be submitted electronically via email as MS WORD document attachment to the Editor. One print (hard) copy of the manuscript must also be mailed to the IASS Journal Editor as follows:

    Dr. Kenneth Colburn
    Editor, Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences
    Sociology and Criminology Department
    Butler University
    4600 Sunset Avenue
    Indianapolis, IN 46208

  5. All papers submitted for publication must be prepared according to the American Sociological Association Style Guide (4th ed.) as modified below. Most university libraries have copies, summaries are available on-line from many sources and any current sociology journal (American Sociological Review, Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Focus, Sociological Inquiry, etc.) may be consulted for examples. A summary review of the ASA style guide as modified for the IASS and other requirements is available on the Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines page.

Copyright Transfer Agreement

Copyright to the unpublished and original article submitted by the author(s), the abstract forming part thereof, and any subsequent errata (collectively, the “Article”) is hereby transferred to the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences for the full term thereof throughout the world, subject to acceptance of the Article for publication in the JIASS. This transfer of copyright includes all material to be published as part of the Article (in any medium including online and print), including but not limited to abstracts, tables, figures, graphs, movies, other multimedia files, and all supplemental materials. IASS shall have the right to register copyright to the Article in its name as claimant, whether separately or as part of the journal issue or other medium. Authors employed by the United States government indicate such below and acknowledge that a transfer of copyright is made only to the extent permitted by law.

Author(s) warrant(s) that his or her Article is an original work not published elsewhere or under consideration for publication elsewhere in whole or in part, except in abstract form, that he or she has full power to make this grant, and that the Article contains no matter libelous or otherwise unlawful or which invades the right of privacy or which infringes any proprietary right.

Author(s) warrant(s) that the Article has not been previously published and that if portions have been previously published, written permission has been obtained for publication in JIASS and Author(s) will submit a copy of the permission release and copy for credit lines with the manuscript.

Formatting Requirements

Manuscript Format

  • Paper length should be limited to about 30 pages total, including title page, abstract, all text, graphs, tables, Endnotes, and References.
  • All pages must be typed or printed using Microsoft Word in 12-point Times New Roman type size only and double-spaced (including Endnotes and References).
  • Margins must be 1.25 inches for left and right margins; 1.25 inch top and bottom.
  • Use normal settings when word processing: Do not create special characters on the keyboard.

Title Page

  • Include the full title of the article, the author(s) name(s) and institution(s) (listed vertically if there is more than one author), a running head (60 characters or less), the word count for the manuscript, and a title footnote.
  • An asterisk (*) by the title refers to the title footnote at the bottom of the title page. The title footnote includes the name and address of the corresponding author, acknowledgments, credits, and/or grant information.

Abstract

  • The abstract appears on a separate page headed by the title. It should be brief (one paragraph of 150 to 200 words), descriptive (a summary of the most important contributions in a paper), and accessible (jargon-free and clear to the general reader). A good test of the quality of an abstract is if it can serve as a press release for the research.

Text

  • Content. As you revise your text, read it objectively from a reader’s point of view. Use terminology consistently throughout the text (e.g., use variable names consistently). Also active writing (“I discovered that ...”) is more concise and accurate than passive writing (“It was discovered that ...”).
  • Subheadings. Generally, three levels of subheadings are sufficient to indicate the organization of the content. See recent journal issues for subheading formats.
  • Text citations. Include the last name of the author and year of publication. Include page numbers when you quote directly from a work or refer to specific passages. Cite only those that provide evidence for your assertions or that guide readers to important sources.
    • If author’s name is in the text, follow the name with the year of publication in parenthesis: “...Duncan (1959)”; if author’s name is not in the text, enclose both the last name and the year in parentheses: “... (Gouldner 1936).”
    • Pagination follows the year of publication after a colon: “... (Ramirez and Weiss 1979:239–40).”
    • Give both last names for joint authors: “... (Martin and Bailey 1988).”
    • For works with three authors, list all last names in the first citation in the text; thereafter use “et al.”: “... (Carr, Smith, and Jones 1962)”; and later, “... (Carr et al. 1962).”
    • For more than three authors, use “et al.” throughout.
    • Separate a series of references with semicolon: “... (Burgess 1968: Marwell et al. 1971)
    • For unpublished materials, use “forthcoming” to indicate material scheduled for publication. For dissertations and unpublished papers, cite the date. If no date, use “N.d.” in place of the date: “... Smith (forthcoming) and Jones (N.d.).”
    • For machine-readable data files, cite authorship and date: “... (Institute for Survey Research 1976).”
  • Mathematical symbols and equations. Use consecutive Arabic numerals in parentheses at the right margin to identify important equations. Align all expressions and clearly mark compound subscripts and superscripts. Clarify all unusual characters or symbols. Use italic type for variables in equations and in the text; use bold type for vectors.

Footnotes/Endnotes

  • Use footnotes/endnotes only when necessary. Notes (particularly long ones) can be distracting to the reader. As an alternative, consider stating in the text that information is available from the author or adding an appendix.
  • Begin each note with the superscript numeral to which it is keyed in the text.
  • Type or print notes double spaced, either as footnotes at the bottom of the page or in a separate “ENDNOTES” section following the references.

Reference List

  • All references cited in the text must be listed in the reference list, and vice versa. Double check spelling and publication details—ASA journals are not responsible for the accuracy of your reference list.
  • List references in alphabetical order by authors’ last names. Include full names of all authors—use first name initials only if the author used initials in the original publication.
  • For multiple authors, invert only the name of the first author (e.g. “Jones, Arthur B., Colin D. Smith, and Barrie Thorne”).
  • For two or more references by the same author(s) or editor(s), list them in order of the year of publication. Give the author’s (or editor’s) full name in all subsequent references. Arrange references for the same single author from the earliest to the latest. All single author references precede references with multiple authors, even though they may have been published earlier. References with multiple authors are arranged in alphabetical order of author’s last names.
  • To list two or more works by the same author(s) from the same year, distinguish them by adding letters (a, b, c, etc.) to the year or “Forthcoming” (e.g., 1992a, Forthcoming a). List in alphabetical order by title.

Biography

  • Include a short biography (five or six lines) for each author, which should include the author’s name, title, department, institution, and a brief description of current research interests, publications, or awards.

Tables, Figures, and Appendices

Include tables, figures, and appendices only when they are critical to the reader’s understanding.

Tables
  • Number tables consecutively throughout the text. Type or print each table on a separate page at the end of the manuscript.
  • Include a descriptive title and headings for all columns and rows (see recent journal issues for examples).
  • Always use the same variable names in tables as in the text.
  • Include standard errors, standard deviations, t statistics, and so forth in parentheses under the means or coefficients in the tables.
  • Gather general notes to tables as “Note:” or “Notes:” at the bottom of the table; use superscript letters for table footnotes.
  • Use asterisks *, **, and/or *** (asterisks) to indicate significance at the p < .05, p < .01, and p < .001 levels, respectively; note if tests are one-tailed or two-tailed. Generally, only those results significant at the p < .0 level or better should be indicated as significant in the tables or text.
Figures and Other Artwork
  • Number figures or illustrations consecutively throughout the text. Each should include a title. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, submit figures and illustrations electronically. All labels on figures and illustrations must be typeset.
  • IMPORTANT: Before submitting a figure or illustration for publication, contact the journal editorial office to discuss size specifications and/or disk and file formats. All artwork and type must be legible when sized to fit one or two column widths, 2-9/16 and 5-5/16 inches wide, respectively (standard column widths for ASA journals).
  • Author(s) must secure permission to publish any copyrighted figure, illustration, or photograph.
Appendices
  • Appendices appear at the end of the article and should be labeled “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” etc.

Review Your Manuscript

  • Although authors should note that these functions may not always be reliable, run spell and grammar checks on your manuscript from your word processing software.
  • Carefully read through the entire manuscript one final time before submitting.
  • Authors/Co-authors will be responsible for paying the cost of any excessive copy and/or proof editor fees that may be required because of a failure to observe these guidelines PRIOR to their paper being published.

    • General Terms and Conditions of Use

    Users of the Digital Commons @ Butler University website and/or software agree not to misuse the Digital Commons @ Butler University service or software in any way.

    The failure of Digital Commons @ Butler University to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between Digital Commons @ Butler University and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.