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Publication Process
Submission
Submissions need to follow the Author’s Guidelines. Our editorial team will only review submissions submitted through our Canvas Page. Every author should be knowledgeable about our Regulations of Publication and Ethical Standard before submitting their research.
Peer Review
The editor who is responsible for the submission contacts two reviewers to review the submission more thoroughly. Ideally, these reviewers share the research interest with the author(s) and have expertise on the research subject of the submission.
The reviewers communicate their feedback within 4 weeks to the responsible editor (this is an estimated time frame and can be subject to change). The editor will communicate the feedback to the author. Based on the received feedback, the editor will also communicate one out of the three following decisions:
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Decline - The submission needs many revisions before it could proceed into the publication stage
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Revision - The submission needs minor revisions before it could proceed into the publication stage
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Publication - The submission doesn’t need any revisions before it could proceed into the publication stage
All authors are obliged to follow the author’s guidelines. The guidelines for all submissions to the AJSS are discussed below. Please note that any submission that does not comply with the author’s guidelines is rejected by the editors immediately.
Layout and Sections
The submission must contain a title page with the title of the work and the contributing authors in order, in which the first author is the leading author of the submission. The work must also contain an abstract of a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 300 words in which a submission is summarized and the contents of the work are covered. Abstracts in other languages are allowed, but only if they are accompanied by an identical English abstract.
All submissions should also include a short section discussing the epistemological and ontological position and/or positionality of the author(s) in a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 500 words. As the author(s)’ positionality, as well as epistemological and ontological assumptions, inform and influence the research process, reflecting upon them ensures a higher quality of research.
Authors are also highly encouraged to consult the submission templates for more information on sections and structure.
Writing Standard
All submissions require the use of Times New Roman, size 10, and 1.5 line spacing. Submissions must be written in the English language. Headers are bold and require the use of Times New Roman, size 12. Authors are responsible for the use of proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Non-English quotes must be translated into English. The translation must be included in brackets behind the original name of the source.
Title pages, footnotes, references, acknowledgments, conflict of interests, tables, and image descriptions are not included in the word count of the submission. The used tables and images must be numbered and cited accordingly.
The author(s) must ensure the accuracy of their citations, quotations, diagrams, tables, and other materials in which all “factual” statements must be backed by academic sources or research evidence. All in-text citations must be cited in the reference list and all of the sources in the reference list must be cited in the text. Authors have to use singular quotation marks to indicate quoted material.
Authors are expected to pay close attention to the (interdisciplinary) accessibility of their writings, by using clear and concise language and by appropriately conceptualizing or defining any field-specific, relevant concepts or jargon.
Referencing and Plagiarism
All sources used in the creation of the submission must be cited both in the text and in the reference list and follow the APA 7 style guide. Always include a DOI or URL if possible. All submissions to the AJSS are checked for plagiarism. Any suspected case of plagiarism is communicated to the examination boards.
Submission Types
As an academic journal of social sciences, AJSS welcomes a broad variety of submissions within various social scientific disciplines, especially encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation and research. Therefore, we encourage authors to be creative in their research process and submissions. However, authors should be aware that due to an initial limited capacity, in order to ensure a high academic standard, submissions may be rejected on the basis of their specific subfield, paper type, or methodology. If you are unsure about a potential submission’s eligibility, feel free to email us at ajss@uva.nl. Some submission examples are described below.
Research Article
Research articles must describe the outcomes and application of unpublished original research. These submissions should make a substantial contribution to knowledge and understanding of the subject matter and should be supported by relevant figures and tabulated data. Research articles should be no more than 4000 words in length.
Literature/Critical Review
The chief value of literature reviewing is in its continuation of the conversation started in a book or article, and by situating the work in wider discussions happening within the field and we are able to see academic work not as the final product of a singular researcher, but as part of an ongoing, shifting, discursive and collective process of scholarship. Similarly, it holds value as a way of making challenging, complex material accessible to a wider audience.
Review articles submitted to AJSS should entail a discussion of no fewer than 3 academic works (articles, books, etc) which need not be of the same medium or even share a subject matter, however, should still be able to speak to each other and form part in a recognizable emerging dialogue. Reviews should provide an overview of the material under consideration, evaluate its aims, and how far they achieve them while proceeding to develop an argument that goes beyond the immediate concerns of the reviewed material. Literature/critical reviews should be no longer than 3000 words in length.
Theoretical Article
Theoretical articles should develop, present and defend a logical/theoretical argument, whether it be focused on a conceptual, interpretative, evaluative, or normative theoretical puzzle. Although theoretical in nature, these submissions should aim to make meaningful contributions to real-world societal debates, and thus engage in a process of bridging the gap between academia and wider society. Theoretical essays should be no longer than 4000 words in length.
If the submission gives reason to suspect ethical concerns, the details of these concerns are shared with the editorial team. Objections by the participants prior to or after publication will be taken seriously and in case of any objection, publications will be removed from the AJSS website for further investigation. AJSS supports transparency in research, therefore our journal requires a specific section in every submission: conflict of interests. In this section, the author or authors share possible conflicts regarding their research. If necessary, editors could request a section on ethics, but it is advised to include this in the submission when the author recognizes ethical concerns.
All participants should be informed of the purpose of the research and must be asked formally or informally for their consent. Formal consent is a signature on the following consent form (download link to pdf attachment 1). Informal consent is an attached audio/video recording in which the participant in question declares to be well informed by the purpose of the research and declares to agree with the publication and analysis of their data. Please be aware that the author is responsible to share the publication with the participants to avoid a potential situation in which the author's positionality has had an inappropriate influence on the interpretation of the data.
Furthermore, authors have an ethical responsibility to ensure that their research is not extractive or harmful to their research participants. Harmful acts could be enacted physically, mentally, and socially, and these acts have consequently a negative influence on the physical, mental, and social well-being of the participants. If the author suspects that their article may contribute to broader social harm, not necessarily experienced by the participants, this ought to be explicitly addressed in the submission.
To put these ethical standards into practice, AJSS encourages authors to collaborate with research participants while conducting their research. To be in dialogue and share knowledge with one another is extremely valuable in times of scientific scepticism across the world and serves to enrich the perspectives of both social scientists and their participants. Authors must understand that it is important to obtain reflexivity and theoretical parody between themselves and their research participants. AJSS points authors to practices of decolonization, encourages authors to examine potential limitations with regards to their chosen methodologies, and appreciates the use of methodologies that are supportive of bridging science and society together.
Publication Templates
Author’s Guidelines
Commentary
Commentaries should reflect upon or critique a specific "happening" such as a release of a major study or another notable empirical occurrence related to the journal's focus on Social Sciences. Commentaries should be no longer than 3000 words in length.
Regulations of Publication
Competing and Unoriginal Submissions
Competing submissions are not allowed. If authors are in the process of publishing their work in a different journal, then your submission is not eligible. Works should be peer-reviewed by one journal at a time. Authors are allowed to use up to 30% of unoriginal text in their submission. Nevertheless, AJSS encourages authors to be as original as possible. At least a minimum of 70% of the text must be completely original to the work that the author wishes to publish.
Editorial Review
Every submitted article is assigned to a specific editor. This editor will be in close communication with the author(s) throughout the publication process. All editors follow the author's guidelines and will make a decision about the submission within 4 weeks after the date of submission (this is an estimated time frame and can be subject to change).
The three possible decisions that will be communicated by the editors are:
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Decline - The submission needs many revisions before it could proceed into the peer review stage
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Revision - The submission needs minor revisions before it could proceed into the peer review stage
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Peer Review - The submission doesn’t need any revisions before it could proceed into the peer review stage
The reasoning behind their choice is always shared with the author(s) to provide a learning experience.
Compatible File Type
AJSS only accepts text files in the .docx format. Publications will be published in .pdf format on the AJSS website, once approved by the editorial board and two peer reviewers.
Copyright
All publications in AJSS are owned by the author. The author(s) must be notified by any external user who is interested in citing, paraphrasing, or including the content of the research in their publications. The authors' contact information will be specified in their publication. All authors are allowed to request the removal of their publications from the AJSS website. This is similarly possible for any research participant who wants their data removed from the publication, even if they gave formal or informal consent to the researcher(s). All of these requests are handled by the editorial team.
Ethical Standard
On this page authors are able to find submission templates. Please use these templates as an overall guideline on how your submission should be submitted. The editorial team is flexible in discussing formatting possibilities after an submission has arrived in the publication stage. Feedback on these templates is always appreciated, please email ajss@uva.nl with any suggestions for future developments.
Publication
The responsible editor will make the submission ready for publication within 2 weeks (after all revisions are finished by the author). The editorial team of the Amsterdam Journal of Social Sciences decides when the submission will officially be published on our website.
Open Access
AJSS values the accessibility of research and therefore all publications will be freely distributed online on the AJSS website. No payments are required to access the AJSS publications or to publish within the AJSS.