Submission guidelines

Who are we?

The Journal of Digital Social Research – JDSR – is an international journal focusing on the relationship between digital technology and society. We are interdisciplinary, online and open-access. JDSR is associated with DIGSUM, the Centre for Digital Social Research at Umeå University, Sweden. DIGSUM gathers researchers from all fields of the social sciences with an interest in how digital technologies transform societies. Read more about DIGSUM here. The journal is funded by DIGSUM and supported by a publishing grant from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).

What are we looking for? (aims and scope)

JDSR seeks to publish high-quality original research within all fields of social sciences interacting with digital issues. Social science is defined broadly to include, inter alia, sociology, informatics, pedagogy, education science, gender studies, law, economy, social work and geography. We do welcome submissions from neighbouring research fields if they are relevant to a social science audience.

We particularly encourage cross-disciplinary submissions and submissions focusing on theoretical and methodological issues. Furthermore, as digital issues tend to transcend borders JDSR, has an international viewpoint and prioritizes submissions which are of interest from an international standpoint. National or regional case-studies are of course of interest but should be put in context and made relevant for international readers.

We prioritize research articles with clearly stated objectives, empirical grounding, and a solid theoretical framework. Sometimes, we also publish essays, book reviews, research overviews, opinion pieces, and legal case commentaries, but please check with the journal before submitting for all of these types of publications.

What do we require?

We require original and exclusive submission. The former means that the research in question has not been previously published in its finished form (though it may have been presented as a conference paper, workshopped or made available as a draft), the latter that it may not be simultaneously submitted to any other journal. As part of the submission process you will be asked to confirm that your contribution is original and exclusive. We also require authors to follow the JDSR ethics policy available here.

At the point of submission, your manuscript does not have to follow the JDSR style guide. We will review it for scientific value and following a positive peer-review decision you will be asked to make changes if needed to comply with our style guide. The manuscript should however at the point of submission be clear, transparent and coherent in its language and citations to enable proper scientific scrutiny.

JDSR does not employ a maximum length for contributions, but a submission should be no longer than necessary. A clear and concise submission will have a greater chance of publication. Similarly, JDSR does not operate a minimum word requirement. However, submissions shorter than 2.000 words are normally not classified as research articles.

Submissions should normally be in English. For special issues other major languages may be used, at the discretion of the editors.

What do we offer?

JDSR offers open access, online publication and double-blind peer review. Also, we are nice, friendly people. We do not require you to change your manuscript to suit our style guide at the review stage.

JDSR is published solely online, using a consecutive publication system. This means that articles are generally published online (in PDF-format) once they have completed the peer review process and been approved for publication, following the process described below. The publication is complete, with proper formatting, page numbers and DOI number. Published articles are consecutively gathered into volumes and issues for ease of identification and referencing. Exceptions to this rule are special issues under a common theme where publication of individual articles are deferred until the whole issue is completed. Completed issues number 3–4 per year/volume. Articles are archived in the PKP PN system ensuring long-term access.

JDSR is a full (no bullshit) open access journal (naturally). All new articles are published under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. This means you will retain the right to use your publication as you see fit and upload it wherever you want without permission from us (see our copyright policy here). We do not charge any fees for review or publication – there are no hidden costs so you can worry about quality instead. You can read more about our open access policy here.

How does the process work?

The process of publication follows these six steps:

1) Submission

You submit your contribution via our online submission system, available here. Follow the instructions provided by the system. If you want to check with the editors to see if your article fits the scope of the journal before submitting your manuscript you are welcome to contact us.

Please observe that you need to submit two versions of your contribution, one with your name and affiliation and one anonymous (all information identifying you as the author should be removed), to allow for double-blind peer review. Any tables, graphs and figures, as well as annexes, should be should be placed in the text at appropriate points. We may ask you to submit higher resolution versions at a later stage if necessary. You must also include an abstract of no more than one page, which is used in the peer review process.

Upon submission you will receive an automatic reply, acknowledging that your contribution has been received.

2) Editorial review

As soon as possible you will receive the result of the editorial review. The editorial review is limited, examining whether the submission is complete, suitable for peer-review, and thematically relevant for publication in JDSR.

3) Double-blind peer review

Assuming that your contribution passes editorial review, it will be sent for double-blind peer review. JDSR is supported by a strong international network of academics in the field of digital social research. All submissions that fit within the scope of the journal are subject to double blind peer review by experts in the field.

The aim of the peer review process is for it to be constructive, thorough, and not take longer than necessary.

4) Decision

Following peer review the editor will make and communicate a decision regarding publication. If the decision is to decline publication the process ends here. If the editor finds it necessary for the submission to be revised before publication, further information and instructions will be given. If substantial revisions need to be made you may be asked to resubmit your paper for a new round of peer review.

5) Final editing, Typesetting and proofreading

Once the article is accepted, you will be asked to format your manuscript so that it follows our style guide. You as the author is responsible for type-editing, language check, and ensuring the submission is ready for publication whereafter you provide us with an author-finished and revised version of your manuscript. This is followed by a brief process of typesetting the article in the publishing format of JDSR.

6) publication

Once cleared for publication your contribution is normally published immediately online and provided with full metadata (including page numbers) and a DOI-number. You are free to share the article and use it in any way you see fit. Your article will subsequently be collected into an issue which is more prominently featured on our website, this will however not delay the publication of your article and you will be provided with complete referencing information for your particular article upon publication. Exceptions to this direct mode of publishing can occur, in particular when we publish special thematic issues (subject to a call for papers) where we will instead publish your contribution online once the thematic issue is completed.

If you have any questions about submitting an article to JDSR, please contact us.