Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

The Journal of Contemporary Social Sciences (TJCSS) welcomes original scholarly contributions that advance understanding of contemporary social issues, institutions, public policies, human behaviour, and social change. Authors should read these guidelines and the journal’s publication policies before submitting a manuscript.

Aims and Scope

TJCSS considers manuscripts in sociology, political science, international relations, economics, education, psychology, anthropology, public administration, public policy, development studies, gender studies, peace and conflict studies, communication and media studies, and related social science disciplines. Interdisciplinary submissions are welcome where they make a clear contribution to social science scholarship.

Manuscripts must present a clearly defined research question, purpose, or argument. Submissions should demonstrate appropriate engagement with existing scholarship, a sound research approach, and conclusions supported by the evidence or analysis presented.

Types of Contributions

The journal considers original research articles, review articles, theoretical articles, comparative studies, policy analyses, case studies, short research communications, and scholarly book reviews.

Original research articles should present a substantive contribution supported by a clearly explained methodology. Review articles should critically synthesize relevant scholarship and explain how sources were identified and selected. Theoretical articles should develop, reassess, or apply conceptual arguments. Policy analyses and case studies should explain their evidence base, analytical approach, and wider relevance.

Book reviews and other non-research contributions should be clearly identified as such.

Originality and Exclusive Submission

A submission must be original and must not be under consideration by another journal. Authors must disclose any substantial overlap with previously published, submitted, or publicly available work, including conference papers, theses, reports, and preprints.

Manuscripts developed from a thesis, dissertation, conference presentation, or preprint should explain this relationship in the cover letter and cite the earlier work where appropriate. Prior dissemination does not remove the requirement for an original scholarly contribution.

Authors must not divide a single study into multiple publications without a clear academic justification. Related manuscripts should be disclosed to the editor.

Language and Writing Quality

Manuscripts should use clear, precise, and consistent academic language. Authors should avoid unsupported generalizations, discriminatory language, unnecessary repetition, and claims that extend beyond the available evidence.

English manuscripts should consistently follow either British or American spelling. Where a submission is in another language accepted by the journal, an English title, abstract, and keywords should also be provided. Authors should consult the editorial office before submitting in a language whose acceptance is not specified on the journal website.

Language editing does not guarantee acceptance and must not alter the meaning of the research.

Submission Procedure

Manuscripts should be submitted through the journal’s online submission system. The submitting author should enter complete and accurate information for every author, including names, affiliations, email addresses, and the corresponding author’s details.

The title, abstract, keywords, author order, and other information entered in the submission system must match the manuscript files. Authors should check all metadata carefully before completing submission.

The following files should be provided: a separate title page, an anonymized manuscript, and any supplementary materials required to understand or assess the research. A cover letter should explain the manuscript’s contribution, its relevance to TJCSS, and any matters requiring editorial attention.

Title Page

The title page should include the full manuscript title; the full names of all authors in the agreed order; each author’s department, institution, city, and country; and the corresponding author’s name and email address. ORCID identifiers should be included where available.

Funding information, acknowledgements, author contribution statements, and disclosures that would identify the authors should be placed in the separate title page or designated submission fields during anonymous review.

Author names and affiliations must be accurate. Authors must not claim an institutional affiliation or academic designation they do not hold.

Anonymous Manuscript Preparation

TJCSS uses double-anonymous peer review. The manuscript supplied for review must therefore exclude author names, affiliations, email addresses, biographies, and other identifying details.

Authors should remove identifying information from document properties, tracked changes, comments, headers, footers, and supplementary files. References to the authors’ previous work should normally be written in the third person and cited in the same manner as other scholarship.

Where an ethics approval statement, repository link, funding acknowledgement, or other essential information could reveal identity, authors should provide the complete information separately to the editor and use a clearly marked anonymized statement in the review manuscript. Complete details must be restored before publication.

Manuscript Format

Submit the main manuscript in an editable Microsoft Word format. Use a readable 12-point font, consistent headings, standard page margins, and consecutive page numbers. Apply consistent paragraph and line spacing throughout.

Use bold formatting for headings and normal formatting for body paragraphs. Avoid decorative formatting, unnecessary text boxes, and manual spacing used to position content.

Tables must remain editable. Equations should be prepared using an equation editor where possible. A PDF may accompany the editable file when needed to demonstrate complex formatting, but it should not replace the editable manuscript.

Manuscripts should be concise and proportionate to their contribution. Any article-specific word limit announced by the journal must be followed.

Manuscript Title

The title should accurately identify the subject and central focus of the study. It should be informative, concise, and consistent with the manuscript’s actual methods and findings.

Avoid unexplained abbreviations, promotional expressions, and claims of novelty or causation that the study cannot support.

Abstract

Provide a self-contained abstract of no more than 250 words. It should summarize the research purpose, approach or methodology, principal findings or argument, and main contribution.

Empirical abstracts should report findings from the completed study rather than describe results that are only anticipated. Review and theoretical articles should clearly identify their approach and central conclusions.

Avoid references, unexplained abbreviations, and information not supported by the manuscript.

Keywords

Provide five to seven specific keywords or short phrases that represent the manuscript’s main concepts, subject area, population, context, or methodology. Avoid overly general terms and unnecessary repetition.

Structure of Research Articles

Empirical research articles should normally contain an introduction, literature review or theoretical framework, methodology, results or findings, discussion, conclusion, declarations, and references. Sections may be combined where this improves clarity.

Review, theoretical, historical, qualitative, and policy-oriented manuscripts may use a structure appropriate to their research approach. All submissions must explain how their evidence was obtained or selected and how the analysis was conducted.

Introduction and Engagement with Scholarship

The introduction should establish the research problem, explain its significance, identify the relevant gap or debate, and state the research objectives or questions.

The literature review should critically engage with relevant scholarship rather than present a sequence of summaries. Authors should explain how the study relates to existing knowledge and why the selected theoretical or conceptual framework is appropriate.

Sources should be selected for their relevance and quality. Authors should engage with foundational and recent scholarship where appropriate and should not omit relevant work solely because it challenges their argument.

Methodology

The methodology should provide sufficient detail for readers to understand and assess the research. As applicable, explain the research design, setting, participant or source selection, sample size and its rationale, instruments, procedures, analytical methods, and ethical safeguards.

Quantitative studies should explain the variables, measurements, statistical procedures, treatment of missing data, and relevant assumptions. Qualitative studies should describe the research context, recruitment or source selection, data collection, analytical process, and relevant researcher positioning. Mixed-methods studies should explain how their components were integrated.

Review articles should describe their search or source-selection approach and the basis for inclusion and analysis. Authors must distinguish systematic reviews from narrative reviews and must not claim systematic coverage without an appropriate method.

Results and Findings

Present findings clearly and in an order that addresses the research questions. Report relevant results accurately, including findings that do not support the original expectations.

Do not invent participants, interviews, observations, datasets, quotations, or statistical outcomes. Illustrative examples, simulations, and hypothetical material must be explicitly identified and must not be presented as observed evidence.

Tables and figures should support the text without unnecessarily duplicating it.

Discussion and Conclusion

The discussion should interpret the findings in relation to the research questions, theoretical framework, and relevant scholarship. Authors should distinguish evidence-based interpretation from speculation and should consider plausible alternative explanations.

State the study’s limitations and explain their implications. Conclusions should reflect the scope of the research and avoid unsupported causal claims, broad generalizations, or policy recommendations that exceed the evidence.

References and Citations

Use the American Psychological Association referencing style, seventh edition, consistently. In-text citations should follow the author–date format, and every cited source must appear in the reference list. Every reference-list entry must be cited in the manuscript.

Direct quotations must be accurately reproduced and accompanied by a page number or another suitable locator. Paraphrased ideas, borrowed concepts, data, instruments, and adapted materials must also be acknowledged.

Provide complete and accurate bibliographic details. Include DOI links where available and appropriate. Authors are responsible for verifying every reference against the original source. Fabricated references, misleading citations, citation manipulation, and references included solely to increase citation counts are unacceptable.

For sources in non-Roman scripts, apply APA guidance consistently and provide transliteration or an English translation of the title where required.

Tables and Figures

Number tables and figures consecutively and refer to each in the manuscript. Provide a descriptive title and explain abbreviations, symbols, units, and relevant statistical information in accompanying notes or captions.

Figures must be legible at publication size. Do not submit screenshots of tables when editable versions can be provided.

Identify the source of reproduced or adapted material and obtain permission where necessary. Visual adjustments must not conceal, remove, or misrepresent information.

Research Ethics and Participant Protection

Research involving human participants, identifiable personal information, or sensitive data must comply with applicable ethical and institutional requirements.

Where ethics approval was required, identify the approving body and provide the approval reference where available. If approval was not required or an exemption applied, explain the basis accurately. Authors must not fabricate approval details or imply that approval was obtained when it was not.

Describe informed consent procedures where applicable. Protect participant confidentiality and obtain explicit permission before publishing identifiable information, images, or quotations where identification is possible.

Studies involving children or other vulnerable groups require appropriate additional safeguards.

Authorship and Author Contributions

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contributions to the work. All authors must approve the final manuscript, agree to its submission, and accept accountability for their contributions and the integrity of the publication.

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged with their permission. Gift, guest, purchased, and undisclosed ghost authorship are unacceptable.

Provide an author contribution statement describing each author’s role. The CRediT taxonomy may be used where appropriate. Author order must be agreed before submission.

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must explain the reason and include written agreement from all affected authors. Such changes require editorial approval.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that could reasonably influence, or appear to influence, the research or its interpretation.

If no relevant conflicts exist, include the statement: “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

A declared conflict does not automatically prevent publication, but incomplete or misleading disclosure may require editorial action.

Funding Disclosure

Identify all financial support received for the research and provide grant numbers where applicable. Explain the funder’s role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and decision to submit.

Where no external funding was received, state this accurately. Funding arrangements must not be concealed or misrepresented.

Data Availability

Include a data availability statement explaining whether the data and supporting research materials are publicly accessible and, if so, where they can be found.

Where sharing is restricted by participant consent, confidentiality, legal obligations, third-party ownership, or other legitimate reasons, explain the restriction and any available access procedure. Authors must not promise access they are unable to provide.

For studies without newly generated datasets, identify the nature and availability of the sources used. Public sharing must not compromise ethical or legal responsibilities.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors. Human authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, references, analysis, and integrity of the entire submission.

Substantive use of generative AI must be disclosed in accordance with the journal’s Artificial Intelligence Policy. The disclosure should identify the tool, its purpose, the parts of the work affected, and how the output was checked. Routine spelling and grammar correction normally does not require disclosure.

AI tools must not be used to fabricate evidence, invent references, manipulate findings, or process confidential information without appropriate authorization and safeguards.

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary files may include questionnaires, interview guides, analytical code, additional tables, appendices, and other materials necessary to understand or assess the research.

Each file should have a clear name and description and should be cited in the manuscript. Remove identifying details where anonymous review requires this, and ensure that all materials comply with copyright, confidentiality, and consent requirements.

Peer Review and Editorial Decisions

Submissions undergo initial editorial screening for relevance, originality, research quality, ethical compliance, and adherence to journal requirements. Manuscripts that do not meet these standards may be declined without external review.

Research manuscripts proceeding to peer review are assessed by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise. The editor considers the reviews and the manuscript’s scholarly merits when making a decision.

Authors may be asked to revise their work. Acceptance is not guaranteed by submission, revision, favourable reviewer comments, or correspondence with the journal. Editorial decisions remain independent of financial or personal considerations.

Revised Submissions

Submit a revised manuscript together with a point-by-point response to the editor’s and reviewers’ comments. Explain each change and identify its location in the manuscript.

Where a suggestion is not adopted, provide a clear scholarly explanation. Maintain anonymity in revised review files and submit within the requested period or seek an extension from the editor.

Publication Charges

TJCSS does not charge manuscript submission fees, article processing charges, publication fees, or other mandatory author charges. No payment can secure acceptance, priority review, or publication.

Articles are freely accessible to readers without payment or registration.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their work and grant TJCSS the right of first publication. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, CC BY 4.0.

This license permits sharing and adaptation, including commercial reuse, subject to appropriate attribution, a link to the license, and identification of changes. Third-party material may be subject to separate conditions and must be clearly identified.

License details are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Proofs and Author Approval

Authors should check publication proofs carefully for errors in text, author details, affiliations, tables, figures, and references. Proof corrections should normally address production or factual errors.

Substantial changes to the accepted manuscript require editorial approval and may require further review. The corresponding author should coordinate proof approval with all co-authors.

Withdrawal, Complaints and Appeals

Withdrawal requests must be sent to the editorial office with an explanation and the agreement of all authors. Authors should obtain confirmation of withdrawal before submitting the manuscript elsewhere.

Complaints and appeals should identify the manuscript, explain the concern, and provide relevant evidence. They will be considered under the journal’s published procedures. An appeal does not guarantee that an editorial decision will be changed.

Responsibilities After Publication

Authors must notify the journal promptly if they discover a significant error, ethical concern, or issue affecting the reliability of their published work. They are expected to cooperate with reasonable requests for clarification and with investigations, corrections, or other necessary editorial action.

Final Submission Check

Before submitting, authors should confirm that the manuscript fits the journal’s scope, all authors have approved the submission, the review file is anonymized, references have been verified, permissions have been obtained where necessary, and all relevant ethical, funding, conflict-of-interest, data availability, contribution, and AI-use statements have been provided.