MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Review Process: Manuscripts may be reviewed initially by the Editors and only those meeting the aims and scope of the journal will be sent for outside review. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible.
The Journal of Public Understanding of Science has a fully web-based system for the submission and review of manuscripts. All submissions should be made online at the Public Understanding of Science SAGETRACK website
New User Account
Please log onto the website. If you are a new user, you will first need to create an account. Follow the instructions and please ensure to enter a current and correct email address. Creating your account is a three-step process that takes a matter of minutes to set up. When you have finished, your User ID and password is sent via email immediately. Please edit your user ID and password to something more memorable by selecting 'edit account' at the top of the screen. If you have already created an account but have forgotten your details type your email address in the 'Password Help' to receive an emailed reminder. Full instructions for uploading the manuscript are provided on the website.
Peer Review Policy
Public Understanding of Science operates a strictly blinded peer review process in which the reviewer's name is withheld from the author and the author's name from the reviewer. The reviewer may -- at his or her own discretion -- opt to reveal his name to the author in the review but our standard policy practice is for both identities to remain concealed.
Review Process: Manuscripts may be reviewed initially by the Editors and only those meeting the aims and scope of the journal will be sent for outside review. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible.
New Submission
Submissions should be made by logging in and selecting the Author Center and the 'Click here to Submit a New Manuscript' option. Follow the instructions on each page, clicking the 'Next' button on each screen to save your work and advance to the next screen. If at any stage you have any questions or require the user guide, please use the 'Get Help Now' button at the top right of every screen. Further help is available through ScholarOne's® Manuscript CentralTM customer support at +1 434 817 2040 x 167.
To upload your files, click on the 'Browse' button and locate the file on your computer. Select the designation of each file (i.e. main document, submission form, figure) in the drop down next to the browse button. When you have selected all files you wish to upload, click the 'Upload Files' button
Review your submission (in both PDF and HTML formats) and then click the Submit button
You may suspend a submission at any point before clicking the Submit button and save it to submit later. After submission, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You can also log back into your author centre at any time to check the status of your manuscript.
Please ensure that you submit editable/source files only (Microsoft Word or RTF) and that your document does not include page numbers; the Public Understanding of Science SAGETRACK system will generate them for you, and then automatically convert your manuscript to PDF for peer review. Furthermore, it is imperative that authors remove from their submissions any information that will identify them or their affiliations to reviewers. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be by email.
If you would like to discuss your paper prior to submission, or seek advice on the submission process please contact the Managing Editor, Sue Howard, at the following email address: pusedit@lse.ac.uk
Submitting a Revised Submission
Authors submitting revised manuscripts should follow the instructions above to submit through the SAGETRACK system. To create a revision, go to the 'Manuscripts with Decisions' option in your Author Dashboard and select 'create a revision in the 'Action' column. Authors of all revised submissions should, when prompted, provide information explaining the changes in your manuscript. As this will be provided to reviewers, it is important that authors do not identify themselves in these responses.
Manuscript Style Guidelines
Submission:
When submitting your manuscript to the journals online submission and review system (SAGETRACK), please attach the electronic file as a Microsoft Word document. Make sure that the submission does not contain any identifiable information, since it will be sent directly to the reviewers via Manuscript Central. Remove any reference to author name, author affiliation or acknowledgments.
Author names and addresses should only appear on the removable title page of the manuscript to facilitate blind review. Author information should be uploaded as a separate file and designated as 'Title Page'.
No manuscript should be submitted that is already under consideration by another journal or publisher.
Any tables, figures or illustrations should be attached as separate files.
Types of submissions:
1. Theoretical papers - maximum 9,000 words including Abstract, Notes and References.
2. Research notes or practical perspectives - maximum 5,000 words including Abstract, Notes and References.
3. Essays or commentaries - maximum 5,000 words, including Abstract, Notes and References.
4. Book reviews -for further inquiries please contact the Book Reviews Editor, Dr. Angela Cassidy, Research Scientist, Consumer Science, Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UA, UK; email: angela.cassidy@gmail.com
Evaluation Criteria:
Manuscripts are judged using the following five criteria: (1) originality of argument, (2) coherence of argument, (3) strength of evidence, (4) adequacy of literature review and theoretical framework, (5) intelligibility of manuscript beyond specific context addressed.
Text organization:
* Use Times New Roman, 12-point.
* All text should be double-spaced.
* All text should be ragged-right.
* Use either English (United States) or English (UK). Set Tools/ Spelling/ Options/ Dictionaries/ Language option (in Microsoft Word) to set the file to "English (United States)" or "English (UK)." Also, select all text in the file, then use Tools/Language/Set language to choose "English (United States)" or "English (UK)". Both steps may be necessary to ensure consistent use of the right dictionary. Note: Authors whose manuscripts need editing for English uSAGE are encouraged to engage these services on their own as the journal does not have the resources to provide this assistance.
Articles should have the following sections, in order:
· Title
The title should be descriptive -- someone finding the title in an indexing service should be able to determine what the article is about.
· Author(s) name and contact address (including email). Indicate corresponding author.
· Abstract (up to 150 words)
The abstract should be freestanding: a summary of the main points of the article, which can be read without needing to refer to the article and which can be removed without sacrificing the argument in the article. In other words, the article should not "begin" until after the abstract. The abstract should be a single paragraph, with no references. Maximum length is about 150 words.
· Keywords (5-7 words)
· Body of article
· Acknowledgements
The acknowledgements (if present) should appear as a separate section of text following the main article text. Acknowledgements should not appear as a footnote or endnote.
· Endnotes
· References
. Tables and Figures in separate file
· Author(s) information (submitted in a separate file for peer review purposes)
The author(s)' information should include: name, title and institutional affiliation, mailing address and preferably email address, and a sentence on other interest or recent publications.
Overall guidelines for the manuscript:
Use the APA Publication Manual (currently, 5th edition) for questions of style, excepting reference citation (see separate section below). If there are conflicts between this style sheet and the APA manual, please bring them to attention of the editor.
Use Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, current edition, for questions of spelling.
Guidelines for format:
Tables and Figures
1. Tables and figures should be in black print only.
2. Tables should be numbered sequentially using Arabic numerals
3. Authors are encouraged to use tables and figures judiciously. If information in a table can be succinctly described in the text, authors will be advised to do so.
Headlines and subhead styles
1. Main headline is flush left, bold face, initial cap only.
2. Author's name is indented one stop.
3. Abstract is indented one stop.
4. Level 1 (highest level) subheads should be numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…), flush left, bold-face, initial cap only.
5. Level 2 subheads should be unnumbered, flush left, italic, initial cap only. (Copyeditors' discretion: If you believe numbered Level 2 subheads are needed, use 1.1, 1.2, etc.)
6. Avoid further subdividing articles. If a third level of subhead or labeling is needed, use italic text run-in with paragraph or use line space between paragraphs, as appropriate.
7. After any subhead, paragraph is flush left (no initial indent). All other paragraphs have single indent.
Quotations
1. Use double-quotes ('') for quotations and as "scare quotes" around terms to be defined or highlighted.
2. Use single-quotes (') only for quotations within double-quotation marks.
3. In keeping with American style, commas and periods go inside quotation marks, even when only a single word is in quotations.
4. Block quotations (more than 3 lines of typeset text) should be indented one stop. No quotation marks are needed around block quotes.
5. Use double hyphen (--) for n-dashes, triple-hyphen (---) for m-dashes.
6. Lists may be numbered or bulleted; be consistent within a single manuscript. Lists should be indented one stop.
In-text citation
All references in the text and notes must be specified by the author(s)' s last name(s) and date of publication together with page numbers if given.
Do not use ibid., op. cit., infra., supra. Instead, show the subsequent citation of the same source in the same way as the first.
Note the following for the style of text citations:
1. If the author's name is in the text, follow with year in parentheses:
... Author Last Name (year) has argued ...
2. If author's name is not in the text, insert last name, comma and year:
... several works (Author Last Name, year) have described ...
3. Where appropriate, the page number follows the year, separated by a colon:
... it has been noted (Author Last Name, year: page nos) that ...
4. Where there are two authors, give both names, joined by 'and'; if three or more authors, use et al.:
... it has been stated (Author Last Name and Author Last Name, year) ...
... some investigators (Author Last Name et al., year) ...
5. If there is more than one reference to the same author and year, insert a, b, etc. in both the text and the list:
... it was described (Author Last Name, yeara: page nos-page nos) ...
6. Enclose within a single pair of parentheses a series of references, separated by semicolons:
... and it has been noted (Author Last Name and Author Last Name, year; Author Last Name and Author Last Name, year; Author Last Name, year) ...
7. If two or more references by the same author are cited together, separate the dates with a comma:
... the author has stated this in several studies (Author Last Name, year, year, year, year) ...
8. Enclose within the parentheses any brief phrase associated with the reference:
... several investigators have claimed this (but see Author Last Name, year: page nos-page nos)
9. For an institutional authorship, supply the minimum citation from the beginning of the complete reference:
... a recent statement (Name of Institution, year: page nos) ...
... occupational data (Name of Bureau or Institution, year: page nos) reveal ...
10. For authorless articles or studies, use the name of the magazine, journal, newspaper or sponsoring organization, and not the title of the article:
... it was stated (Name of Journal, year) that ...
11. Citations from personal communications are not included in the reference list:
... has been hypothesized (Name of Person Cited, year, personal
communication).
Reference list
Check that the list is in alphabetical order (treat Mc as Mac).
Names should be in upper and lower case.
Where several references have the same author(s), do not use ditto marks or em dashes; the name must be repeated each time.
Last Names containing de, van, von, De, Van, Von, de la, etc. should be listed under D and V respectively. List them as: De Roux, D.P. and not Roux, D.P., de. When cited in the main text without the first name, use capitals for De, Van, Von, De la, etc. (Van Dijk, year)
Names containing Jr or II should be listed as follows:
Author Last Name, Author First Name, Jr (year)
Author Last Name, Author First Name, P.P., II (year)
References where the first-named author is the same should be listed as follows:
Single-author references in date order;
Two-author references in alphabetical order according to the second author's name;
Et al. references in alphabetical order; in the event of more than one entry having the same date, they should be placed in alphabetical order of second (or third) author, and a, b, etc. must be inserted.
Brown, J. (2003)
Brown, T.R. and Yates, P. (2003)
Brown, W. (2002)
Brown, W. (2003a)
Brown, W. (2003b)
Brown, W. and Jones, M. (2003)
Brown, W. and Peters, P. (2003)
Brown, W., Hughes, J. and Kent, T. (2003)
Brown, W., Kent, T. and Lewis, S. (2003)
Check that all periodical data are included - volume, issue and page numbers, publisher, place of publication, etc.
References
Journal article
Author Last Name, Initial (year) 'Article Title: Article Subtitle,' Journal Name vol. no.(issue no.): page nos-page nos.
[note page numbers should be minimum spans, 25-8, 145-80, but note 13-19]
Book
Author Last Name, Initial, ed. (year) Book Title: Book Subtitle. Place: Publisher.
Chapter in book
Author Last Name, Initial (year) 'Chapter Title,' in Editor Initial and Last Name and Editor Initial and Last Name (eds) Book Title: Book Subtitle, page nos page nos. Place: Publisher.
Website
Author Last Name, Initial (year) 'Online Article,' Online Journal vol. no.(issue no.), URL (consulted Month Year): http:/xxxx.xxxx.xx.xx/xxxx/xxxxxx/
Book Reviews
Book review header should have Author name, Title (City: Publisher). Number of pages. ISBN, price (hardcover)
