‘Social Research Practice’ journal - Author guidelinesJanuary 2015 v2

Introduction

Social Research Practice is the journal of the Social Research Association (SRA). It launches in 2015 and will aim to produce two issues per year, containing around four articles each of around 2,500-4,000 words. The issues will be freely available online at the SRA website.

The journal will publish practice-based research. Articles need to be well-written and easily readable. We are planning a ‘best paper’ award each year to encourage this.

The expected readership will be diverse, including researchers and those who use research from a wide range of social research fields and disciplines, and at all levels from very new to very experienced.

Editorial aims and policy

The journal is for anyone working in social research or social policy, whether they are a producer or a user of research. It will:

Cover practice-based rather than pure academic research (accepting that this distinction is a loose one).

Have its main, but not exclusive focus on methodological matters; but also present findings themselves where these are likely to be of wide interest.

Feature accounts of applications and case studies that will have practical value for research colleagues, rather than discussion of philosophical principles and theory.

Highlight the impact of research on practice and on policy. Focus on innovative techniques, but without excluding useful research based on

more traditional methods. Cover the full range of approaches – quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, etc. Have an ethos of high quality research that aims at minimising error given its

constraints. Encourage openness from authors – honest admission of problems encountered,

and learning from mistakes.

The overall aim of the journal is to encourage and promote high standards of social research for public benefit.

Policy for members of the SRA

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Social Research Practice is not, as with many journals, a benefit provided solely to members. However it could not exist without the support of the membership, so as a broad principle we will give priority to submissions from SRA members - while ensuring quality standards are paramount. This means that amongst submissions of comparable quality, those from SRA members will have priority.

Editorial board

Social Research Practice is managed by the editor Richard Bartholomew. It also has an editorial board consisting of 30 senior figures in social research. The role of a board member is to source submissions and to review articles at the editor’s request. The board comprises practicing researchers in a range of discipline, who work in government departments, agencies, research institutes, the voluntary sector and as independent consultants:

Alison Park CLOSERAndrew Thomas TNS BMRB

Angela Ellis Paine Third Sector Research CentreBev Bishop Health and Safety ExecutiveBob Erens London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineCatherine Owens College of PolicingClarissa White Independent consultantDavid Johnson Department for Energy and Climate ChangeDebbie Collins NatCen Social ResearchDr Liz Brewster Leicester UniversityDr Paula Mayock Asst Prof, school of social work & social policyEmma Wallace National Children’s BureauGerry Nicolaas Ipsos MORI

Isabella Pereira Ipsos MORIJoel Williams TNS BMRBJouni Kuha London School of EconomicsJustin Davis-Smith NCVOJustin Guttman Consumer FuturesKandy Woodfield NatCen Social ResearchKevin Pickering Ipsos MORILisa Calderwood IoEMatt Barnard Head of Evaluation, NSPCCNick Moon GfK NOP

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Patten Smith Ipsos MORISam Clemens Ipsos MORISimon Anderson Independent consultantSiobhan Campbell DECCStephen Morris Department for Communities and Local GovernmentSusan Purdon Independent consultantSuzanne Hall Ipsos MORI

Submissions

The editor is happy to receive outlines, or summaries of proposed articles, where an author is not sure if a proposal is suitable. Please email: admin@the-sra.org.uk with ‘Social Research Practice’ in the subject header.

Articles must not have been previously published, and not currently in submission to any other e-journal.

SoftwarePlease send us your article in the MS Word document template provided on the SRA website.

TitleNo longer than 15 words in total. It should give the reader a good idea of the subject.

AbstractA concise and factual abstract is required. It should summarise your article as clearly as possible, without jargon, abbreviations, links or references. Maximum of 150 words.

Literature reviewThis is not required. In its absence we would expect the article to include some context-setting and justification of the paper’s importance, to include relevant background information such as the policy context, why the research is important, and how it came about.

Article lengthBetween 2,500 and 4,000 words, although we will consider shorter articles. You need to supply a word count.

FundingIf you are writing about a piece of funded research, please say who the funders were.

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CopyrightThe author(s) holds copyright of his or her material. As Social Research Practice is freely available on the SRA website we don’t need to licence your article. You are free to use the article elsewhere but we ask that you do this only 6 months after publication with the SRA, and let us know if you are planning to do this.

Style guide

Articles must be supplied in the MS Word document template downloadable from the SRA website.

ReadabilitySocial Research Practice is an online-only journal. Please write in short sentences and paragraphs to help the online reader.

Format of articles Single spaced A4, portrait orientation, with standard margins (around 2.5cm) left and right Align text to the left Font colour – black only Font: Please use Calibri, size 12 (if unavailable, Arial or Times New Roman) For emphasis use bold, not italics or underline Use ‘single quotation marks’ if referring to a document Numbered or bullet-pointed lists are fine, but avoid creating lists with tabs Do not use the ‘Review’ function in Word to insert Comments in the text Leave the ‘header’ section of the document blank In the footer, insert page numbering (plain number, bottom right) but no text In general, avoid any but the most basic formatting.

HeadingsIn bold, font size 14. Please don’t number headings, and don’t use the ‘Styles’ function in Word to create, number or format headings or sub-headings.

Sub-headingsIn bold, font size 12.

Images, tables and figures Include these within the text, placed where you want them to appear. Use a logical

numbering sequence Images such as photos must be saved at 300 dpi resolution before you insert them

in the document

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For each image, if you are not the copyright holder, you must get permission from the owner to use the photo in our publication, and add ‘OWNER NAME, reproduced with permission’ immediately below it.

Lists Should be auto-numbered or bullet-pointed, but please don’t create lists with tabs

or spaces First word in upper case Only the final bullet has a full stop at the end.

CapitalsKeep to a minimum, as this increases readability. Use for the names of people, places and organisations. We use lower case for job titles.

Numbers Spell out one to ten. Use numerals for 11 and above For dates, use 1 and 2 rather than 1st and 2nd Use % rather than percent.

Verbatim quotesPlease ensure that the quoted words of research subjects could not be used to identify individuals. If you are not sure, don’t use them. For lengthy quotes please ensure you have permission to use them and add ‘quoted with permission’.Formatting: if the quote runs over more than two lines, make it a separate paragraph, indented once from the left. Identify direct speech by “double quotes” but use ‘single quotes’ if paraphrasing.

FormulaePlease keep mathematical formulae as simple as possible, and consider whether there is another way of expressing the issue, as formulae will not be read or understood by many readers.

Abbreviations and acronymsSpell out in full at first use, with the acronym in parentheses, eg. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Thereafter just use the acronym. There is no need to spell out if it is widely familiar, eg. UK, MP.

FootnotesUse these sparingly and keep them short.

References to books, reports and journal articlesExcessive references to other published work is discouraged.

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In your text, please cite by Surname and year, as in these examples: (Jones 2012) or (Smith & Jones, 2012).

At the end of your article, in the template box provided, please list the books and journals cited in your article. Do not add references to items not cited there.

The list should be in alphabetical order by (first) surname. Some examples:

References to books and reports:N. Surname, N. Surname, and N. Surname, (year of publication), Title of book, Where published: Publishing organisation.

References to Journal articles:N. Surname, N. Surname, and N. Surname, (year of publication), Title of journal, issue/n, pages.

In the References section you can add weblinks to the books and articles listed, but please note that links which fail after publication cannot be updated. Start at ‘www’ (not ‘http//’ unless there is no ‘www’). Links should be wrapped around the title of the book/journal (if you’re not sure how to do this, just add the link after the reference). Please test links before submission.

Links in the textWhen referencing a book, report or journal article, please don’t add a link to it in the main text (just in the References section, see above). But if your article references an item on the web that is not published in a book or journal article, please add a weblink to an appropriate part of the text, for example “in her blog post”. Start at ‘www’ (not ‘http//’ unless there is no ‘www’). Please test links before submission. Links which fail after publication cannot be updated.

Please do not add any internal hyperlinks to other parts of your article, references, etc.

AcknowledgementsIf needed, these should be in a separate section at the very end of the article.

Peer review

Papers that the editor considers potentially suitable for Social Research Practice will be reviewed, usually by one or more members of the editorial board. The editor will have the final decision about publication.

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We take a supportive approach to authors. Submissions from new writers will be encouraged, whether they are early career researchers or mid-late career researchers who have not previously written for a journal. Standards will be maintained, but peer reviewers will be notified when a paper is written by a novice author and will be expected to be encouraging in their comments, whether those comments are favourable or otherwise.

Reviews will not be ‘blind’ so reviewers will see the author’s name. Whether or not their comments are passed back to the author is at the editor’s discretion. However the identity of reviewers will not be disclosed to the author.

How to submit an article

Please write your article directly into the MS Word document template provided on the SRA website. LINK TO BE ADDED.

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