Social Science Computer Review
Social Science Computer Review (SSCR) stands as a leader in interdisciplinary academic discourse, exploring the intersection of the social sciences and digital technologies. As a bi-monthly publication, SSCR delves into the multifaceted impacts and applications of digital technologies in social science education, research, and broader societal contexts. Focal areas include, but are not limited to:
- Digital Technologies and Media: Assessing the societal and behavioral impacts of digital technologies and communication platforms, including social media and emerging online communities.
- Information Technologies and Public Policy: Exploring the intersections between information technologies, public administration, and policymaking.
- Science, Knowledge, and Technology: Analyzing the historical or other contexts of evolving information technologies and policy.
- AI, Digital Technologies, and Research Methods: Investigating innovations in analyses using AI, computer-assisted survey methodologies, digital qualitative analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), and other online research tools as they relate to the social sciences.
Social Science Computer Review publishes a unique range of scholarship, including:
Original Research Articles: SSCR is interested in publishing original and rigorous research manuscripts of interest to an interdisciplinary audience.
Theoretical Innovations: SSCR is interested in publishing original theoretical innovations that apply to more than one discipline.
Research Reports: SSCR is interested in publishing short pieces that focus on innovative findings that are of interest to an interdisciplinary audience.
Symposiums: SSCR is interested in sponsoring special sections devoted to examining issues of current concern to social scientists using and researching digital technologies.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Social Science Computer Review (SSCR) is an interdisciplinary journal covering the social science instructional and research applications of computing, as well as the societal impacts of informational technology. Topics include: artificial intelligence, business, computational social science theory, computer-assisted survey research, computer-based qualitative analysis, computer simulation, economic modeling, electronic modeling, electronic publishing, geographic information systems, instrumentation and research tools, public administration, social impacts of computing and telecommunications, software evaluation, and world-wide web resources for social scientists. Because the uses and impacts of computing are interdisciplinary, so too is the journal. SSCR is of direct relevance to scholars and scientists in a wide variety of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, psychology, computer literacy, and computer applications and methodology.
| Deana Rohlinger | Florida State University, USA |
| Levi Mitizen | Florida State University, USA |
| Michael Bosnjak | University of Mannheim, Germany |
| Shelley Boulianne | Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Germany |
| Orville V. Burton | Clemson University, USA |
| Michael Chan | Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong |
| Jenny Davis | Vanderbilt University, USA |
| Gitika De | University of Delhi, India |
| Jennifer Suzanne Earl | University of Delaware, USA |
| Michael D. Fischer | University of Kent, UK |
| Zhifan Luo | Concordia University, Canada |
| Stephen M. Lyon | The Aga Khan University, UK |
| Brian McKernan | Pace University, USA |
| Patrick Rafail | Tulane University, USA |
| Jeff T. Sheng | University of Michigan, USA |
| Yongjun Zhang | Stony Brook University, USA |
| Mark R. Altaweel | University College London, UK |
| Lonna Atkeson | Florida State University, USA |
| Danielle Atkins | Florida State University, USA |
| Rachel Bailey | Florida State University, USA |
| Matthew Barnidge | University of Alabama, USA |
| Jody C. Baumgartner | East Carolina University, USA |
| Sukaina Bharwani | SEI Oxford, UK |
| Mwenza Blell | Newcastle University, UK |
| Nate Breznau | University of Bremen, Germany |
| Meredith Broussard | New York University, USA |
| Kaiping Chen | University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA |
| Wenhong Chen | University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Mick Couper | University of Michigan, USA |
| Pasquale De Meo | University of Messina, Italy |
| William H. Dutton | University of Oxford, UK |
| Arienne Ferchaud | Florida State University, USA |
| Mila Gascó | University at Albany, State University of New York, USA |
| Rachel Gibson | University of Manchester, UK |
| Homero Gil de Zuniga | University of Salamanca, Spain & Pennsylvania State University, USA |
| Kishonna L. Gray | University of Kentucky, USA |
| Marco Gui | University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy |
| Eszter Hargittai | University of Zurich, Switzerland |
| Summer Harlow | The University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Hans Hasell | Florida State University, USA |
| Zhe He | Florida State University, USA |
| Kate Kenski | University of Arizona, USA |
| Florian Keusch | University of Mannheim, Germany |
| Ziqi Li | Florida State University, USA |
| Gina Masullo | The University of Texas at Austin, USA |
| Alice Mattoni | University of Bologna, Italy |
| Terrence McDonnell | University of Notre Dame, USA |
| Shuyuan Ho Metcalfe | Florida State University, USA |
| Matthew Pietryka | Florida State University, USA |
| Ashby Plant | Florida State University, USA |
| Brady Robards | Monash University, Australia |
| Jayesh Soni | Florida International University, USA |
| Tian Tang | Florida State University, USA |
| Elly Truitt | University of Pennsylvania, USA |
| Christian Vaccaro | Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA |
| Arne Weigold | Kent State University at Geauga, USA |
| Oscar Westlund | Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway |
| Raelene Wilding | La Trobe University, Australia |
| Angela Xiao Wu | New York University, USA |
| Dannagal Young | University of Delaware, USA |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Social Science Computer Review
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Please read the guidelines below, then visit the Journal’s submission site at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sscr to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. You can log into the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper as it makes its way through the peer review process.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Social Science Computer Review will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal, and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Social Science Computer Review will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting a preprint (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the Journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the Journal's author archiving policy.
If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures, and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
7.2 Contact information
Before submitting your manuscript to Social Science Computer Review, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Accepted manuscript types include:
- Articles
- Software Reviews
- Symposiums
- Reports and Communication
- Book Reviews
- News and Notes
Manuscripts should follow American Psychological Association (7th edition) formatting and should not exceed 10,000 words maximum, including endnotes and bibliographical references.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
As standard practice, Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested reviewers.
SSCR is committed to delivering high-quality, fast peer review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Publons. Publons is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify, and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for SSCR can opt in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision, and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Publons website.
The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.
All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
· Disclose this type of editorial assistance, including the individual’s name, company, and level of input
· Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
· Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
SSCR requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
SSCR encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends that authors review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency, and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs, please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share their research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to their data (if it is not possible to share this data, we encourage authors to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared)
- cite this data in their research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
SSCR and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism, or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or, if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Social Science Computer Review offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of the Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures, and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures, and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
4.3 Supplemental material
The Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.
4.4 Reference style
SSCR adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the Journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on the Journal Author Gateway for further information.
SSCR is hosted on Sage Track, a web-based online submission and peer-review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sscr to log in and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the Journal in the past year, it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online, please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent, and fair peer-review process, Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate it to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID iD to their accounts in our online peer-review platforms. It takes seconds to do so: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account, and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and, from there, link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD, please follow this link to create one, or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage, please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures, or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information, including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence, and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including on how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.
If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.
7.2 Contact information
Any correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Social Science Computer Review editorial office as follows:
Stephen M. Lyon, Editor