Sociological Theory

Notice to Authors

Editorial Policy: Sociological Theory (ST) publishes work in all areas of theory, including new substantive theories, history of theory, metatheory, formal theory construction, and synthetic contributions. Although aimed at a sociological readership, its orientation is pluralistic and it welcomes contributions by scholars in other fields. Peer-reviewed and published quarterly, Sociological Theory is renowned for featuring the best international research and scholarship.

Manuscript Submission:

Manuscripts should be submitted through the web-based tracking system http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/soct. The site contains detailed instructions on how to submit the manuscript and track the progression of the review process. All manuscripts will be assigned a manuscript number, and authors will receive an email confirmation acknowledging receipt of submission. Authors are asked not to send hard copies of their manuscripts to the journal office.

Authors must pay a non-refundable $25 manuscript processing fee electronically through SAGE Track. All new manuscripts require a fee unless authored by ASA student members.

See below for further preparation guidelines.

Ethics:

Submission of a manuscript to another professional journal while it is under review by ST is regarded by the ASA as unethical. Significant findings or contributions that have already appeared (or will appear) elsewhere must be clearly identified. All persons who publish in ASA journals are required to abide by ASA guidelines and ethics codes regarding plagiarism and other ethical issues. This requirement includes adhering to ASA’s stated policy on data-sharing: “As a regular practice, sociologists share data and pertinent documentation as an integral part of a research plan. Sociologists generally make their data available after completion of a project or its major publications, except where proprietary agreements with employers, contractors, or clients preclude such accessibility or when it is impossible to share data and protect the confidentiality of the research participants (e.g., field notes or detailed information from ethnographic interviews)” (ASA Code of Ethics, 2018).

Name Change Policy:

SAGE has introduced a policy to enable name and pronoun changes for our authors. ASA journals published by SAGE follow this policy. Going forward, all requests to make a name or pronoun change will be honored. This includes, but is not limited to, name changes because of marriage, divorce, gender affirmation, and religious conversion. For more information, read SAGE’s Name Change Policy. 

Manuscript Preparation:

All manuscripts should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents. Please use a standard font in 12-point, double-spaced, with 1.5-inch margins all around. Submitted papers are usually around 40 manuscript pages in length. This includes (1) title page, (2) abstract, (3) text, (4) references, (5) endnotes, (6) tables, and (7) figures. Manuscripts that do not conform to the desired format will be returned to the author for rectification. To ensure anonymity during the review process, authors should remove from the manuscript all identifying references, including references to their own past publications.

The maximum length for all submissions is 14,500 words inclusive of all footnotes, references, tables, figures, and appendices.

In general, please refer to the ASA Style Guide (7th edition - published June 2022) for style and formatting guidelines. Available on the ASA bookstore here.

Detailed instructions for manuscript preparation are as follows:

• The title page should include the full title, the author's name (listed vertically if more than one), the institutional affiliation of each author, and a running head. Use an asterisk (*) to add a footnote to the title giving the full address of the author to whom communications about the article should be sent. In the same footnote, cite acknowledgements, credits, or grant numbers.
• Type the abstract (fewer than 150 words) on a separate page headed by the title. Omit author identification.
• The text of your manuscript should begin on a new page headed by the title. No author identification. References, footnotes, tables, and figures each appear in separate sections following the text.
• Number tables consecutively throughout the text and type each on a separate sheet at the end. Insert a note in the text to indicate the placement, e.g. , “Table 2 about here.” Each table must include a descriptive title and headings for columns and rows (no abbreviations).
• Number figures and/or illustrations consecutively throughout. Each should be accompanied by a caption. Insert a note in the text to indicate placement, e.g. , “Fig. 1 about here.”

Orcid

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 that 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: 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.