Submissions

Author Guidelines

Kindly follow the specified formatting requirements (download Template). This template is designed to assist Author in preparing manuscript.  All authors identified on the submission must consent to be identified as an author. When you're satisfied that your submission meets this standard, please follow the checklist below to prepare your submission.

Types of Publications

Manuscripts submitted to Digital Social Sciences should neither be published previously nor be under consideration for publication in another journal. The main article types journal publishes are

• Article: These are original research manuscripts. The work should report scientifically sound experiments and provide a substantial amount of new information. The article should include the most recent and relevant references in the field. The structure should include an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results & Discussion, and Conclusions sections.
• Review: Reviews offer a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature within a field of study, identifying current gaps or problems. They should be critical and constructive and provide recommendations for future research. No new, unpublished data should be presented. The structure can include an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Relevant Sections, Discussion, Conclusions, and Future Directions.

Submission Process

The submitting author, who is generally the corresponding author, is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer review process. The submitting author must ensure that all eligible co-authors have been included in the author list and that they have all read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. To submit your manuscript, register and submit the manuscript online. To save time and avoid inconvenience, authors should assure that the level, length and format of a manuscript submission conforms to the requirements at the submission and each revision stage.

Authorship

Digital Social Sciences requires that the contribution of each author be clearly mentioned. Authors should be appropriately credited as per the ICMJE recommendations. It is assumed that authors are accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done. Furthermore, it is also assumed that the authors have confidence in the integrity of the whole work presented in the manuscript. Social Lens  follows COPE guidance on authorship disputes which can be found here.

ICMJE link: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

COPE link: https://publicationethics.org/files/2003pdf12_0.pdf

Minimum Requirements for Authorship

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article. Authorship credit should be based only on:

• substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data and
• final approval of the version to be published.

Conditions a and b must meet the criteria. Acquisition of funding, the collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship.

Co-author contributions

Authors are strongly encouraged to include a statement, in the end, noted to specify the actual contribution of each co-author to the completed work. Journal allows co-authors to be specified as having contributed equally to the work being described. All others who contributed to the work who are not authors should be named in the Acknowledgments, and what they did should be described.

Minimum Requirements for Acknowledgments

List all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged. Because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions, all persons must have given written permission to be acknowledged.

Suggesting the Reviewers

Authors are asked to facilitate the review process by providing the names and e-mail addresses of at least three suitable reviewers, on the understanding that the editor is not bound by any such nomination. Failure to follow this request may delay the handling of your paper, since the editorial office may specifically ask you to nominate potential reviewers for papers covering unfamiliar areas.

Format for Digital Social Sciences  contributions:

Cover Letter

All submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter of up to 350 words briefly stating the significance of the research, author’s agreement for publication, number of tables and figures, supporting manuscripts, and supplementary information.

Contact Information

The author must include current telephone and fax numbers, as well as corresponding postal and E-mail addresses to maintain communication.

Article Formatting Guidelines

Manuscript title

The title should be limited to 25 words or less. The title shouldn’t contain abbreviations and it should be a brief phrase describing the contents of the manuscript.

Author Information

Full names and affiliation of all authors, including contact details of the corresponding author (Telephone, Fax and E-mail address).

Abstract
The informative, complete and self-explanatory abstract should briefly present the topic and state the scope of the experiments, indicating significant data. It should point out major findings and conclusions. The abstract should summarize the manuscript content in less than 300 words. Standard nomenclature should be used and abbreviations should be avoided in abstracts. The preferable format should accommodate a description of the study background, methods, results and conclusion.

Keywords

Following the abstract, a list of 3-10 keywords and abbreviations must be included.

Introduction

The introduction should set the nature of the paper by providing a vibrant study statement. It should include the relevant literature on the study subject and the proposed approach or solution. The introduction should be general enough to attract a reader’s attention from a broad range of scientific disciplines.

Materials and Methods

This section should provide a complete overview of the study design. Comprehensive descriptions of materials or participants, comparisons, interventions and types of analyses should be mentioned. Previously published procedures should be cited and the new procedures should be described in detail. Important modifications of published procedures should be mentioned briefly. Capitalize trade names and include the manufacturer's name and address also if available.

Results and Discussion

This section should provide complete details of the experiment that are required to support the conclusion of the study. Results and Discussion should be in separate sections. Speculation and detailed explanation of data should not be included in the Results but should be put into the Discussion section.

Acknowledgement
This section includes salutation of people, grant and fund details etc.

References
Digital Social Sciences follows in-text citation style (Last name of author, publishing year) and endnotes for insertions. Only cited text references should include in the reference list and the references should be written in APA Manual style. This list must be alphabetically arranged. The author should go to the primary source of information. The secondary source of information may be used in case of unavoidable circumstances or when the original article is in a language other than English. Only published work or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Abstracts, conference proceedings, or papers that have been submitted but not yet accepted should not be cited. Authors should provide an online link for each reference.

Tables
Tables used in manuscripts should be designed properly. They should be typed single-spaced throughout, including headings and footnotes. Each table should be on a separate page, numbered consecutively and supplied with a heading and a legend. Tables should be self-explanatory. The same data should not be presented in both table and graph form or repeated in the text. MS Excel files should not be embedded as objects. If the submission is in PDF format, the author is requested to retain a copy in .doc format also to aid in the completion of the process successfully.

Figures

The preferred file formats for photographic images are .doc and JPEG. If you have created images with separate components on different layers, please send us the Adobe Photoshop files. All images must be at optimal resolutions. Image files must be cropped as close to the actual image as possible.

Numerals
Arabic numerals must be used to label the figures and upper case letters for their parts (Figure 1). Each legend must contain the title and include sufficient description so that the figure is understandable without reading the text. Information given in legends should not be repeated in the text.

Equations

If equations cannot be encoded in MathML, submit them in TIFF or EPS format as discrete files. Each file should contain data for only one equation.

Additional Information

Discrete items of the Supplementary Information should be submitted in a new file and must be explained properly.

e-Prints

Electronic prints (PDF) will be sent as an e-mail attachment to the corresponding author. They are considered to be the final version of the manuscript. Except for typographical or some clerical errors, no changes will be made in the manuscript afterwards. Authors will have free electronic access to the full-text article. Authors can freely download the PDF file from which they can print unlimited copies of their articles.

Final Proof Corrections and Submission

The next step in the publication process involves reviewing the galley proofs for your article. Please return the checked galley proofs via e-mail or online submission system within 72 hours of receipt. Late return of galley proofs may mean postponement to a later issue. Please make a copy of the corrected proofs before returning them; keep the copy for your records.

This step is entirely the responsibility of the corresponding author. The galley proofs will not be read by editorial staff. Errors that you fail to mark will be published. The corresponding author of an accepted manuscript will receive e-mail notification and complete instructions when page proofs are available for review via a secure Web site. Final proof will be provided in Portable document format (PDF) files of the typeset pages. The attention of the authors is directed to the instructions which accompany the proof, especially the requirement that all corrections, revisions, and additions be entered on the proof and not on the manuscript.

Please follow these guidelines when reviewing the galley proofs:

Mark your corrections, in red ink, directly on the galley proofs. Make sure that your corrections are noticeable and easy to understand.

Check all types on the galley proofs. Check the title, the abbreviations list, and the author–paper documentation paragraph.

Check the table data against that in your original tables.

Check any equations against those in your original manuscript. Make sure special characters have not dropped out.

Check to be sure that figures are entirely legible, including any small-print text.
If you find an error, look again at the lines around the error. Mistakes tend to cluster.

Submission of Final Proof Corrections

The next step in the publication process is to submit finally checked galley proof. Please return the checked galley proofs via e-mail or online submission system within 72 hours of receipt.

Note: If you are completely SATISFIED from the final proof, just inform the editorial office about your satisfaction via e-mail or online submission system. Only on the receipt of your final satisfaction opinion, the editorial office will send your article for final publication.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is Microsoft Word format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

Copyright Notice

Author(s) who publish article in Digital Social Sciences, agree to the following terms:

• Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License(CC-BY) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
• Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
• Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.