Submissions

Author Guidelines

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Manuscript Submission Format: All text must be double-spaced and typed in Times New Roman, 12-point font size. Margins should be at least 1 inch on all four sides. You may cite your own work, but do not use wording that identifies you as the author.

Ethics: Submission of a manuscript to another professional journal while it is under review by the IRS 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).

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

All pages must be double-spaced (including notes and references) with margins measuring at least 1 inch (i.e., line length must not exceed 6-1/2 inches). Please use 12-point Times New Roman font and remove any page numbering (your paper will automatically be renumbered upon submission). IRS Articles may not exceed 15,000 words in length including text, references, and footnotes (excluding tables and figures). IRS Comments/Replies should not exceed 3,000 words. Upload Comments and Replies directly into SAGE Track; IRS does not require that Comments first be sent to article authors.

Sections in a manuscript may include the following: (1) Title page, (2) Abstract, (3) Text, (4) Notes, (5) References, (6) Tables, (7) Figures, and (8) Appendixes. Make sure to include a placeholder for all tables and figures in the main text (e.g., insert Table 1 here).

1. Title page. Please include the following 
   • Full article title
   •  Acknowledgments and credits
   • Each author’s complete name and institutional affiliation(s)
   • Grant numbers and/or funding information
   • Key words (four or five)
   • Corresponding author (name, address, phone, e-mail
2. Abstract. The abstract (150 to 200 words) should not include authors' names or other identifying information.
3. Anonymized Manuscript. The manuscript should not include the title page, authors' names or affiliations, or any other identifying information. IRS uses anonymous peer reviewers for manuscript evaluation. Delete or rewrite any text that identifies you as the author: when citing your own work, please write “Smith (1992) concluded...,” but do not write “I concluded (Smith 1992)....”
   • Headings and subheadings. Generally, three heading levels are sufficient to organize text. See recent issues for examples.
   • Citations in the text should provide the last name of the author(s) and year of publication. Include page numbers for direct quotes or specific passages. Cite only those works needed to provide evidence for your assertions and to refer to important sources on the topic. In the following examples of text citations, ellipses (...) indicate manuscript text:
   • When author’s name is in the text, follow it with the year in parentheses—... Duncan (1959).
   • When author’s name is not in the text, enclose the last name and year in parentheses—... (Gouldner 1963).
   • Pages cited follow the year of publication after a colon—... (Ramirez and Weiss 1979:239–40)
   • Provide last names for joint authors—... (Martin and Bailey 1988).
   • For three authors, list all three last names in the first citation in the text—... (Carr, Smith, and Jones1962). For all subsequent citations use “et al.”—... (Carr et al. 1962). For works with four or more authors, use “et al.” throughout.
   • For institutional authorship, supply minimal identification from the complete citation—... (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1963:117).
   • List a series of citations in alphabetical order or date order separated by semicolons—... (Burgess 1968; Marwell et al. 1971).
   • Use “forthcoming” to cite sources scheduled for publication. To preserve the anonymity, do not in general cite your own dissertations, working drafts, or unpublished papers.
   • For machine-readable data files, cite authorship and date—... (Institute for Survey Research 1976).
   • Notes should be numbered in the text consecutively using superscript Arabic numerals. When referring to a note later in the text, use a parenthetical note—... (see note 3)
   • Equations: Use consecutive Arabic numerals in parentheses at the right margin to identify important equations.
4. Note should be typed, double-spaced, in a separate “NOTES” section. Begin each note with the superscript numeral to which it is keyed in the text (e.g., “1. After 1981, there were…”). Notes can (a) explain or amplify text, (b) cite materials of limited availability, or (c) append information presented in a table or figure. Avoid long notes: consider (a) stating in the text that information is available from the author, (b) depositing the information in a national retrieval center and inserting a short footnote or a citation in the text, or (c) adding an appendix. Each note should not exceed 100 words.
5. References are presented in a separate section headed “REFERENCES.” All references cited in the text must be listed in the reference section, and vice versa. Publication information for each must be complete and correct. List the references in alphabetical order by authors’ last names; include first names and middle initials for all authors when available. List two or more entries by the same author(s) in order of the year of publication. When the cited material is not yet published but has been accepted for publication, use “Forthcoming” in place of the date and give the journal name or publishing house. For dissertations and unpublished papers, cite the date and place the paper was presented and/or where it is available. If no date is available, use “n.d.” in place of the date. If two or more cited works are by the same author(s) within the same year, list them in alphabetical order by title and distinguish them by adding the letters a, b, c, etc., to the year (or to “Forthcoming”). For works with more than one author, only thename of the first author is inverted (e.g., “Jones, Arthur B., Colin D. Smith, and James Petersen”). List all authors; using “et al.” in the reference list is not acceptable. References for data sets should include a persistent identifier, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Persistent identifiers ensure future access to unique published digital objects, such as a text or data set. Persistent identifiers are assigned to data sets by digital archives, such as institutional repositories and partners in the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS)
6. Tables should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text and must include table titles. Tables will appear in the published article in the order in which they are numbered initially. Each table must include a descriptive title and headings for all columns and rows. Gather general notes to tables as “Note:”; use a, b, c, etc., for table footnotes. Use asterisks *, **, and *** to indicate significance at the p < .05, p < .01, and p < .001 levels, respectively, and always specify one-tailed or two-tailed tests. Generally, results at p > .05 (such as p < .10) should not be indicated as significant.
7. Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text and must include figure captions. Figures will appear in the published article in the order in which they are numbered initially. Preferred programs and formats for figures include the following: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, .wmf, .emf, and .tiff (300 dpi). PERMISSION: The author(s) are responsible for securing permission to reproduce all copyrighted figures or materials before they are published by IRS. A copy of the written permission must be included with the manuscript submission.
8. Appendixes should be lettered to distinguish them from numbered tables and figures. Include a descriptive title for each appendix (e.g., “Appendix A. Variable Names and Definitions”).