Sociological Theory

Published on behalf of the American Sociological Association

Edited by:
Neil Gross

Print ISSN: 0735-2751
Online ISSN: 1467-9558
Frequency: Quarterly
Current Volume: 28 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 22/99 Sociology
Impact Factor: 1.226

TopAuthor Guidelines

Notice to Authors

Editorial Policy: Sociological Theory publishes work in all areas of social thought, including new substantive theories, history of theory, metatheory, formal theory construction, and syntheses of existing bodies of theory.

Electronic submissions preferred. Please send new submissions to: Sociological.Theory@ubc.ca

Manuscript Submission:

Electronic submissions should include all contact information (postal service, telephone, and email), manuscript title, and any further important information. The receipt of emailed electronic copies will be acknowledged by a reply email. Submissions must also include a $25 fee which can be paid through the following link: http://www.asanet.org/journals/manuscript_fee.cfm. Students who are members of the ASA are not required to pay this fee. Manuscripts should include at minimum a title page, an abstract consisting of no more than 250 words, text, references, and footnotes.

See below for further preparation guidelines.

Manuscript Preparation:

All copy must be typed (12 point type size preferred), double-spaced (including footnotes, and references) on 8/1/2 by 11 inch white opaque paper. Line length must not exceed six (6) inches. Margins must be a minimum of 1/1/4 inches on all four sides. Indicate boldface characters by drawing a wavy line under them; a straight underline indicates italic.

Submitted papers are usually around 35 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 insure anonymity during the review process, authors must remove from the manuscript all identifying references.

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 that 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.

  a. Headings and subheadings in the text indicate the organization of the content. Generally, three heading levels are sufficient for a full-length article.
  b. References in the text cite the last name of the author and year of publication. Include page references whenever you think it would help the reader. Identify subsequent citations of the same source in the same way as the first. Examples follow:

• If author's name is in the text, follow it with year in parentheses ['... Duncan (1959). '].
• If author's name is not in the text, enclose the last name and year in parentheses ['... (Gouldner 1963). ']
• Pagination follows year of publication after a comma ['... Kuhn (1970, p.71). '].
• Give both last names for joint authors ['... (Martin and Bailey, 1988)'. ].
• Give all last names on the first citation in the text for more than two authors; thereafter use 'et al. ' in the citation ['... (Carr, Smith, Jones 1962). And later... (Carr et al. 1962). '].
• For institutional authorship, supply minimum identification from the beginning of the complete citation ['... (U. S. Bureau of the Census 1963. p.117)... '].
• Separate a series of references with semicolon ['... (Burgess 1968; Marwell et al. 1971)... '].
• For unpublished materials, use 'forthcoming' to indicate material scheduled for publication. Otherwise use 'unpublished', e.g. , [Smith (forthcoming) and Jones (unpublished)... '].

  c. Footnotes in the text should be numbered consecutively throughout the article with superscript Arabic numerals. If a footnote is referred to again later in the text, use a parenthetical note '(see note 3)'.

• References follow the text in a section headed 'References. 'All references used in the text must be listed in the reference section, and vice versa. Publication information for each must be complete and correct. Type the reference alphabetically by author(s); use first and last names for all authors. If there are two or more items by the same author(s), list them in order of year of publication. If the cited material is unpublished but has been accepted for publication, use 'Forthcoming' in place of the date, and give the name of the journal or publisher. Otherwise use 'Unpublished' in place of the date. If two or more works are by the same author(s) within the same year, distinguish them (in order published) by adding the letters a, b, etc. to the year (or to 'Forthcoming' or 'Unpublished'), and list them in a, b,... , order. For multiple authorship, only the name 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 section is not acceptable.

  A few examples follow:

• Books:

  Habermas, Jurgen, 1990. Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, translated by Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
  U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1960. Characteristics of Population , Vol.1. Washington D. C. : U. S. Government Printing Office.
  Weber, Max. [1896] 1976. The Agrarian Sociology of Ancient Civilizations, translated by R. I. Frank. London: NLB.

• Periodicals:

  Merton, Robert K. 1985. 'The Historicist/Presentist Dilemma: A Composite Imputation and a Foreknowing Response. ' History of Sociology 6:1 (Fall): 137-51.
  Nelson, Benjamin. 1974 'Max Weber's `Author's Introduction' (1920): A Master Clue to His Main Aims. ' Sociological Inquiry 44:4, 269-78

• Collections:

  Clausen, John A. 1972. 'The Life Course of Individuals. 'Pp. 457-514 in Aging and Society , vol.3, A Sociology of Stratification , edited by M. W. Riley, M. Johnson, and A. Foner. New York: Russell Sage.
  Elder, Glen H. 1975. 'Age Differentiation and the Life Course. 'Pp. 165-90 in Annual Review of Sociology , vol.1. edited by A. Inkeles, J. Coleman, and N. Smelser, Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.

• Type the footnotes in numerical order as a separate section (headed 'Footnotes') following the references. Begin each with the superscript Arabic numeral to which it is keyed in the text, e.g. , 'This is footnote one. 'Because long endnotes distract the reader and are expensive to print, use them only when they are absolutely necessary. Rather than including detailed or complex material in a footnote, consider (i) inserting a short footnote indicating that the material is available from the author, (ii) adding an appendix. If you use an appendix, the reference in the text should read, '(see Appendix A for complete derivation). 'Footnotes can (a) explain or amplify text, (b) cite materials of limited availability, or (c) append information presented in a table.
• 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). Gather general footnotes to tables as 'Note:' or 'Notes:. 'Use a, b, c, etc. for footnotes. Asterisks * and/or ** indicate significance at the 5 percent and 1 percent levels, respectively. Do not photo-reduce tables.
• 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. 'Figures/illustrations submitted with the final draft must be 'camera-ready,' executed in black ink on white paper or vellum, with clear, medium weight lines. All lettering should be done by an artist in pen and ink, or by applying press-type or typeset text to the art work. Figures/illustrations should be legible when reduced or enlarged to 5 - 5/16 inch (full page width). Statement of ASA Policy on Multiple Submission. Submission of manuscripts to a professional journal clearly implies commitment to publish in that journal. The competition for journal space requires a great deal of time and effort on the part of editorial readers whose main compensation for this service is the opportunity to read papers prior to publication and the gratification associated with discharge of professional obligations. For these reasons the ASA regards submission of a manuscript to a professional journal while that paper is under review by another journal as unacceptable.
  Section II. B4, ASA Code of Ethics.

Online production tracking is now available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell's Author Services.

Author Services enables authors to track their article - once it has been accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production so they don't need to contact the production editor to check on progress. Visit http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/ for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.