Contributions
Social Alternatives accepts academic papers, commentaries, book reviews and essays, short stories and poetry focused on the aims of the journal. The journal also accepts proposals for themed issues from guest editors. Proposals may emerge from workshops, networks or conferences and should refer to Submission Guidelines for Themed Issues.
For general enquiries please contact: Julie Matthews: julie@social alternatives.com
For specific enquiries about the submission of articles, short stories, poetry or book reviews please contact an editor with appropriate responsibilities.
Submissions of general articles and commentaries are subject to double blind peer review and should be emailed to the General Article Editor. Authors are encouraged to consider and reference papers previously published in Social Alternatives to promote ongoing discussion.
Submissions should be double spaced with page numbers on the bottom right. Academic articles should be approximately 3000 words. Commentaries and review essays between 800 to 1500 words, book reviews 800 words, short stories 1000 words and poetry up to 25 lines. For more details please refer to the guides below.
Submissions must include:
- copyright release form;
- title page listing contributing author[s], contact details, affiliation and short bio of approximately 150 to 200 words;
- abstract of approximately 150 to 200 words;
- 3-5 keywords.
Please use Australian/English spelling and follow Harvard referencing.
Submit tables, graphs, pictures and diagrams on separate pages.
Remove in-text references identifying author and replace with [name removed for the review process].
Where possible limit the use of footnotes.
In-text references
All references to books, articles and other sources must be identified appropriately within the text by the name of the author[s], year of publication, and pagination (within parenthesis where appropriate).
If the author’s name is within the text itself, the year and pagination (if appropriate) follows. Eg. As Beck (1992, 34) famously argues....If the author’s name is not within the text but their idea is cited, the author’s name, year and pagination (if appropriate) follows the statement. Eg. Risk society notions are prolific in modern society (Beck 1992, 34)
Where two authors are involved, both are cited. Where three or more authors are involved, the first named author is cited first followed by the abbreviation (et al.). Eg. Gurran et al. (2006) suggest that . . . In the case of institutional authors, the organisation name is cited as the author. Eg. CSIRO (2006) suggest that . . . .
Separate multiple citations with semi-colons. Eg. Climate change is . . .(CSIRO, 2006; Adger et al., 2009; Smith, 2010).
When there is more than one reference to an author in the same publication year, distinguish the year of publication with letters. Eg. (Smith, 2008a; Smith, 2008b).
References
All items appearing in-text should be referenced alphabetically by surname or organisation and year of publication. For example:
Douglas, M. 1992. Risk and Blame: Essays in Cultural Theory. London: Routledge.
Giddens, A. 2010. The Politics of Climate Change. London: Polity Press.
Honneth, A. 2001. ‘Recognition or Redistribution? Changing Perspectives on the Moral Order of Society.’ Theory Culture and Society 18(2-3): 43-55.
Lash, S. and Featherstone, M. 2001. ‘Recognition and Difference: Politics, Identity, Multiculture.’ Theory Culture and Society 8 (2-3): 1-19.
Wolf, J. Lorenzoni, I. Few, R. Abrahamson, V. and Rosalind, R. 2009. ‘Conceptual and Practical Barriers to Adaptation: Vulnerability and Responses to Heat Wave in the UK.’ In Adapting to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values, Governance, eds. W.N. Adger, I. Lorenzoni and K. O’Brien. New York: Cambridge.
Publication ethics and publication malpractice
Social Alternatives upholds the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractice.
Authors must submit original work. Contributions must not be copied or plagiarised in whole or in part from elsewhere.Authors must disclose conflicts of interest and partial benefits associated with their work.
Social Alternatives is committed to objective and fair double-blind peer-review of submissions, and to addressing conflict of interests between editors and reviewers. Problems are addressed by the Editorial Collective who are committed to providing swift resolutions to disputes.
