Kōtuitui

New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online

Journal aims and scope

The New Zealand-based, peer-reviewed journal encourages top-flight social science research across all social science disciplines. It also recognises contributions made by the social science research community to other disciplines, including biological and physical sciences, and promotes dialogue between all research communities.

Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online encompasses all aspects of the social sciences. This includes contributions from long established fields (like psychology, economics, human geography, sociology, education, political science, anthropology, social work, population studies and history) as well as more recent disciplinary and inter-disciplinary fields such as public policy, development studies, conflict resolution, gender studies, international relations, security studies, human rights, cultural and ethnic studies, ethics, criminology, health, sustainability, communications and media studies.

Authors are invited to submit research papers from all social science disciplines for consideration. Papers should be of high quality that can be expected to attract citations from other researchers, both international and domestic. As well as excellent disciplinary research, we welcome:

papers connecting social science research to other disciplines
multi- and trans-disciplinary research
links between research and public policy
research into national and international trends and issues relevant to New Zealand.

The journal will be freely available online, facilitating the distribution of New Zealand social science knowledge both nationally and internationally. Papers with likely high impact will be fast-tracked for rapid publication.

Although the journal will predominately highlight research in the New Zealand context, international work is welcome. All papers must be the original work of the author(s), and not under consideration by any other publisher.

The journal aims to showcase the increasing number of collaborative research endeavours across the social sciences and become an outlet that will capture lively, empirically based outputs from New Zealand researchers.

Information for authors

Pre-publication

Papers published (including on the Internet) or under consideration elsewhere will not be accepted; but publication elsewhere of an abstract or extended summary does not preclude publication in full in the journal. In this context, restricted circulation of reports or theses does not constitute publication. Authors are advised to consult with the Editors about any popular-scientific contributions derived from a submission preceding publication in the journals.

Length of articles

The length of articles will vary, but should probably be between 4000 and 6000 words (excluding tables and figures).

Details of techniques and results which are not essential to the published paper but may be of interest to readers should not be included. This material could be made available from authors on request, and this should be mentioned in the text.

Conventions

The Concise Oxford Dictionary and the Style Book: a guide for New Zealand writers and editors (5th edition, 1995, by Wallace and Hughes) are to be used as guides.

Short communications

Short communications (i.e. research notes) are papers which do not exceed four printed pages in length. They may be well-documented but short pieces of work that the author wishes to have published quickly. Alternatively, short communications may present results which are indicative only, and therefore of interest, but do not merit the status of a full paper. Authors should state whether they wish a brief paper to be regarded as a short communication.

Reviewing policy

Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online is an internationally peer-reviewed journal. Submitted papers will normally be sent to two referees, with the authors names removed, for constructive confidential appraisal designed to maintain a high standard of publication. Well-presented papers result in faster turnaround times, more accurate proofing, and eventual reduced time to publication. Papers submitted in poor conformity with the editorial requirements given below may be returned without review.

All authors are responsible for a paper that they co-author and must agree to its submission. Acknowledgment of these requirements must be made to the Editors at time of submission.

Address for submission

Papers should be submitted electronically as a MS Word document via our online submission page (you may need to register first). Please ensure you remove all author names for the peer review process.

Dates of receipt and acceptance are the dates on which the author's completed manuscript and final revision, respectively, with all illustrations and electronic files, are received in the editorial office.

Page charges

Authors of new submissions will be charged at a rate of NZ/US$50 per page (incl. GST in New Zealand), to a maximum of $500, payable when page proofs are returned for correction. However, New Zealand authors, with no funding available for publication, will have these charges waived upon application. The waiver Application Form is here in PDF (requires Acrobat) and RTF (readable by most word processors).

For all purposes, the "author" will be assumed to be the corresponding author of a paper.

Preparation of manuscript

Authors are encouraged to submit their manuscript (including abstract and keywords) electronically, i.e. as a MS Word document. Please ensure you remove all author names from the manuscript to ensure the peer review process is “double blind”.

Formatting

Use one line space between headings and following text, and between paragraphs.
Headings should be in bold, not italic.
Use italics where appropriate, NOT underlining.
Tables should be lined up in columns using the tabulation key. Do not use returns within table cells or box lines around tables. Avoid the use of table programs (e.g., Excel) as these will need to be reset (however, Word's Table Tool is acceptable).
Remove field codes produced by bibliographic citation software such as EndNote before submitting your paper
Avoid Track Changes, as these result in unwanted textual artifacts that must be removed.

Abstract

An abstract, normally of no more than 150 words, should accompany all papers. It should be informative, intelligible when divorced from the paper, and devoid of undefined abbreviations, equations, and reference citations. It is particularly important to give the main result(s), and to name any new techniques, new concepts and new conclusions. If there is a direct application, it should be mentioned.

Keywords

Keywords obtained from the whole article, not just the title or the abstract, should be given immediately following the Abstract. Authors should provide at least three keywords. Keywords are used by abstracting agencies (listed after title page).

Acknowledgments

Here you can list supporting institutions and the names (untitled) and the affiliations of people who have assisted in some way with your research.

References

Authors are solely responsible for the accuracy of the references. Citations are to follow the Harvard System, i.e., in the text they are to be by author's name and year of publication (e.g. Chapman & Wheeler 1998), and at the end of the paper in alphabetical order of authors' surnames. Works by the same author and published in the same year are to be distinguished by letters appended to the year.

Examples:

Journal

Chapman RE, Wheeler JL 1998. A sociology of policy makers. The Social Science Journal 26(1): 53–54.

Book

King CM ed. 1990. The handbook of New Zealand mammals. Auckland, Oxford University Press. 600 p.

Chapter in a book

Hofstede G 1983. Dimensions of national cultures in fifty countries and three regions. In: Deregowski J, Dzuirawiec S, Annis R ed. Expiscations in cross-cultural psychology. Lisse, Netherlands: Swetz and Zweitlinger Press. Pp 166-183.

Report, bulletin, proceedings etc

Douglas GB, Donkers P, Foote AG, Barry TN 1993. Determination of extractable and bound condensed tannins in forage species. Proceedings of the XVII International Grassland Congress. Pp. 204–206.

Website

Farr DF, Rossman AY, Palm ME, McCray EB undated. Fungal Databases, systematic Botany & Mycology Laboratory, ARS, USDA. Retrieved 6 April 2003, from http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases

Langton M, White T 2001. Spectronet version 1.2. Palmerston North, Massey University. http://awcmee.massey.ac.nz/downloads.htm [accessed 18 September 2001].

Unpublished work

Restricted citation of unpublished work, work in preparation, recently submitted work, or personal communications may be made in the text only, but excluded from the References. Theses should be listed in the References; and unpublished papers accepted for publication elsewhere may be cited as "in press".

Examples:

Personal communication

Cited in text only as (J. Quinn pers. comm.) or (J. Quinn, MSD, pers. comm. 1999) or (J. Quinn unpubl. data).

Theses

Moeke-Pickering T 1996. Maori identity within whanau, Masters thesis. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Article “in press” (may be cited if the paper has been accepted for publication)

Breen R, Goldthorpe JH in press. Merit, mobility and method: another reply to Saunders. British Journal of Sociology 53(4): 575-582.
Cite in text as (Breen & Goldthorpe in press)

Footnotes may be included for brief supplementary commentary on points raised in the text.

EndNote 7 style file (also compatible with EndNote 8 & 9) (Right-click to download)

Tables

Tables are to be included with the text. Tabular material should be kept to a minimum: only data essential to the understanding of the text should be included. Where papers are based on much analytical data, choose a small section of representative analyses to indicate the unpublished range on which the paper is based. They should be accompanied by a heading (title). The width of the total number of columns in a table should allow each table to fit upright on a single page. Abbreviations in the table should be adequately explained in the caption or in footnotes. Descriptive notes should be kept to a minimum. Units of measurement should be placed in column heads. Horizontal rules should be placed clearly under the column heads and at the top and bottom of each table.

Figures

Figures should only be used where they are essential. They are to be included with the text rather than as separate files at the end. They should be accompanied by a heading (title) but the captions should be provided separately following the References section of the manuscript (i.e. not on the figures themselves).