Submission Guide

Sociological Insight is a fully refereed journal that publishes social scientific articles. Accepted articles may be based on empirical or theoretical research, and they may employ either or both quantitative and qualitative methods.

There are three main criteria for accepted manuscripts. Please click here for Insight's detailed vetting criteria.

1.      The subject matter must be approached critically and from an objective modus operandi.

2.      The manuscript must be professionally written and with logical organization of ideas. The author must precisely define the paper's subject matter, i.e., the research question/problem, and how this research question will be approached. Moreover, the author should frame the context in which his/her research is important. In addition, well-structured sentences, proper diction, and adequate grammar are expected.

3.      The manuscript must have sociological relevance. Sociology is a broad field which touches on many academic areas: crime, law, and deviance, culture, development, economic sociology, education, family, gender, health, historical sociology, immigration, methods, nationalism, race and ethnic relations, political sociology, rural sociology, social demography, social networks, social organizations, social policy, social psychology, social stratification, religion, theory, and urban sociology.

Please view past issues of Sociological Insight to get a sense of the type of articles accepted for publication.

The copyrights to original manuscripts submitted to Sociological Insight and accepted for publication become the property of the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, upon publication. No part of a Sociological Insight publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the copyright holder.

Style and Submission Guidelines

The submission deadline for the May 2012 issue is December 3, 2011.

Manuscripts must meet the following requirements:

1.      Submit one electronic version of your manuscript to macrotomicro@gmail.com by December 3, 2011. Include in the name of the Word file your last name, your university, and the title of your paper (e.g. "Smith Case Western University Political Voting Patterns among Hispanic Americans.doc"). Articles and research notes may be co-authored.

2.      The document must be in a Microsoft Word compatible format, double-spaced, and in size-12 Times New Roman font. Manuscripts must follow the American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide, 2nd Edition (1997). In-text citations must agree exactly with the list of references. The ASA Style Guide rules on, references in the main text, footnotes and endnotes, cited references (reference list), and grammatical matters can be found here.

3.      Manuscripts and Research Notes must have one space between words throughout the text, and one space between words in the Abstract. Book Reviews must have one space between words.

4.      Manuscripts should be between 4000 and 7000 words, including footnotes, endnotes, and references. Research Notes should not exceed 2,500 words. Book reviews should be around 1,000 words.

5.      Include a separate title page listing the title of the article, name(s) of the author(s), institutional affiliation, total word count, and acknowledgements (if any).

6.      Manuscripts must include a one-paragraph abstract not exceeding 200 words. The abstract should be single-spaced and be on its own page (after the title page). Research Notes must include a one-paragraph abstract not exceeding 150 words.

7.      Indicate the place of all tables/figures within the article (e.g. Table 1 HERE), but append all articles to the end of the article. No colored tables, and please do not include tables that are in an image format.

8.      Margins must be 1-1/4 inches on all four sides. Percentages should be written out.

9.      Book in-text citations should have page numbers, and be sure to number book in-text citations.

10.    Submitted book reviews should be accompanied with a complete citation of the book's publication city, publisher, price, etc.

The Editor reserves the right to return manuscripts to authors without sending them to external reviewers if they do not adhere to the submission guidelines set forth above or do not meet the quality requirements of Sociological Insight.

Please direct any questions about any one of the requirements to macrotomicro@gmail.com.

Research Notes and Book Reviews

Research notes should not exceed 2,500 words (see relevant stylistic guidelines above). Research Notes do not necessarily adhere to the traditional organization of a social science paper. Typically, they focus on highlighting new directions in social scientific research and developing new ways of thinking about a given research question. Please email the Editor-in-Chief if you have questions about whether your submission qualifies as a Research Note.