Author Guidelines

Please make sure your manuscript conforms to the following guidelines. Manuscripts that do not conform to these requirements will not be processed.

For the initial submission we ask for the uploading of an anonymized manuscript file. In the anonymized version, please replace publications by the author by a wild-card at the end of the reference list. Please make also sure that the author is not mentioned in the file properties of your document.

Article-submissions should have a total size of no more than 10.000 words, including bibliography, notes etc. Country reports should not exceed 6.000 words, references excluded. Papers of more than 12.000 words will not be accepted for review.

1 Highlights, abstract, and keywords

Please start your text with up to five highlights and a structured abstract of no more than 150 words. Highlights consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article (maximum 95 characters, including spaces, per bullet point). A structured abstract is an abstract with distinct, labeled sections. Structure your abstract into the following sections:

Purpose: What are the reason(s) for writing the paper or the aims of the research?

Design/methodology/approach: How are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the paper?

Findings: What was found in the course of the work? This will refer to analysis, discussion, or results.

Research limitations/implications (if applicable): If research is reported on in the paper this section must be completed and should include suggestions for future research and any identified limitations in the research process.

Practical implications (if applicable): What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified?

Please list keywords and expressions which are characteristic of your contribution at the beginning of the text after the abstract (nominative, singular, separated by commas).

2 Manuscript format

1) Use the APA style or referencing. For detailed information see: http://www.apastyle.org/ and http://blog.apastyle.org

2) Please use only minimal formatting.

3) Emphasizes in the text should be italicized, never in bold.

4) Paragraphs never have indentations (no hanging paragraphs).

5) Please use standardized structuring elements (levels of titles, listing etc.) A numerical structure is desirable (e.g. 1.1; 1.2 ...).

6) Please do not use footnotes but endnotes and these very sparsely and exclusively for textual explanations, not for references or further bibliographical notes (cf. 5).

7) Numbers up to twelve are written out in full.

8) Please avoid abbreviations. Use them only if they are self-explanatory. Names and institutions have to be written out when first mentioned. The abbreviations are added in brackets.

9) Tables and figures should preferably be inserted in the consecutive text. If this is impossible, they should be saved separately and referred to in the text, for example: "Table 1 here”.

10) In addition, we need all figures, pictures and diagrams (e.g. scanned pictures or graphs) as separate files (preferred: tif files with high resolution).

3 Revising your Submission

In case the paper is not rated “accept” a commented version of the revised paper must be made available in the OJS.

To minimize the risk of confusion you should submit the revised version of your paper exclusively via the online submission system. In general, papers send to the editorial office directly (i.e.: via email) will not be processed.

Charges and fees

The JSSE is supported by Bielefeld University, Bielefeld University Library and the non-profit organisation sowi-online e.V., Bielefeld. No publication and processing fees are demanded. 

The JSSE adopts the COPE Guidelines on publication ethics.