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Policies

The APSSR encourages and welcomes submissions from different social science disciplines, regions, countries, and epistemological, ontological, and methodological traditions. The journal may decline a second or third consecutive submission from authors whose works have been recently published or accepted in APSSR to maintain the diversity of contributors and provide publication opportunities for other scholars.

The APSSR categorizes manuscripts into two—Research Articles and Research Briefs. Research articles are full-length submissions longer than 5,000 words but less than or equal to 8,000 words, including references. Research Briefs are shorter manuscripts less than or equal to 5,000 words in length but are short of a full article. It may present partial results or preliminary findings of ongoing research. Manuscripts submitted as Research Briefs cannot be converted to a Research Article after submission.

Authors may submit manuscripts anytime through the APSSR’s ScholarOne™ Submission Platform. Submissions to APSSR must be a single MS Word file bearing the Abstract and keywords (note: these parts are not applicable to Research Briefs), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Acknowledgements, and declarations of Funding Source/s, Ownership, Conflict of Interest and Ethical Clearance, as appropriate. The Abstract must state the rationale, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions but should be no more than 500 words.

Authors may include a maximum of five tables and high-resolution figures in a manuscript. These should be placed in their exact locations within the manuscript rather than at its end or in a separate file. Tables, figures, in-text citations, and references should abide by the rules of the American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA); click this link to see an example. References in non-Roman scripts and non-English languages must have their English versions. Include the URL and/or DOI of each of the cited sources in the References section. Lastly, author names and affiliations should not appear on the document. The journal will only entertain manuscripts that follow the journal guidelines.

All submitted manuscripts will undergo preliminary screening, which includes: similarity check (is the similarity rating justifiable and acceptable?), writing (is the English Language expression correct and clear?), completeness, and organization (does it have all the required sections?), and formatting (are the sections appropriately done according to the rules of the journal and the APA Style guide?). The journal editors may decide to review, unsubmit, or reject manuscripts at this stage.

Manuscripts that pass the screening are queued for desk review and evaluation by the journal editors. The APSSR editors evaluate submitted manuscripts based on several criteria, which may include but are not limited to:

  • Alignment of the topic to the scope of APSSR (i.e., interesting, relevant, or emerging topics situated within or with implications to the Asia-Pacific region)
  • A compelling rationale for the study (i.e., clear research problem, well-articulated research questions or objectives, compelling significance)
  • Soundness and clarity of methodology (i.e., appropriateness of the selected method for the study and sufficiency of information about the research design and specific method of data collection and analysis)
  • Quality of data and analytical rigor (i.e., adequacy of data and how well the analysis support the interpretation and conclusion)
  • Coherence and organization of the manuscript (i.e., the manuscript is well-organized and the different parts and sections go well together)
  • Potential contribution to scholarship and/or practice (i.e., the value of the contributions of the manuscript justify publication)

The APSSR editors will determine which manuscripts will proceed to external review during desk review and evaluation. The editors may decide to proceed to external review, unsubmit, or reject submissions at this stage.

A queued manuscript means it will be considered for publication but only after it is peer-reviewed. APSSR adopts a double-blind review process. Review results are sent to the corresponding author once available. The reviewers may recommend accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject. The editors will consolidate and relay the results of the review along with comments and instructions.

Authors whose manuscripts have been recommended for revision are expected to provide their detailed responses to the comments provided by the reviewers and editors. Authors are also expected to provide information to facilitate further review. These include brief descriptions of changes to the manuscript and information on where these are located (e.g., page number, paragraph, line). Final decisions on manuscripts recommended for revisions will be made based on the evaluation of the revised manuscripts and the response to the reviewers and editors.

Acceptance of a manuscript for publication is tentative until the authors have satisfactorily addressed the required revisions and complied with the journal instructions. The APSSR reserves the right not to publish an accepted manuscript if the author fails to carry out requested revisions, promptly return a signed Copyright Agreement form, and/or comply with other journal requirements or instructions.

All decisions regarding review, acceptance, and publication of manuscripts shall rest with the journal Editorial Board. Manuscripts accepted for publication are queued on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the four regular editions–March (online edition only), June (online and print editions), September (online edition only), and December (online and print editions).

Accepted manuscripts are copy edited and are emailed to the corresponding authors for the appropriate action based on the suggested changes of the copy editor. Thereafter, the copy edited and author-checked version is formatted. Finally, the proof, along with instructions on accessing and completing the Copyright Agreement, is emailed to the corresponding author for proper action.

The Copyright Agreement requires the corresponding author to formally agree, among others, that the manuscript is original and unpublished, has no plagiarized contents, and/or that the authors were not involved in any unethical practices related to the manuscript. The APSSR may rescind or unpublish any manuscripts found in violation of this guarantee.

Only the corresponding authors will be provided with a printed copy of the APSSR issue where their work is published. Co-authors may order a printed copy or secure a digital copy from the APSSR website. In addition to the official website, published manuscripts are also disseminated on the Facebook Page of the journal, at https://www.facebook.com/DLSUAPSSR/.

Download Sample Manuscript