Instructions for Authors

Aim and Scope

The mission of Social Dissertations is to deepen knowledge in the field of social sciences by publishing theories, empirical research, and reviews.

The journal publishes original and high-quality scientific papers that make a significant contribution to the ongoing debate in the field of pedagogy, economic sociology and public health considered from different perspectives.
We welcome original research and topics in the indicated areas, also of interdisciplinary character.

The journal strictly adheres to the double-blind review policy. Presently, it operates in the continuous publication mode.

Submission of works and technical requirements

The works in the journal are published in parallel in two languages: English and Polish. We publish original works that have not been published so far and are of the following character:

• Original article
• Review article
• Scientific review
• Short communication
• Case study
• Letter to the Editor

These works may be submitted for publication in Polish and in English or only in one language: Polish or English. In this case, the works are translated into the other language by the Editorial Office. All works are reviewed by specialists from outside the authors' mother organisation, adhering to the principle of mutual anonymity, the so-called double-blind-review process.
Only previously unpublished works are published in the journal.
Works proposed for publication in the journal “Rozprawy Społeczne/Social Dissertations” should be sent to the editorial office only electronically via the editorial panel available at https://www.editorialsystem.com/rozsp

Technical requirements:

- word processor: Microsoft Word,
- font: 12 points Times New Roman,
- margin: left side 2 cm, right side 3 cm,
- alignment: justification,
- line spacing: 1.5 lines.

Editorial tips:

- the ENTER key is used only at the end of the paragraph (all titles, points serving as enumeration, etc. are treated as separate paragraphs),
- paragraph indents are only marked using the tab or other tools of the word processor used. Do not use the space key for this purpose. Spaces should be inserted only for word separation, after a full stop, comma, exclamation mark, colon, semicolon etc.
- do not use spaces after the opening parenthesis and before the closing parenthesis, as well as before and after the digital link (never before these characters),
- do not insert the so-called hard space, e.g. to move the conjunction "and" to the next line.

Authors' declarations

The submitted works should be accompanied by the authors' declaration (to be signed by all authors), as well as the ethics declaration, which is filled in and signed by the correspondent author.

Work layout

Texts of submitted articles should not exceed one publishing sheet (40,000 characters including spaces, including title, summary, key words and references).
p. 1. Title page
The title page should contain: title of the work; names of authors along with affiliation; name, surname, address, telephone number (or fax number) and e-mail address of the author for correspondence, ORCID numbers of all authors.
p. 2. Summary
Summary (max. 150 words) should consist of the following parts (in case of research articles): purpose of the work, research material and methods, results and conclusions. Below the text of the summary 3-6 keywords should be placed. The words "keywords" and "summary" should be in bold type.
p. 3. and subsequent ones: main text
The main text of the research work should consist of the following parts: introduction, material and methods, research results, discussion, conclusions, expressions of gratitude and acknowledgments (if necessary, in this part of the work, data such as sources of financing should be disclosed [grants, projects, etc.], persons who are not the authors of the work, but have influenced its shape), footnotes (if any), literature. In other types of publications, the logical continuity of the text should be maintained, and the titles of individual parts should reflect the issues discussed in them.

Citation

Citation and the list of literature in the journal “Rozprawy Społeczne/Social Dissertations” should be compliant with APA rules, adapted to Polish language norms (source: Harasimczuk, J., Cieciuch, J. (2012). Podstawowe standardy edytorskie naukowych tekstów psychologicznych w języku polskim na podstawie reguł APA [Principal editorial standards for scientific texts in the field of psychology in the Polish language on the basis of APA rules.]. Downloaded from: https://www.liberilibri.pl/harasimczuk)
- when the work has one author (Kowalski, 2011)
- when the work has two authors - each time we give both names (Kowalski, Igrekowski, 2011)
- when the work has three authors: the first citation in the text (Kowalski, Igrekowski, Iksiński, 2011), further citations in the text (Kowalski et al., 2011); we analogously proceed when the work has four and five authors - the first citation gives all the surnames, the next one - the name of the first author and "et al."
- when the work has six or more authors, each citation should be (Iksiński et al., 2011)
- in the case of the literal citation of the work, after the date and after a coma page numbers should be given, e.g. (Kowalski, 2011, p. 12)
- if we refer to the works of various authors who have the same surnames, enter the initials of the names of these authors, e.g. (Kowalski Z., 2011)
- if several works by the same author were published in the same year, the letters a, b, c etc. should be inserted after the year of publication, both in the citation and in the list of references, e.g. (Kowalski, 2014a).

References

At least 50% of the literature items should be from the last three years.
The list of references, placed at the end of the dissertation, should be ordered alphabetically and numbered. Individual items of references should be written according to the following formula:

An article in the journal:
Iksiński, A., Kowalski, B. (year). The title of the article. The title of the journal should be italicised, year/volume number in italics (number of volume/issue), beginning page - ending page.
Note: if the article has a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) number, it should be given at the end of the bibliographic record as a full link, e.g. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpc.2017.70524

Book:
Iksiński, A., Kowalski, B. (year). The title of the book should be italicised. Place of publication: Publishing house.

The book was edited by: Iksiński, A., Kowalski, B. (ed.). (year). The title of the book should be italicised. Place of publication: Publishing house.

Chapter:
Kowalski, A. (year). Chapter title. In: B. Iksiński, C. Igrekowski (ed.), Title of the book in italics (p. beginning page - ending page). Place of publication: Publishing house.

Internet source:
Kowalski, A. (year). The title of the text in italics. Downloaded from: website address.

Tables and drawings

- tables and drawings should be numbered and described; example: Table 1. Comparison of students' eating habits; Figure 1. Participation in additional forms of education. After the title of a table or figure, full stop is not inserted;
- the title of a table is placed above the table, the title of a figure - under the figure;
- the source should be given below tables/figure, for example: Source: author's own elaboration; Source: GUS data; Source: King 2014. At the end of the source there should always be a full stop inserted;
- figures should be clear and legible, distinguishing data - using different shades of grey, not colours.

Work assessment (rules for reviewing publications)

Articles submitted to the editorial office are subjected to initial verification with regard to formal requirements. Failure to comply with the formal requirements may result in the article not being submitted for review and its rejection. In order to facilitate the work of authors and prevent the most frequent mistakes and omissions, the so-called checklist is available on the website, thanks to which the authors can verify whether the article has been properly prepared before sending to the editorial office.
Submitted and initially verified articles are subjected to anonymous review by at least two independent reviewers from outside the unit. In other solutions, a reviewer must sign a declaration of no conflict of interests; a conflict of interest is deemed to occur between the reviewer and the author in the case of:
a) direct personal relationships (kinship, legal relationships, conflict),
b) relationship of professional subordination,
c) direct scientific cooperation in the last two years preceding the preparation of the review.

The author must provide 2 potential reviewers, but the Editorial Office reserves the right to decide on their selection. In order to conduct anonymous reviews, the so-called blind page should be attached to the submitted articles, containing only the title of the work. The review has a written form (the review form is provided on the journal's website) and ends with a clear conclusion regarding the acceptance or rejection of the article for publication.
Depending on the reviewer's assessment, the Editorial Office shall decide about further use of the work. The decision of the Editorial Office is final.
Surnames of the reviewers of individual publications / issues are not revealed; once a year, the journal publishes the list of cooperating reviewers for public knowledge.

Author's proofreading

After the editorial and graphic elaboration, the work will be forwarded to the author so that they could perform author's proofreading. The author is obliged to return the proofread text within one week. The author will be charged for the costs of corrections other than printing ones.

Explanation referring to "ghostwriting"

Reliability in science is one of its qualitative foundations. Readers should feel confident that the authors of the publication present the results of their work in a transparent, reliable and honest way, regardless of whether they are its direct authors, or whether they used the help of a specialized entity (natural or legal person).
The transparency of information about entities contributing to the creation of a publication (substantive, factual and financial contribution, etc.) should be the proof of the ethical attitude of a researcher and of the highest editorial standards, which is not only a manifestation of good manners, but also social responsibility.

The opposite examples are "ghostwriting" and "guest authorship".
We deal with "ghostwriting" when someone has made a significant contribution to the creation of publication without revealing their participation as one of the authors or without mentioning their role in the acknowledgments included in the publication.
We deal with "guest authorship" ("honorary authorship") when the author's participation is negligible or did not take place, but despite this they are named the author/co-author of the publication.
In order to counteract the cases of "ghostwriting", "guest authorship", the editorial office of the journal tries to introduce appropriate procedures specific to the field or discipline of science or implement the following solutions:
1. The Editorial Office requires authors to disclose the contribution of individual authors
to the creation of a publication (with their affiliation and contribution, i.e. information on who is the author of the concepts, assumptions, methods, protocol, etc. used in the preparation of the publication), whereas the author submitting the manuscript carries the main responsibility.
2. The editorial office informs in "Instructions for authors" that "ghostwriting", "guest authorship" is a manifestation of scientific unreliability, and that any detected cases will be unmasked, including notifying the relevant entities (institutions employing authors, scientific societies, associations of scientific editors, etc. ).
3. The Editorial Office should obtain information about the sources of financing of the publication, the contribution of scientific and research institutions, associations and other entities ("financial disclosure").
4. The paper submitted to the journal is checked using an antiplagiarism program.
5. The Editorial Office implements the principle of documenting all manifestations of scientific unreliability, especially infringements and violations of ethical principles applicable in science.

Editorial rights

The Editorial Office reserve the right to correct stylistic, punctuation, linguistic error etc. and to introduce abbreviations. The works prepared not in compliance with the regulations will be sent back to the authors for correction.

Copyright: The rights to the article are usually transferred by the authors to the owner of the journal, who makes it available under the Creative Commons license. However, if the author does not want to transfer the copyright to the publisher, he/she may contact the editorial office and set separate rules - under which the editorial office may publish an article in the journal. For the detailed information, please contact with editorial office.