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Overview of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of original empirical research articles by both established and emerging scholars. It is designed to promote cross-disciplinary collaborations on timely topical issues of interest to academics, policymakers, and the public at large. Each issue is thematic in nature and focuses on a specific research question or area of interest. The introduction to each issue will include an accessible, broad and synthetic overview of the research question under consideration and the current thinking from the various social sciences.
We invite scholars to submit proposals for potential issues through the RSF mailbox at journal@rsage.org.
Submissions should be addressed to Suzanne Nichols, Director of Publications.
RSF BASICS:
- Each issue will include an introduction and seven to nine chapters
- Each issue will have an introduction written by the issue editors that provides a broad synthetic overview of the issue’s theme and is not just a description of the chapters
- The introduction should be written in a manner that is accessible to the media and general reader
- The articles in each issue should reflect several disciplines
- Having two issue editors from different discipline is required.
- Issues may not contain previously published work and they may not be festschrifts.
- Each article should be original empirical research. They may not be literature reviews or thought pieces.
- RSF will be published quarterly and hosted on our website as well as on JSTOR and UPCC/Muse
- Each issue will undergo one-way blinded peer review by three outside reviewers. The reviews will also be shared with members of the editorial board.
Format of Proposals:
Each proposal for an issue should contain the following information:
- A clear statement about the theme of the issue and its relevance to the field, social science in general, and to public policy
- A list of the questions the issue seeks to address
- A table of contents that is divided into thematic sections with suggested topics as sub sections
- If the editors propose to include invited papers rather than issue a call for abstracts, they must include a list of potential authors (including discipline and affiliation) who might author those chapters.
If the proposal receives positive reviews internally, the proposal will be sent to the editorial board as well as outside specialists in the area of the call for review. The proposal will be accepted, rejected, or revised for another round of review. If a majority of the reviewers approve of the call, the authors will be asked to make any necessary revisions. The revised proposal will then be sent back to the editorial board for final acceptance.
Responsibilities of Issue Editors
The issue editor or editors have many responsibilities. They are responsible for creating the organizational structure for the volume and preparing a proposal for the editorial board reviews. They will also work closely with the director of publications and the individual contributors to make sure the submissions meet the standards of RSF. They will read the papers and give feedback at and after the RSF conference. It is important that issue editors understand that the papers accepted for the journal are of the highest quality. Only the strongest papers will be published. Marginal contributions (even those by well-known scholars) will not be published. Each issue will consist of an introduction and about seven to nine nine additional papers.
Issues may only be created through a request for papers (RFP). All issues will have an associated conference at which drafts of the papers are presented and discussed. The process for submitting an issue proposal as an RFP or as an invited issue is as follows:
- Issue with an RFP: The issue editors will prepare the text of the RFP explaining the issue to be explored and the relevant questions to be addressed. Proposals for an issue will be reviewed by editorial board members. Once approved, the issue editor will work with the director of publications to determine the best ways to disseminate the call for papers. Submissions will be made through the RSF application portal. Once received, the issue editors will review all the papers and select the best nine pieces for the journal issue. The editors’ final selections will be reviewed by the editorial board members.
- Caveat: Whenever an RFP is issued but issue editors know authors working on potential projects, the open call for proposals should go out and targeted authors should be encouraged to submit proposals. No one should be guaranteed acceptance to avoid any conflicts, topic duplication, and to ensure that only the best articles are selected. An invitation to submit an abstract does not guarantee that it will be accepted.
- Conferences: All approved conferences will be held at RSF and the funds administered by the foundation.
Special Issues: RSF does publish Special Issues, which are a mixture of literature and policy proposals, but those issues are generated internally within Russell Sage and may not be proposed. If you have any questions about this policy, please speak to the RSF’s director of publications.
Format of the Editors’ Introduction
The issue editors will be responsible for writing the introduction to the volume. Introductions will not be simple descriptions of the articles. They should be broad pieces that stand on their own and give a non-specialist reader insight about the state of the literature and the field in general. The introduction should be accessible to the media and a broad, non-specialist audience. The introduction can be 60–70 manuscript pages, double-spaced with 1 inch margins, and be in 11 point Times New Roman font. Tables and figures are included in the page count, as are notes and references, which can be set single-spaced. Please note RSF only publishes original work that has not been previously published.
The issue editors will submit a complete set of articles abstracts, and key words for the journal issue to RSF along with the introduction for peer review issue in accordance with the “RSF Journal Submission Guidelines.”
The director of publications will commission two peer reviews. The peer reviews will be one-way blinded. The editorial board may know the identities of the reviewers, so long as they do not share them with anyone outside the board. The issue editors and article authors will not be told the identity of the peer reviewers.
The director of publications, in consultation with the issue editors, will determine an appropriate revision plan based on the reviews. Any papers that do not meet the standard of RSF or the reviewers will be rejected. The issue editor will work with the contributors to get them to revise their papers in a timely manner.
The issue editors will submit a final draft of the revised chapters to RSF once they feel the pieces have been adequately revised. Papers will be submitted in a standardized digital format (please see our “RSF Journal Submission Guidelines”).
The director of publications and the foundation president will review the revised draft to make sure it is acceptable for production.
Once an issue is in production, the issue editors will first be sent copyediting to review and then the proofs. The lead author of each article will also be sent the copyediting and then the proofs to review. Our expectation is that the editing and burden of reviewing the editing and proofs will fall mainly to each article’s author.
The issue editors will be paid up to $10,000 per issue to be divided among the editors. Note: Issues resulting from previously funded Russell Sage Foundation projects are not eligible for these funds. All work must be original, and the copyright will be held by the Russell Sage Foundation. Permission to republish will need to be made through the Copyright Clearance Center which administers the permissions requests for Russell Sage.
Issue editors are required to sign and return the “RSF Issue Editors Agreement Form,”which acknowledges the terms of the agreement and the issue editors’ responsibilities.
Payment to the issue editors is as follows:
(payment is divided among the number of editors)
Responsibilities of Issue Contributors
RSF only publishes original work that has not been previously published. Submissions may not be under review for publication elsewhere, however, submissions may appear in working paper series and draft versions can be posted on one's own web site.
Contributors must sign and return the “Contributor Agreement Form,” which affirms that the work is their own and transfers the copyright to the Russell Sage Foundation. Full terms of the agreement are listed in the “Terms of the Contributor Agreement Form and Transfer of Copyright” document.
At least one author must present at the journal conference for the paper to be considered for publication in an issue.
Contributors are responsible for obtaining copyright permission for any material (e.g., tables and figures) for which they do not hold copyright. They are also responsible for any fees associated with reproducing the material. Our required terms of use are specified in the “Russell Sage Foundation Permission Request Form.” For any questions about the necessary rights, please contact the director of publications.
Individual paper submissions should be no longer than 35 double-spaced pages with 1 inch margins in 11 point Times New Roman font. Tables and figures are included in the page count as are notes and references, which can be set single-spaced. Contributors should also supply a short abstract consisting of 150 words or less (750 characters including spaces).Contributors must also supply a list of three to five keywords to describe their article.For more details please see the and our “RSF Journal Submission Guidelines.”
The lead author of each article will be sent the copyediting of the article and page proofs to review.
Issue contributors are required to adhere to all journal rules, which include, but are not limited to, making good faith efforts to respond to reviewer feedback, adhering to length and submission guidelines, securing permission to use material that is not their own, and meeting all deadlines.
Permission to republish must be requested through the Copyright Clearance Center which administers the permissions requests for Russell Sage. Authors wishing to republish their work in a book of which they are the sole author will be granted without a fee, as will including the work in their non-commercial institutional digital repository. Note: including the article in an edited volume and/or any digital repository used for commercial purposes (even if the distributor and/or institution a not-for-profit) will require a fee payable to RSF.
Each accepted journal article will receive $1,000 for the contribution to be divided among the authors of the article payable on publication.Note: articles from previously funded Russell Sage Foundation projects are not eligible for these funds.
The final decision about whether or not an article will be published in RSF is at the sole discretion of the Russell Sage Foundation.