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Policies

General Guidelines

Language used should be clear, appropriate to the field discussed, and include enough explanation for readers who are unfamiliar with the terminology of the field.

21st Century Social Justice will review accepted manuscripts for style, substance, syntax, and grammar. Authors have one month in which to complete any changes, and the journal retains the right to reject an article if corrections or revisions are not adequate. In a second stage, 21st Century Social Justice editors edit manuscripts for style and consistency before giving authors an opportunity to examine and correct page proofs over a one-month period.

Style

21st Century Social Justice style is generally consistent with the provisions described in The American Psychological Association’s style guide.

Sexist and Ethnic Language

21st Century Social Justice encourages the use of inclusionary language if it is appropriate to the context. The journal defers to authors’ choices in the use of racial and ethnic language but prefers terminological consistency within the manuscript. The following provisions (University of Chicago Press, accessed May 2, 2013) govern usage of common racial and ethnic terminology:

  • Capitalize racial terms (e.g., “African Americans,” “Caucasians,” “Latinos”).
  • Colors are not capitalized if used to represent racial groups (e.g., “black mothers,” “white mothers”).
  • Racial and ethnic designations are not generally hyphenated (e.g., “Hispanic Americans,” “African American children,” “Asian American women”).
  • Journal style does not permit the use of the virgule to combine disparate elements into such constructions as “he/she,” “his/her,” or “race/ethnicity” (instead, use “he or she,” “his or her,” or “race and ethnicity.”)

Abbreviations and Acronyms

21st Century Social Justice encourages economical use of abbreviations and acronyms for key terms that recur in a manuscript:

  • Use abbreviations or acronyms only for terms or phrases that appear more than three times in the manuscript.
  • If they are used, spell out the full term the first time it is used and introduce the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses.
  • Do not begin a sentence with an abbreviation or an acronym.
  • The abbreviations i.e., et al., and e.g. are used only in parentheses and in notes. They do not require definition. In text, spell out such alternatives as “that is” and “for example.” 21st Century Social Justice does not use ibid., op. cit., and loc. cit.

Figures, Charts, Graphs, Multimedia

Include figures, charts, and graphs in a separate document from the main body of the manuscript. Reference can and should be made to where the author prefers such graphics to appear. All figures charts and graphs should be submitted in a word document of .doc, .docx, or rtf. format. Manuscripts which do not follow these guidelines may be rejected.

Since the journal will be published electronically, media files such as video and audio may be included.

Documentation

21st Century Social Justice reserves the right to check references. References should be included for direct quotations as well as ideas which are not the authors own, or which have appeared in professional literature before the manuscript.

Other Formats

Since the journal is an electronic format, we will be accepting video and audio files in addition to traditional manuscripts. The format for these is looser, but the general guidelines are:

  • Audio/video must meet the same language, style, and documentation requirements as manuscripts.
  • An APA style reference list is required.
  • Content in the audio/video which is not the author’s own must be clearly connected to its respective reference in the list. This can be accomplished by stating the author and date after quote/paraphrase, or simply by the author, if no more than one work of the author’s appears in the reference list.
  • Audio/video should be between 2 minutes and 60 minutes in length, with preference given to shorter files.
  • As this is a non-traditional format, these guidelines may be insufficient in certain circumstances. Please refer any questions to the editors. The journal reserves the right to revise these guidelines at any time.