Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word or RTF file
  • The document adheres to APA 7 style. Please work through the checklist at http://www.apa.org/pubs/authors/manuscript-check.aspx for help. By clicking the box, you assert that your reference list conforms to APA 7 style.

    Overview of APA 7: https://apastyle.apa.org/products/publication-manual-7th-edition-introduction.pdf?_ga=2.87299992.161717410.1589733565-875944577.1583866999

  • The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Please include references at the end of the document.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal. In-text citations and reference list citations should match up. Please check this. Manuscripts will multiple missing references or inaccuracies will be rejected.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal (articles and essays), ensure that the file has no identifying marks. This means no mention of the author(s) or their institutions in the file or the file properties. AEJMC offers this helpful file: http://www.aejmc.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Ensure-a-Blind-Review.pdf
  • You will be asked to paste your references in the next screen (in addition to including the references in your manuscript document). The entry screen will ask for a return between each citation. For the easiest upload, copy and paste your references in WordPad (or a similar program) and then add a space between each entry. You can do it in Word, but we found WordPad to be the quickest way to see where to add the returns.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • Institutional Review Board approval has been received for your study, and it is noted in your methods section of the manuscript. If not, please explain with a note to the editor in the upload process.

Author Guidelines

Manuscripts are evaluated on contributions to the scholarly advance of social media literature.

Style: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020), is the style guide authors should use. Submit manuscripts as a MS Word or Word-compatible document.

Length: Research articles should not exceed 30 pages on double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri on 8.5 x 11 letter with 1-inch margins. Page counts include tables, figures and references. Essays or practitioner pieces with teaching and training ideas should not exceed 10 pages. Book reviews should not exceed 1,000 words. 

Submission: Include a structured abstract and keywords. Please remove any identifying information from the document to ensure blind review. Articles submitted should be original contributions and not published elsewhere. Authors will receive comments and feedback as the submission moves through the review process.

Book reviews: Book reviews should include the title of the book, author, publisher, ISSN number, publisher, reviewer’s name, a short introduction and overview of the book, a critical analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, highlights, commentary on where it fits into the larger literature, practice and industry, and who would best benefit from it (is it appropriate as a textbook, a practitioner's guide?), as well as your overall recommendation to read or not read. The maximum word count is 1,000 words. The editors do not want a complete regurgitation of the work or a chapter-by-chapter replay.

Review form: Reviewers will assess manuscripts based on these categories:

  • Relevance - The topic is a good fit for the Journal of Social Media in Society. It is timely and of interest to journal’s audience. The study is on the cutting edge and can answer the “so what?” test.
  • Grounded in literature – The study cites appropriate literature to create a solid background for the research.
  • Rigorous Methodology – The study is based in appropriate/applicable theory and methods selected create a rigorous framework. Appropriate methodological and statistical notations are made (ie. alpha and effect size).
  • Findings/Conclusion/Future Study – The study clearly outlines findings based on facts/observations and explains conclusions without overgeneralizing study’s scope. Ideas for future study are included.
  • Clarity/Style/Writing/Organization – Study is easy to follow and is well organized. The writing is clear and the style adheres to APA.
  • Significant Contribution – The study breaks new ground, explores a relevant topic more fully, or provides foundation for other study, in order to offer a significant contribution to the field. The work is original.

Book Reviews

Book reviews should include the title of the book, author, publisher, ISSN number, publisher, reviewer’s name, a short introduction and overview of the book, a critical analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, highlights, commentary on where it fits into the larger literature, practice and industry, and who would best benefit from it (is it appropriate as a textbook, a practitioner's guide?), as well as your overall recommendation to read or not read. The maximum word count is 1,000 words. The editors do not want a complete regurgitation of the work or a chapter-by-chapter replay.

Special Issue: Intersections of Politics and Social Media

As social media platforms continue to reshape how we communicate, interact, and access information, the role of social media within the political landscape has become increasingly significant.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

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