Submission Guidelines and Notes for Authors
NOTE: Effective August 1, 2007, inquiries regarding new manuscripts and proposals for special issues should be directed to Kevin Wright, JCMC Editor-Elect, at kbwright @ ou.edu.
All new and revised manuscripts should be submitted via Manuscript Central at:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcmc. See instructions below.
- Topics: The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication is a web-based journal that publishes scholarship on computer-mediated communication. Broadly interdisciplinary in scope, the JCMC publishes mostly empirical research making use of social science methods, which should be presented according to the accepted standards for each method. Although the field of computer-mediated communication research is still young, successful original research submissions are expected to include comprehensive literature reviews, and to be theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous, in addition to advancing new knowledge in innovative ways. Reviews, syntheses, and meta-analyses of prior research are also welcome, as are proposals for special issues.
- When to submit: Articles may be submitted to JCMC for publication at any time. Although we organize some of our articles into special issues, we encourage your contributions and will happily find a place for articles of high quality regardless of topic.
- Copyright: The submission of an article to
JCMC implies that neither the article nor any of its parts is
copyrighted or currently under review for any journal, edited
collection, or conference proceedings. If the article, any
portion of it, or any other version of it, has appeared, or is
scheduled to appear in another publication of any kind, the details of
such publication must be made known to the editors at
the time of submission. Authors are encouraged to consult the JCMC copyright form to see precisely
what sort of assurances they will be required to provide to the
Editors.
JCMC copyright form
- Length: Full-length article submissions should be roughly 7,000-9,500 words. This is the most common type of article published in JCMC. In addition, we occasionally publish Research Briefs (1,500-3,500 words) that focus on a single research finding or issue.
- Citation Style: The academic citation style used in JCMC follows the most recent American Psychological Association (APA) Manual of Style. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (currently, the 5th Ed.). In addition, authors are encouraged to link their references to online sources, where available. (Note that the copyright notice DOES NOT apply to the incorporation of pointers to publicly available network sources.) Please keep in mind that many networked resources may be ephemeral. Authors should attempt to use "fresh" and long-lasting links.
- Formats: Authors are encouraged to take advantage of the expressive possibilities afforded by JCMC's multimodal, web-based format. Articles may contain any combination of text, tables, graphics, animation, or audio components. Innovative forms of expressing research, and/or linking members of the scientific community, are welcome. The preferred format for article submissions is MS-Word. Binary components (graphics, sound files, etc.) may also be uploaded as supplementary files at the time of submission to Manuscript Central. JCMC editors will make every possible effort to accommodate presentation formats.
Submissions to JCMC should be submitted to
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcmc. Before accessing the online submission site, you should have the following ready to upload:
- Manuscript title (limit 50 words)
- Running head (limit 50 characters)
- Abstract (150-200 words)
- Email address(es) and institution(s) of co-authors, if any
- A cover letter, including:
- Manuscript title and a brief bio for each author
- The total number of words in the manuscript, including title, abstract, main document, references, and appendices
- An anonymized version of the manuscript. Articles will be reviewed in a double-blind fashion, shielding authors' and reviewers' identities wherever possible. Authors should take care to remove all pointers to their own identity or to that of their institution. For example, when citing references to your own (co-)authored work(s) that could identify you to reviewers, replace your name(s) in the citation(s) with "Author," and in the References section, replace your name(s) with "Author," delete all but the year of publication, and list them under "A." Please do NOT separate figures and tables out from your manuscript; position them where you would like them to appear in the body of the manuscript.
- A title page, including author(s) name(s) and affiliation(s)
Instructions for Submitting through Manuscript Central:
Go to the JCMC Manuscript Central website at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcmc.If you have not used the website before, you will need to create an account. To do this, click on "create account" all the way in the upper right-hand corner of the page, in the same bar as the JCMC logo.
Follow the instructions to create an account. Fields marked with "req" are required.
Note: the password you select must be at least 8 characters long.
After you have created your account, click "log in." You should see a welcome screen with two options: Author Center and Reviewer Center.
To submit a manuscript, click on "Author Center," then "Click here to submit a new manuscript" in the Author Resources column.
Provide all requested information and upload your document(s).
If you are resubmitting a revised manuscript that was originally submitted via email to the editors, follow the procedure for submitting a new manuscript, with the following exception: When you come to a question that asks if the manuscript has been submitted previously, check "yes", and where it asks for the manuscript ID, type in the date of the initial submission, if you know it. If not, leave that part blank.
Note: In Step 4 (Details and Comments), a "conflict of interest" may exist when an author or the author's institution has a financial or other relationship with other people or organizations that may inappropriately influence the author's work. A conflict can be actual or potential; full disclosure to the journal is the safest course.
Note: Manuscript Central allows you to upload figures and tables separately; please do NOT choose this option. If you have tables and figures, they should be incorporated into the main manuscript in the places you would like them to appear.
Acknowledgment of receipt will be sent by email shortly after your submission is processed by the online submission system. Submitted articles will not be returned. Authors should retain an original copy.
- All articles will be reviewed by the editors and two referees. The advice of a third referee will be sought as warranted. The decision of the editors and the referees' reviews will be returned by email unless the author requests response by surface mail at the time of submission. The normal timeframe from acknowledgement of receipt to notification of decision is three months.
- Criteria used by reviewers: Acceptable articles will most frequently join theoretical analysis with empirical investigation, and/or incorporate demonstration or simulation. The use of introduction, background, methodology, results and conclusion sections is encouraged, and the implications for future work should be discussed. Reviews, synthesis, and meta-analyses of prior research should clearly indicate their original contribution. Research Briefs should make a single, interesting point in a concise manner. In all cases, rigorous argumentation and clear, comprehensible, compact and considerate presentation are expected.
Susan C. Herring, Editor
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Email: jcmc @ indiana.edu