Author Guidelines

Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift publishes original scientific articles, contributions to the Social Science Forum, debate articles, book reviews, presentations of new dissertations, and other research news items.

The editorial team welcomes manuscripts from all areas within the social science research field, from various disciplines and in different scientific genres. Manuscripts must be written in Swedish. Only complete manuscripts will be considered for review. The editorial team does not accept synopses, article drafts, or otherwise incomplete manuscripts.

Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift strives to ensure that the language used in the journal is inclusive and free from bias regarding historical context, age, gender, gender identity and expression, research participation, race and ethnic identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. We follow the APA guidelines. Please consult them at: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language.

Manuscripts submitted to Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift must not have been previously published or be under review by another journal or publisher. Scientific manuscripts undergo a double-blind review by two independent reviewers with high scientific competence.

Original articles should be theoretical or empirical original works or review articles on a social science topic. These articles must include a Swedish and an English abstract (maximum 300 words each) and both a Swedish and an English title. Articles must not exceed 7,800 words, including footnotes, references, and the English abstract. The Swedish abstract is not included as it is only used for prospective reviewers.

Articles in the Forum section of Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift complement traditional scientific articles. These articles can take a freer form than the conventional scientific article, such as argumentative and reflective essays, commentary on current research, political developments, theories, and methods relevant to social sciences. A Forum article must not exceed 6,000 words, including references.

Debate articles may comment on previously published articles, address methodological or theoretical issues, controversies within the research field, research policy matters, and education issues. Debate articles must not exceed 2,500 words.

Book reviews and dissertation presentations are usually published in agreement with the editorial team. These texts should not exceed 2,000 words.

Articles published in the the Forum section and reviews of dissertations and new books are reviewed by the journal's editorial team. The editorial team welcomes articles written by both academics and practitioners.

Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift uses OJS (Open Journal Systems), and submissions are uploaded via the journal's website.

Do not forget to submit a cover letter including:

  • Full names of all authors, including title and institutional affiliation
  • Contact details for the corresponding author
  • Whether the project has undergone ethical review, along with the rationale for the chosen approach
  • Whether a similar manuscript has been published or is under review by another journal or publisher
  • Comments on whether the anonymisation process may hinder the manuscript’s quality assessment
  • If the manuscript has multiple authors, an explanation of each author’s contributions and the rationale for the author order must be provided.

The editorial team assumes no responsibility for manuscripts.

Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift is openly accessible (Open Access). Articles are published both online and in print. Authors may publish the final submitted version (pre-print) in their university’s repository. The published version of the article may be shared and published on any website.

Scientific manuscripts must include:

  • Titel (60-80 characters, max 100 characters)
  • English title
  • English summary (max 300 words)
  • Manuscript word count must be stated on the first page

Manuscript formatting instructions:

Scientific Manuscript: 

  • Maximum 7,800 words including English summary, introduction and references. State word count on the first page.
  • Scientific manuscripts must be anonymised. Write "Author" in citations and references. Remember to anonymise the document’s metadata in Microsoft Word.

Debate Articles: 

  • Max 2,500 words, including references.

Forum Articles: 

  • Max 6,000 words, including references.

Reviews: 

  • Max 2,000 words, including references.

All manuscripts: 

  • Use 1.5 line spacing, 12-point font size.
  • Use italics instead of underlining (except for URLs).
  • New paragraphs are indicated by a 0.8 cm indent, without blank lines.
  • No indent after headings, tables/figures, or long quotations.
  • Margins: Left/right 3.5 cm; top/bottom 2.5 cm.
  • Maximum of 3 heading levels, including the title.
    Level 1: Arial 16pt, bold, centred.
    Level 2: Arial 14pt, bold, left-aligned.
    Level 3: Arial 12pt, italic, left-aligned.

Regarding referencing

For in-text citations, we recommend the following format: …(Lipsky, 1980) or (Lipsky, 1980, p. 180) if referring to a specific page in the work. If multiple pages are cited, use (Lipsky, 1980, p. 180f.) or (Lipsky, 1980, p. 180ff.).

The letter "f" stands for "and the following," where 180f. indicates page 180 and the following page, while 180ff. indicates page 180 and several subsequent pages. Naturally, it is also acceptable to specify the page range explicitly: 180–183 (note: use an en dash, not a hyphen, in the range).

Below are examples of how sources should be listed in the reference section, covering book chapters in anthologies, monographs, scientific articles, and articles from online newspapers. As with the reference list in your article, the examples are, of course, arranged alphabetically:

Brante, T. (1990) Professional types as a strategy of analysis. I: M. Burrage & R. Torstendahl (eds.) Professions in Theory and History. Rethinking the study of the Professions. London: Sage.

Lipsky, M. (1980) Street-level bureaucracy: dilemmas of the individual in public services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Meyer, J.W. & Rowan, B. (1977) Institutionalized organizations: formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2): 340–363.

Wolodarski, P. (2015) Pojkarnas problem blir också samhällets problem. Dagens Nyheter. [http://www.dn.se/ledare/signerat/peter-wolodarski-pojkarnas-problem-blir.... Accessed: 2015-03-13].

See https://www.hb.se/biblioteket/akademiskt-sprak/referera-till-kallor/guide-till-harvardsystemet/ 

Upload a cover letter along with your manuscript

This should be uploaded as a separate document in the same place as you upload your manuscript.

The cover letter must include:

  • Full author names, titles, and institutional affiliations.
  • Contact details for the corresponding author.
  • Ethical review details, if applicable.
  • Information on whether a similar manuscript has been published or is under review elsewhere.
  • Comments on potential anonymisation difficulties affecting manuscript quality assessment.
  • If AI tools were used, and if so, how.