Call for paper for BSSR Vol.24

2024-09-03

 

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Balkan Social Science Review Volume 24

 

Dear colleagues and researchers

We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the 24th Balkan Social Science Review (BSSR) issue. BSSR is an international scientific journal established by the Faculty of Law, Goce Delchev University in Stip, Republic of North Macedonia. The journal is indexed in the following databases: SCOPUS, HeinOnline, EBSCO, CEEOL and Index Copernicus. Please find all information on our homepage, http://js.ugd.edu.mk/index.php/BSSR/index.

Scope of the Journal

The BSSR aims to contribute to the research on Political Science, International Relations, Law, Sociology (Political Sociology, Sociology of Law, Sociology of Ethnic Groups and Demography), Public Administration, and Media and Communication concerning the Balkans as well as the correlations and comparison between the Balkans and other countries in the world. BSSR welcomes research and review articles on aspects of the social sciences seen within the Balkan context and/or international context, including all interdisciplinary studies within the scope of the Journal.

The Journal does not favor one approach over another, rather encourages the use of appropriate social science approaches for the given topic or paper. The BSSR urges potential authors to consider a wide range of important policy discussions, arguments, practices, methodologies, and theories, in areas including the main scope of this Journal which is on several areas of Social Sciences.

Submission notice

All submissions should be based on original research or new interpretations and should reflect the highest standards of scholarship. With every submission, the editors assume that the authors are familiar with the Journal’s PEMS, as available on the following link  http://js.ugd.edu.mk/public/dokumenti/bssr. With regards to our PEMS, it is required that the Author’s Statement be sent to the editors alongside the suggested paper.

Offered articles and book reviews should be sent to bssr@ugd.edu.mk. For this call for papers, we do not accept submissions through the journal's platform, although it is technically possible to do that. 

All submitted manuscripts should contain the author's name and affiliation, ORCID, email, title, abstract (150-300 words), keywords, body of the text, and bibliography. Quotation style is APA and footnotes are permitted when this style cannot be used for certain resources.  Authors should send their papers in English, following the Author's Guidelines. The required length of the paper is a minimum of 6,000 words and a maximum of 8, 500 words.

Proofreading Requirement

To ensure the highest quality of submissions, all authors are required to submit a proofreading certificate or a confirmation letter from a recognized language editing service. This requirement aims to enhance the readability and clarity of the manuscripts, especially for non-native English speakers.

  1. Proofreading Certificate or Confirmation Letter: Authors must provide a document from a recognized or accredited language editing service, confirming that the manuscript has undergone professional proofreading.
  2. Recognition of Services: The proofreading service used should be recognized or accredited in the author's country or internationally. Authors are encouraged to use reputable services that specialize in academic editing.
  3. Exceptions: In cases where the author is a native English speaker or has advanced proficiency in English, a self-declaration stating that the manuscript has been thoroughly proofread by the author may be acceptable.
  4. Submission Process: The proofreading certificate or confirmation letter should be uploaded along with the manuscript during the submission process. Submissions lacking this document may be returned for revision before being considered for peer review. The editors reserve the right to conduct an additional review by our in-house proofreading team, regardless of whether a proofreading certificate or confirmation letter has been provided. This ensures that all manuscripts meet the journal's language and formatting standards before publication.

Policy on AI-Generated Content

The journal strictly prohibits the submission of papers generated primarily by AI. While AI tools can be valuable in assisting research, the intellectual content of the manuscript must be the work of the listed authors. All authors are required to disclose any use of AI in the preparation of their manuscript. Submissions found to be AI-generated may be subject to immediate rejection and further action as deemed appropriate by the editorial board.

Important notice for authors

Please note that papers are processed only if submitted according to this call for papers. Papers sent before this call, through the platform of the journal or mail are not considered valid submissions and won’t be reviewed by the editorial team.

All submissions based on this call for papers will be subject to the following reviewing process presented in chronological order:

  1. Initial screening of the paper is conducted by the editors of the Journal. Please be advised that the paper may be rejected by the editors before sending the paper for full peer review due to one or several of the following reasons:
    • It fails the technical screening which includes elements that are suspected to be plagiarized, the manuscript is not complete, the figures are not complete or clear enough, the article does not conform to the Author’s Guideline of the Journal
    • the paper does not fall within the aims and scope of the Journal
    • the procedure and / or the analysis of the data is seen to be defective
    • it is incomprehensive in terms of language, structure, or figures
    • the paper is not of interest to the readers of the Journal
    • the paper lacks usage of relevant literature
    • the submission in not consisted with the current Journals’ policy.

 

  1. Proofreading review of the paper which is provided by native English speaker that also has the competences to evaluate the paper from methodological aspect and suggest improvements for our authors.
    • based on the opinions of the proofreading reviewer, the editors may reach the decision to reject the paper in this phase of the reviewing process, due to the following reason: the English language does not meet the criteria of the Journal.

 

  1. Full peer review process that involves two independent reviewers that have expertise in the field of the subject of the paper. The Journal uses double-blind reviewing process. The evaluation of the paper provided by the reviewers is given in a form available in our published PEMS. Based on the two reviews, the editors are responsible for the decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.

 

The editors’ decision is final. Please be advised that the editors are committed to providing the balance in each issue with regards the base of the scope of the Journal and country origin of the authors as well as to give priority to papers qualified as original papers after the peer review process. In the case of numerous submissions, the submissions of authors that were published in previous issues may be temporarily halted or delayed up to two years.

The journal's editors reserve the right to reject papers that incite hate speech and hate crime through the use of terminology, thesis, argumentation, and the use of textual content and content with statistical data and charts intended to stimulate or incite hate speech  or hate crime.

 

Timeline for the Volume 24:

  • The deadline for submitting manuscripts is November 1, 2024.
  • Acceptance and peer reviews by December 1, 2024.
  • Final version submission December 15, 2024.
  • Electronic version publication December 25, 2024.
  • Printed version publication February 25, 2025.

Fees and other charges:

Submitting and publishing papers in BSSR for Vol. 24 is completely free of any charge for the authors.

 

Sincerely,

Balkan Social Science Review

Jovan Ananiev PhD, Editor in Chief,

Professor at the Faculty of Law, Goce Delcev University, Stip, Republic of N. Macedonia

jovan.ananiev@ugd.edu.mk

 

Marija Ampovska, PhD, Managing Editor

Associate professor at the Faculty of Law, Goce Delcev University, Stip, Republic of N. Macedonia

marija.ampovska@ugd.edu.mk