Critical Social Policy
Critical Social Policy provides a space for critical approaches to the production, development and receipt of social policy and welfare. By engaging with issues rooted in political, economic, social and cultural power the journal interrogates conventional approaches to social policy and offers alternative and critically informed perspectives. In keeping with the commitment to confronting hierarchical ways of functioning that inevitably lead to unequal power positions, Critical Social Policy operates as a collective.
From the moment of inception, Critical Social Policy has been a political project confronting orthodox and traditional approaches to social policy, welfare and the state, seeking to put people before profit. Its original aims were, and continue to be, grounded in socialist, feminist, anti-racist and radical perspectives relating to the experiences of people struggling within or against the state. The journal continues to evolve, therefore, by engaging with questions of identity, position and power such as class, gender, ‘race’, disability, sexuality and age, so as to try and counteract exclusion, subordination and domination. The journal aims to interrogate critically social policy within the context of national and global social change.
The Critical Social Policy editorial collective welcomes contributions from activists, advocates, academics, practitioners, policy-makers, and users of services who are engaging with perspectives on power, resistance, emancipation, social justice and political transformation. We also welcome debate on how to initiate, engender and support struggles within the sphere of social policy.
Critical Social Policy provides a space for critical approaches to the production, development and receipt of social policy and welfare. By engaging with issues rooted in political, economic, social and cultural power the journal interrogates conventional approaches to social policy and offers alternative and critically informed perspectives. In keeping with the commitment to confronting hierarchical ways of functioning that inevitably lead to unequal power positions, Critical Social Policy operates as a collective.
From the moment of inception, Critical Social Policy has been a political project confronting orthodox and traditional approaches to social policy, welfare and the state, seeking to put people before profit. Its original aims were, and continue to be, grounded in socialist, feminist, anti-racist and radical perspectives relating to the experiences of people struggling within or against the state. The journal continues to evolve, therefore, by engaging with questions of identity, position and power such as class, gender, ‘race’, disability, sexuality and age, so as to try and counteract exclusion, subordination and domination. The journal aims to interrogate critically social policy within the context of national and global social change.
The Critical Social Policy editorial collective welcomes contributions from activists, advocates, academics, practitioners, policy-makers, and users of services who are engaging with perspectives on power, resistance, emancipation, social justice and political transformation. We also welcome debate on how to initiate, engender and support struggles within the sphere of social policy.
| Josien Arts | University of Amsterdam, NL |
| Andrea Tara-Chand | University of Huddersfield, UK |
| Alastair Christie | University College Cork, Ireland |
| Rachel Fyson | University of Nottingham, UK |
| Norman Ginsburg | London Metropolitan University, UK |
| Chris Grover | Lancaster University, UK |
| Surinder Guru | Independent Scholar and Activist |
| Syd Jeffers | University of East London, UK |
| Uisce Jordan | University of York, UK |
| Paul Ogis Mendy | Revive, UK |
| Suryia Nayak | University of Salford, UK |
| Arianna Silvestri | London School of Economics, UK |
| Sirin Sung | Queen's University, UK |
| Lizzie Ward | Independent Scholar, UK |
| Nicki Ward | Independent Scholar |
| Joe Whelan | Trinity College, the University of Dublin, Republic of Ireland |
| Jay Wiggan | University of Edinburgh, UK |
| Jenna Allsopp | Administrator, UK |
| Donna Baines | University of British Columbia |
| Jacqueline Heinen | University of Versailles, France |
| Fabain Kessl | University of Wuppertal, Germany |
| Gianinna Muñoz-Arce | University of Chile, Chile |
| Micol Pizzolati | University of Bergamo |
| Pauline Stoltz | Aalborg University, Denmark |
| Julia Szalai | Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary |
| Hong-zen Wang | National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan |
| Charlotte Williams | Bangor University, UK |
Please read the guidelines prior to submitting your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Critical Social Policy will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
2.7 Clinical trials
2.8 Reporting guidelines
2.9 Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplementary material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 SAGE Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Before submitting your manuscript to Critical Social Policy, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Critical Social Policy publishes original research and reviews in areas of social policy that matches its aims and scope.
Commentary & Issues is designed for shorter, topical pieces. Contributors should aim to comment on changes in social policy and its implementation. Detailed specialist knowledge on the part of readers should not be assumed. Contributions on policy changes in countries other than the UK are welcome.
Members of the CSP editorial collective are happy to discuss and offer advice on ideas for papers, particularly for inexperienced and non-academic contributors.
Two types of papers may be submitted for consideration:
Articles (6,000 – 8,000 words, including references) may either report original research, or review and critically analyse aspects of social policy which are within the journal’s aims and scope. All articles are expected to be theoretically informed. Articles reporting original research must include an overview of the research methods used, including a consideration of ethical issues. Detailed specialist knowledge on the part of readers should not be assumed. Articles on social policy from all national contexts are welcome.
Articles should be emailed to David Taylor at articlescsp@gmail.com
Commentaries (3,000 - 4,000 words, including references) differ from longer articles in that they do not usually report original research and they must be topical, i.e. they should relate to a change in policy or be concerned with a policy which has recently been newsworthy. Commentaries may be used to offer service user or frontline practitioner perspectives on the implementation of social policies. Commentaries may also be used to challenge or debate positions adopted by authors of recently published CSP articles; where this happens the authors of the original article will normally be offered a right of reply. Commentaries from all national contexts are welcome.
Commentaries should be emailed to Rachel Fyson at: Rachel.Fyson@nottingham.ac.uk
Themed Issues
CSP normally publishes one themed issue per year/volume on a topic which contributes to the journal’s overall remit. Calls for proposals from prospective editors external to the editorial collective, will be made via an announcement on the website and/or in the published journal. Proposals can include both articles and commentaries. A regular complete issue of the journal is around 47,000 words, but a themed section may be less than this.
Proposals should be submitted in a Word document by email to the Articles Coordinator, David Taylor at articlescsp@gmail.com. It should include:
1. an indicative title and name(s) of proposed editor(s), but not the names of authors in order to maintain anonymity.
2. a short statement as to how the proposed themed issue relates to the aims and objectives of CSP.
3. abstracts and word lengths for the proposed articles including an editorial introduction if appropriate:
Proposals are reviewed by the whole Editorial Collective and decisions are made at their quarterly meetings. The Articles Coordinator will communicate decisions to prospective editor(s).
All successful proposals are allocated to a member of the Editorial Collective to act as editorial liaison and convenor of referees. All articles in a themed issue will be subject to the same three referee review process as other articles.
The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
It is the responsibility of the author to anonymise fully the text submitted. This includes self-citations.
All submissions to Critical Social Policy are refereed anonymously by three members of the editorial collective. One of these is appointed the convenor for each paper and will write to the contributor with our decision. Three decisions can be made: Acceptance (which may include minor editing); Rejection; or Resubmission. Please note that resubmitted articles are refereed again and that there is no guarantee that they will be accepted for publication.
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:
(i) Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
(ii) Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
(iii) Approved the version to be published,
(iv) Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.
Critical Social Policy requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
Critical Social Policy encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.
SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Critical Social Policy and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Critical Social Policy offers optional open access publishing via the SAGE Choice programme. For more information please visit the SAGE Choice website. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit SAGE Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
Only electronic files conforming to the journal's guidelines will be accepted. Please submit MS Word for Windows format files only. Word templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted article.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.
Critical Social Policy adheres to the SAGE Harvard reference style. View the SAGE Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the SAGE Harvard EndNote output file
4.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using SAGE Language Services. Visit SAGE Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
All article submissions should include:
On the first page: the full title of paper (please note that the author's name must not appear on this or any subsequent page); an abstract (100-150 words) covering the key argument(s) and conclusion(s) of the paper; up to five key words, arranged alphabetically, not including any of the words in the title.The article should have 2.5 cm margins all round and the text should be standard 12 point with 1.5 spacing throughout
All submissions must also include a covering letter
1 Confirming the word count, including endnotes and references; that the text has been fully anonymised; and that the article is not being considered for publication in any other context or format.
2 Giving the full name and affiliation of each author; the corresponding author’s postal and email address; short biographies (50-100 words) of each author including affiliation and details if appropriate of up to two recent publications. Authors originating from the UK should specify whether they are from England, N. Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
Email the two documents (anonymised article; covering letter) in MS Word for Windows to ONE of the following as appropriate (see below):
For Articles:
articlescsp@gmail.com
c/o School of Applied Social Science
Mayfield House
University of Brighton
BN1 9PH
UK
For Commentary and Issues:
Rachel Fyson: rachel.fyson@nottingham.ac.uk
Sociology & Social Policy Department
University of Nottingham
Nottingham NG7 2RD
England
The maximum length for articles should be 8000 words, and for Commentary and Issues 4000 words, including endnotes and references. Articles that significantly exceed these limits may be returned to the contributor for editing before being considered. The typescript should be carefully checked for errors before it is submitted for publication. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of quotations, for supplying complete and correct references, and for obtaining permission where needed to cite another person's material. Articles are expected to be accessible and jargon-free. Texts should be submitted in UK English.
Lengthy quotations of more than 40 words should be indented; shorter quotes should be retained within the body of the text. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. Tables and Figures should be presented on separate sheets of paper at the end of the article. Their position within the text should be clearly indicated.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process SAGE is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities ensuring that their work is recognised.
We encourage all authors to add their ORCIDs to their SAGE Track accounts and include their ORCIDs as part of the submission process. If you don’t already have one you can create one here.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. Please note that if there are any changes to the author list at this stage all authors will be required to complete and sign a form authorising the change.
Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
SAGE provides authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice. In addition, SAGE is partnered with Kudos, a free service that allows authors to explain, enrich, share, and measure the impact of their article. Find out how to maximise your article’s impact with Kudos.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Critical Social Policy editorial office as follows:
Suryia Nayak
School of Health and Society
C612 Allerton Building
University of Salford
Salford
M6 6UP
UK