Guide for Authors

Thank you for choosing to submit your paper to the Journal of Cyberspace Studies.

Should you have any queries, please contact us at jcss@ut.ac.ir 

Submission Guidelines

All manuscript submissions should follow the below requirements:

1) The manuscript is the authors’ original work, and does not duplicate any other previously published work, including their own previously published work.

2) The manuscript has been submitted solely to the JCSS it is not under consideration, under peer review, accepted for publication, in press, or published elsewhere.

3) Authors should submit papers electronically via the journal's electronic submission system.

4) Articles should not include the authors personal details; these should be listed (name and contact details) on a separate document. Files should be in MS Word.

5) The manuscript contains nothing that is abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal.

6) Manuscripts should present issues and analyses of relevance and interest to the JCSS readership in accordance with the Journal’s Aims & Scope.

7) Qualitative and quantitative manuscripts are welcome. However, manuscripts that are exclusively descriptive are not suitable for publication in this journal.

8) The length of the submitted manuscript as an original research article should fall between 6,000 to 9,000 words and appear in 12pt Times New Roman, single-spaced text, left-justified. Consult the review section for further information on book reviews and commentaries.

9) Manuscripts should be submitted grammatically and stylistically adequate. It is required that manuscripts be submitted as a copyedited and proofread document, including proper use of the English language, proper grammatical structure, and correct spelling and punctuation. Where not specified, follow the Concise Oxford Dictionary, New Hart's Rules and the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Whenever in doubt, refer to Judith Butcher, Copy-editing.

 

Sections:

  1. What do we publish?

  2. Manuscript preparation – Research Articles

  3. Review Section

    1. Book Review

    2. Commentary

    3. Perspective

  4. Editorial Policies

  5. Publishing Policies

  6. Open Access

  7. Fees

  8. Language

  9. ORCID

 

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to the JCSS, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article Types

The JCSS publishes the following types of articles.

1.2.1 Research Articles

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

1.2.2 Editorials

N/A

Indexed

N/A

1.2.3. Commentaries

Solicited

Indexed

Internal Peer Review

1.2.4. Book Reviews

Solicited

Indexed

Internal Peer Review

1.2.5. Perspectives

Solicited

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

1.2.6. Special Issues

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed


2. Manuscript preparation – Research Articles

2.1. Article structure

This section will detail how to organize your manuscript for review. Please keep in mind that the structure is to be stylized according to the APA style guide.

2.1.1. Title page information 

2.1.1.1. Title

Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

2.1.1.2. Author names and affiliations

Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

2.1.1.3. Corresponding author

Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials and typically ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and gathering conflict of interest forms and statements, are properly completed, although these duties may be delegated to one or more co-authors. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

The corresponding author is the person who signs the publishing agreement on behalf of all of the authors and whose contact details are included on the article. They should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.

2.1.1.4. Abstract 

A concise and factual abstract of 150 – 200 words is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). In addition, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

2.1.1.5. Keywords 
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

2.1.2. Introduction 

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

2.1.3. Method 

Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. Include an analysis of data subsection in which you describe what analyses you will use to test a specific hypothesis and what result will be considered to be supportive.

2.1.4. Results 

Results should be clear and concise. Organize this section by hypothesis. Do not interpret the results here; interpretation is reserved for the discussion section.

2.1.5. Discussion 

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is sometimes, though rarely, appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

2.1.6. Conclusions 

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

2.2. Abbreviations 

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the endnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

2.3. Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

2.4. Formatting of funding sources 

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy], and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

2.5. Footnotes & Endnotes

The JCSS does not accept footnotes, and endnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors build footnotes/endnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of endnotes in the text and present the endnotes themselves separately at the end of the article.

2.6. Formatting

The Journal’s accepted format for the manuscripts is MS Word.

2.7. Artwork, figures and other graphics

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from the Journal after receipt of your accepted article.

2.7.1. Artwork guidelines

Illustrations, pictures and graphs, should be supplied with the highest quality and in an electronic format that helps us to publish your article in the best way possible. Please follow the guidelines below to enable us to prepare your artwork for the printed issue as well as the online version.

  • Format: PNG, JPG, TIFF, JPEG: Common format for pictures (containing no text or graphs).

EPS: Preferred format for graphs and line art (retains quality when enlarging/zooming in).

  • Placement: Figures/charts and tables created in MS Word should be included in the main text rather than at the end of the document.

    Figures and other files created outside Word (i.e. Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, TIFF, EPS, and PDF) should be submitted separately. Please add a placeholder note in the running text (i.e. “[insert Figure 1.]")

  • Resolution: Rasterized based files (i.e. with .tiff or .jpeg extension) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.

  • Color: Please note that images supplied in color will be published in color online and black and white in print (unless otherwise arranged). Therefore, it is important that you supply images that are comprehensible in black and white as well (i.e. by using color with a distinctive pattern or dotted lines). The captions should reflect this by not using words indicating color.

  • Dimension: Check that the artworks supplied match or exceed the dimensions of the journal. Images cannot be scaled up after origination

  • Fonts: The lettering used in the artwork should not vary too much in size and type (usually sans serif font as a default).

2.7.2. Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

2.7.3. Tables

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

2.8. Reference style

The JCSS adheres to the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association for in text citations and references. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition

2.8.1. Citation in text 

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

2.8.2. Web references 

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired or can be included in the reference list.

2.8.3. Data references 

This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

2.8.4. Foreign Words and Transliteration

The journal recommends the Concise Oxford Dictionary, New Hart's Rules and the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors for correct spelling.

All technical terms from languages written in non-Roman alphabets must be italicized and fully transliterated with diacritical marks (macrons and dots). A technical term is defined as a word not found in Oxford Dictionaries, Merriam– Webster's Collegiate Dictionary or a multiword phrase, excluding titles and proper nouns.

Diacritical marks, as well as the letters ayn and hamza, should be inserted using a Unicode font. Words that are found in Oxford Dictionary or Merriam–Webster's should be spelled as they appear there and not treated as technical terms. They should have no diacritics, nor should they be italicized – for example, mufti, jihad, shaykh. Diacritics should not be added to personal names, place names, names of political parties and organizations, or titles of books and articles.

Personal and place names with accepted English spellings should be spelled in accordance with English norms. This rule applies to cities of publication in citations. Names of living individuals may be spelled according to their preferred English spelling. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their transliterations.

For further information on the transliteration system for terms in Persian and Arabic you may refer to the Encyclopædia Iranica and Encyclopedia of Islam, Third Edition. As it was noted. the JCSS adheres to the APA referencing style and you may refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, for further information. You may also refer to the examples provided by the library of Mount Saint Vincent University for citing non-English work.

3. Review Section

The review section of the JCSS currently features Books Reviews and Commentaries.

The review section does not accept unsolicited reviews, nor does it accept requests to review particular books. All book reviews, review essays, and commentaries are commissioned by the Review Editor.

3.1. Book Reviews

The Journal welcomes reviews of recently published scholarly monographs and textbooks that provide analysis and comment that can contribute to the advancement of the journal’s scope.

The Review Editor determines the length of a review; review of a single textbook or monograph is 750-1200 words and review of two or more titles 1500-2500 words.

We expect the reviewers to provide short, accessible and authoritative reviews in a timely manner. Reviewers undertake reviews without any payment; however, they can keep the books they have covered.

While we expect reviewers to deploy their scholarly expertise in reviewing books in their subfields, we also hope that all book reviews will be readable for the broader readership

3.1.1 Criteria

Book reviews are short articles that are written by specialists and read by the general community. The aim of a Book review is to give a brief summary of the book's strengths and weaknesses and to evaluate the book's overall usefulness to the audience it is intended for.

The review must focus on the aim of the research endeavor stated in the book and brings forward grounded criticisms and assess the books in question against academic professional standards.

Suggested questions, which the reviewer might want to consider:

  • What is the subject the book focuses on, and what are the author(s)’ main arguments?

  • Who is the book intended for and does it meet the intended audience's needs?

  • What new information does it present and how might it affect the readers' practice?

  • What research approach/methodology the author adopts and which topics, countries or cases the author analyses?

  • What evidence does it present and how convincing is it?

  • Is the style, organization and size of the book appropriate for its purpose?

  • Are there any studies, facts, or ideas the authors have neglected to consider? What are the gaps or shortcomings in its approach/methodology?

  • Would you like to make any further reading suggestions?

  • Is the language/writing style accessible and/or engaging?

  • Why should anybody read this book - or why should they not? Is it an important book?

3.1.2. Preparing your manuscript

3.1.2.1. Title page

The title page should:

  • present a title that in the form 'Review of "book title" by [book's Author(s)]', e.g.:

    • Review of "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace?" by Lawrence Lessig.

  • list the full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors

    • if a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the group name as an author and include the names of the individual members of the group in the “Acknowledgements” section in accordance with the instructions below

  • indicate the corresponding author

3.1.2.2. Book details

This should give the full reference to the book you are reviewing (including ISBN and number of pages). No further inclusion in the references is needed. For example:

Britain and the World Since 1945 by Alasdair Blair. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015. 208pp., £24.99 (p/b), ISBN 978-1408248294

3.1.2.3. Keywords

Three to six keywords representing the main content of the article.

3.1.2.4. Main text

This should contain the body of the article, and in case of the review for multiple book may also be broken into subsections with short, informative headings.

3.2. Commentaries:

Commentaries are short, narrowly focused rigorous articles usually in areas of controversy analysis and debate relating to theories, methods, issues and prospect studies in the study of “cyberspace”, “cyber policy” and “culture & cyberspace”, which will fuel some interesting debate. Commentaries should contain a body of original information, a new method for doing something or a new idea (speculation, argument, proof, etc.) presented in a brief and unadorned form in 1500-4000 words.

Commentaries are solicited; however, you are more than welcome to contact the Review Editor to propose one.

3.2.1 Preparing your manuscript

3.2.1.1. Title page

The title page should:

  • present a title that includes, if appropriate, the research design or for non-research studies: a description of what the article reports

  • list the full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors

    • if a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the Group name as an author and include the names of the individual members of the Group in the “Acknowledgements” section in accordance with the instructions below

  • indicate the corresponding author

3.2.1.2. Abstract

The abstract should briefly summarize the aim, findings or purpose of the article. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract.

3.2.1.3. Keywords

Four to six keywords representing the main content of the article.

3.2.1.4. Introduction

The Introduction section should explain the background to the article, its aims, a summary of a search of the existing literature and the issue under discussion.

3.2.1.5. Main text

This should contain the body of the article, and may also be broken into subsections with short, informative headings.

3.2.1.6. Conclusions

This should state clearly the main conclusions and include an explanation of their relevance or importance to the field.

3.3. Perspectives:

Perspective articles are interesting or important comments intended to provide a forum for authors to discuss models and ideas from a personal viewpoint. These articles are published only occasionally. They do not report original data, but are review-based reports including a new analysis of existing data that lead to a novel, exciting and arresting conclusion. They are more forward looking and/or speculative than Commentaries and may take a narrower field of view. They may be opinionated but should remain balanced and impartial.

The general aim of this type of manuscript is to combine a brief review of the literature of a research topic (setting the scene) with the personal author’s opinion (based on scientific evidences), stimulating new research ideas, conceptual models or presenting innovative challenges.

Perspectives are published with a brief abstract, and the main text is typically 600-1,500 words.

Perspectives are peer reviewed and edited substantially by the JCSS editors in consultation with the author(s).

It is mandatory that the Perspective authors have presented or intend to give a presentation or deliver a lecture about the subject of their article in a UCCC/CRPC event.

3.3.1 Preparing your manuscript

3.3.1.1. Title page

The title page should:

  • concise and informative. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible

  • list the full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors

  • if a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the Group name as an author and include the names of the individual members of the Group in the “Acknowledgements” section in accordance with the instructions below

  • indicate the corresponding author

3.3.1.2. Abstract

A concise and factual abstract of 95 – 150 words is required. You may state briefly the purpose of the papers, its significance, the principal results and major conclusions. This is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract.

3.3.1.3. Keywords

Four to six keywords representing the main content of the article.

3.3.1.4. Main text

The Introduction section should explain the background to the article, its aims, a summary of a search of the existing literature and the issue under discussion. This should contain the body of the article, and may also be broken into subsections with short, informative headings.

3.3.1.5. References

Provide 4 to 12 references in accordance with the APA guidelines.

3.3. Submission and Inquiries

We welcome proposals for review articles. To request a book to review or other related inquiries, contact the Review Editor.

Please clarify the theme, its significance, the list of book(s) to be covered, and provide us with your name, institutional affiliation and brief details of your research interests and publications.

3.4. For Publishers

Academic press and publishers can contact the Review Editor for submitting review copies.

Please send all books for review to:

Alireza Salehi Nejad

Cyberspace Research Policy Center, Faculty of World Studies, Northern Campus of University of Tehran, between 15th & 16th st., Northern Amir Abad, Tehran, Iran.

 

4. Editorial Policies

4.1. Peer review policy

The Journal of Cyberspace Studies adheres to the double-blind peer review process by a group of experts in which the reviewers’ identities withheld from the authors and the authors’ names from the reviewers.

To facilitate this, please include the following separately:

Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names, affiliations, acknowledgements and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Blinded manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

4.1.2. Review process

Upon receipt of a manuscript, the Executive Editor screens the manuscript and decides whether or not to send it for full peer review. Then, the manuscript is sent to the Editor in Chief, who will assign the manuscript to an Associate Editor after another round of screening. Only after clearing the initial internal review, the manuscript would be assigned to two peer reviewers.

Finally, the Editor in Chief considers the peer reviewers’ reports and the Associate Editor’s suggestions and make the final decision to accept or reject the manuscript for publication.

For further information you may refer to the Peer Review Process page.

4.2 Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status.

4.3 Acknowledgements

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.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

4.4 Funding

The JCSS requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.

Please refer to 2.4. Formatting of funding sources for further information and to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text.

4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

The JCSS encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines.

 

5. Publishing Policies

The JCSS 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 Journal’s Publication Ethics page.

6. Open Access 

The JCSS is an open access journal: all articles will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download.

The JCSS publishes articles under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License. The Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC BY NC) permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

For considerations for licensors and licensees, viewing the License Deed, or the Legal Code you may refer to the Creative Commons.

Under certain circumstances, the JCSS permits publishing open access articles under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

7. Fees

The Journal of Cyberspace Studies does not charge the authors or their institutions any submission fees or article processing charges, and the published content remain free to the readers.

8. Language

Manuscripts should be submitted grammatically and stylistically adequate. Either Standard American English or Standard British English usage is acceptable, but not a mixture of these. It is required that manuscripts be submitted as a copyedited and proofread document, including proper use of the English language, proper grammatical structure, and correct spelling and punctuation. Where not specified, follow the Concise Oxford Dictionary, New Hart's Rules and the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Whenever in doubt, refer to Judith Butcher, Copy-editing.

9. ORCID

ORCID (http://orcid.org) provides an identifier for individuals to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. The JCSS supports the use of ORCID and provides authors with the facility to include their ORCID identifier on submission, in order to enable transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and affiliations.

 

Contact:

For questions concerning the journal as a whole, or regarding the peer review process, please contact us at jcss@ut.ac.ir. For all correspondence related to book reviews and commentaries, please contact the Review Editor at salehinejad@ut.ac.ir.

 

Mail can also be sent to:

Cyberspace Research Policy Center, 3rd Floor, Eastern Wing, Faculty of World Studies, Northern Campus of University of Tehran, between 15th & 16th st., Northern Amir Abad, Tehran, Iran.