Types of JBS articles

Research articles*

There is no word limit for research articles, but papers should be succinct; verbosity is strongly discouraged.

A short (up to about 350 words), single-paragraph Abstract should precede the text. Subsequent text is then generally divided into Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Reference sections, but deviations from this format are acceptable. Note that Appendices are not allowed. Section headings and subheadings are not numbered.

Short reports*

Manuscripts for publication as Short Reports should be of an overall maximum length of 2000 words, including Abstract and References. This is equivalent to approximately four printed pages of the Journal.

If tables and/or figures are included (maximum of one page), the text should be limited to 1500 words.

The report should have a short Abstract (up to about 350 words), followed by a single text section that is not divided into Introduction, Results and Discussion sections (as in research articles).

Debate articles**

A section is reserved for publishing comments (maximum 500 words) on papers appearing in previous issues. Authors whose papers are involved will be given the opportunity for simultaneous response, and the authors of the original comment will be invited to respond.

Opinion*

The journal accepts Opinion pieces of up to 2000 words (excluding references), with flexible format but including an Abstract of up to 300 words.

* These article types may be eligible for APC waivers or discounts under one of the agreements Cambridge University Press has made to support open access.

** No APCs are required for these article types.

Style guidelines

General style

Papers should be written in English using British spelling (as in the Oxford Concise Dictionary), except for quotations, which should follow the original.

The use of the past tense is preferred when describing methods and findings; the present tense is acceptable when generalizing findings.

Papers in poor English will not be accepted for peer review. Non-native English speakers should have their manuscripts checked by a native English speaker before submission. If this is not possible, Cambridge University Press recommends the language editing services here.

The following are not used in the journal:

• Personal pronouns (I, we, our etc.)
• Endnotes
• Footnotes
• Appendices
• Supplementary material

Please add line numbers to the Main Document.

Cover Letter

In the space provided in the submission process, please provide a brief explanation of your submission and why it is suitable for the journal. Please also provide brief answers to the following questions (300 words maximum for each):

1. How does the study advance scientific knowledge or thought?
2. What are the novel findings of the study?
3. How does the study inform policy (if applicable)?

If the manuscript you are submitting is publicly deposited as a preprint or on a preprint server, please include details of preprint posting, including DOI or other persistent identifier, in the covering letter when submitting your manuscript, in accordance with Cambridge University Press' preprint policy.

Title page

The Main Document should include a title page bearing the title of the paper, authors’ names, a brief address (not full postal address) for each co-author, name, full postal address and email address of the corresponding author and up to three keywords.

The keywords you select for your manuscript play an important part in the discovery of your article after publication. Since many researchers rely on search engines such as Google to find content relevant to their field, keywords should be selected with care. We do not have a list of preferred keywords, but will advise authors if we think their chosen keywords are unsuitable. See the following links for guidance:

• A guide to writing an effective abstract / selecting keywords for discovery (PDF)
• Choosing Effective Keywords (American Journal Experts)

Abstract

The Abstract section should comprise a single paragraph (without subsections or subheadings) of up to around 350 words. This should summarize succinctly the aims and objectives, sample, methodology, results and conclusions of the study. See also the first link above for further guidance.

Tables

Tables should be in Word or Excel files embedded in the Word file. Those constructed in Word should have a new row of cells for each line of data; do not separate data within columns with paragraph returns.

Tables should be referred to in the text by Arabic numerals, e.g. Table 3. Each table should have its own self-explanatory title.

Tables should be placed after the text in the Main Document. Do not insert table positions instructions in the text, but ensure that each table is cited.

Figures

Simple charts can be sent in Excel. On acceptance, these will be edited by the journal office to produce a consistent style within the journal. Other figures can be sent as TIFF (minimum resolution 300 dpi) or EPS files, or PDFs with embedded fonts.

For more detailed guidance on preparing figures see the Cambridge Journal Artwork Guide.

The journal uses both colour and black/white/grey tones, but simple charts should preferably be in the latter.

Figures should not be enclosed by boxes. Do not use gridlines or upper and right-hand axes. The font for legends and labels should be san-serif (such as Arial) and the font size chosen such that this is approximately 9 point when reduced to the size when printed in the journal.

Figures captions should not be included with the figure files: please put the text for these at the end of the Main Document Word file.

Do not insert figure position instructions in the text, but ensure that each figure is cited.

Equations

Simple mathematical equations should be set by inserting special symbols in the text in Word. Complex equations should be set using Microsoft Equations Editor. Please ensure that single-letter variables are in italics.

References

References in the text should be given by author(s)’ name(s) and date in parentheses. Where several references are given together they should be in date order, separated by semicolons. When a paper written by two authors is cited, both names are given; for three or more authors only the first name is given, followed by ‘et al.’.

An alphabetical list of references should be given at the end of the text. Each journal article entry should include, in order: author(s)’ name(s) (in regular case [not upper case], bold typeface), initials, year of publication in parentheses, article title, journal name in full (italic typeface, not abbreviated), volume number (bold typeface) and first and last page numbers separated by an en rule (dash):

Miller WB, Barber JS and Schulz P (2016) Do perceptions of their partners’ childbearing desires affect young women’s pregnancy risk? Further study of ambivalence. Population Studies 71(1), 101—116.

If the paper is not yet assigned to a specific issue (incremental publishing) and the Digital Object Identifier (doi) is known, it can be given at the end of the citation entry:

Kleinman JC, Pierre MB, Madans JH, Land GH and Schramm WF (1988) The effects of maternal smoking on foetal and infant mortality. American Journal of Epidemiology 127(2), 274—282. doi: 10.1017/S0021932003001615.

For books and conference proceedings (try to avoid citing the latter in the main text: cite peer-reviewed primary publications instead), editor(s)’ names, publisher and place of publication should be included:

Pennington RL (2002) Economic stratification and health among the Herero of Botswana. In Leonard, WR and Crawford, MH (eds) Human Biology of Pastoral Populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 183–205.

Leonard WR and Crawford MH (eds) (2002) Human Biology of Pastoral Populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

For references that include a URL add the date accessed.

Unpublished material may be referred to sparingly in the text, by giving the authors’ initials and names followed by ‘unpublished observations’ or ‘personal communication’.

Acknowledgments

An acknowledgments section may be included at the end of the main text.

Disclosure statements

Ethical approval, Conflicts of interest and Funding statements should be added before the Reference section of the submitted paper.

Ethical Approval

The Journal of Biosocial Science publishes the results of research involving human subjects only if fully compliant with the ethical principles set out in the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, as revised in 2008 (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/17c.pdf) and with the additional requirements, if any, of the country in which the research was carried out. Submitted manuscripts must contain a clear statement to this effect and should specify that the free and informed consent of the subjects or their legal guardians was obtained and that the relevant institutional or national ethics review board approved the investigation.

For studies based on secondary data the following example wording may be used:

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

Cambridge University Press is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; see: http://publicationethics.org), an organization that provides advice and resources on all aspects of publication ethics and research and publication misconduct. Issues involving publication ethics may be referred to this committee by the editors.

Conflicts of interest

Public trust in the scientific process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how transparently conflicts of interest are handled during the planning, implementation, writing, peer review, editing, and publication of scientific work. A conflict of interest arises when a professional judgement concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). Authors are asked to disclose at the time of submission any competing interests that they may have. Conflicts may include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, funding sources for the reported study, personal or family financial interest in a method/product or a competing method/product.

Please provide, for each co-author, details of all known financial, professional and personal relationships with the potential to bias the work. Where no known conflicts of interest are known to exist, please include the statement:

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Funding

Authors should identify the sources that funded the work undertaken. Please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers. Grants held by different authors should be identified using the authors’ initials. If no specific funding was provided for the research please provide the following statement:

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial entity or not-for-profit organization.

Seeking permission to use copyrighted material

If your article contains any material in which you do not own copyright, including figures, charts, tables, photographs or excerpts of text, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder to reuse that material. As the author it is your responsibility to obtain this permission and pay any related fees, and you will need to send us a copy of each permission statement at acceptance. Please find more information here.