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Instructions for authors

What are we looking for?
How to submit an article
Copyright and permissions
Style
References
English language editing service
Open Access
Self-archiving and institutional repositories
How to maximise the impact of your article
Contact us

What are we looking for?

  • Research Articles: The Editors invite authors to submit articles that are based on original research. Research articles should be no more than 9,000 words in limit. This should include all tables but it excludes the reference list. Authors should use five keywords that describe their article, and provide an abstract of up to 250 words. Gender and Justice is particularly interested in articles that offer innovative feminist contributions that are theoretically-driven and/or empirically-grounded approaches to various forms of inequality, injustice and exclusion that influence and shape individuals' lives across diverse and global contexts.

  • Feminist interventions–Review Essays: The Editors invite authors to submit contributions in the form of Feminist Interventions-Review Essays on issues that are timely in feminist research. Feminist Interventions-Review Essays should be no longer than 5,000 words. This excludes the reference list. Contributions should adopt a symposium style, and involve input from no more than four contributors on a particular subject area that is of interest to researchers focused on gender and justice, as well as forms of inequality, exclusions and marginalisation. This forum is open to researchers at all career stages. We welcome contributions that advance Early Career Researchers. Therefore, a Feminist Interventions-Review Essay could, for example, comprise a senior researcher paired with three early career researchers.

  • Creative Feminist Methodologies: The Editors invite authors to submit research articles that use creative methods and methodologies to advance feminist scholarship epistemologically and ontologically. Articles should be no more than 10,000 words in limit. This should include all tables but excludes the reference list. Authors should use five keywords that describe their article, and provide an abstract of up to 250 words. Specifically, we welcome contributions from authors that use the following creative research method and methodologies: Arts-based methods, Research using technology, Mixed-methods research and Transformative research.

  • In Conversation With: The Editors invite expressions of interest in an occasional series, comprising conversations with leaders and people doing innovative work in the field of gender and justice understood broadly. These pieces should be dialogical in style. Contributions should be no longer than 5,000 words.

  • Book Reviews: Book reviews should be up to 2,000 words. We encourage the author to provide a succinct description of the book’s key features and to think about the questions raised by the text and the problems and issues that might be explored through a critical reading of its content. Comment on suitable audiences is also welcomed. An abstract is not required for book reviews. Book reviews are reviewed internally by the Book Reviews Editor.

 

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How to submit an article

All submissions should be made online via the Gender and Justice Editorial Manager website: 
https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/gjus/default2.aspx 

Initial manuscript submission via Editorial Manager

Manuscripts must be in Word or Rich Text Format (not pdf). New users should first create an account, specify their areas of interest and provide full contact details.

Preparing your anonymised manuscript

Your initial submission must consist of the following separate files:

    1. A cover page including: the article title, author name(s) and affiliations, the article abstract (up to 250 words), up to 5 key words/short phrases and the article word count including references. A cover page template is available to download here.

    2. A fully anonymised manuscript which does not include any of the information included in the cover page. It should not include any acknowledgments, funding details, or conflicts of interest that would identify the author(s). References to the authors' own work should be anonymised as follows: "Author's own, [year]". Please note that submissions that have not been sufficiently anonymised will be returned.

    3. If you have any Figures and Tables these must be uploaded as separate files at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate where they should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources where appropriate. 

    4. Alt text: In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/describe-content-images.

 

All authors must comply with the Bristol University Press/ Policy Press ethical guidelines.
For help submitting an article via Editorial Manager, please view our online tutorial.

Once a submission has been conditionally accepted, you will be invited to submit a final, non-anonymised version via Editorial Manager.

Checklist: what to include in your final non-anonymised manuscript:


A cover page including:

  1. Title: short and concise running title and, if necessary, a (short) informative subtitle;
  2. Author names and affiliations;
  3. Abstract: no longer than 250 words, outlining the central question, approach/method, findings and take home message;
  4. Up to 5 keywords;


The main manuscript including:

  1. The non-anonymised text of your article: 9,000 words, including any tables but excluding the reference list.
  2. Funding details: list any funding including the grant numbers you have received for the research covered in your article as follows: ‘This work was supported by the [Funding Agency] under Grant [number xxxx].’ 
  3. Conflict of interest statement: please declare any possible conflicts of interest, or state ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’ if there are none.
  4. Acknowledgements: acknowledge people who have provided you with any substantial assistance or advice with collecting the data, developing your ideas, editing or any other comments to develop your argument or text. 
  5. Figures and Tables: should be submitted as separate files. Figures should ideally be in an Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file format. Please indicate where figures and tables should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure/Table X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).
  6. Alt text: In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/describe-content-images.
  7. Supplementary data: Supplementary data can either be submitted with the manuscript or hosted in a data repository (such as figshare) and cited as a reference in the article.
  8. Journal Contributor Publishing Agreement: please upload a scanned copy of the completed and signed  agreement with your final non-anonymised manuscript. The Journal Contributor Publishing Agreement can be downloaded here.

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Editorial Review Process

All submissions are first desk-reviewed by the editor(s) who will assess whether the manuscript fits the aims and scope as well as the quality standards of the journal. Papers that are selected to be sent out for review will be evaluated through double-anonymous peer review by at least two referees. Gender and Justice aims to return the reviews along with an initial decision within two months of submission.

Please also read our Journals Editorial Policies and Ethical Guidelines.

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Copyright and Permissions

Gender and Justice is published by Bristol University Press. Articles are considered for publication on the understanding that on acceptance the author(s) grant(s) Bristol University Press the exclusive right and licence to publish the article. Copyright remains with the author(s) or other original copyright owners and we will acknowledge this in the copyright line that appears on the published article.

Authors will be asked to sign a journal contributor agreement to this effect, which should be submitted online along with the final manuscript. All authors should agree to the agreement. For jointly authored articles the corresponding author may sign on behalf of co-authors provided that s/he has obtained their consent. The journal contributor agreement can be downloaded here. 

Where copyright is not owned by the author(s), the corresponding author is responsible for obtaining the consent of the copyright holder. This includes figures, tables, and excerpts. Evidence of this permission should be provided to Bristol University Press. General information on rights and permissions can be found here.

To request permission to reproduce any part of articles published in Gender and Justice please email Bristol University Press: bup-info@bristol.ac.uk.

For information on what is permissible use for different versions of your article please see our policy on self archiving and institutional repositories.

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Style

  • British English spelling and punctuation is preferred.
  • Non-discriminatory language is mandatory.
  • Please use double line spacing and Times New Roman font size 12 for ease of reading for reviewers.
  • Please use properly formatted headings and sub-headings to help readers navigate the the article.
  • Explanatory notes should be kept to a minimum. If it is necessary to use them, they must be numbered consecutively in the text and listed at the end of the article. Please do not embed notes in the text.
  • Please do not embed bibliographic references in the text, footnotes, live links or macros; the final submitted file should be clear of track changes and ready for print.
  • Tables and charts should be separated from the text and submitted in a Word or Excel file, with their placement in the text clearly indicated by inserting: ‘Table X here’. Please provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).
  • Figures, diagrams and maps should be separated from the text and, ideally, submitted in an Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file. Figures created in Word or Excel are acceptable in those file formats. If the figures, diagrams and maps are in other formats (i.e. have been pasted into a Word file rather than created in it) please contact dave.j.worth@bristol.ac.uk for advice. Please indicate where figures should be placed in the text, by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).
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References

Download the Endnote output style for Policy Press and Bristol University Press Journals.

Bristol University Press uses a custom version of the Harvard system of referencing:

  • In-text citations: give the author’s surname followed by year of publication in brackets;
  • List all references in full at the end of the article and remove any references not cited in the text;
  • Book and journal titles should be in italics;
  • Website details should be placed at the end of the reference;
  • Spell out all acronyms in the first instance.

 

Example of book reference:
Aghtaie, N. and Gangoli, G. (2015) National and international perspectives to gender based violence, Abingdon: Routledge.

Example of journal reference:
Williamson, E. and Abrahams, HA. (2014) ‘A review of the provision of intervention programmes for female victims and survivors of domestic abuse in the UK’, Journal of Women and Social Work, 29(1): 178-191.

Example of chapter within edited / multi-authored publication:
Hester, M. (2012) ‘Globalization, activism and local contexts: Development of policy on domestic violence in China and England’, in MT Segal, EN Chow and V Demos (eds) Social production and reproduction at the interface of public and private spheres, London: Emerald, pp 273-294.

Example of website reference:
Womensaid (2016) What is domestic abuse?, https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/.

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