Global Humanities and Social Sciences

These guidelines set out the general requirements for manuscripts submitted to Global Humanities and Social Sciences (GHSS). Authors should also consult the journal’s Aims and Scope, Manuscript Types, Open Access Policy, Peer Review Process and Publication Ethics pages before submission.

1. Manuscript Scope and Types

GHSS accepts the following types of scholarly contributions:

• Original Research Articles
• Review Articles
• Theoretical Articles
• Case Studies or Practice-Based Research
• Research Notes
• Perspectives or Scholarly Reflections
• Commentaries
• Book Reviews

Manuscripts must fall within the journal’s stated scope and present a clear scholarly contribution. Submissions must be original, unpublished and not under consideration by another journal or publication at the time of submission.

Authors should select the manuscript category that most closely reflects the purpose and content of their submission. The editorial team may recommend a different manuscript category where this would more accurately reflect the nature of the work.

2. Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should normally include:

• a clear and informative title;
• the names and institutional affiliations of all authors;
• an abstract of approximately 200–300 words, where appropriate;
• three to six keywords;
• a logically organised main text;
• figures, tables or supplementary material where relevant; and
• a complete and accurate reference list.

Manuscripts should be written in clear academic English. The organisation and structure of the main text may vary according to the discipline, research approach and manuscript type.

Original Research Articles should describe the research question or objective, relevant literature, sources or methods, analysis, findings and conclusions as clearly as the discipline and research design permit.

Review Articles should provide a critical and structured synthesis rather than a purely descriptive summary of existing literature.

Perspectives, Scholarly Reflections and Commentaries should present a coherent and academically informed argument supported by appropriate evidence or scholarship.

References should normally follow the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA 7th edition).

Alternative citation conventions may be accepted for certain humanities disciplines with prior editorial approval, provided that the selected style is appropriate to the field and applied consistently throughout the manuscript.

3. Author Information and Submission Materials

Authors should provide the following information:

• full name;
• institutional affiliation;
• city and country;
• email address; and
• ORCID identifier, where available.

One author should be identified as the corresponding author and will be responsible for communication with the editorial office during the assessment, review and publication process.

A telephone number is not required for publication and will not be displayed publicly.

Submission materials should normally include:

• the main manuscript;
• figures and tables, where applicable;
• supplementary material, where necessary;
• funding and disclosure statements;
• ethical approval or consent information, where applicable; and
• any other materials reasonably requested by the editorial office.

A separate title page may be requested where the editorial office determines that an anonymised form of external peer review is appropriate.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that they hold the necessary rights or permissions for any third-party images, tables, figures, datasets or other copyrighted material included in the submission.

4. Editorial Assessment and External Peer Review

All submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment. This assessment considers the manuscript’s relevance to the journal, originality, scholarly quality, clarity of contribution, basic methodological or analytical adequacy and compliance with the journal’s editorial and ethical requirements.

Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Theoretical Articles and substantial Case Studies or Practice-Based Research are normally considered for external peer review.

Research Notes may also be referred for external peer review where this is appropriate to their content and scholarly contribution.

Perspectives, Scholarly Reflections, Commentaries and Book Reviews may be assessed primarily by the editorial team, with external consultation or peer review arranged where considered necessary.

GHSS does not apply the same review format, a fixed number of reviewers or a guaranteed processing time to every manuscript. The editorial team determines the appropriate form of assessment according to the manuscript type, content, subject area, academic requirements and availability of suitable reviewers.

The review model may include anonymised or non-anonymised assessment, depending on the manuscript and editorial circumstances. The selected model will not affect the journal’s expectation of independent, fair and academically responsible evaluation.

Editorial decisions may include:

• Accept;
• Minor Revision;
• Major Revision; or
• Reject.

A manuscript may also be declined following initial editorial assessment without being sent for external peer review.

Authors invited to revise a manuscript should submit a revised version together with a clear response explaining how the editorial and reviewer comments have been addressed. Where an author does not adopt a suggested change, a reasoned explanation should be provided.

5. Research Integrity and Declarations

Authors are responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity and lawful use of all content included in their manuscripts.

Plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate submission, inappropriate manipulation of research materials, undisclosed conflicts of interest and inappropriate authorship are prohibited.

All listed authors should have made a meaningful contribution to the work, approved the submitted version and accepted responsibility for the aspects of the work to which they contributed.

Where applicable, authors should provide the following statements:

• Funding;
• Author Contributions;
• Competing Interests;
• Data Availability;
• Ethics Approval;
• Informed Consent; and
• Acknowledgements.

Statements that are not relevant to the manuscript may be omitted or presented in a concise form accepted by the editorial office.

Authors must disclose any circumstances that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation or presentation of the manuscript.

Where research involves human participants, personal information, sensitive data, animals or other areas requiring ethical oversight, authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary approval or consent and providing relevant information to the journal.

6. Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their work and grant the International Academic Organizations Alliance (IAOA) a non-exclusive licence to publish, reproduce, distribute, archive and make the article publicly available, and to identify GHSS as the original place of publication.

Unless otherwise indicated, articles published in GHSS are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).

Authors are responsible for identifying any third-party material that is not covered by the article’s Creative Commons licence and for clearly stating any separate copyright or reuse restrictions that apply.

Further information is available on the journal’s Open Access & Publication Charges page.

7. Submission and Editorial Communication

Authors should submit manuscripts through the submission method indicated on the GHSS website.

The editorial office may request additional information or documentation where this is reasonably necessary to assess the submission, confirm ethical compliance or prepare an accepted manuscript for publication.

Submission of a manuscript does not guarantee external peer review, acceptance or publication.

8. Contact

Questions concerning manuscript preparation, submission requirements or editorial communication may be sent to:

GHSS Editorial Office
Email: ghss@iaoalliance.org