Submissions to MSo are welcomed at any time and all articles, including commentaries, will be reviewed by two referees. Please bear in mind that due to the limited number of issues per year, there may be some delay to the publication of accepted articles but this will be kept as short as possible.
Articles
We welcome relevant items of news that are of interest to the readers of MSo such as PhD awards and new appointments. News items should be no more than 150 words long and should be submitted electronically, through the journal website.
Book Reviews
We welcome book reviews of up to 800 words.
If you have a book you would like to submit for review, in the first instance, please email brief details to the Journal Administrator at:
News Items
We welcome relevant items of news that are of interest to the readers of MSo such as PhD awards and new appointments. News items should be no more than 150 words long and should be submitted electronically, through the journal website.
Submission
Papers must be submitted electronically, in Microsoft Word format document (.doc or .docx filetype) through the journal website. Authors are strongly advised to read the style guidelines carefully. Manuscripts that are not prepared in strict accordance with the guidelines will be returned.
Simultaneous submissions to other journals, print or electronic, is not permitted. Copyright in published material will be held by the BSA, and authors of accepted articles will be required to assign copyright to the BSA.
Submission of material for publication will be taken as (1) a declaration that the paper has not been submitted for consideration elsewhere, & (2) an assignation of copyright in the event that it is accepted for publication.
Guidelines
All submissions to MSo should conform to the following guidelines:
Authorship
Only those who have made an active contribution to the research and the writing of the paper should be included as an author.
Language
Articles should be written in English (UK) using a clear and concise style. They should have been corrected for errors and will be regarded as accurate; authors are responsible for factual content. Gender specific nouns and pronouns should not be used to refer to people of both sexes. Care should be taken to avoid use of discriminatory language.
Layout
Margins on all sides should be set to 2.5 centimetres. Headings should begin from the left margin. Paragraphs should not be indented and a blank line (carriage return) should separate two paragraphs. The text should be in an 11 point font - Arial if possible - and double-spaced. Authors are encouraged to make use of the opportunities afforded by an on line journal, such as (hyper)links to other materials and sites.
Dates
Dates should be cited in the following format: 29 July, 2007.
Punctuation
Please use single quotation marks only (except for quotes within quotes). All quotes longer than 10 words should be indented.
Referencing
References in the text should use the Harvard referencing style. For example:
Allen, D. (1997) The nursing-medical boundary: a negotiated order? Sociology of Health and Illness, 19, 4, 498–520.
Only articles referenced in the text should be cited in the bibliography. Please ensure that references are complete, i.e. that they include, where relevant, author’s name, article or book title, volume and issue number, publisher, date and page reference. Where the referenced article can be accessed electronically, please also include the URL (web address) and the date it was accessed, for example:
Craigie, M., Muncer, S., Loader, B. and Burrows, R. (2002) Reliability of health information on the net: an examination of experts' ratings, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 4, 1, http://www.Jmir.Org/2002/1/E2/.
Notes
Where possible, footnotes should be avoided. In situations where they are necessary, please insert as normal using number format, in order to produce a ‘printable’ full document. If required, some hyperlinks can be used for footnotes.
Tables and illustrations
Place all diagrams, tables and photographs where you wish them to appear in the paper. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that consent has been obtained for publishing all such materials.
Acknowledgements
Authors should indicate sources of funding, where applicable, and any restrictions on publication placed on them by sponsors. They should also indicate if ethics committee approval was granted for the study. It is the duty of the author(s) to clear copyright on empirical, visual and oral data.
MSo Guidelines for Authors Revised 29/09/2011