Public Understanding of Science

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Public Understanding of Science

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pscience to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Public Understanding of Science will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Public Understanding of Science may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.

If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

1. What do we publish?
   1.1 Aims & Scope
   1.2 Article types
   1.3 Supplemental material
   1.4 Special Issues
   1.5 Writing your paper
2. Editorial policies
   2.1 Peer review policy
   2.2 Authorship
   2.3 Acknowledgements
   2.4 Funding
   2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
   2.6 Research data
3. Publishing policies
   3.1 Publication ethics
   3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   3.3 Open access and author archiving
4. Preparing your manuscript
   4.1 Formatting
   4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   4.3 Reference style
   4.4 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript
   5.1 ORCID
   5.2 Information required for completing your submission
   5.3 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 Sage Production
   6.2 Online First publication
   6.3 Access to your published article
   6.4 Promoting your article
7. Further information

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Public Understanding of Science, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article Types

Note: The acceptable manuscript lengths mentioned below include references and footnotes, but exclude title page, abstract, tables and figures.

Types of submissions:

— Research Article (max. 8,000 words and 5 figures or tables)

Research articles present original theoretical, empirical or historical research of broader relevance. They should position their specific study in the context of established theories, research traditions or scholarly discourses. In the case of articles covering empirical research (quantitative or qualitative), authors must provide relevant documentation of methodological details and materials such as questionnaires, guidelines, code lists, coding instructions and examples, experimental stimuli, details of statistical analyses, information about samples and selection criteria. This information can be added as supplemental material (see below).

We grant a moderate extension of the length of manuscripts (max. 10,000 words) for articles that rely on extensive quotation of excerpts from qualitative interviews or media analyses.

— Research Note (max. 4,000 words and 5 figures or tables)

Research notes are similar to research articles in most respects but present few data and deal with subjects where the scholarly or practical context is obvious, and introduction and discussion can be kept short, or if they offer a replication study or extend existing research to other regions, cases or issues. Demands for documentation of methodological details is the same as for research articles.

— Review Article (max. 8,000 words and 5 figures or tables)

Review articles provide an overview of a particular research field on the basis of a literature survey. They should inform readers about the main research directions, theoretical claims, methodological approaches and available evidence.

Review articles should provide a list of reviewed publications along with a basic description as supplemental material. Reviewed articles that are individually referenced in the text must also be included in the reference list.

— Essay (max. 4,000 words)

Essays should provide novel insights and interpretations supporting an in-depth understanding of the subject of the essay. Essays can deal with matters of social practice, social theory or reflect on the research practice of the PUS community. Essays should be reflective and analytical, consider different viewpoints and angles, present pros and cons, and substantiate advocacy with evidence and arguments. They cannot present original research.

We welcome essays by "practitioners" wanting to address the scholarly community. Essays by journalists or other science communicators, research managers, politicians or stakeholders could share experience-based insights and hypotheses, provide views on the relationship of theory and practice, challenge research or theory, or point to knowledge gaps and new challenges overlooked by scholars, for example.

— Commentary (max. 2,000 words)

Commentaries may reflect on articles published in Public Understanding of Science, challenging the theoretical framework or empirical design, or suggesting alternative interpretations of data, for example. General commentaries may focus on significant events, decisions and documents in scholarship and practice related to our journal scope and of broader relevance.

We welcome commentaries by scholars and practitioners.

— Book Review (approx. 750 words for a single book review; approx. 2,000 words for a comparative review of several linked books)

Book reviews provide readers with information and guidance on new books dealing with public understanding of science or related subjects. Book reviews may cover a single book or compare several thematically related books. Book reviews are commissioned and edited by our book review editor, Brian Trench (brian.trench@dcu.ie). Information about new books should be sent directly to him.

— Historical Moments Essay (max. 3,000 words)

The aim of historical moments essays is to highlight historical instances of the construction of public cultures of science, which can be seen today as meaningful for and relevant to the fields of science communication and public understanding of science. The intent is to emphasize the value of historical enquiry, and of an historical sensibility, for the development of current scholarship in and about science communication and the public understanding of science. Texts appearing in this rubric are expected to be calls to intellectual action. Proposals and finished contributions can be sent directly by email to our historical moments editor, Jean-Baptiste Gouyon (j.gouyon@ucl.ac.uk). Detailed guidelines are available on demand.

1.3 Supplemental Material

Articles can refer to supplemental material that is published online along with the article. The use of supplemental material is particularly useful for research articles and research notes that are based on empirical analyses, both qualitative and quantitative. Supplemental material has two main purposes: first, to make the research on which the article is based more transparent, criticizable, and reproducible; second, to improve readability and comprehensibility of the article by outsourcing technical parts of (complex) methodologies and analyses that are mostly relevant for methodological experts but not essential for understanding the general argument of the article.

With respect to the first purpose, we expect documentation of questionnaires, interview guidelines, coding books, experimental stimuli, scales, and similar material in their original language as well as in English translation. Furthermore, we expect a detailed description of samples, text or audio-visual corpora, and interview transcripts or observation notes that are analyzed. For qualitative and quantitative content analyses and for ethnographic research we appreciate the provision of examples (if not included in the article) to support readers’ understanding of how interpretative claims were generated from the empirically analyzed material or how categories were applied.

With respect to the second purpose, the outsourcing of details of methods and auxiliary analyses such as analyses of reliability and validity, complex statistical procedures, network analyses, or machine-learning approaches does not mean that a proper description of methods can be omittedfrom the article. Readers of the article must be able to follow in general what is done in the analysis, and why it is done, without consulting supplemental material.

Supplemental material should be submitted (anonymized) as separate file along with the main manuscript via ScholarOne. The supplemental material file should include a title page with the title of the submitted manuscript as well as a table of contents.

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article and a pdf-file containing the above-mentioned material. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

1.4 Special Issues

Scholars interested in submitting a special issue proposal should contact the Editorial Office (editorial-office@pus-journal.com) and ask for an information sheet with detailed instructions.

Typically, a special issue of Public Understanding of Science consists of 3-5 articles plus an introductory essay and is coordinated by one or two guest editor(s). Only in cases of very broad relevance will we consider devoting a complete issue to a special topic. Guest editors are responsible for the coordination of the contributions and collaboration with the journal; the ultimate responsibility for the peer review process and acceptance of contributions remains with the journal.

1.5 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

•  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors

•  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper

•  The author has recommended the reviewer

•  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

2.2 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. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.Please refer to section II.2 “Who Is an Author?” of the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals for criteria that legitimately constitute authorship of an article published in Public Understanding of Science.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

2.3 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.

2.3.1 Third party submissions

Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

2.4 Funding

Public Understanding of Science requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

Public Understanding of Science encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway

2.6 Research data

The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
• cite this data in your research

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3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Sage 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 Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

3.1.1 Plagiarism

Public Understanding of Science and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Public Understanding of Science offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

A maximum of 5 tables or figures are permitted per paper. For full guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.  

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

Authors should obtain the necessary permission to use others' images in their work, unless the use falls under 'fair dealing'. For more information on 'fair dealing' and what it covers, please visit Sage's Copyright and Permissions FAQs. 

4.3 Reference style

Public Understanding of Science adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.

4.4 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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5. Submitting your manuscript

Public Understanding of Science is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pscience to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.1 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

6.2 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Public Understanding of Science editorial office as follows:

Email: editorial-office@pus-journal.com