Guide for Authors
An International Journal of Structural Analysis
Social Networks is an interdisciplinary and international quarterly. It provides a common forum
for representatives of anthropology, sociology, history, social psychology, political science, human geography, biology, economics, communications
science and other disciplines who share an interest in the study of the empirical structure of social relations and associations that
may be expressed in network form. It publishes both theoretical and substantive papers. Critical reviews of major theoretical or methodological
approaches using the notion of networks in the analysis of social behaviour are also included, as are reviews of recent books dealing
with social networks and social structure.
The editorial criteria for acceptance will be based on the degree to which a paper makes
a broad theoretical or methodological, and empirically relevant, contribution to the study of social networks. Acceptable papers may
range from abstract, formal mathematical derivations to concrete, descriptive case studies of particular social networks. The editors
are therefore particularly interested in papers that attempt to uncover the processes by which social networks emerge, evolve and have
consequences for other aspects of behaviour.
Details for submission
All
new manuscripts must be submitted through the Social Networks online submission and peer review website (
http://ees.elsevier.com/son/).
Authors should upload the source files of their articles in the preferred format of Microsoft (MS) Word, RTF, WordPerfect, or LaTeX for
text and TIFF or EPS for figures. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article,
which is used in the peer-review process. Files should be labelled with appropriate and descriptive file names (e.g., SmithText.doc,
Fig1.eps, Table3.doc). Upload text, tables and graphics as separate files. Complete instructions for electronic artwork submission are
available on our author homepage, accessible through the journal homepage.
Source files should be uploaded in the following order:
Cover letter; Title Page (including author identifiers); Response to Reviews (revised manuscripts only); Blinded Manuscript (excluding
author identifiers); Tables; Figures. Should you upload these items in a different order, you can re-order the items by using the numbered
boxes on the left hand side of the page.
Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission
for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. Authors, reviewers, and editors send and
receive all correspondence by e-mail.
Should you experience problems submitting your manuscript please click on the Help link at the
top of the site or alternative click
here.
The
journal uses a double-blind review process, so you will be asked to provide a title page with complete author details listed, along with
a blinded version of your manuscript (without any author details). These files will need to be uploaded separately. The title page should
include any names, affiliations, sources of finances, acknowledgements, and contact details. The blinded manuscript should not contain
any author details. Further to this, any response to reviewers made when submitting a revised manuscript should not disclose the author's
identity.
Authors who are unable to provide an electronic version or have other circumstances that prevent online submission must
contact the Editorial Office prior to submission to discuss alternate options. The Publisher and Editors regret that they are not able
to consider submissions that do not follow these procedures.
Manuscripts must be submitted in English.
Ethics in Publishing
For information
on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see
http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and
http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
Conflict of interest
All
authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships
with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived
to influence, their work. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except
in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication
elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was
carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without
the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Copyright
Upon acceptance
of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright).
Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding
author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this
agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation
within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other
derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). If excerpts
from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s)
in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details
you are referred to:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the
funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation
of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation
of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such
involvement then this should be stated. Please see
http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose
articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions
of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at
http://epsupport.elsevier.com
for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside
vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions:
http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.
Use of wordprocessing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format.
Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular,
do not use the wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts
etc. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables,
if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs,
not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also
the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier:
http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). Do not import the figures into the text
file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section on
Electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions
of your wordprocessor.
Article structure
Essential title page information
•
Title.
Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval
systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
•
Author names and affiliations.
Where the family name
may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work
was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in
front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available,
the e-mail address of each author.
•
Corresponding author.
Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at
all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication.
Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code)
are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
•
Present/permanent address.
If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent
address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained
as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Optimizing the title and abstract of an article for your audience
In order to increase the exposure of your article, we
suggest the following:
•The title of your article must be clear and descriptive, using keywords that are relevant to the subject
area, and would most likely be used in an online search.
•The abstract must also contain keywords and common phrases for the
subject area, perhaps using wording from the title. These carefully chosen keywords and phrases can also be emphasised in the text, however
please do this with caution as some search engines can reject overly repetitive webpages.
Manuscript preparation
The first page of the electronic manuscript should contain the following information: (i) the title;
(ii) the name(s) and institutional affiliation(s) of the author(s); (iii) an abstract of not more than 100 words. A footnote on that
page should give the name, address, and telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author as well as an e-mail address. To facilitate
double-blind refereeing, authors are requested to see that their manuscript contains no information identifying the author(s) except
for the title page. Identifying information on the title page will be deleted at the editorial office from the manuscript sent out for
review.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract
should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately
from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s)
and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention
in the abstract itself.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide
a maximum of 6 keywords, using British spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and",
"of"). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used
for indexing purposes.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not
standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract
must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references
and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided
help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
Formulae
Displayed formulae should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript as (1), (2), etc.
against the right-hand margin of the page. In cases where the derivation of formulae has been abbreviated, it is of great help to the
referees if the full derivation can be presented on a separate page (not to be published).
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic
numbers. Many wordprocessors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position
of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference
list.
Table footnotes
Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
Artwork
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics"
or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number
the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
•
Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit
each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless
of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats
(note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS: Vector drawings.
Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a
minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications
please supply "as is".
Please do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation)
document;
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
•
Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office
files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure,
at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether
or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version.
For color reproduction in print, you will receive information
regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color in print or on
the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version
should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached
to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (
not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep
text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the
table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that
the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
References
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference
cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full.
Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these
references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution
of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that
the item has been accepted for publication.
Web references
As a minimum,
the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.),
should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired,
or can be included in the reference list.
References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles
in the same Special Issue.
Reference Style
Text: All citations
in the text should refer to:
1.
Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year
of publication;
2.
Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3.
Three or more authors:
first author's name followed by "et al." and the year of publication.
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups
of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples:
Bernard, H.R., McCarty, C., Killworth, P.D.,
Johnsen, E., Shelley, G.A., 2002. Does global network size matter? Paper presented at the XXII International Sunbelt Social Network Conference,
February 13 17, 2002, New Orleans, USA.
Borgatti, S.P., Everett, M.G., Freeman, L.C., 2002. Ucinet for Windows: Software for Social
Network Analysis. Analytic Technologies, Harvard, MA. Available at:
http://www.analytictech.com/ucinet.htm.
Granovetter,
M., 1982. The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited. In: Marsden, P.V., Lin, N. (Eds.), Social Structure and Network Analysis.
Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 105-130.
Pettigrew, T.F., 1998a. Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology 49, 65-85.
Pettigrew,
T.F., 1998b. Reactions toward the new minorities of Western Europe. Annual Review of Sociology 24, 77-103.
Robins, G.L., Pattison,
P.E., Woolcock, J., 2005. Social networks and small worlds. American Journal of Sociology 110, 894-936.
Wasserman, S., Faust, K.,
1994. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.
Any manuscript that does not conform
to these instructions will be returned for the necessary revision before publication.
Supplementary material
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research.
Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution
images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version
of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that
your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data are provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should
submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. Video
files: please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or make a separate image. These will be used instead
of standard icons and will personalize the link to your supplementary information. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork
instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission
checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal's
Editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are
present:
One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone
and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including
title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked" and "grammar-checked"
•
References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text,
and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
•
Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print or to be reproduced
in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black and white
versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site
at
http://epsupport.elsevier.com.
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to
electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon
the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly
'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown
as follows (example taken from a document in the journal
Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071
When
you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do
not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download
the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe
Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how
to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and
return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then
mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan
the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the
text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission
from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure
that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent
corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of
your article if no response is received.
Offprints
The corresponding author,
at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article
and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Additional paper
offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission
where available) please visit this journal's homepage. You can track accepted articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle
and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright,
frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating
to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.
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