About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Established in 2004, Social Studies is an academic peer-reviewed journal published by Masaryk University. The journal is primarily aimed at a sociological readership, but its orientation is pluralistic and interdisciplinary. It accepts sociologically informed and relevant contributions by scholars in other fields of the social sciences and humanities (including anthropology, ethnology, history, philosophy, and political science). We appreciate articles that offer new ways of understanding social issues as well as innovative critical commentary on current debates within sociology and the social sciences. The journal welcomes articles reflecting on emergent and challenging issues: substantive, conceptual, theoretical, and methodological. Texts that focus on Central Europe or help to mediate between this region and international scholarly debates are encouraged.

The genre scope of Social Studies is wide ranging – including original theoretical and theoretically informed empirical research papers as well as review essays, book reviews, shorter notes, discussion comments or conference reports. It also publishes occasional special issues (or blocks) devoted to particular themes which are guest co-edited by scholars specialized in the field.

The journal is published twice a year.

Peer Review Process

Manuscripts and review essays undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review. Typically, each text is evaluated by the editor and two independent reviewers. Based on the outcome of the reviews, the editor decides on the acceptance of the manuscript, its revision or rejection. This decision is then communicated to the author by email. The final decision about the manuscript falls within the authority of the editor. Every effort is made to ensure that manuscripts are reviewed efficiently and with a high degree of competence within two months of the initial submission.

Other types of submissions (e.g. reviews, reports, news, interviews, etc.) are not subjected to peer review and their inclusion in the journal is an editorial decision.

There are no author fees for publishing in Sociální studia / Social Studies.

How to submit a manuscript

We accept original, previously unpublished articles (5000-8000 words, including references, notes and appendix), review studies (up to 3000 words), book reviews (up to 2000 words), and conference reports and other academic texts (up to 2000 words). Submissions should be sent electronically in .DOC, .DOCX or .RTF format to the journal's email address socstud@fss.muni.cz. The cover letter should provide the full address and contact information, including e-mail address, for each author. For more details see the Instruction for authors.

There are no author fees for publishing in Sociální studia / Social Studies.

Publication Ethics

Manuscripts submitted to the journal are expected to be original works which have not been published elsewhere. It is considered unethical to offer the same or highly similar manuscript to another journal during the evaluation of the manuscript by Social Studies.

By offering the manuscript for publication in Social Studies, the author confirms that s/he has the right to be identified as the author of the manuscript. Authors are required to secure permission to reproduce any copyrighted material within their text.

Editorial team

Pavel Pospěch (pospech@fss.muni.cz) is the Editor-in-chief of the journal. Barbora Hubatková (socstud@fss.muni.cz) is the Managing Editor.

International Editorial Board

Jeffrey Alexander (Yale University, USA)

Rowland Atkinson (University of Sheffield, UK)

Andrea Brighenti (Trento University, Italy)

Elisabete Figueiredo (University of Aveiro, Portugal)

Paul Higgs (University College London, UK)

Mervyn Horgan (University of Guelph, Canada)

Hubert Knoblauch (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)

Laszlo Kulcsar (Penn State University, USA)

Dmitry Kurakin (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia)

Monika Mynarska (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland)

Nina Peršak (University of Ljubljana, Institute for Criminal Law Ethics and Criminology, Slovenia)

Philip Smith (Yale University, USA)

Simon Susen (City, University of London, UK)

Agnieszka Kościańska (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Editorial Board

Jan Balon (Charles University, Prague)

Pavel Barša (Charles University, Prague)

Andrea Baršová (The Office of the Czech Republic Government, Prague)

Michael Buchowski (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)

Martin Bútora (Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava)

Hana Červinková (University of Lower Silesia, Wroclaw)

Slavomíra Ferenčuhová (Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague)

Andrej Findor (Comenius University, Bratislava)

Ivan Chorvát (Matej Bel University, Bánská Bystrica)

Zuzana Kusá (Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava)

Kateřina Lišková (Masaryk University, Brno)

Radim Marada (Masaryk University, Brno)

Miroslav Marcelli (Comenius University, Bratislava)

Petr Mareš (Masaryk University, Brno)

Ladislav Rabušic (Masaryk University, Brno)

Maxmilián Strmiska (University of Hradec Králové)

Jaroslav Střítecký (Masaryk University, Brno)

Dana Sýkorová (Palacký University, Olomouc)

Csaba Szaló (Masaryk University, Brno)

Václav Štětka (Loughborough University, Loughborough)

Jan Váně (University of West Bohemia, Pilsen)

Roman Vido (University of Ostrava, Ostrava)