J. Scientometric Res. | A journal devoted to Innovation Studies and Policy Research
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Instructions to Authors

About the Journal 

Journal of Scientometric Research (J. Scientometric Res.) is an internationally targeted official publication of Phcog.Net. It publishes peer-reviewed articles online in an open access format, after a careful selection through a double-blind peer-review process. The journal encourages both empirical and the theoretical contributions that advance scientometric research (in its widest interpretation) and also reaches out to scholars of science and technology studies (STS), sociology, economics and other related fields that use scientometric data as the ‘object of investigation’ or apply scientometric analysis in innovation and STS studies.

The journal thus publishes articles in all the different domains of scientometrics, including patent studies (technometrics) and web-based studies (webometrics). It also publishes articles that apply science-technology-innovation indicators to draw insights into country/regional/sectoral research, innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Papers in areas of contemporary focus, such as open science, new tools and techniques, including newer approaches for information retrieval, metrics, and new forms of publications among, others are encouraged. The journal has various categories in which articles can be submitted, highlighted later in this document.

ISSN: 2321-6654 (Print), 2320-0057 (Online)

Frequency: Triannual (3 issues/year). The journal also publishes special issues on contemporary themes from time-to-time.

Rapid publication: Average time from submission to first decision is 30 days and from acceptance to In Press online  publication is 45 days.

ONLINE FIRST

Authors can opt online first upon acceptance. This is done to ensure that at no stage the journal as such is influenced by this option and can become a conflict of interest for quality assessment of the paper. This option allows authors’ to quickly disseminate their work. DOI will be assigned to each article which will be maintained as such when the paper comes in the published issue. ONLINE FIRST articles can be cited based on DOI which is a normal practice; issue and page numbers to the article will be assigned when the article is published in any of the forthcoming issue. The publisher will try to put the paper in ONLINE FIRST within a week after the payment made.

Charges for ONLINE FIRST are EURO 40 or USD 50 and for Indian Authors: Rs 3000/. The authors’ should contact the Managing Editor for payment and other issues related to this in this email: [email protected]
** We are providing APC-covered papers for a limited period ONLINE FIRST free.
For INR Payments, visit: https://mstechnomedia.com/payment-options/

For USD Payments, visit: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/mstechnomedia

Abstracting and Indexing Information: 

The journal is registered with the following indexing and abstracting partners:
Scopus, Emerging Source Citation Index (ESCI), Dimensions.ai, Crossref.org, EBSCO Databases, OpenJGate, ProQuest, Exlibris-Primo Content Index, CORE.ac.uk, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), Google Scholar, HINARI, JournalGuide.com, DBLP, UGC-CARE List (India), and TdNet. The journal is also listed with Publons.com for the reviewers’ recognition.

Editorial Policy

Manuscripts are accepted with the understanding that the authors have not violated any ethical practice followed in preparation and publication of scientific manuscripts. The journal takes a serious view on violations such as of plagiarism, falsification and fabrication of data. Similarity to the published texts should be within the maximum limit of 15%. However, it is the discretion of the journal to reject articles that are within the prescribed limits of plagiarism if it is found that the core aspects of the paper are plagiarised. The practices that are considered unethical are given on the journal website (www.jscires.org). Author(s) is/are responsible for all the statements made in their work and should be willing to defend them publicly if challenged.

Authors should prepare their manuscripts submitted to the journal exactly according to the instructions given below. Manuscripts that do not follow the format and style of the journal may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected. The main text (i.e., article file) should not have the name(s), affiliation(s) and acknowledgement of the authors. The papers will be technically rejected if this is violated. The journal reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication.

The authors are encouraged to check the ‘Guide for Authors’ before submitting their manuscripts. Authors can also refer to the ‘Peer Review Process’ under the heading ‘About the Journal’ in the main menu for further insights.

Submission Requirements
Covering Letter

Disclose all possible conflicts of interest (e.g., funding sources for consultancies or studies of products). Full contact details with postal address(es), phone numbers (mobile & landline), and email IDs (primary & secondary) of the corresponding author must be clearly mentioned. A list of potential reviewers (not exceeding 5) with their email IDs and preferably phone numbers may be included. The suggested reviewers must be working in the same area dealt with within the manuscript. Whether to use their services or not is the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Copyright and Open Access Policy
Click to read more on Copyright and Open Access Policy
https://www.jscires.org/content/copyright-and-oa-policy

Copyright undertaking is not required at the time of submission. The Copyright Form/ Consent to Publish Form to be submitted only after the paper is accepted.
The Copyright Form/ Consent to Publish Form can be downloaded from
http://www.jscires.org/content/downloads
*The same form is also available in author’s submission site.

Preprints Policy

Journal accepts articles submitted in preprint archives; sharing your preprints will not count as prior publication. The details of pre-prints/e-prints have to be mentioned in the cover letter, including DOI and licensing terms. The journal prefers that pre-print should have a Creative Common 4.0 Attribution Non-commercial-Share Alike licence (CC By-NC-SA 4.0). After a pre-print is published, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to update any previous pre-publication version with an URL link to the final published version of the article on the journal website.

Applicable to all Submissions

  • In each submission, the author(s) should also write on the first page the type of submission, i.e., whether the submitted manuscript is Research Article/ Review Paper/ Perspective Paper/ Research-in-Progress/ Commentary/ Policy Forum/ Book Review/ Webliography).
  • Authors should strictly follow the Vancouver citation style (see for reference: https://jscires.org/storage/2023/07/ref_style.pdf)
  • References are to be numbered consecutively. The article should not have more than three footnotes. Endnotes can be used and to be placed after reference.

            Research Article (Use same citation style for other categories of articles)

Example:  Liu Y, Rousseau, R. Ego Citation Networks Considered as Domination Networks. Journal of Scientometric Research. 2019; 8 (1): 01-08.

  • In–text citation: the reference should be indicated by a number in the superscript.

Example: Thus contributing to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. [2]  Or According to Das and Mishra [1]  “The article‑level metrics (ALMs) or altmetrics becomes a new trendsetter in recent times for measuring the impact of scientific publications and their social outreach to intended audiences”.

  • The manuscript will not be rejected if the initial submission is not as per the citation style. However, once a Manuscript is accepted, then authors have to strictly follow the above citation style.
  • Normal plain font (e.g., 12-Point Times New Roman) should be used. Line spacing should be 1.5. Only black font should be used in the text.
  • Tables and Figures should be originally drawn (not scanned). Tables should be made using the table function and they should not be given as images.
  • Authors should preferably submit one manuscript file containing full text and all graphs/images/tables, either inserted within the text or at the end of the text part.  Any supplementary data or results could be submitted as a separate file.
  • The author/authors need to submit along with the revised manuscript, a response sheet to the reviewer’s comments, which should indicate modifications done in the manuscript in response to comments made by the reviewer(s) or justification for not accepting the comment/ suggestions.
  • Revised manuscript submission: The author/authors need to submit two files;
    (a) the Revised File in track change mode or highlighting with color font the revisions done
    (b) response sheet to the reviewer’s comments, which should indicate that all comments raised by the referee(s) have been addressed. Author(s) can choose to differ with the referee comment, however reason for doing so should be properly justified in the comment file. An indicative template for reply to reviewers’ comments is available at http://www.jscires.org/content/downloads
    *The same form is also available in author submission site.

Research articles

The research articles are limited to 8000 words. The abstract should be structured and limited to 250 words. The abstract should preferably include these elements: objective, research design and methods, findings, implications and recommendations, contribution and value-added. Keywords (maximum six in numbers) are to be given, which properly specify the contribution; comma delimitation to be used for separation.
Each article should be structured appropriately.  Each article should preferably have the following sections: Introduction, Objectives and Scope of the study, Literature review, Conceptual framework, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Sub-sections, as required, can be provided. It is expected that acknowledgements including funding support, if any, should be given by author(s) only after the acceptance of the manuscript, in a separate ‘Acknowledgement’ section to be placed before the References.

Review articles

Reviews covering topics of current interest are welcome and encouraged. Review articles (not exceeding 10,000 words, cited references to be limited to about 100 in number) are expected to survey and discuss current developments in a field. The review should be well focused and organized, and avoid a general ‘textbook’ style. Review articles will follow the general guidelines of Research Paper.

Perspective Paper

Perspective paper (up to 8000 words a maximum of two illustrations) invites reflective discussions on recent contemporary research/on tools and methods/new approaches, but do not primarily discuss the author’s own work. They may provide a critical synoptic assessment of a research topic, including alternative viewpoints/approaches. Perspectives commenting on papers in JSCIRES should add a dimension to the research and not merely be a summary of the study covered in the paper.
The perspective paper will follow the general guidelines of Research papers. The authors may kindly note the other considerations required for publishing in this category. An abstract of up to 150 words should appear on the first page. There is no particular need for authors to include a separate section on methodology.

Research-in-Progress
Aims to encourage and promote research of students/young researchers. This section also provides a platform for established researchers who would like to submit their ‘works in progress’. Contributions go through a standard double-blind review. Authors can directly submit as ‘research-in-progress’. However, if reviewers find a paper submitted as an original article has not been sufficiently developed but has promising merit, then the editors take a decision for the paper to be placed as ‘research-in-progress’. The final decision is with the authors of that article, whether they would like their paper to be in ‘research-in-progress’.
The paper limit should be within 3000 words with maximum permissible three illustrations (figure/table). The items of the manuscript should include: (1) Abstracts limited to 200 words; (2) have the choice of including a Methodology section. However, the article must properly inform about the key methods/ procedures in the introduction; (3) Results and Discussion may be combined into a single section. Research in Progress section will follow the general guidelines of Research papers.

Commentary
Opinion articles relevant to newer developments/issues that would be of significance to the field. Commentary has to be sharp and not descriptive. Abstract, Keywords and Methodology are not required for publishing in this category. The commentary section will follow the general guidelines of Research papers. It has to be within 2000 words.

Research Notes

Encourages submission that draws attention to new tools & techniques, databases, a new methodological approach, new indicators, etc. Papers are expected to use well-constructed case studies for proper demonstration/proof-of-concept of the aspect that is the key focus of their research note. The paper should not be a summary of say tools & techniques; it has to show, for example, how new insights are revealed by using them. The research note should be within 4000 words. Stylized figures, boxes or figures that improve the readability and impact are encouraged.  The journal will follow the double-blind peer review and other norms as applicable to the research article.

Policy Forum

This section is rooted towards contributions that reach out to the policy community at large. It also attempts to emerge as a platform for cross-disciplinary interaction between quantitative and qualitative studies on science-technology-innovation. Thus, papers that apply qualitative and quantitative indicators of STI, including hybrid indicators, engagement of scientometrics in developing a conceptual and methodological approach for science studies, etc. will be encouraged. There is an engaging discourse on open-science, patenting per se that challenges ethical issues, on scientific misconduct and other areas within science and innovation studies that have implications for publication and patenting activity. This section also encourages papers that can address these areas. It will also be of interest that the paper opens up the debate for future discourse on the topic discussed.
Submission should be within 3500 words. Stylized figures, boxes or figures that improve the readability and impact are encouraged. The journal will follow the double-blind peer review and other norms as applicable to the research article.

Book/Databases/Website Reviews

Submission under this section should be between 1200-1500 words. We welcome a review of books/websites on request to be sent to the Book Review Editor, Dr Anup Kumar Das ([email protected]). Two copies of the Book to be sent to the Book Review Editor for the book review.

Book Reviews
Book Reviews should have a critical assessment of the book, drawing attention to its salient aspects, value to the community at large, among others. Additionally, the review should see whether the book properly addresses the intended audience, the general scope and subject area, the presentation, clarity, etc. The book review should not be a summary of the book; however, it should have sufficient details and well organized so that readers can have a fair assessment of the book, its merit and drawbacks.

Database/Website reviews should also follow the above criteria.

Instructions for Database Review

The Layout of Review:
Title of Database or Service, Publisher’s name and address, name of the reviewer, position, organization, email address, Body of Review, general product description, authority of publication; Scope, content, currency, and intended audience; Bibliographic record format; Search capability: search capability and functionality; Interface: display and navigation, appearance, ease of use, searching options, help screens and output; Search features: basic and advanced search, keyword searching, natural language queries, sorting, pattern matchers, limits, and browsing; Search Results: quality and quantity of records, search history, display of results, and manipulation of search results; Added features: links to full text and URLs, ability to obtain statistics, links to library’s OPAC/holdings, thesaurus capability, graphs and image capabilities, and document delivery; Authentication, General limitations; Technical requirements, Suggestions for improvement, Vendor’s support, Pricing Options, Contract provisions/options, Comparison with other vendors, Comparison with other databases; Length of Review, — no specific limits but probably within the range of 2500-3000 words would be ideal. Feel free to use examples from the text to support your evaluation.

Webliography
Webliography is broadly defined as a list of electronic documents, websites, or other resources available on the worldwide web, especially those related to a particular subject. The journal, through webliography, intends to create a resource base for researchers in scientometrics and related fields. Submission of paper as webliography should be unique or substantially different from prior bibliographies on the topic, and it should be of interest to specific research domains within the scientometrics community, including those who are interested in this area of research.
Webliography should be on a particular theme and should be comprehensive in terms of the varied important sources related to the theme that is available on the web.
It is not a research paper and thus should not follow its structure. An introduction should make the readers understand what the webliography is about. Well-defined heading with a proper description in highlighting the resources are expected. The link to the resources should be checked so that they are available to the readers.

Refer to  https://www.jscires.org/content/downloads   webliography for further clarity.

Scientific Correspondence

Welcome comment on research published in JSCIRES and will also include correspondence drawing attention to present academic discourse/issues. As these are meant to express a personal viewpoint, with rare exceptions, preferably should have not more than two authors. Ideally, it should be restricted within 500-600 words and are subject to copyediting.

Conference/Meeting Reports

JSCIRES will also cover reports of the conferences and meetings organized by Associations /Societies. The Journal will be interested in considering reports that may be of interest to the readers. These will usually be within 1000 words in length and must be submitted within six weeks of the date of the meeting or conference.

Important e-mail IDs and URLs