Editorial policy, Editorial Advisory Board and contributors, and journal
selection criteria
Editorial
policy statement and principles
The
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) aims to provide
wide coverage of high quality social science research carried out in and
about all parts of the world.
To
meet the information needs of social science researchers, the majority of
current IBSS records are articles and book reviews drawn from scholarly
social science journals. The service regularly covers around 2,800 journals.
IBSS also indexes selected monograph and chapters, the majority of which are
drawn from the catalogue of the LSE
Library.
Most
journals are indexed cover to cover, however:
- for
journals whose scope includes both social sciences and non-social
sciences material only the social sciences content is indexed (for
example, in journals whose focus is regional rather than
thematic).
- non-analytical
material is not usually indexed – including legal case reports,
historical documents, statistical reports, obituaries.
- content
sent from external data contributors (see below) is edited by these
contributors, and these journals are usually selectively indexed.
IBSS reviews and monitors
materials covered on an ongoing and systematic basis, in order to ensure
that it continues to provide researchers with access to the leading English
and foreign language titles.
The
selection criteria detailed below have been developed in accordance with the
following four statements which remain the guiding principles of IBSS
editorial policy:
- IBSS
maintains a coverage of core titles considered central to
the study of the social sciences. These are published by mainstream
publishers or learned societies, and are usually in the English
language. These titles encompass the standard publications in the fields
of anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology and related
social science subjects. IBSS
uses the collection of the LSE library and the recommendations of its own Editorial
Advisory Board to ensure that it maintains relevant and up to date
coverage of these key titles.
- IBSS
provides an international perspective on the social
sciences. This is achieved
through the selection of journals:
- whose
focus is regional
- whose
focus is international and comparative
- which
are the foreign-language equivalents of the core titles
- which
are published outside the US or UK.
- Interdisciplinary
research is an important feature of contemporary social science
research. Whilst
the traditional disciplinary focus of the IBSS has been on anthropology,
economics, political science, and sociology, IBSS supports
interdisciplinary research by drawing supporting material from the
complementary disciplines of history, law, philosophy and psychology.
IBSS also particularly supports specific important interdisciplinary
fields of contemporary social sciences research (click
here for detailed list of subjects covered by IBSS).
- IBSS
maintains the academic standard of its content by ensuring
that journals covered are of a scholarly nature and contain analytical
articles, ideally peer reviewed and with an editorial board containing
respected academics.
Sources
of content development
IBSS
is committed to ensuring that its coverage supports the research needs of
the social sciences community in the UK and worldwide. Journal coverage is
developed from the following sources:
Editorial Advisory Board
IBSS
works to ensure that the list of journal titles covered remains current and
relevant to the needs of the social science community. To this end regular
journal coverage reviews are undertaken by the IBSS Editorial Advisory Board
based on the guiding principles of IBSS selection policy.
The Board
consists of around 40 academics in various fields of the social sciences.
Membership of the Board is for an initial period of two years and IBSS seeks
to include representatives from a wide number of British and international
institutions. As far as possible IBSS will endeavour to ensure that the
Board contains members who can evaluate and recommend coverage from and
about all regions of the world, with equal significance attached to Western
and developing world publications.
Board
members are contacted biannually via email. They are provided with the full
list of journal titles indexed by IBSS and asked to identify any current
titles considered unsuitable for coverage and to recommend additional titles
not currently covered. Since 2001 the Board has recommended around 130 new
journals.
Board
members also contact the editorial office outside these review periods with
additional recommendations as and when omissions are noticed or new titles
are published.
During the
autumn to winter of 2003, membership of the Board was expanded significantly
to include members of several ESRC Research Centres.
Current members of the Editorial Advisory Board are the following:
|
Name
|
Institution
|
|
Professor Anne Anderson |
Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow;
People at the Centre of Communication and Information
Technologies |
|
Professor Anantha S. Babbili |
Provost &
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Texas A&M University-Corpus
Christi |
|
Dr Alena Bičáková |
CERGE-EI, Charles University Prague and Academy of
Sciences of the Czech Republic |
|
Dr Filip de Boeck |
Africa Research Centre, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven |
|
Professor John Brewer |
Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen |
|
Professor Kent Buse |
Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine |
|
Dr Jane Calvert |
University of Exeter; Centre for Genomics in Society |
|
Professor Ruth Chadwick |
Lancaster University; Centre for the Economic & Social
Aspects of Genomics |
|
Professor Frank Cowell |
STICERD and Economics Department, London School of Economics and
Political Science |
|
Professor Stuart Croft |
Department of Political Science and International Studies,
University of Birmingham; ESRC programme on New Security Challenges |
|
Professor Rosalind Edwards |
Professor in Social Policy, London South Bank University; Centre
for Families and Social Capital |
|
Dr Christian Fleck |
Department of Sociology, University of Graz |
|
Professor Lynne Ford |
Chair, Political Science Department, College of Charleston, South
Carolina |
|
Alan Gommersall |
Politics Department, Queen Mary, University of London; UK Centre
for Evidence based Policy and Practice |
|
Professor Alan Hughes |
University of Cambridge; Centre for Business Research |
|
Professor Jeremy Jennings |
Head of the Department of Political Science and International
Studies, University of Birmingham |
|
Dr Jonathan Leape |
Lecturer, Department of Economics; Director, Centre for Research
into Economics and Finance in Southern Africa, The London School of
Economics and Political Science |
|
Professor Peter Lynn |
Professor of Survey Methodology, Institute for Social and
Economic Research, University of Essex; UK Longitudinal Studies Centre |
|
Professor Maria Eugénia Mata |
Faculty of Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa |
|
Dr Attila Melegh |
Demographic Research Institute, Hungarian Central Statistical
Office |
|
Dr Paul Nightingale |
University of Sussex, Science and Technology Policy Research |
|
Professor
Dr Ching Lin Pang |
Interculturalism, Migration, and Minority Research Centre, Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven |
|
Professor Ken Peattie |
Professor of Marketing and Strategy, Cardiff University; Centre
for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and
Society |
|
Professor David Piachaud |
Professor Social Policy, London School of Economics
and Political Science |
|
Professor Andrew Pollard |
Professor of Education, University of Cambridge; Teaching and
Learning Research Programme |
|
Professor Ian Preston |
Department of Economics, University College London |
|
Professor Paul Rock |
Department of Sociology, The London School of Economics and
Political Science; Mannheim Centre for the Study of Criminology and
Criminal Justice |
|
Professor Sasha Roseneil |
Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies,
University of Leeds |
|
Dr Henry Rothstein |
Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation, The London School of
Economics and Political Science |
|
Dr Adrian Smith |
SPRU-Science and Technology Research Unit, University of Sussex |
|
Dr Michael Stewart |
Rubin Research Fellow, School of Public Policy; Department of
Social Anthropology, University College London |
|
Professor Raymond Stokes |
Department of Economic and Social History, University of Glasgow |
|
Dr Constanza Tobio Soler |
Political Science and Sociology, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid |
|
Professor Pascal Vennesson |
Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Florence |
|
Dr Leslie Whitworth |
Design History Research Centre, University of Brighton |
|
Professor Per-Olof Wikstrom |
University of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology |
LSE
Library
Since 1989 IBSS has been
compiled at the LSE Library. Around 60%
of the journals covered by IBSS are taken from the significant holdings of
the LSE Library which serves as a
national collection of material for research, and is recognised as a centre
of excellence for social science resources by the European Union.
Serials Review Group
The Serials Review Group (SRG) of the LSE Library meets quarterly to agree additions to the Library's
collections of periodicals. IBSS has a seat on the SRG primarily to ensure
that IBSS is able to improve and augment its own coverage of core social
science journals.
There are four categories of
submissions to SRG:
- Periodicals recommended by academic members of staff for teaching
purposes
- Periodicals recommended by academic members of staff for research
purposes
- New periodicals recommended by Library staff
- Unsolicited periodicals received by the Library
The SRG agrees to procure all
recommendations in category 1 and those recommendations in category 2 which
fall within the existing collections policy of the Library. Selections from
categories 3 and 4 are dependent upon relevance to the Library collections
policy and available budget. Relevant LSE academic staff may also be
consulted for comments on certain titles.
The SRG is
an integral part of IBSS selection policy, allowing IBSS further access to
information regarding social sciences research and teaching needs and to new
publications. IBSS covers all periodicals from categories 1 and 2 unless
they are incompatible with IBSS editorial policy and selection criteria.
Specialist libraries and
overseas data contributors
Specialist libraries and overseas
data contributors play a particularly important role in maintaining and
developing IBSS's international coverage.
IBSS makes regular collections of journal material from the
libraries of:
- School of
Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
- School of
Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)
- The
anthropology collection of University College London (UCL)
IBSS also
investigates the collections of the following specialist libraries to keep
abreast of new publications in these areas.
- Institute of Commonwealth Studies
- Institute for the Study of the
Americas
Material is contributed
annually by data partners at several international institutions. Specialists
from these institutions select and index data from their collections for
inclusion in IBSS:
- Library of the Hungarian Parliament, Budapest
- Library of the Finnish Parliament, Helsinki
- Japan Sociological Society, Tokyo
- Centre for Ethnographic Information and Documentation, Polish
Ethnological Society, Łódź
-
Fondation
nationale des sciences politiques, Paris
-
German National Library of
Economics, Kiel.
Internal evaluation by IBSS
editorial office
The IBSS editorial office
actively and systematically evaluates its coverage with particular regard to
the breadth and scope of international and subject coverage.
Advice is sought from academics or specialist librarians in the
field.
Unsolicited submissions
IBSS welcomes submissions from its
users and from journal publishers or editors, and in fact receives some 200
such submissions each year. IBSS can not take on all recommended journals,
but evaluates each according to its Selection Criteria. For unsolicited
submissions, highest priority is given to titles that are published outside
the UK or US. For further
details on how to submit a title for evaluation click
here.
Selection
criteria
Minimum standards and
practicalities
- Journals covered should be of a scholarly nature and contain
analytical articles, ideally peer reviewed and with an editorial board
containing respected academics.
- IBSS does not cover newspapers, magazines, reports,
information bulletins, statistical reports or professional publications.
However, in exceptional circumstances they may be considered.
Language of publication
- IBSS's main languages are English; French; German; Italian;
Portuguese; Russian and Spanish
-
IBSS can also consider submissions in related European
languages
-
Journals in other languages should usually have title
translations and/or abstracts in one of the main languages
Subject coverage
All journals must be relevant to
IBSS's subject coverage.
International coverage
IBSS aims to maintain international
material as a key element of its coverage by including:
-
Journals that have
an international editorial board
-
Journals that are international and comparative in scope, or
which have a regional focus other than the US or UK
-
Journals published outside UK or US: for unsolicited journal
submissions, priority will be given (80%) to titles published outside the US
or UK
Importance to social science research in the UK
This is judged with reference to
IBSS's Editorial Advisory Board and the collection of the LSE Library, in particular the recommendations for
teaching and research put to the Serials Review Group.
Open access publishing
Open access journals help to bring
research to a wider audience, particularly for researchers in developing
countries.IBSS therefore
favourably considers open access journals, subject to academic quality and
subject relevance.
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