Submissions

Author Guidelines

Journal of Science of Science and Practice (JSSP) welcomes original, rigorous, and scientifically significant contributions investigating the structural, institutional, and behavioral mechanics of the global scientific enterprise.

The journal is inherently interdisciplinary and provides a scholarly forum for research connecting metascience, science and technology studies (STS), scientometrics, higher education policy, research ethics, information science, and the sociology of science.

JSSP is particularly interested in empirical and theoretical research that investigates how science actually works as a complex system, rather than offering speculative opinion pieces or normative prescriptions on "good science."

The journal does not consider perceived normative alignment or conventional disciplinary boundaries as criteria for acceptance. Manuscripts are evaluated on empirical rigor, methodological soundness, clarity of reporting, and contribution to our understanding of scientific practice.

The journal publishes research exploring the mechanics of science across all disciplines, including interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work.

The journal publishes:

• Empirical Research Articles — studies investigating structural, institutional, and behavioral realities of research systems
• Methodological Papers — new tools, metrics, or approaches for studying science itself
• Experimental Meta-Research — controlled or quasi-experimental investigations into peer review, funding, or evaluation mechanisms
• Data Notes — datasets and infrastructural resources mapping research ecosystems
• Policy and Institutional Analyses — rigorous evaluations of university assessment criteria, national funding models, and governance structures
• AI & Science Research — studies examining the transformation of research workflows, LLMs in scholarly communication, and automated discovery
• Replication and Reliability Studies — systematic assessments of reproducibility, research practices, and institutional incentives

Manuscripts must not exceed 18,000 to 20,000 words in total length (including main text, notes, and appendices; excluding references, supplementary materials, and up to the permitted figure/table limit).

Article Processing Charges (APCs) & Open Access Policy Journal of Science of Science and Practice operates under a Gold Open Access model to ensure maximum global visibility and immediate public access to published research.

To maintain publishing infrastructure, DOI registration, digital archiving, typesetting, editorial coordination, and peer-review administration, the journal charges a flat Article Processing Charge (APC) of 500 USD upon acceptance of a manuscript.

• There are no submission fees. Authors are not charged anything during the initial submission or peer-review stages.
• Waivers or partial reductions may be available for authors from low-income regions or underfunded independent research settings upon formal request to the editorial office prior to submission.
• All accepted articles are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence, and authors retain full copyright of their work.

1. Submission of Manuscripts — Preparation of Articles

Authors are strongly encouraged to carefully follow the guidelines outlined in this document when preparing their manuscripts.

A well-structured manuscript should clearly establish the empirical context, identify the specific research gap or structural question, and explicitly state the contribution to our understanding of scientific practice. Adherence to these guidelines will enhance the clarity, coherence, and academic quality of submissions, and is essential for maintaining the standards of the journal.

Mandatory Article Template All articles submitted to Journal of Science of Science and Practice must be prepared using the official template provided below. Articles not using this template may not be accepted for the review stage. Please also use this template file when uploading your manuscript to the online submission system.

Important Notes

• Mandatory Template JSSP: All manuscripts must be prepared according to the official template provided.
• All Sections: The title, author information, abstract, keywords, headings, text, references, and all other sections must strictly adhere to the rules and formatting specified in the template.
• Submission Process: You must upload your manuscript to the online submission system formatted according to the required template.

[ DOWNLOAD JSSP ARTICLE TEMPLATE ]

Articles should be comprehensive, fully documented reports of original research. They should be thorough yet concise, presenting complete results and conclusions within the word limit. Authors are encouraged to utilize supplementary files for extensive data appendices while keeping the core manuscript streamlined.

Manuscripts should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and discussion, Conclusion and outlook, Acknowledgments, Abbreviations list, References.

2. Types of Articles

JSSP accepts several types of scholarly contributions. The structure of a manuscript should be appropriate to its article type, respecting the 18,000–20,000 word ceiling and the maximum limit of 3 combined figures and tables per manuscript.

• Empirical Research Articles: Present methodologically sound quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research investigating how research systems and scientific practices actually function.
• Experimental Studies on Science: Report controlled or quasi-experimental investigations (such as trials on peer review interventions or grant allocation mechanisms).
• Methodological Papers: Introduce new analytical tools, scientometric indicators, or computational models for studying research ecosystems.
• Meta-Research & Bibliometric Studies: Provide quantitative or qualitative analyses of research assessment frameworks, publication dynamics, citation networks, or systemic biases.
• Policy Case Studies: Analyse the real-world behavioral and institutional consequences of changes in university promotion criteria, national funding architectures, or research governance.
• AI & Scholarly Communication Reports: Examine the empirical impact of artificial intelligence tools, automated peer review, and machine discovery on research workflows.
• Perspectives: Provide scientifically grounded and forward-looking discussions of important structural developments, emerging concepts, or future directions in metascience and research governance.
• Commentaries & Letters: Offer focused scholarly discussion of important methodological, structural, or conceptual issues, including constructive commentary on previously published work.
• Editorials: Invited commentaries by the Editor-in-Chief or guest editors tied to thematic issues or journal developments.
• Special Issue Articles: Submitted to a themed special issue and following the same standards as regular submissions, with theme-specific framing.

3. Article Preparation and Writing Style

All manuscripts must be prepared using the official JSSP Article Template.

Manuscripts should be written in clear, precise, concise, and professional academic English. Because JSSP addresses an interdisciplinary scientific community spanning metascience, data science, sociology, economics, and policy, authors should write for readers who may not share the specialized terminology of their particular subfield.

Specialized terminology should be defined when necessary. Unnecessary jargon, excessive abbreviations, rhetorical language, and unnecessarily complex sentences should be avoided.

Authors should carefully distinguish between established empirical evidence, quantitative observation, structural interpretation, hypothesis, and institutional speculation. Theoretical possibilities should not be presented as established systemic laws without appropriate data support.

JSSP encourages a writing style that is analytical rather than speculative, scientifically rigorous rather than promotional, and empirically grounded without exceeding the available data.

4. General Structure of Articles

The structure of the manuscript should reflect its article type.

Empirical Research Articles will generally include: Title → Author Information → Abstract → Keywords → Introduction → Background/Literature Review → Research Design & Methods → Results → Discussion → Institutional or Policy Implications → Limitations → Conclusion → Acknowledgments → Funding → Conflict of Interest → Data Availability → References

The structure may be adapted when required by the nature of the research. Computational, econometric, historical, or ethnographic studies may require different section arrangements.

5. Title

The title should be concise, informative, and accurately represent the central subject, system, and empirical contribution of the manuscript.

Authors should avoid unnecessarily long titles, unexplained abbreviations, vague terminology, and claims that exceed the evidence presented. Because titles are used for indexing and information retrieval, important concepts regarding research systems or practices should be included.

6. Authors and Affiliations

All authors should be listed in the order agreed upon by the authors. Each author's institutional affiliation should include the relevant department or research unit, institution, city, and country. The corresponding author should be clearly identified and should provide a valid professional email address. Authors are strongly encouraged to provide an ORCID iD. Only individuals who satisfy accepted authorship criteria should be listed as authors.

7. Abstract

Every manuscript must include an abstract (maximum 300 words). For Empirical Research Articles, the abstract should generally include: Background/Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. The abstract should accurately represent the content and contribution of the manuscript and should be understandable independently of the main text. References should generally not be included.

8. Keywords

Authors should provide 4–8 keywords following the abstract, representing principal concepts, phenomena, or methods.

Examples include: metascience, science of science, peer review, research assessment, academic incentives, reproducibility, research funding, scientific collaboration, laboratory culture, open science, bibliometrics, research integrity, AI-assisted evaluation, promotion criteria, higher education policy.

9. Introduction

The Introduction should establish the conceptual and empirical context of the manuscript and explain why the structural question or system mechanism is important. It should identify the relevant knowledge gap in metascience or research governance and clearly state the research question, hypothesis, or analytical objective.

10. Literature Review and Background

The literature should be reviewed critically and in direct relation to the research question. Authors should synthesise previous research in metascience, scientometrics, STS, or economics rather than simply list publications. Important structural limitations, contradictory empirical findings, and unresolved policy debates should be identified.

11. Methods

The Methods section should provide sufficient information for the research design, data collection, and analytical models to be evaluated and reproduced. Depending on the study, this may include econometric specifications, scientometric algorithms, network analysis parameters, qualitative interview protocols, ethnographic observation frameworks, or experimental trial designs. Appropriate ethical approvals must be reported where human participants or sensitive institutional data are involved.

12. Results

The Results section should present the empirical findings clearly, objectively, and logically. Statistical and econometric models must report appropriate coefficients, standard errors, confidence intervals, and diagnostics.

13. Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the empirical findings in relation to the research question, institutional framework, and existing metascience literature. Authors should explain how their findings support, modify, or challenge previous understandings of research systems and scientific practices, addressing broader implications for science policy and institutional design.

14. Limitations

Authors should explicitly discuss the principal limitations of their research, including study design, sample constraints, data generalizability, measurement error, or institutional biases. Acknowledging such limitations is vital for rigorous empirical research on complex social systems.

15. Conclusion

The Conclusion should summarize the principal empirical contribution of the manuscript and explain its broader significance for science governance, research evaluation, or academic culture. It should not simply repeat the Results.

16. Figures and Tables (Strict Limit: Maximum 3 Total)

To maintain concise and high-impact reporting, manuscripts are strictly restricted to a maximum of 3 figures and tables combined (e.g., 2 figures and 1 table, or 3 tables, etc.). Additional or granular data visualizations should be placed in the supplementary materials. Figures and tables must be numbered consecutively, cited in the manuscript, and accompanied by informative captions and descriptive titles. Tables must remain editable.

17. Supplementary Materials

Supplementary materials may include extensive datasets, source code, econometric scripts, survey instruments, or extended analyses that exceed the core manuscript scope or the figure/table limit. Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit data and code in recognized public repositories.

18. Research Transparency and Reproducibility

JSSP champions transparent and reproducible metascience. Authors should provide sufficient code, data documentation, and methodological clarity to enable independent verification of empirical findings.

19. Ethical Considerations and AI Transparency

Research involving human subjects, surveys, or institutional data must comply with ethical standards and institutional review board requirements.

When AI systems are used as research tools or analytical instruments, authors must describe their role, model version, and platform. Generative AI tools used for manuscript preparation (such as language editing) must be disclosed; AI systems must not be listed as authors.

20. References and Citation Style

JSSP uses an author–date citation system (e.g., Smith, 2025; Smith & Jones, 2025; Smith et al., 2025). The reference list should contain only cited works, arranged alphabetically, with DOIs provided where available.

21. Peer Review

JSSP uses rigorous peer review for manuscripts selected for external evaluation. All submissions undergo initial editorial screening and a 48-hour AI-assisted pre-check for plagiarism, data integrity, and methodological consistency.

External peer review is conducted by independent experts across relevant disciplines. Reviewers are instructed to evaluate manuscripts based on empirical rigor, methodological soundness, and analytical contribution—rejecting papers solely on the grounds of "lack of conventional impact" is strictly prohibited. Following publication, articles remain open for 90 days of post-publication community review.

Submission Preparation Checklist

• This submission meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
• This submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
• This submission is prepared using the official JSSP Article Template.
• This submission is within the strict length limit of 18,000 to 20,000 words (excluding references, supplementary materials, and tables/figures).
• This submission contains no more than 3 figures and tables combined.
• All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
• Data, code, and materials availability statements are included where applicable.
• Ethical approval statements are included where applicable.
• Conflict of interest and funding statements are included.
• Acknowledgment of the Gold Open Access APC of 500 USD upon manuscript acceptance is understood.