ajs-submission

Submission Preflight (ajs-submission)

The last check before pressing submit on Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/ucp-ajs). AJS

is double-blind, so the most common avoidable failures are an under-anonymized manuscript and a

cover page left inside the manuscript file. Also unique to AJS: a $30 submission fee and **AJS's

own house style** (not the ASA Style Guide). Verify volatile items on the live pages before submission.

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
• Unsure which files/metadata Editorial Manager expects
• Confirming the fee, anonymization, abstract, alt text, and house style are all handled

Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)

• Owner / publisher: University of Chicago (Dept. of Sociology) / University of Chicago Press

(NOT SAGE/ASA).

• Portal: Editorial Manager (editorialmanager.com/ucp-ajs); accepts Word, PDF, or LaTeX.
• Review model: double-blind — anonymize the manuscript; submit the **cover page as a separate

file** so personal information is not in the manuscript. Reviewer and author identities are not

disclosed to the other side, and **AJS avoids sending papers to people in the submitting author's

network**.

• Desk-reject / "preject" filter: before peer review, AJS prejects some papers — those **not in

dialogue with current sociology, opinion pieces, or current-event interpretations without

original sociological research**. Make the manuscript's dialogue with current sociology explicit.

• Editorship structure: the article side has three levels of editorship; the editorial board is

the faculty of the University of Chicago Department of Sociology; first-submission reviewer

assignment is handled by a **Manuscript Assignment Board of Assistant Editors supervised by

graduate-student Associate Editors** who study the blinded manuscript to set substantive area/method.

• Submission fee: $30 per new submission; **waived for graduate students submitting as sole

authors** (proof of status may be requested). Confirm the current amount and waiver workflow on the

official page.

• Abstract: ~150 words (as close to 150 as possible); must state the question/puzzle, identify

the data, and indicate findings. No abstract → not sent to reviewers.

• Length: no fixed word cap; be concise (referees may need more time over ~18,000 words).

Live-check current guidance before upload.

• Style: AJS's own author-date house style (name + year; "et al." for 3+); **NOT the ASA Style

Guide**. Notes start at "1"; acknowledgment note on the cover sheet with an asterisk; footnotes or

endnotes both fine.

• Figures: alt text required for every figure at submission, with the captions.
• Format: serif typeface ≥11 pt (preferably 12), double-spaced, ≥1-inch margins.

Preflight checklist

Fee & files

• [ ] $30 submission fee ready (or sole-author grad-student waiver + proof of status)
• [ ] Manuscript file (Word/PDF/LaTeX) with no cover page inside it
• [ ] Separate cover page file (names, affiliations, acknowledgments)

Anonymity (double-blind)

• [ ] No author names, affiliations, or acknowledgments in the manuscript
• [ ] Self-references worded to avoid specific attribution
• [ ] Identifying file metadata stripped (document properties, comments)

Content & format

• [ ] Abstract present, ~150 words, states question + data + findings
• [ ] AJS house-style citations/notes/references (NOT ASA Style Guide)
• [ ] Serif ≥11 pt, double-spaced, ≥1-in margins
• [ ] Post-text sections in order: notes, references, tables, figures, appendices
• [ ] Alt text for every figure, with captions
• [ ] Originality statement prepared if the paper overlaps prior work
• [ ] Not under review elsewhere (concurrent submission violates Press ethics)

Avoidable-failure triage (what bounces a submission, and the fix)

Recurring pre-review failures specific to AJS's portal and double-blind model. Confirm volatile specifics against the journal's current submission guidelines.

| Failure at submission | Fix before upload |

|-----------------------|-------------------|

| Cover page or identifying metadata left in the file | separate cover page; strip document properties and tracked comments |

| Formatted to ASA Style Guide | convert to AJS author-date house style |

| No abstract | add ~150 words: question + data + findings |

| Fee unpaid / wrong waiver assumption | pay $30, or claim sole-author grad waiver only if eligible |

| Prejected pre-review (opinion piece, current-event take, or no dialogue with current sociology) | frame original sociological research in explicit dialogue with current literature |

Calibration (AJS-specific posture, hedged)

Reflects AJS's house and culture, not universal rules; confirm wording against the journal's current submission guidelines. The most common avoidable style failure is mis-applying the ASA Style Guide — AJS uses its own author-date system. Length is tolerated, not rewarded: no fixed word cap, but referees may need more time over an illustrative ~18,000 words. The $30 fee is waived only for graduate students submitting as sole authors; a coauthored paper does not qualify. Illustrative: a sole-author candidate's 17,500-word article catches three triage issues — an acknowledgments footnote naming the committee, references in ASA style from a prior ASR attempt, and two figures lacking alt text — and after fixes the waiver applies and the submission clears pre-review checks.

Anti-patterns

• Leaving the cover page / author identifiers inside the manuscript file (breaks double-blind)
• Formatting to the ASA Style Guide instead of AJS house style
• Forgetting the $30 fee (or wrongly assuming the grad-student waiver applies to coauthored papers)
• Submitting with no abstract (it will not be sent to reviewers) or missing figure alt text
• Submitting while the paper is under review at another journal

Output format

【Fee】$30 paid or sole-author grad waiver (+proof)? [Y/N]
【Files】manuscript clean of cover page + separate cover page file? [Y/N]
【Anonymized】text + self-refs + file metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Abstract】~150 words, states question/data/findings? [Y/N]
【House style】AJS author-date (NOT ASA Style Guide)? [Y/N]
【Alt text】every figure? [Y/N]
【Originality / ethics】statement if needed + not under review elsewhere? [Y/N]
【Next】await decision → ajs-rebuttal on R&R

Supplementary resources

• [../../resources/external_tools.md](../../resources/external_tools.md) — reference managers, anonymization, portal summary
• [../../resources/official-source-map.md](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — AJS fee, abstract, house style, alt-text, and ethics policy