Editorial Policy

The Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency presents a wide range of research and analysis in the field of criminology. You’ll find research on the social, political, and economic contexts of crime and criminal legal system responses. The journal publishes work that engages a range of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches to advance understanding of crime and violence, victimization, and criminalization processes and their implications for individuals, the criminal-legal system, and communities.

Manuscript Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jrcd. Authors will be required to set up an online account on the Sage Track system powered by ScholarOne.

General Format

All manuscripts should follow formatting guidelines recommended by the American Sociological Association 7th edition and made anonymous/blinded for peer review.

Manuscripts should not exceed 35 pages (inclusive of references, tables, and figures). Manuscripts must be double-spaced.

Notes, references, tables, and figures should appear on separate pages at the end of the manuscript. Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively throughout the article. You can insert a note at the appropriate place in the text where you would like the table/figure to appear e.g. “Table 1 about here” or "Figure 1 about here". References should follow the style recommended by the American Sociological Association 7th edition.

Title page

Authors should include their name, affiliation, mailing address, and e-mail address on a page separate from the main manuscript.

Funding information and acknowledgements can be included on this page as well. This information should be excluded from the main manuscript for blind peer review.

Abstract

Each manuscript should include a structured abstract of 200 words or less. We will not consider a manuscript unless it is accompanied by an abstract organized into the following four fields: objectives, methods, results, and conclusions.

Objectives. Briefly state the purpose, objectives or principal research questions. For example: "Test Moffitt's theory of delinquency abstention by examining links between friendship networks and adolescent delinquency involvement" or "Test the impacts of intensive police patrol at high crime spots on the legitimacy evaluations of residents." Avoid contextual statements, such as: "Prior research has identified a small group of adolescents who completely refrain from delinquent behavior."

Methods. Summarize the basic design of the study as applicable: design, participants (sample), key measures and variables, type of analysis.

Results. Succinctly report the principal findings. Information on effect size, where applicable, is preferred to simple statements of statistical significance. Ethnographic research should report main findings based on interviews or observations.

Conclusions. Summarize what has been learned from the research. Do not repeat results or findings. Limit conclusions to what is supported by data. Briefly note study limitations. As applicable, summarize implications for further research, theory, and practice.

Other guidelines

Submission of a manuscript implies commitment to publish in the journal. Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal should not simultaneously submit them to another journal, nor should manuscripts have been published elsewhere in substantially similar form or with substantially similar content. Authors in doubt about what constitutes prior publication should consult the JRCD editors.

JRCD is a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). If you have any questions or concerns related to research integrity and publication ethics, we encourage you to visit the COPE website and consult with the JRCD editors.

Authors who want to refine the use of English in their manuscripts might consider utilizing the services of SPi, a non-affiliated company that offers Professional Editing Services to authors of journal articles in the areas of science, technology, medicine or the social sciences. SPi specializes in editing and correcting English-language manuscripts written by authors with a primary language other than English. Visit http://www.prof-editing.com for more information about SPi’s Professional Editing Services, pricing, and turn-around times, or to obtain a free quote or submit a manuscript for language polishing.

Please be aware that Sage has no affiliation with SPi and makes no endorsement of the company. An author’s use of SPi’s services in no way guarantees that his or her submission will ultimately be accepted. Any arrangement an author enters into will be exclusively between the author and SPi, and any costs incurred are the sole responsibility of the author.

Sage Choice and Open Access

If you or your funder wish your article to be freely available online to nonsubscribers immediately upon publication (gold open access), you can opt for it to be included in Sage Choice, subject to the payment of a publication fee. The manuscript submission and peer review procedure is unchanged. On acceptance of your article, you will be asked to let Sage know directly if you are choosing Sage Choice. To check journal eligibility and the publication fee, please visit Sage Choice. For more information on open access options and compliance at Sage, including self/author archiving deposits (green open access) visit Sage Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.