Our focus: We only publish articles that share new research results. On the homepage, we specify the types of research we publish.
First to publish: QC does not publish papers that have been published elsewhere or are under contract elsewhere. We make an exception for preprints on non-commercial websites. We encourage sharing your preprints on CrimRxiv, which is criminology’s open archive and where QC's reviews are published.
Concurrent review: Your submission may be concurrently under review at one or more other outlets. Please note that it is polite to (1) notify us if your paper is accepted elsewhere and you wish to publish it there, not QC, and (2) comply with other outlets’ policies on concurrent review.
What to Submit
What: Your paper should include the following, in this order:
Author names, affiliations, and contributions per CRediT; these are added by clicking the pencil icon under the title.
Abstract (but no key words).
Standard sections of an article (by any title), such as introduction, literature review, method, findings, discussion.
In addition to the standard stuff, your paper should conclude with a section, “Implications”. This can be short as a paragraph or considerably longer; whatever makes sense to you for your paper. You should clearly spell out implications for (1) qualitative criminology, (2) quantitative criminology, and (3) policy or practice.
Finally is the references, contributor bio(s), and acknowledgement section. Authors are not anonymous and reviewers are strongly encouraged to identify themselves.
Tables and figures can go in text or at the end.
Format: We review papers in any intelligible form. Keep in mind that better formatted and otherwise better looking papers are, subconsciously or not, reviewed more favorably. You may want to note, however:
There is not a word limit, but, all else equal, “less is more.”
We no longer publish endnotes or footnotes.
We no longer publish appendixes. You can share things like interview guides on CrimRxiv or another repository and then link to them within your paper.
Where to Submit
Where: To start a submission, click the button below. You will be brought to a page where you can import your paper. Tutorials on how to create a “Pub” and submit it for review are found on CrimRxiv’s Home and Help pages. (The instructions are the same, except, to be clear, you submit by clicking the “Create Pub” button below, not on CrimRxiv.) You can also experiment in this Sandbox.
Reviewers: When you click “Request Publication”, a box will appear (see image, below). Therein, please list ten people you deem qualified to review your paper. Include their institutional affiliations and emails. They should have a PhD and hold a faculty, “Postdoc”, or equivalent research position; they should not have an educational/mentoring, professional, or close relationship with you. They should not have previously read your paper (to your knowledge).
Corresponding author: Also in that box, please put the corresponding author’s email address.
On acceptance: The editorial team will give you the requisite information for getting your paper ready for publication.
Copyright: By submitting a paper to QC, you agree that if accepted for publication then it will be published as CC BY 4.0. For more information about that open access license, see How We Publish. It means you can use and share your article without restrictions.
Questions?
Within reason, you are always welcome to email us for an update about your paper’s status in the review or publication process. It is not a knock against you to check in with us. We aim to make a decision on each paper within two months of submission.
