Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Accessible to a broad readership, Rural Society (ISSN 1037-1656) is an international, peer reviewed academic journal from eContent which focuses on rural public policy, health care, social issues, educational, welfare, gender, diversity, counselling, management, culture, life style, sustainability, arts, commercial, local, regional and federal government research in rural communities.

Topics in Rural Society have included

  • rural policy
  • rural media
  • small town development
  • rural gender issues
  • health care
  • social work
  • social capital
  • rural women
  • human services
  • ICT
  • arts
  • culture
  • governance
  • agricultural restructuring
  • food policy
  • heritage
  • tourism
  • youth
  • ageing
  • water policy.

Articles are relevant to researchers, teachers, students, policy developers, managers, decision makers, health care workers interested in social, cultural, health, education and developmental issues in emerging and mature regional economies.

There are no page charges and no monetary payments for contributors. Upon publication, the Publishers provide Author(s) with an electronic copy of the published article in PDF format, and discounts for requested print copies of the issue.

 

 

Section Policies

Editorial

  • Editorial submissions are sought from the editorial board, editors and gues editors of the journal for regular and special issues. Authors wishing to submit editorials should contact the Editorial Team.

Submissions for general issues

Submissions for general issues

Special Issue - Rural Health

  • This special issue 'Rural Health' (Volume 20/3) will be edited by a team of guest editors.
  • Summary of the proposed issue.
  • Deadline for submissions is 28th February 2010.

Vol 20/2 Special Issue - Government intervention in rural and regional Australia and beyond

  • This special issue 'Government intervention in rural and regional Australia and beyond' (Volume 20/2) will be edited by a team of guest editors.
  • Summary of the proposed issue.
  • Deadline for submissions is 28th February 2011.

Vol 21/1 Special Issue - Energy and rurality

  • This special issue 'Energy and rurality: Socio-historical perspectives on changing production and consumption' (Volume 21/1) will be edited by a team of guest editors.
  • Summary of the proposed issue.
  • Deadline for submissions is 28th February 2011.

Vol 21/1 Special Issue - Mediating rural and regional societies

  • This special issue 'Mediating rural and regional societies' (Volume 21/2) will be edited by a team of guest editors.
  • Summary of the proposed issue.
  • Deadline for submissions is 30th June 2011.

Book Reviews

  • Submissions and proposals for book reviews should be made to this issue/section of the journal.

Call for Papers

  • Approved call for papers submissions appear in this section of the Journal.

 

Peer Review Process

Rural Society is published on behalf of the Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University by eContent Management Pty Ltd. The editors welcome contributions on any aspect of rural social issues in the Asia Pacific, Indian Ocean, Australian, New Zealand and Arctic regions, including: rural sociology, rural service delivery, rural health, technology transfer, rural policy issues, rural social work, developmental economics and rural social change.

Articles dealing with rural and regional issues in other societies are welcome but topics must demonstrate relevance to readers in emerging and developed regional economies. The overall quality of Rural Society is maintained by double blind peer review through the Editorial Board.

Review Guidelines

Rural Society aims to match the best global standards for reviewing submitted papers. The review process provides:

  • helpful assessment of a paper's strengths, and diagnosis of its problem areas

  • clear, constructive advice on how to develop and improvement the strength of a paper

  • prompt feedback.

To do justice to author's works, we expect reviewers to provide at least two pages of comments uploaded into the Peer Review form or appended to their version of the manuscript.

This blind peer review process and information in manuscripts must have guaranteed confidentiality. To ensure this, reviewers are requested to not discuss the manuscript with another person.

Conducting a review

We expect reviewer's to bring to their reading of papers their full scope of experience, and advice on any aspect of the paper will be valued. Reviewers may find the following broad questions useful.

  • Is the paper well grounded in the contemporary literature on the topic? Does it help the reader to connect this paper to previous work in the field?

  • Does the paper make clear the contribution it aims to make to that literature? In your view, is the contribution useful? Important? Substantive?

  • Does the paper present a coherent argument for its position? Are positions, propositions or hypotheses in the paper persuasively developed? If an empirical investigation is reported, is the choice of material, methods and analyses used appropriate? And appropriately used? Do conclusions drawn from an enquiry follow persuasively from the argument and investigation reported? How fully does the paper succeed in making its contribution?

  • Are references accurate and timely, and consistent throughout? Do in-text citations appear in References, and vice-versa as appropriate?

  • Are heading levels appropriate and concise?

  • Has ethical clearance been shown for research process? Are ethical processes followed included in the body of the article?

  • Is the written expression of the paper clear, concise and accessible to academics with an interest in this field? (Note that Rural Society papers are copy-edited before publication: it is not part of the reviewer's task to correct language, though an indication of any flawed grammar, spelling, etc. will be appreciated.)

We ask reviewers to:

  1. register on OJS as a reviewer

  2. access assigned manuscripts for review promptly

  3. complete the online RSJ Invited Peer Review form

  4. make annotations on the manuscript itself - using Track Changes or highlighting your comments - then upload that document

  5. submit a review recommendation.

Within X weeks of receiving all reviews, remarks are conveyed to the author(s) together with a summary report from the editor. The editor will correspond with authors and reviewers on any subsequent revision to the paper that may be requested, until a decision is reached on publication

 

Publication Frequency

Rural Society publishes original research and practice articles, literature reviews, special issues, case studies, symposia, commentaries, special issues, reports and book reviews in two general issues and two special issues per annum

 

Access

Rural Society (ISSN 1037-1656) is abstracted, indexed and aggregated in:

  • ERIC - Education Resources Information Center
  • PsycINFO - American Psychological Association
  • Scopus - Elsevier Science Publishers
  • International Bibliography of Social Sciences - London School of Economics
  • APAIS - Australian Public Affairs Information Service
  • Family & Society Plus - Informit
  • e-Library - Informit
  • EBSCO Publishing
  • Cengage
  • ProQuest

The journal is under consideration for indexing in Thomson Reuters SSCI.

Rural Society (ISSN 1037-1656) is listed in Cabell's and Ulrich's Periodicals Directories and the Commonwealth DEST register of refereed academic journals.

 

Availability

From 2009, Rural Society is available as an 'online plus print-on-demand' subscription. Institutional subscribers receive access to current and back issues online through Atypon-link.com. Supplementary print copies may be ordered directly from the publisher. Multicampus, multiuser licenses and single user password access may be arranged by subscribers through their subscription agent or with the publisher. Online access is available to subscribers through EBSCOhost, SwetsWise, CNPIEC and CELDES.

Discounted hard copy subscriptions are available to non-profits and NGOs.

Pay per View (PPV) access for individual articles is available from Atypon. Special issues are available under their eISBN on a PPV, sale or multiuser lease from Ebook Library to institutions and from eBooks.com to individuals.




Rural Society
http://rsj.e-contentmanagement.com/

ISSN 1037-1656
©2011 eContent Management