brycewang-stanford Pre-Submission Preflight (soctheory-submission)
ST is theory-focused. There is no dataset, code, or replication package to deposit. The preflight centers on the theory paper's format, masking, ASA style, and ethics — not on empirical materials. Data, if present at all, is illustrative.
Journal facts (verified; volatile items flagged)
- Publisher / owner: SAGE for the American Sociological Association (ASA); ST is the ASA's dedicated theory journal. Founded 1983; published quarterly (March / June / September / December).
- Review: double-anonymous (author and reviewer identities masked). ASA requires masking and treats simultaneous submission elsewhere as unethical.
- Acceptance rate and number of reviewers per manuscript are not published in the official sources — do not state a figure; treat as 待核实 if asked.
- Processing fee: $25 non-refundable, waived for ASA student members (Source 1; re-verify before paying). The official sources confirm only that ASA student membership triggers the waiver; they do not state any ASA-membership requirement to submit — treat a general "must I be an ASA member?" question as 待核实.
When to trigger
- "I'm about to submit to Sociological Theory"
- Final check before clicking submit in Manuscript Central
- Unsure which files the portal expects for a theory paper
Pre-submission checklist
Scope & fit
- The paper makes a conceptual contribution (new theory / re-read tradition / metatheory / formal construction / synthesis), not an empirical study
- It intervenes in a specific theoretical conversation and makes an explicit move
- There is no hypothesis test, no estimation, no results section; any data is illustrative
- Fit confirmed against the current ST aims & scope (verify on the official page)
Format (verify exact current requirements on the SAGE/ST author page)
- Standard 12-pt font, double-spaced, generous margins (ST describes ~1.5-inch margins, ~40 manuscript pages — verify)
- Within the length cap: max ~14,500 words inclusive of footnotes, references, tables, figures, and appendices (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准)
- Title page separate from the anonymized manuscript body
- Abstract present and within the journal's word limit (verify current limit)
- Figures are conceptual (mechanism diagrams / typologies / process models), never data plots; meet SAGE resolution/format specs
- Propositions numbered consistently and matched to any figure
Masking for double-anonymous review
- No author-identifying content in the manuscript body
- Self-citations phrased neutrally ("a prior study (Author 2020)"), not "in our earlier paper"
- Acknowledgments removed from the body (added after acceptance)
- Funding/grant identifiers kept out of the body
- Document file properties scrubbed of author name/affiliation
- File names contain no author or institution name
References & citations
- ASA Style Guide author–date in-text citations; full reference list (7th edition, June 2022 — verify current)
- Every in-text citation appears in the reference list and vice versa
- The recent, live conversation in the target tradition is cited, not only the classics
- Every attributed paper's venue is verified (no ST/ASR/AJS misattribution — see exemplars library)
- All references are real and accurately represented (no fabricated or mis-cited sources)
Ethics & originality (ASA Code of Ethics)
- Manuscript is original, unpublished, and not under review at another journal (the ASA treats simultaneous submission as unethical)
- Authorship reflects genuine intellectual contribution; order agreed by all authors
- Any prior conference/working-paper version disclosed as required
- Similarity check run; self-overlap disclosed
- ORCID iD provided for the corresponding author if the system requires it
Portal files (Manuscript Central / SAGE Track)
- Anonymized main manuscript (body + figures + references), required format
- Separate title page with author info and corresponding author
- Abstract entered in the system
- Manuscript processing fee paid: ST charges a $25 non-refundable processing fee, waived for ASA student members, via SAGE Track (Source 1; re-verify the exact amount/waiver terms on the live author page before paying)
- Any author-agreement / conflict-of-interest forms the system requires
Desk-reject triggers to preempt
- It's an empirical study (tests a hypothesis, reports estimates) — route to ASR/AJS.
- A literature review with no original theoretical move — route to ARS.
- An application that does not change the theory it applies.
- Conceptual relabeling presented as new theory.
- No engaged tradition — freestanding speculation.
- Out of scope / masking / length / format failures.
Manuscript Central operation notes
- ST submits through
mc.manuscriptcentral.com/soct(SAGE's web-based system; confirm the current URL on the ST author page). - Enter author metadata only in the system, never in the anonymized manuscript.
- Choose the correct article type (theory article).
- Pay the processing fee at submission (waived for ASA student members — verify current policy/amount).
- Keep within the file-size and file-type limits the portal states.
Anti-patterns
- Submitting a paper that is really an empirical study or a literature review
- Author identity leaking through "our prior study," acknowledgments, or file properties
- Reference list missing the recent conversation reviewers belong to
- A sibling-journal paper cited as if it were ST (canon error)
- Figures that are data plots (impossible at ST) or undefined boxes-and-arrows
- Submitting while the paper is under review elsewhere (ASA: unethical)
Output format
【Scope】conceptual contribution, no test: yes / fix
【Format】length ≤ ~14,500 incl. all / abstract within limit / figures conceptual: pass / fix
【Masking】body + properties + filenames clean: yes / fix
【References】ASA style; recent conversation cited; venues verified; all real: yes / fix
【Ethics】original, not under review elsewhere, authorship correct, ORCID: yes / fix
【Portal】anonymized MS + title page + abstract + fee paid + forms: complete / missing [...]
【Next step】await decision → soctheory-review-process; R&R → soctheory-rebuttal
Related resources
templates/checklist.md— 8-section pre-submission self-check (scope / format / masking / abstract / theory / figures / references / ethics & portal)../../resources/external_tools.md— Theory-building tools (citation mapping, reference managers, conceptual-diagram software, argument-logic aids)