Security Dialogue is fully double-anonymized peer reviewed journal and a committed member of the Committee on Publication Ethics, (COPE). Security Dialogue is a tolerant, safe and diverse environment both intellectually and organizationally. We expect all members of our community, authors, reviewers, team members, and administrative staff to respect and adhere to this code of conduct in their dealing with the journal. Security Dialogue also subscribe to the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity of which Norway is a signatory.
What you may be wondering about:
No fees. There are no fees payable to submit or publish in Security Dialogue, but only original manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet our aims and scope as well as general format, will be considered for external review.
Review Process. Prospective authors may find information on the review process in our ‘Notes for Authors’ below. Additional general information and advice on our review process can be found in this video by Editor Mark B Salter.
Format and style. All submitting authors should consult Security Dialogue’s ‘Notes for Authors’ below for details on style.
Republish? If you are wondering about republishing of your Security Dialogue article, please consult our publisher SAGE Publications. This handy FAQ pdf may answer your question and if not, you may try to contact them at this email: permissions@sagepub.co.uk.
Publishing Open Access? If you have questions about publishing your article Open Access, please first refer to SAGE’s website or to SAGE Author Gateway. Authors wishing to publish their article under SAGE Choice, the hybrid open access publishing option available in Security Dialogue, should note that this needs to be requested following acceptance of your article. Look out for a prompt to do so when you complete your Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. You may also contact openaccess@sagepub.com.
Notes for Authors
1. Format
Security Dialogue accepts the following formats:
- Research articles of 8-10.000 words (including abstract, notes and references) that adheres to our format, aims and scope.
- Book reviews of approximate 1,000 words may be published on our blog after a limited editorial review. These publications do not give academic point and will not appear in print, but will be widely disseminated through social media to our 9K followers.
- Responses and rebuttals to articles published in Security Dialogue are welcomed by the editorial team. This will be limited to one direct response to an article published in Security Dialogue, and the author(s) of the initial article will be given one opportunity to submit a direct rebuttal. Rejoinders should be less than 4,000 words and be subject to editorial review, including external peer-review.
2. Submissions
Authors should send all regular article submissions and resubmissions to Security Dialogue via Sagetrack, which provides step by step instructions on how to submit. Content for our digital platform (e.g. blog) may be submitted to sd@prio.org.
ORCID
Please note that your ORCID ID can not be added post accept. Also, for reasons of integrity the editorial office and the publisher can not add your ORCID ID on your behalf to the account or submission. It is therefore essential that you log in personally and ensure your ORCID ID is associated with your user account upon submission.
What is ORCID?
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Security Dialogue and our publisher SAGE are supporting members of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID id's from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of Security Dialogue. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
Editorial process
Our editorial process is somewhat different from other journals: articles that meet our formal criteria in terms of style, length, format, and subject matter are read by the entire editorial team before a decision is made about sending a submission to external peer review. The editorial team meets monthly. We aim to make an initial decision on each submission with regards to sending for external review within six weeks from submission.
Desk rejects from Security Dialogue are decisions made solely on format and are processed within days of submission.
As a general rule, Security Dialogue operates a double-anonymized peer-review process in which the reviewers’ names are withheld from the author, and the authors’ names are withheld from the reviewers. All correspondence between the editorial office, authors and reviewers is considered private and confidential. We aim to complete the external peer-review process and make a decision on a submission within 12 weeks.
3. The manuscript (‘regular article’)
The final version of a manuscript should contain:
- The actual manuscript with title, abstract, main text, and a list of references (in Harvard style) and notes (footnotes or endnotes are acceptable at submission stage).
- Please note that the author(s) name(s) should not appear on the final manuscript. Please consult the point on anonymization below for how references to the author(s) own work should be handled.
- Title page with name(s) of the author(s), affiliation, author biography (80 words) with author email address, and acknowledgements (if any), should be uploaded in a separate document or added at proof stage, post acceptance.
- Figure(s) and graph(s) should (also) be uploaded in a separate document in a high quality resolution (300dpi). Table(s) must be provided in editable format, preferably Word.
Authors must check that the above guidelines have been followed before submitting the final version of their manuscript via the online system. Failure to send a correct manuscript can result in a delay.
The final manuscript should be submitted in MS Word for Windows. The text in the manuscript should be left justified, with an ample left margin. Line spacing should be set to 1.5 or double. Images should be supplied in a printable resolution (300dpi). Tables etc. should be supplied in an editable format, as word or excel files, not as .jpg or .pdf).
Security Dialogue is hosted on ScholarOne™ Manuscripts, a web based online submission and peer review system - SAGE Track.
Please ensure that the information in your SAGE Track author/co-author account(s) is correct, that your email address is up to date and your ORCID-id registered.
Our publisher, SAGE, requires authors to disclose information on any specific funding that supports the article, including names of funders and, where applicable, grant numbers. Please notify the managing editor at sd@prio.org if you experience any problems entering or updating your account details.
We do not accept double submissions, and we assume all submissions to be original.
We expect all articles to be fully anonymized upon submission. The author’s name is not disclosed to the reviewers. It is the author’s responsibility to remove first-person references and other clues elsewhere in the article that may reveal the author’s identity. Security Dialogue prefers that articles be anonymized by referring to previous publications by the authors in the third person. This option is particularly important where the absence of reference to authors’ previous publications would be suggestive of the authors’ identities. An in-text reference to the author in 'third-person' may appear as follows:
As _author name_ (2007) has previously argued, …
The author's work may then be listed in the bibliography in alphabetical order like all other entries.
Failure to anonymize the article might result in delays.
The reviewers’ comments will be anonymized before being sent to the author.
4. Abstract
The abstract should be 150–200 words. The abstract should be added in the box marked ‘abstract’ in the online system during the SAGE Track submission process.
The abstract is an important part of the article. It is intended for use as an instrument for selection, and upon publication attracts readers, and search engines, to the full text. It should summarize the actual content of the article, rather than merely relate the subject the article deals with. It is useful to strategically include the most important keywords in the text of the abstract. The abstract should be written in the present tense and in the third person or passive voice; use of the first person is discouraged.
The abstract is included in the final word count of articles and review articles.
5. Keywords
All regular articles should have five–six keywords that adequately reflect their content. Keywords are meant for cataloguing and should therefore be as general as possible to make the articles easily searchable online. The keywords should be added to the box marked ‘keywords’ in the online system during the SAGE Track submission process. It is worth including at least one keyword or key phrase that describes the broad discipline within which the article sits, e.g. ‘sociology’ or ‘critical security studies’.
6. Searchability
The vast majority of readers find articles online by searching rather than browsing. Most searching is done using clusters of keywords or key phrases (e.g. ‘youth justice’, rather than simply ‘youth’). Including key phrases that people searching are likely to use should make your article more discoverable. To ensure that you maximize the searchability of your article, you should:
- try to make the title of the article as clear as possible in describing its content;
- ensure that the abstract spells out clearly what the article covers and mentions any terms that people searching for such an article might be likely to use;
- make sure that you include appropriate key phrases or keywords.
7. Language
The main objective of an academic journal is to communicate clearly with an international audience. Elegance in style is a secondary aim. The basic criterion should be clarity of expression.
We allow both UK and US spelling, as long as there is consistency within the article. You are welcome to indicate on the front page whether you prefer UK or US spelling.
For UK spelling, we use -ize (standardize, normalize) but -yse (analyse, paralyse).
For US spelling, -ize/-yze are the standard (civilize/analyze).
The journal follows UK punctuation for all articles irrespective of preferred spelling, with the notable exception that we use the serial comma (e.g. ‘red, white, and blue’) for articles following the US standard.
Security Dialogueuses gender-neutral language wherever possible.
The acronyms ‘UN’, ‘USA’, ‘EU’ and ‘UK’ (no full stops) will be readily understood. In all other cases, an acronym or abbreviation should be spelled out the first time it occurs. As far as possible, however, authors should try to minimalize the use of colloquialisms, acronyms and abbreviations, particularly if these are linked to a particular national culture.
Academic disciplines such as ‘international relations’ and ‘critical security studies’ should be spelled out.
Italics for emphasis should be used sparingly.
We prefer ‘the USA’ or ‘the United States’ (not ‘America’) for the name of that country, and ‘US’ as an adjective.
All articles will be subject to editing by the editor and the copyeditor before the manuscript is exported to SAGE for typesetting and publication. Manuscripts that will require heavy editing may be returned to the author for additional correction, clarification of misunderstandings and possibly additional rounds of word processing prior to copyediting.
8. Title and headings
All sections of the article (including the beginning) should have principal headings. Regular articles can include up to three levels of headings. The author should ensure that the heading hierarchy is clear, consistent and logical. If two or three levels are used, they must be clearly differentiated. For example:
Main heading
Text.Text.Text.Text. Text.Text.Text.Text
Subheading
Text.Text.Text.Text. Text.Text.text.Text
Sub-subheading. Text.Text text.Text, text.Text.text.Text. Text.Text text.Text, text.
9. Notes
Notes should be used only where substantive information is conveyed to the reader. Literature references should normally not necessitate separate notes (see the section on References). However, non-standard references (e.g. to press conferences, political statements, hearings, interviews, etc.) are best provided as notes.
Notes will appear as endnotes in the journal. In the manuscript they may be either footnotes or endnotes.
Acknowledgements and credits to funding agencies should not be given in a note but rather appear in separate paragraphs at the end of the main text. This information should be included in the final version of the manuscript only.
For articles with replication data, the URL(s) where the data will be posted should be provided immediately following the main text; see Section 18, below.
Notes to tables/figures must not be incorporated into the main notes section but placed immediately below the relevant table or figure. The note should not be preceded by the word ‘Note’.
10. Tables and figures
As far as possible, each table/figure should be self-explanatory.
The table/figure heading will appear below the table. The table/figure heading should be brief, but additional explanatory material may be added as a note.
Each table/figure should also contain a full reference to the source(s) used. The source reference should appear below the table/figure and in the reference section of the manuscript, not in the ‘Notes’ section.
Authors should indicate where the table/figure is to appear in their manuscript by adding a text indicator; this should be inserted after the paragraph where the table/figure is first mentioned, in the following manner:
___________
Table I in here
____________
We cannot guarantee that a table will be printed exactly where indicated in the manuscript.
Large tables, appendices, maps and graphs that exceed more than one page in print, in agreement between the author(s) and Security Dialogue, may be better published separately online only under 'replication datasets' with direct links within the article.
11. Maps and graphs
Maps and graphs may be used in Security Dialogue articles, provided they can be supplied in a suitable format and resolution and, if necessary, with permission to reprint.
12. References
References should be provided in a separate alphabetical list; they should not be incorporated in the notes. When citing books or articles in the text and in notes, use the following form:
- See Smith (1997); Brem and Rutherford (2001); Taylor (1996, 1999)
- or: See Smith (1997: 22)
- or: (Smith, 1997: 22)
- or: (Smith, 1997; Taylor, 1996)
- or: (Smith, 1997: 22; Taylor, 1996: 6)
- or: (Brem and Rutherford, 2001: 42)
- or: For further discussion, see Smith (1997)
Commas are used to separate the author from the year, colons to separate the year from the page number, and semicolons to separate items by different authors. References to two publications by the same author(s) are written as follows:
- Wallensteen (1995, 1996)
- or: Wallensteen (1995a, 1995b)
List with two or more works by different authors who are cited within the same parentheses in alphabetical order by the first author’s surname, separated by semicolons:
(Smith, 1997; Taylor, 1997).
Quoted material
All direct quotes must be accompanied by page references for the cited source. It is the sole responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that any direct quotes in the article are accurate (verbatim), fairly represented and correctly referenced. Check carefully that all references quoted in the text appear in the reference list, and vice versa. Please ensure also that spellings, dates and pagination match in all cases.
Please check whether information given for references (both in the article proper and in the reference list) to online-first publications contains the most up-to-date details (low page ranges, e.g. pp. 1–20, should serve as a red flag indicating the need to check for updates). Update as required, and if the publication remains only available online-first, ensure a DOI is added in the reference list.
When there are three authors or more, ‘et al.’ is used in text references, but not in the reference list, where a full list of authors should be provided.
Books, articles and other citations should be listed together in the references. Style guidelines for the various types of entry follow below.
Articles from periodicals
Stepputat F (2012) Knowledge production in the security–development nexus: An ethnographic reflection. Security Dialogue 43(5): 439–455.
Articles from online-first periodicals
Burgess JP (2030) The insecurity of critique. Security Dialogue. Epub ahead of print 17 November 2028. DOI: 12345678
Books
Wibben ATR (2010) Feminist Security Studies: A Narrative Approach. Abingdon: Routledge.
Edited volumes
Salter M (ed.) (2015) Making Things International 1: Circuits and Motions. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Foucault M (1995) Abnormal: Lectures at the College de France, 1974–1975. Ed. Burchell G. New York, NY: Macmillan
Chapters/articles from books
Meek S (2000) Combating arms trafficking: Progress and prospects. In: Lumpe L (ed.) Running Guns: The Global Black Market in Small Arms. London: Zed, 183–206.
Foreign-language works
Foreign titles in the list of references should be translated, with the translation inserted in square brackets:
De Vries L (2011) Négocier l’autorité [Negotiating authority]. Politique africaine 122: 41–58. Greilsammer I (1998) La nouvelle histoire: Essai sur une nouvelle identité nationale [The New History: Reflections on a New National Identity]. Paris: Gallimard. Jensen LB (2014) Find dit teoretiske utgangspunkt [Find your theoretical starting point]. In: Sørensen CH (ed.) Godt sprog i organisationer [Clear Language in Organizations]. Copenhagen: Hans Reitzel, 123–140.
Translated works
Agamben G (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Trans. Heller-Roazen D. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Foucault M (1995) Abnormal: Lectures at the College de France, 1974–1975. Ed. & Trans. Burchell G. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Reports
European Commission (2009) Commission staff working document on health security in the European Union and internationally . 23 November. Available at:http://ec.europa.eu/health/preparedness_response/docs/ommission_staff_healthsecurity_en.pdf (accessed 13 December 2010).
Newspaper articles
Articles with author byline:
Finnonian A (1990) The Iron Curtain rises. Wilberton Journal, 7 February.
Articles without author byline:
Guardian (London) (2002) Croatia sparks showdown with UN. 25 September.
Please note that the city of publication should be provided where this is not included in the title of the newspaper
Internet references
Internet references should generally be regarded as supplementary. Unless the work cited exists only on the Internet, a URL alone does not suffice. The author must verify the accuracy of all URLs. The date on which the page was accessed should be provided
Providing supplementary information on magazine, journal or newspaper articles
Stillman S (2011) The invisible army. New Yorker, 6 June. Available at: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/06/110606fa\_fact\_stillman?currentPage=all. (accessed 23 March 2006).
Providing links to general web pages
National Center for Professional Certification (2002) Factors affecting organizational climate and retention. Available at:http://www.cwla.org/programmes/triechmann/2002fbwfiles (accessed 18 September 2010).
UN reports
Include the authorizing body, year, topic or title of the paper, series and publication numbers, place of publication, and a page reference when applicable. For references in the text, use, for example ‘(United Nations, 2002)’, followed by full details in the reference list:
United Nations (2002) On the situation in the Middle East . Security Council Resolution 1428, S/RES/1428(2002), New York.
However, we accept alternative styles for UN documents, provided that they are complete and consistent.
Legal, EU and official documents (e.g. parliamentary propositions, bills, legal cases etc.)
These are tricky, and often common sense needs to be used. As a rule of thumb, Security Dialogue prefers that authors include as much information as possible and refer to the relevant body first rather than, say, the country of origin. A URL should also be included wherever possible. Consistency within the article is key.
Referencing interviews
When interviews are cited in-text, these should be listed separately at the end of the reference list under the heading ‘Interviews cited’. As much information as possible should be provided in this list, though treatments will vary according to the need to protect the anonymity of interviewees. As far as possible, information provided should include: the name of the interviewee, the position or title of the interviewee, the organization or institution with which the interviewee is affiliated, and the location and date of the interview. In all but the most exceptional cases, a numbering system should be used to ensure that in-text citations from interviews can be correlated with the information provided in this list.
In-text references should follow the following format: ‘Interview 1’, ‘Interview 2’, etc. Footnotes or endnotes should not be used unless to convey additional substantive information to the reader.
Listings under ‘Interviews cited’ should, without compromising the identity of interviewees, follow the following format as closely as possible:
‘Number. Name of interviewee, position of interviewee, institutional affiliation of interviewee, location of interview, date of interview.’
If it is not possible to share any details about the interviews for reasons of anonymity, please provide a statement on research ethics protocol (e.g. ‘This research was approved according to [university or funding body] Ethics Research Protocol, Project no. XXXXXXX’) and include this statement in the Acknowledgements section.
13. Biographical statement
A brief author biographical statement for each author can be followed by a separate paragraph with any acknowledgements the authors wish to include. Authors are encouraged to add their email address(es) to their biographical statements. Please try to keep these statements within 80 words.
The biographical statement(s), acknowledgements and funding information will be added as separate paragraphs in the printed version of the article.
14. Proofs and reprints
As of 1 January 2023 all of Security Dialogue’s copyediting will be done by our publisher, SAGE. Author’s proofs will be emailed as PDFs directly from SAGE after copyediting and typesetting have been completed. If the article is co-authored, the proofs will normally be sent to the author who submitted the manuscript (corresponding author in SAGE Track).
Authors should ensure that their email addresses are correct in SAGE Track so that they can be contacted at short notice if any urgent queries arise during copyediting. A limited number of offprints will be made available to the author(s) electronically post publication.
15. Copyright
The responsibility for respecting copyright in the quotations of a published article rests with the author(s).
It is not necessary to obtain permission for a brief quote from a work in the social sciences. However, with a long quote, a figure or a table, written permission must be obtained. Due references to the original source must always be provided.
The author must consult the original source to determine whether the copyright is held by the author, the journal or the publisher, and should seek the permission of the appropriate person or institution. In the event that reprinting requires a fee, written confirmation that the author is prepared to cover those expenses must be furnished.
Regulations for quotation of literary material are much stricter. Even a single verse from a poem may require permission.
When publishing an article in Security Dialogue, authors retain copyright of their work, but agree to publish under an exclusive license with Security Dialogue and the publisher.
Authors retain the right to reuse the material in other publications written or edited by themselves and due to be published at least one year after initial publication in Security Dialogue.
After an article is accepted, the author will be required to fill out and return a Journal Contributor Agreement.
For more information regarding copyright and permissions, please consult SAGE’s guidelines.
16. Resubmissions and Accepted Articles
The following guidelines should be adhered to closely for revised manuscripts. Resubmissions that are likely to require undue editorial attention because of neglect of these instructions or poor presentation or language may be suspended from further consideration.
17. Revised Manuscript Submission
A revised submission should contain:
- The actual manuscript with footnotes and a list of references, but without any details revealing the name(s) of the author(s).
- A memo outlining the changes made and how the reviewers’ points have been met – or, if disregarded, why.
- A Track Changes version of the manuscript clearly showing what changes have been made to the previous version, and where.
And, if applicable: 4. Revised versions of: the author biographical statement(s); keywords; name(s) of the author(s) and affiliation(s); tables and figures.
18. Online Submission Instructions
All submissions should be made online at the Security Dialogue SAGE Track website.
Before creating a new user account, please check whether you already have an account in the system. If you have reviewed, been asked to review, or authored articles for the journal in recent years, you will likely have had an account created for you. Check by trying to log in using your most recent institutional email address(es). If an error message appears stating that the email address already exists in the system, you have an account. Use the ‘Forgot Your Password?’ function to gain access. You may also contact the editorial office for assistance.
Please do not include a title page or insert page numbers on your final manuscript, the SAGE Track system will create them automatically. Full instructions for uploading the manuscript are provided on the SAGE Track website.
The author can follow the status of the submission through the author centre in SAGE Track:
- Awaiting initial decision – the article has not gone out for external review, but may have gone out for internal review to the editorial team.
- In external review process – the external peer-review process has been initiated.
- Out for review – the external review of the article is in process. The manuscript may be with the editors for review, decision or allocation to new reviewers.
