The Journal of Online Trust and Safety (JOTS) welcomes submissions from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working across the broad and growing field of online trust and safety. The journal brings together rigorous research that is currently spread across many disciplines, and aims to spur new scholarship addressing the most pressing challenges facing online platforms and their users.
JOTS is a no-fee, open-access journal with a fast peer review process. There are no charges to authors for submission or publication, and all published work is freely available to readers.
Check out the About the Journal page for more information about the scope and aims of the journal.
Submission Types
JOTS accepts the following types of submissions:
Letter of Inquiry
Before preparing a full manuscript, authors may submit an optional letter of inquiry to the editorial board to assess whether a proposed paper is a good fit for the journal. Letters of inquiry should not exceed 500 words and can be emailed to trustandsafetyjournal@stanford.edu.
Learn more about Letters of Inquiry →
Research Article
Research articles are the journal's primary publication type. These are peer-reviewed manuscripts presenting original empirical research, theoretical contributions, or methodological advances relevant to online trust and safety. There is no word count minimum or maximum.
Learn more about Research Articles →
Research Note
Research notes are shorter peer-reviewed manuscripts that present preliminary findings, novel datasets, replication studies, or focused methodological contributions. They follow the same peer review process as research articles but are more concise in scope.
Learn more about Research Notes →
Commentary
Commentaries include letters, editorials, and other research outputs that are not a typical fit for the peer-reviewed section of the journal. Commentaries offer a venue for opinion pieces, policy analyses, responses to previously published articles, and reflections from practitioners. There is no word count minimum or maximum.
Learn more about Commentaries →
Submission Guidelines
Initial Submission
There are no bibliographic or formatting standards for the first submission of an article or commentary. Though, authors may use our template or any referencing style and document structure for their initial manuscript.
Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.
If you are invited to revise and resubmit, the journal will provide a formatting template at that stage.
Manuscript Preparation
All submissions must meet the following requirements:
- Originality: The submission has not been previously published, nor is it currently under consideration at another journal. If there are overlapping submissions, an explanation must be provided in the Comments to the Editor.
- Anonymization: The manuscript must be anonymized for blind peer review. Remove author names, institutional affiliations, and any self-identifying references from the document.
- Ethics approval: If the research qualifies for ethics review by an institutional review body (e.g., IRB), each author's institution must have formally approved or exempted the study prior to submission.
Data Availability Policy
In general, authors should make anonymized data and replication code public in a data repository at the time of publication. We recognize, however, that this may not always be possible, especially with the kinds of sensitive data common in online trust and safety research. In these circumstances, to increase transparency and trust in research findings, we encourage authors to offer managed access to replication materials to qualified researchers. There are many ways this could be done. For example, the author can provide an email address where researchers can request an in-person meeting to reproduce findings on the author’s device where the data reside.
Peer Review Process
JOTS uses a blind peer review process for research articles and research notes. The Editorial team will review and make final decision based on reviewers' recommendations. If asked for revise and resubmit, the reviewers will get to reassess the recommendations once authors resubmit. The journal is committed to providing fast, rigorous peer review.
- First decision timeline: On average, authors receive reviewer feedback and the journal's first decision within approximately 36 days of submission.
- Submission to acceptance: The average time from submission to acceptance for research articles is approximately 75 days.
- Submission to publication: The overall timeline from submission to publication is approximately five months.
Commentaries are reviewed by the editorial board and are not subject to the full external peer review process, though editors may ask for the editorial board to review, if necessary.
Deadlines and Current Calls
The journal publishes on a rolling basis, with periodic general issues and special issues. Check the submission page and announcements page for current deadlines and calls for papers.
Contact
For editorial inquiries, letters of inquiry, or questions about the submission process:
Email: trustandsafetyjournal@stanford.edu
Website: https://tsjournal.org