The Journal of Online Trust and Safety (JOTS) welcomes submissions from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working across the field of online trust and safety. JOTS publishes rigorous interdisciplinary research that addresses the challenges facing online platforms and their users.
See the About the Journal page for the journal's full scope and aims, and the Submissions page for current calls for papers and deadlines.
Open Access and Fees
JOTS is a fully open-access journal that charges no fees to authors. Authors retain copyright of their work, and articles are published under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. For details on copyright, licensing, funder-compliance options, and self-archiving rights, see the Open Access and Fees policy.
Submission Types
JOTS accepts four 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 fall outside the peer-reviewed sections of the journal. They 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. Commentaries are reviewed by the editorial board rather than through external peer review.
Learn more about Commentaries →
Submission Guidelines
Initial Submission
First submissions must be uploaded as a .pdf or .docx file. There are no bibliographic or formatting requirements at this stage — authors may use our journal template or any reference style and document structure for the initial manuscript.
Authors must register with the journal prior to submitting (or log in if already registered) to begin the five-step submission process.
If you are invited to revise and resubmit, the journal will provide a formatting template at that stage. If accepted, authors will be asked to share manuscript, reference file in .bib, and figures and tables in separate files as .pdf.
Submission Checklist
All submissions must meet the requirements as listed in the submission checklist on the Submission page.
Data Availability Policy
Authors are expected to make anonymized data and replication code publicly available at the time of publication, or — where public release is not possible — to offer managed access to qualified researchers. A Data Availability Statement is required for all published articles.
See the full Data Availability Policy on the Publication Ethics page for details, including guidance on managed-access alternatives.
Peer Review Process
Research articles and research notes undergo double-anonymous peer review — neither authors nor reviewers know each other's identities during review. The editorial team makes final decisions based on reviewer recommendations. If invited to revise and resubmit, the original reviewers will reassess the manuscript after authors resubmit.
Average timelines:
- First decision: approximately 36 days from submission
- Submission to acceptance: approximately 75 days
- Submission to publication: approximately five months
Commentaries are reviewed by the editorial board and are not subject to external peer review, though editors may request additional input from board members where appropriate.
Publication Schedule and Current Calls
JOTS publishes two issues per year (Spring and Fall/Conference Proceeding Issue) plus occasional special issues, with articles released on a rolling basis as they are accepted. See the Submissions page for current deadlines and calls for papers, and the Announcements page for special issues, conference proceedings, and other opportunities.
Contact
For editorial inquiries, letters of inquiry, or questions about the submission process:
Email: trustandsafetyjournal@stanford.edu
Website: tsjournal.org