Eursr submission

Submission Preflight (eursr-submission)

The last check before submitting through ScholarOne Manuscripts (mc.manuscriptcentral.com/esr). ESR is double-blind, so the most common avoidable failure is an under-anonymized manuscript; the second is a missing or vague Data Availability Statement. Verify volatile specifics (caps, policy dates, editors, any fees) on the official OUP/ESR page first.

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
• Unsure what ScholarOne expects (anonymous manuscript + DAS + replication readiness)
• Confirming the caps are met, the manuscript is anonymous, and the data statement is in place

Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)

• Owner / publisher: flagship journal of ECSR (European Consortium for Sociological Research, a non-profit under German law hosted at the WZB Berlin), published by Oxford University Press. Scope: sociology with a quantitative emphasis.
• Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Fabrizio Bernardi (National University of Distance Education, UNED) (verified 2026-06-22 via ECSR, OUP, and Wikipedia; re-confirm the full team/term on the live Editorial Board page, as offices rotate).
• Portal: ScholarOne Manuscripts, mc.manuscriptcentral.com/esr.
• Review model: double-blind — the manuscript must be completely anonymous; you may cite your own work but not in identifying wording.
• Length: Articles around 8,000 words including endnotes and references (tables and figures excluded); longer papers are considered, but reviewers judge whether the contribution justifies the length. (Some renderings cite a stricter cap — confirm the current figure; 待核实.)
• Abstract: ≤200 words, no identifying information; keywords as requested.
• Format / style: English; author-date citations (e.g., "(Gans, 1962)") per OUP/ESR conventions.
• Data Availability Statement: required for every manuscript (policy applies to submissions from 5 Sep 2022).
• Replication package: for statistical/computational work, submissions from 1 Jan 2025 must deposit a package as a condition of publication (assemble it now; typically required at conditional acceptance). Qualitative work is exempt. Restricted/confidential data are accommodated via shareable code plus a documented access path (no need to deposit the raw data itself).
• Article types: research Articles, Comments/Replies, and Data Briefs.
• Fees: no submission fee (verified 2026-06-22); an open-access APC applies only if OA is chosen. OUP sets the exact ESR APC on its live charges page and does not publish a stable figure — confirm the current amount and any read-and-publish/transformative-agreement waiver there. Acceptance rate, time-to-first-decision, and reviewer count are not verified in the source map — check the live OUP/ESR page; do not quote a figure.

Preflight checklist

Type & length

• Article (~8,000 words incl. text + endnotes + references) / Comment-Reply / Data Brief
• If over ~8,000, the contribution-justifies-length case is made
• Abstract ≤200 words, non-identifying; keywords included

Anonymity (double-blind review)

• No author names, affiliations, or identifying acknowledgments anywhere in the manuscript
• Self-citations neutralized ("in a prior study," not "in our prior study")
• Identifying file metadata stripped (document properties)
• No identifying funding/grant numbers in the manuscript body (move to the system fields)

Format & files

• English; author-date citations consistent (Zotero/BibTeX)
• Tables/figures self-contained and anonymous (see eursr-tables-figures)

Transparency & ethics

• Data Availability Statement drafted (archive/provider + version + access condition)
• Replication package assembled (statistical/computational) or exemption noted (qualitative)
• Not under review elsewhere; prior appearances disclosed

Avoidable returns at the ESR desk

Trip-wire	Consequence	Fix before upload
Author names / identifying acknowledgments in the file	anonymity broken	strip them; use system fields
"in our prior study" wording	de-anonymizes the author	neutralize to "in a prior study"
Endnotes/references left out of word count	over the target on recount	count text + endnotes + references
No / vague Data Availability Statement	desk return under policy	name archive, version, access condition
Statistical paper, no package plan	stalls at conditional acceptance	assemble the package now

Worked micro-example (illustrative)

An author preps a comparative panel paper for ScholarOne upload.

Body + endnotes + references: 8,140 words → near ~8,000; brief justification added for the extra
Abstract: 192 words, no institutions named → within ≤200
Anonymity sweep: 4 self-citations reworded; acknowledgments removed; document properties cleared
DAS: ESS open + register via DUA, code provided → drafted
Package: master.R + harmonization + README + seed=2026, deposited on Zenodo (statistical → not exempt)

Caps verified on a recount including endnotes and references, a clean anonymity sweep, and the data statement plus package ready — the most common avoidable returns pre-empted before upload.

Editor pushback → ESR-specific fix

• "We could identify the authors." → Re-run the anonymity sweep on wording, acknowledgments, funding lines, and metadata; identifiers belong only in the ScholarOne fields.
• "Over length." → Recount with endnotes and references; prune citation strings and endnotes, or argue the contribution justifies the length (hand to eursr-writing-style).
• "Data statement insufficient." → Name the archive/provider, data version, and exact access condition (hand to eursr-transparency-and-data).

Calibration anchors

• Anonymity is the highest-frequency failure. At a double-blind journal, an under-anonymized file is the most common avoidable cause of a return.
• Endnotes and references count. ESR's target includes them — budget for them early.
• The DAS and package are gating, not optional. A required data statement and (for statistical work) a replication package are part of the submission posture; treat volatile dates/figures as provisional and verify live.

Anti-patterns

• Leaving author names, affiliations, or identifying acknowledgments in the manuscript
• Treating endnotes/references as outside the word count — they count toward ~8,000
• Abstract over 200 words
• A missing or vague Data Availability Statement
• Submitting elsewhere while under ESR review

Output format

【Type】Article (~8,000) / Comment-Reply / Data-Brief — cap met or length justified? [Y/N]
【Anonymous】no identifiers + self-refs neutralized + metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Abstract】word count (≤200), non-identifying?
【Style】English + author-date consistent? [Y/N]
【DAS + package】statement drafted + package ready (or exemption noted)? [Y/N]
【Next】await decision → eursr-rebuttal on R&R

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — reference managers, anonymization, repro tooling
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official ESR / OUP / ECSR URLs behind every fact in this pack