1. Formal requirements for all contributions
2. Instructions for articles
3. Instructions for ‘Research reports’ (Forschung aktuell)
4. Instructions for articles in ‘Practice-based findings’ (Aus der Praxis)
5. Instructions for contributions to ‘Debate’ (Debatte)
6. Copyright and Publishing Rights
 

WSI-Mitteilungen is a peer-reviewed, academic journal presenting political and practice-oriented contributions in the areas of labour, the economy and social policy.

Submitted articles are assessed in a double-blind peer review process. In other sections, research reports (Forschung aktuell) and reports on practice-based findings (Aus der Praxis), debates and book reviews are also published.

1. Formal Requirements for all Contributions

Copyright policy: Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or simultaneously offered to another publisher for publication in German. Moreover, we ask our authors to submit contributions that are not available elsewhere. However, contributions that have been published in another language can be accepted as translations for WSI-Mitteilungen, provided they successfully pass our double-blinded peer-review process and their authors act within the copyright agreements they have with other publishers. In the case of an article having been published in another language prior to its publication in WSI-Mitteilungen, our authors must indicate the place of publication in the first footnote of their contribution to WSI-Mitteilungen.

The magazine and all individual articles contained therein are protected by copyright. Any use of the articles beyond the narrow limits imposed by copyright law is not permitted without the approval of the publisher. This applies particularly to duplication, translations, microfilming or any other form of processing or transmission to storage in electronic systems. The Nomos Publishing House follows the regulations of the registered German Publishers and Booksellers Association concerning the use of reviews.

Spelling and readability: Particular importance is attached to readability and accessible style in the articles published. Technical terms should be avoided as far as possible or explained in the text.

Title and Section Headings: Short title (preferably one line, max. 80 characters. Concise section headings (max. 50 characters) to structure the text are encouraged.

Tables and figures must be understandable on their own, that is, all necessary additional information must appear in the title, table header, source information and footnotes.

Tables: Tables should be created in Word or Excel using cells. Please do not use tabs or spaces to format your data.

Figures should be integrated into the text. Additionally, they should be submitted as a separate file (generally in Excel format) including all data. Each figure, including data, must be sent separately to the editorial office (usually as an Excel file). If figures are exported from a statistical software package (e.g. Stata), they must be saved in vector graphics format, such as eps or pdf. Raster Image Files, such as jpg, cannot be processed.

Pagination: Please number the pages in the manuscript.

Page proofs: Authors will receive the page proofs for their articles. These serve only for proofreading purposes to correct typographical errors. More extensive content or editorial changes can no longer be made at this stage.

Emphasis in the text should be formatted using italics, not bold face.

Abbreviations Regarding abbreviations or acronyms for institutional names, etc., please write out the name in full the first time with the acronym in parentheses.

Submissions: Manuscripts should be sent to the editorial office as .docx files (Microsoft 365-format). Please email to: gudrun-linne(at)boeckler.de.

Author information (name, academic title, if applicable, discipline, position, institution, location, email address and up to three main areas of research) should be listed separately and enclosed.

Key words: Articles must be accompanied by a selection of key words. Please visit our website for further information: https://www.wsi.de/en/keywords-15440.htm.

2. Instructions for Articles

Articles are analytical contributions on a subject of practical interest with both empirical and theoretical references. They will undergo a peer review process. In order to assure a blind review process it is imperative that the manuscript does not include any information pertaining to the author. Please submit two versions of your manuscript, one of which must be entirely anonymised, including multiple self-quotations, any hints pertaining to graphs or tables, acknowledgements etc.

Length of manuscript: Length for manuscripts is about 35,000 characters, including spaces, lead paragraph, information pertaining to the author, notes and bibliography. Diagrams and tables must also be taken into account as regards the total length, i.e., the total text length must be reduced accordingly (approx. 1,600 characters must be deducted for a two-column figure; approx. 2,600 characters for a three-column figure).

Manuscript form: The text should begin with a lead paragraph (maximum 600 characters) that introduces the context of the discussion and is written in an engaging, “journalistic” style. An abstract in German (maximum 900 characters) and English should accompany the article. In addition, an outline facilitates the editing process.

Citation style: Sources should be referenced as author-date citations set off by parentheses in the running text – example: (Schmidt 2010, p. 43) – not in footnotes. If there are multiple references, sources should be separated using a semicolon – example: (Schmidt 2010, p. 349; Kaufmann 2009, p. 113); in sources with multiple authors, names should be separated by a slash – example: (Hoffmann/Weber 2000). If the text has three or more authors, only the first name should be listed, followed by “et al.” – example: (Becker et al. 2004). Footnotes should be used sparingly to provide necessary comments or supplementary information.

The bibliography should be arranged alphabetically by the authors’ last names. If there is more than one entry for a particular author, these are to be arranged by year of publication in ascending order. In the bibliography, all names must be listed for multiple author works. Use initials instead of first names. For articles in journals or edited multiauthor works, inclusive page numbers should be listed. Volume and issue numbers should be listed for journal articles.

Example:

Granovetter, Marc (1973): The Strength of Weak Ties, in: American Journal of Sociology 78 (6), p. 1360-1380

We recommend using Citavi for creating your list of references. Please visit our website to download our output style.

We ask our authors to avoid the use of websites as sources of literature or references.

We ask our authors to use the most recent version of the literature quoted in the list of references. In particular, journal articles are preferable to earlier published versions such as working or discussion papers.

3. Instructions for ‘Research Reports’ (Forschung aktuell)

The “Research Reports” section presents current findings from empirical research or data analysis, or offers a survey of the present state of research based on a practice-related hypothesis. The editorial staff selects contributions to be published.

Length of manuscript: Maximum length is 30,000 characters, including spaces, lead paragraph, information pertaining the author, notes and bibliography. Diagrams and tables must also be taken into account, i.e. the total text length must be reduced accordingly (approx. 1,600 characters must be deducted for a two-column figure; approx. 2,600 characters for a three-column figure).

4. Instructions for Articles in ‘Practice-based Findings’ (Aus der Praxis)

Current, practice-relevant developments are presented and critically reviewed under this heading. The editorial staff selects the contributions to be published.

Length of manuscript: Maximum of 14,000 characters (incl. spaces). The text should be divided into sections using short subheadings (max. 50 characters). References to sources should be limited to the most important titles and cited in footnotes (no bibliography). Please send us a short summary (max. 900 characters) as well as the author information (name, academic title if applicable, position, institution, email address and two or three main areas of research). The summary will be published on www.wsi-mitteilungen.de.

5. Instructions for contributions to ‘Debate’ (Debatte)

The “Debate” section offers a forum for pointed discussion on controversial scholarly and/or political subjects. The editorial staff selects the contributions to be published. The preferred format is short texts of max. 12,000 characters (incl. spaces). The text should be divided into sections using short subheadings (max. 50 characters). Essential source and bibliographical references can be included as footnotes. Please include author information (name, academic title if applicable, position, institution, email address and two or three main areas of research). The summary will be published on www.wsi-mitteilungen.de.

6.1 Granting of Rights
With the agreement to publish the article, the author transfers the exclusive rights to publish the work to the publishers for the duration of the statutory copyright, including spatial and temporal exclusive rights with regard to reproduction or distribution in material form, the right to provide public reproduction and the right to provide public access, the right to inclusion in databases, the right to storage on electronic media and the right to distribution and reproduction thereof, including the right to other use in electronic form. This includes forms of use not currently known.  Where authors’ fees for the published articles are paid, the above-mentioned rights are settled after the agreed final flat-rate payment.

6.2 Statutory Remuneration (VG Wort) – (Collecting Society Wort)
Authors and publisher assume common management of rights according to the VG Wort, as enabled under the Collecting Societies Act 2006 § 27a.

Prerequisite for a common management of rights is, according to current law, the agreement of the author to the participation of the publishing house according to the VG Wort at the time of registration of the magazine article.

6.3 Secondary Exploitation Rights and Self-archiving
After the expiry of a one year period the manuscript of the author’s article may be published elsewhere, according to § 38 para 1 sentence 2 and para 2 of the Act on Copyright and Related Rights (UhrG).The right to self-archive on the author’s individual website and the institution where they are employed remains unaffected. (§ 38 para 4 UhrG)

6.4 “Green Publishing”
The Nomos Publishing House is a “green publisher”, also then when diverging from the revised version of the SHERPA/RoMEO List. Details on the rights to self-archiving are derived from the current version of the SHERPA/RoMEO List. Accordingly, 24 months after publication of the printed version (publisher PDF), authors may place the text on their own or their institution’s website. In addition, the Nomos Publishing House enables free access to the relevant issue of the magazine 24 months after the publication of the article in the WSI-Mitteilungen (www.nomos-elibrary.de)