AJSS is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, and open-access journal publishing original scholarship from undergraduate students.

With its roots at West Virginia Wesleyan College, AJSS aims to provide a forum to highlight the intellectual contributions of students with connections to the Appalachian region. Submissions from undergraduate students at any college or university are welcome.

In keeping with our institutional mission, our aim is to promote intellectual curiosity, professional development, and societal impact among the next generation of scholars. The work published in AJSS demonstrates students’ abilities to think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, and have an impact on the world around them by engaging in intellectual discovery.

To the extent possible and depending upon the number of high-quality submissions, AJSS will issue at least two volumes per year in which articles are grouped by related themes and/or disciplines.

Contact
Please direct all inquiries to the journal editor:

Dr. Molly Clever
ajss@wvwc.edu

Read AJSS

To be considered for publication, all submissions must fully adhere to the submission guidelines detailed below. If any part of these guidelines are not met, the editor will reject the submission. The author may resubmit once the appropriate corrections have been made.

Manuscript Preparation
Prior to preparing the manuscript, the author should fully review these style guidelines: AJSS Style Guidelines

In general, these guidelines follow the publishing norms within STEM fields. For humanities and creative fields, some headings may not be applicable. Required headings are noted within the style guidelines. Seek advice from a faculty member in your discipline for questions about discipline-specific norms.

The submitted manuscript should be blinded, meaning that all information that would indicate the identity of the author(s), as well as any acknowledgments, should be removed. This information will be provided on the Title and Abstract Form that will only be seen by the editor. If the manuscript is accepted, this information will be added to the final manuscript after the review process is completed.

Authors who wish to use figures or images from any published sources must obtain permission from the copyright owner and include documentation of that permission with their manuscript submission. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that appropriate permissions are obtained.

All sources used must be appropriately cited. See style guidelines for formatting of citations. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that sources are appropriately cited. Please see these citation guidelines to ensure you fully understand the situations in which citations are required.

Any research involving human subjects must have documented approval from the Institutional Research Review Board.

Manuscript Submission
Submission of a manuscript implies that it has not been published elsewhere, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that all co-authors approve of its publication.

Authors agree that their work will be made publically available through the WVWC website.

After the manuscript is fully prepared, submit the following documents to the journal editor (ajss@wvwc.edu). Please submit all documents together in a single email.

Submissions will be sent to the journal editor who will determine whether the manuscript fits within the aims and scope of the journal and meets the criteria for publication. If the manuscript passes the editorial review, it will then be sent to two faculty scholars within the same discipline as the submitted scholarship. Reviewers will provide feedback on the originality, scholarly contribution, appropriateness of methodology, analysis, and interpretation, and adherence to disciplinary norms and standards. Reviewers will make a recommendation to the editor to either: 1) accept the manuscript with no changes, 2) accept the manuscript conditional upon minor revisions, 3) recommend revisions and resubmit for further review, or 4) reject the manuscript. The identity of the reviewers will be kept anonymous to the author; the editor will communicate the reviewer’s feedback and recommendations to the author.

If revisions are requested, the author will be asked to provide the revised manuscript to the editor along with a memo detailing the changes made (or explaining the author’s decision to not make the recommended changes) to the editor within four weeks.

Once accepted for publication, all authors must complete and submit an Author Review Form.