Submissions

Author Guidelines

AUTHOR GUIDELINES AND STYLE GUIDE

DDSS welcomes original scholarship at the intersections of decolonial thought, digital technologies, and the social sciences. Select the submission type that best fits your work. All types use editorial assessment rather than external peer review. Submissions are welcome throughout the year, and there are no submission or publication fees.

Why editorial assessment rather than external peer review?

DDSS has deliberately developed without an external peer-review process. We value scholarly criticism as advice that helps ideas develop. Our concern is that peer review can turn this advisory role into a gatekeeping mechanism: definitive accept-or-reject judgments may offer little constructive dialogue and privilege familiar theories, methods, institutional positions, and conventions of what counts as knowledge.

A decolonial journal must make room to question those conventions and develop alternatives to established knowledge paradigms. We therefore choose editorial assessment as an experiment in accountable, plural knowledge-making. This does not mean that every peer review is unhelpful, or that editorial judgment is free from power or bias. Editors must remain open to challenge and avoid reproducing the exclusions this approach seeks to address.

Submissions are assessed for relevance, originality, clarity of argument, appropriate evidence and methods, ethical transparency, and contribution. Editors may request revisions, decline, or accept work; acceptance is not automatic. Constructive criticism remains central, and published claims remain open to scholarly debate and correction. Published work must not be described as externally peer-reviewed.

AI assistance is welcome when transparent, critically checked, and ethically used. Do not present generated material as your own original intellectual contribution. Read our AI policy and responsibilities below.

SUBMISSION TYPES

Research Articles
Recommended length: 5,000–8,000 words. Abstract: 150–250 words.
Original empirical, theoretical, or methodological research. State a clear question and contribution, engage relevant scholarship, explain methods or the analytical approach, present findings or arguments, and discuss limitations and ethical considerations.

Critical Essays
Recommended length: 3,000–6,000 words. Abstract: 150–200 words.
Sustained conceptual or critical arguments addressing decolonial and digital social questions. Develop a clear thesis, engage relevant debates and sources, and explain the contribution. Original empirical data are not required.

Research Notes
Recommended length: 1,500–3,000 words. Abstract: 100–150 words.
Focused accounts of work in progress, preliminary findings, methodological reflections, or fieldwork insights. State the research context, approach, provisional contribution, and limitations; distinguish preliminary claims from established findings.

Interventions
Recommended length: 1,000–2,500 words. Abstract: 75–150 words.
Timely, evidence-informed interventions in public, political, methodological, or scholarly debates. Identify the issue, articulate a situated position, substantiate claims, and explain their stakes. Critical engagement must avoid personal attacks.

Reviews
Recommended length: 1,000–2,500 words. Abstract: 75–150 words.
Critical assessments of digital platforms, tools, exhibitions, films, datasets, projects, or other relevant cultural and scholarly resources. Identify the object and version or date, explain the criteria of assessment, and discuss its relevance and limitations. Disclose connections to its creators. Use Book Reviews for books.

Book Reviews
Recommended length: 1,000–2,000 words. Abstract: 75–150 words.
Critical reviews of a book or a closely connected group of books. Give full bibliographic details, outline the central argument, assess strengths and limitations, and situate the work in relevant debates. Disclose any relationship with authors or publishers; promotional summaries are unsuitable.

Reports
Recommended length: 2,000–5,000 words. Abstract: 100–200 words.
Analytical reports on research projects, events, policy developments, community initiatives, or field-based activities. Identify context, dates, contributors, evidence sources, and methods; distinguish observations from recommendations and disclose funding and organizational connections.

Interviews and Conversations
Recommended length: 2,000–5,000 words. Abstract: 100–150 words.
Interviews, dialogues, and roundtable discussions with scholars, activists, practitioners, artists, or community members on decolonial and digital social questions. Introduce the participants and context, identify the interviewer or moderator, and provide the date, format, and language of the conversation. Include a brief analytical introduction and clarify any editing or translation. Obtain participants’ informed consent to publication and permission for recordings, images, and other materials; explain any agreed anonymity and disclose relevant relationships.

LENGTH AND ABSTRACTS
The ranges above are editorial guidance, not automatic rejection thresholds. Contact the editors before submitting substantially longer or shorter work. Main-text counts include notes but exclude the abstract, references, and supplementary files. Include 4–6 keywords and an abstract for every type. Abstracts should state the purpose, approach, contribution, and—where relevant—findings; do not include unsupported claims or citations.

LANGUAGES
The current submission system is configured for English. Multilingual publication is being developed with the network. Before submitting in Turkish, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, or another language, contact the editors to confirm editorial capacity and submission arrangements. This list does not yet constitute a guarantee of acceptance in those languages.

MANUSCRIPT FILES AND LAYOUT
Upload an editable DOCX, ODT, or RTF manuscript. Use a readable 12-point font, 1.5 line spacing, page numbers, and consistent headings. Supply a concise title, abstract, keywords, main text, references, and any acknowledgements or disclosures. Provide author names, affiliations (or independent researcher), country, corresponding email, and ORCID if available in the submission form. An anonymized manuscript is not required for editorial assessment. Use footnotes sparingly; number tables and figures, give captions and sources, and mark their approximate placement. Supply high-quality figure files separately when needed, with descriptive alternative text and permissions. Explain acronyms at first mention.

CITATIONS AND REFERENCES
Use APA 7 author-date style consistently. Cite sources at the point of use, include page numbers for direct quotations, and ensure every citation has a matching reference. Preserve original titles and names; provide translations or transliteration where useful and identify them clearly. Include verified DOI links or stable URLs where available. Examples: in text, (Surname, year) or (Surname, year, p. 00); journal article, Surname, A. A. (Year). Article title. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages. DOI; book, Surname, A. A. (Year). Book title. Publisher. Replace these placeholders with real, checked bibliographic details.

ETHICS, ORIGINALITY, AND DISCLOSURES
Submit original work not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere. Disclose preprints and related publications. All authors must have contributed and approved submission. State funding, conflicts of interest, and relevant permissions. Research involving people should explain consent, confidentiality, and ethics approval, or why approval was not required. Describe data access and any justified restrictions. Do not expose identifiable participants or confidential materials. Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and discriminatory or abusive content are unacceptable.

AI: openness, ethical use, and human responsibility

DDSS permits transparent, critically supervised use of AI. We do not adopt a blanket ban or a technologically pessimistic position. AI tools are already part of many research and writing practices. Excluding a technology simply because it is new or widely contested would overlook possible uses in translation, language accessibility, coding, exploration, and scholarly communication. Widespread use is a reason to establish clear responsibilities, not proof that every use is ethical.

Our openness is critical: authors should consider bias, unequal access, data extraction, labour, environmental costs, and the concentration of technological power. Using AI does not remove the need for situated knowledge, independent judgment, or engagement with the people and contexts studied.

• Be transparent: disclose substantive AI assistance, naming the tool, its purpose, and the parts of the work affected. Explain AI-assisted analytical procedures sufficiently for readers to assess them.
• Do not pass off generated output as your own original intellectual contribution: do not submit unexamined AI-generated text, arguments, images, code, or analysis under a misleading claim of human authorship. Clearly identify substantive generated material and explain your own contribution and critical verification. A disclosure alone does not establish scholarly merit.
• Verify and take responsibility: check claims, quotations, references, code, and results against reliable sources or appropriate tests. Never fabricate sources, evidence, participants, or findings. AI cannot be an author; human authors remain accountable for the entire submission.
• Respect people and rights: protect confidential and identifiable information, obtain necessary permissions, and respect copyright. Do not upload protected research material to AI services without appropriate authorization.

Submissions are assessed on their scholarly contribution, transparency, and ethical practice. AI assistance itself is not grounds for rejection; concealed generation, misrepresentation, unreliable claims, and unethical use may require revision or rejection.

EDITORIAL PROCESS AND PUBLICATION
Editors assess scope, contribution, clarity, methodological and ethical transparency, and compliance with these guidelines. They may decline, request revisions, or accept a submission. External peer review is not part of this process. Accepted work proceeds to copyediting, author proof checks, and publication; no decision or publication date is guaranteed. DDSS follows continuous publication.

COPYRIGHT AND CONTACT
Authors retain copyright. Published work is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing sharing and adaptation, including commercial use, with attribution, a license link, and an indication of changes. Clearly identify third-party materials with separate rights. For questions or a proposed submission outside the recommended ranges, contact ozguryilmaz955@gmail.com.