Starting 2022, the Zeitschrift für Soziologie will be transferred to Diamond Open Access on a year-by-year basis. All articles will thus immediately appear under the Creative Commons license CC-BY. There will be no publication costs for the authors. The Open Access transformation is based on Subscribe-to-Open, an alternative model that enables the full Open Access transformation of journals through the continuation of existing subscriptions. The prerequisite for successful transformation is that subscriptions are continued to the same extent as before. The editors of the Zeitschrift für Soziologie and the publisher De Gruyter would therefore like to thank all subscribers for their support, which has made the transformation to Open Access possible.
The Zeitschrift für Soziologie publishes peer-reviewed articles from all areas of sociology, aiming to represent both the diversity of empirical research as well as the plurality of theoretical traditions. Founded in 1971, the journal aims to represent the discipline as comprehensively as possible, inviting contributions from sociologists regardless of their conceptual affinities and orientations. By dissociating the editorial process from institutional affiliations and sub-disciplinary networks as thoroughly as possible, and by affording a complex process of peer review, the ZfS is set up to operate as an "authors' journal" instead of an "editors' journal".
1. Aim of the Journal
The Zeitschrift für Soziologie publishes peer-reviewed articles from all areas of sociology, aiming to represent both the diversity of empirical research as well as the plurality of theoretical traditions. Founded in 1971, the journal aims to represent the discipline as comprehensively as possible, inviting contributions from sociologists regardless of their conceptual affinities and orientations. By dissociating the editorial process from institutional affiliations and sub-disciplinary networks as thoroughly as possible, and by affording a complex process of peer review, the ZfS is set up to operate as an "authors' journal" instead of an "editors' journal".
2. Organization
The editorial office of the ZfS is located at Bielefeld University. The Faculty of Sociology in Bielefeld delegates supervision of the journal to an executive board of five editors. Members of this executive board are recruited from different universities and institutes, and at any time, only one of the five editors may be from Bielefeld faculty. The neutralization of institutional and personal interests within the editorial process is further safeguarded by the formal organization of the editorial process:
3. Rotation of Editors
All editorial decisions are taken collectively by the five editors of the journal. A gradual turnover of editors, each of them serving a four-year term of office, allows to preserve the continuity of the editorial process. In addition to the executive board, the publication of the ZfS is also being assisted and supervised by an expanded editorial board. Members of this board generally serve a six-year term, and, unlike members of the executive board, they can be re-elected.
4. Organization of the Peer-Review Process
The peer review process of the ZfS is particularly elaborate. As a rule, at least seven colleagues become involved in the evaluation of a manuscript. Each paper is read and evaluated individually by both the five members of the executive board and two additional reviewers. One deliberate side-effect of this process is to bring about and organize scientific communication prior to the publication of findings. Ideally, our reviewers and editors do not only serve as judges and critics, but also as mindful readers, valuable givers of advice and potential multipliers in communicating and discussing research findings of sociological interest.
5. Articles Selected for Publication
The ZfS publishes articles (about 80,000 characters incl. spaces) from all fields of sociological research. The journal aims to recognize and represent the full range of approaches, schools and traditions both within sociological theory and empirical research. Authors receive a detailed explanatory statement of the editors' decision to publish or reject a paper. Even if an author is not being encouraged to redraft and resubmit a paper in one form or another, he or she is guaranteed to receive substantial feedback.
6. Literature about the ZfS
Best, Heinrich & Renate Ohly, 1994: Entwicklungstendenzen der deutschsprachigen Soziologie im Spiegel ihrer führenden Fachzeitschriften - Ergebnisse einer Korrespondenzanalyse. Pp. 575-592 in: H. Best et al. (eds.): Informations- und Wissensverarbeitung in den Sozialwissenschaften, Opladen.
Glatzer, Wolfgang, 1993: Bunte Sträuße von einer unübersichtlichen Wiese - Der Jahrgang 1990 der Zeitschrift für Soziologie. Soziologische Revue 16: 349-355.
Hirschauer, Stefan & Matthias Winterhager, 1995: Die Zeitschrift für Soziologie: Geschichte, Autoren, Rezeption. Pp. 100 - 113 in: F.X. Kaufmann & R. Korff (eds.) Soziologie in Bielefeld. Ein Rückblick nach 25 Jahren. Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte.
Hirschauer, Stefan, 2004: Peer Review Verfahren auf dem Prüfstand. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 33: 62-83.
Schäfers, Bernhard, 1991: Der 17. Jahrgang/1988 der Zeitschrift für Soziologie. Soziologische Revue 14: 287-294.
Sahner, Heinz, 1982: Zur Selektivität von Herausgebern: Eine Input-Output-Analyse der 'Zeitschrift für Soziologie'. ZfS 11: 82-98
7. Prizes and Awards
- Petra Böhnke, Janina Zeh and Sebastian Link:
„Atypische Beschäftigung im Erwerbsverlauf: Verlaufstypen als Ausdruck sozialer Spaltung?" (ZfS 44 (4), 2015: 234-252). Third prize Fritz Thyssen Stiftung for essays in social sciences in 2015.
- Marion Müller:
„The evils of racism and the wealth of diversity" – Zum Bedeutungswandel der Rassenkategorie bei den UN-Weltkonferenzen gegen Rassismus" (ZfS 43 (6), 2014). First prize Fritz Thyssen Stiftung for essays in social sciences in 2014.
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