About

Presentation

Two mandates are attached to the founding of the journal New Perspectives in the Social Sciences (NPSS). The first of these mandates is to provide a channel for the dissemination of social science research that is carried out as a relational approach or a complex systems approach. The second is to promote studies which, though rigorous, do not manage to find their niche in the established networks of social sciences, as well as those who dare to venture into unexplored territory.

Mission statement

The journal New Perspectives in Social Sciences (NPSS) aims to accompany researchers who wish to explore new venues in social sciences. Within this frame, innovative analyses may emerge which make it possible to overcome the obstacles faced by established models without sacrificing rigour. The Journal does not represent a departure from these models. It recognizes their significance. But because all power bears its weaknesses and can thus propel as well as cripple, foster as well as hinder new discoveries, this recognition is not sufficient to prohibit one from confronting, bypassing or breaking free of these models.

Understanding the limits of the established models in social sciences opens up many new pathways. The critique of utilitarianism is one of them; but there are many more. NPSS intends to promote these new channels – notably but not exclusively – through complex systems theory and relational analysis. The fecundity of complex systems modelling is recognized in numerous areas of scientific knowledge. It is now time for it to exist in a light which allows to override the hasty recusals and stigmatisations to which it so often falls victim to in social sciences. On a micrological level, the relational approach is one of very few which suggest that human relations be studied outside of a phenomenological perspective, where all is explained by reference to personal intentions. On a macrological level, it is one way to understand social phenomena through a non-anthropocentric lens, where all that is social is centered on the actor.

This two-fold theoretical orientation is by no means exclusive. Because it is unlikely that unexplored territories which reveal themselves to the social observer not be the expression of plural approaches and objects of analysis, as a rule, all innovative and rigorous thought must be welcomed.

A complex systems theory and a relational approach both focus on the study of dynamics either between objects or between the ties binding the elements which make up a whole rather than on the study of objects themselves. Thus, for both, a specific phenomenon or particular object can never be understood in and of itself, outside of the entity to which it belongs or the relationships tying it to other phenomena or objects. In this regard, they are both almost necessarily interdisciplinary, as reflect the works produced in the Systems Science European Union, the MCX-APC European Program or the Santa Fe Institute. This epistemological stance reaches across a broad spectrum comprising cybernetics, communication analysis, and systems analysis and through fields such as biology, sociology, linguistics and political science. And so, any selection of its promoters could only be arbitrary.

Indexing

Sociological Abstracts

Editorial policy and ethics

Texts: language, types, and Lenght

The journal Nouvelles perspectives en sciences sociales (NPSS) accepts articles written in French by an individual or a group, that have not been published elsewhere, that are closely linked to its mission statement, and that reflect either an empirical analysis, a more speculative and theoretical contribution which, from an original perspective, establishes connections between previous research and current theories, or a critical reading – concise and synthetic – of a theory or a body of theories. The submitted articles contain between 15 and 30 pages, apart from book reviews which count between 3 and, at most, 6 pages.

Essential information

Authors are requested to kindly submit with their article a cover sheet on which the following information appears (this confidential page will not be transmitted to the external reviewers): name and surname; name of the University, research group (more generally name of the professional affiliation); e-mail address, imperatively; web site address if applicable.

Imperatively, articles are accompanied by an abstract of about 150 words in French and its English translation; these abstracts are followed by a list of key-words in both languages. Each page contains between 3,500 and 4,300 characters – spaces included (that is to say approximately 2,500 to 3,500 characters without spaces).

Article selection mode

The selection principle is as follows: 1) articles undergo an initial screening by an internal committee of reviewers composed of members of the editorial board in order to check the conformity with the journal mission statement, sorting that preselects papers for future issues; 2) each article is then anonymously reviewed by at least two external experts.

The editorial committee notifies as soon as possible the author (or the authors) of its decision regarding his or her article. A report is sent to the author, which includes evaluators’ comments.

At this point, if the article is not rejected, a complementary phase is proposed to the authors and evaluators: the idea is to add to the traditional review process a dialogue between those who explicitly agree with the principle. In this case, those of the authors and those of the evaluators who have committed themselves to doing so will dialogue face uncovered, under the direct supervision of the editorial board and correct the paper together. This “collaborative evaluation” allows evaluators to specify and justify their demands and the authors to debate with them, and all to reach the compromises which are likely to improve the article. Those who have engaged in this type of evaluation found that its main interest lies in the appeasement of the evaluation process and the advancement due to collaborative discussions. The journal hence embodies its philosophy that authors, evaluators, and members of the editorial board inseparably be its creators and driving force.

Anti-plagiarism rule

• The journal prohibits plagiarism, not only copying of a document, but also any borrowing, whatever the type, if no reference is made to the source. The editorial board considers as plagiarism: any reproduction word for word of a text, any paraphrase of a text and any reproduction of an idea when there is no explicit reference to its author or source in accordance with the modes prescribed by the journal (cf. general instructions http://npssrevue.ca/guide/consignes_gen/ and http://npssrevue.ca/guide/biblio/ and reference format http://npssrevue.ca/guide/biblio/).
• The journal prohibits just as well the reproduction by the authors of a part of a paper that they published elsewhere if no reference to it has been made.
• If the editorial board discovers that an author has contravened this policy, the paper, needless to say, is automatically rejected and the author is advised.
• If the editorial board were to find out after publication that the policy has been infringed, the article would be denounced in a subsequent issue.
• Before an article is sent out for external evaluation, particular attention is given to this anti-plagiarism rule by the editorial board and by the editors of the journal issues.
• The editorial board will investigate any suspicion of plagiarism indicated by an external reviewer or any denunciation received after the publication of an article.
• Every author must sign a contract with the Journal when their article is accepted for publication. In this contract, among other things, these two mentions are stipulated:
  • I certify that the article is original, and is written by myself, that its publishing does not infringe on the rights of others, and that I have full authority to conclude the present contract;
  • I certify that the article has not been published elsewhere in whole or in part, and that I have not been a party to any agreement to this effect with anyone else – notwithstanding, I will endeavour to obtain permission from the holder of these rights for the inclusion of any parts requiring such right in my article.

Editorial board

Founding Members

Ali Reguigui, Laurententian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Social Media Manager

Lianne Pelletier, University of Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada