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Policies

Contents

Open Access Policy

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State is an open-access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access (opens in new tab).

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Review Process

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State is double-blind peer reviewed and published biannually. Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication. All submissions must be previously unpublished manuscripts and must currently be submitted only to Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State. By submitting a work for consideration, the authors affirm that the manuscript will not be submitted to another venue while under review with Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State. If you have concerns about the terms of submission or review, please contact the Editor(s).

Submissions are first screened by the Editor(s) for suitability before being sent for blind review by two reviewers. Each reviewer may include specific and narrative comments for the author of the submission about its content, argumentation, research methodologies, data, conclusions, etc. These comments will be provided to the authors without identifying the reviewers.

Each reviewer will give a recommendation about publication of a manuscript according to the following options:

  • Accept: No revisions required
  • Accept: Minor revisions required
  • Revise and resubmit: Major revisions required
  • Reject

When all reviews have been received by the Editor(s), a decision will be made regarding publication and authors will be notified. If the reviews are very different, the Editor(s) may ask 1-2 additional reviewers to read and evaluate the submission. Upon receipt of the additional reviews, a final publication decision will be made.

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Format & Style Guidelines

Use APA format as found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th Edition, for headings, citations, and references.

All submission types must be clearly written in regard to conventions (i.e., spelling, grammar, punctuation) and in regard to the type of submission (i.e., neither too long - e.g., repetitious nor too short - e.g., lacking appropriate details). See the Guide for Authors page for details on how to structure your document for each Submission Type.

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AI Policy

All submitted work must reflect the authors' own original thinking, design, analysis, and voice. Any and all use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools must be disclosed clearly in a brief statement at the end of the manuscript (i.e., an acknowledgment). If any AI tool is part of the study (e.g., student use or research design), its use should be clearly described in the methods section, in accordance with standard research practice.

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Accessibility Requirements

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State is published through GS Commons at Georgia Southern University. Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all content published through the University's digital platforms must conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA technical standard. This requirement applies to all articles, proceedings, supplementary files, and other materials published by Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State on or after August 1, 2026. For more information regarding the author's responsibilities for web accessibility formatting, please review the complete TSSPS requirements in the Accessibility Statement.

Authors are responsible for submitting manuscripts that are born accessible—that is, created with accessibility built in from the outset. At submission, authors must complete an Accessibility Warrant attesting that their submission conforms to the accessibility requirements described below. Submissions that do not meet accessibility standards may be returned to the author for remediation before review or publication. Templates in the Guide for Authors have already been formatted to meet Web Accessibility Guidelines; however, it is the authors' responsibility to make sure all requirements are met.

The following requirements apply to all submissions. See the format-specific sections below for additional guidance.

General Requirements for All Submissions:

  • Use built-in heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) to structure the document. Do not use manual formatting (bold, larger font) to simulate headings.
  • Provide meaningful alternative text (alt text) for all images, figures, charts, and non-decorative graphics.
  • Use accessible table structures: designate a header row, avoid merged or split cells when possible, and do not use tables for layout.
  • Ensure all color-encoded information is also conveyed through text, pattern, or shape. Do not use color as the sole means of conveying meaning.
  • Ensure sufficient color contrast: a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
  • Use descriptive hyperlink text (not "click here" or bare URLs).
  • Run the accessibility checker built into your authoring software (e.g., Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat) and resolve all identified issues before submitting.
  • If submitting a PDF, ensure it is a tagged PDF with a logical reading order, document title, and language setting.

Format-Specific Accessibility Guidelines

Microsoft Word Documents (.docx)
  • Use built-in heading styles for document structure.
  • Add alt text to all images and figures (right-click > Edit Alt Text).
  • Use the Insert Table function for tables; designate header rows.Ensure color contrast meets WCAG requirements.
  • Ensure color contrast meets WCAG requirements.
  • Run the built-in Accessibility Checker (Review > Check Accessibility) and resolve all issues.
  • Set the document language (File > Options > Language).
PDF Documents (.pdf)
  • PDFs must be tagged. If converting from Word, use "Save As PDF" with the "Document structure tags for accessibility" option enabled.
  • Verify the PDF's reading order using Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility tools or the free PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker) tool.
  • Set the document title and language in document properties.
  • Run Adobe Acrobat's full Accessibility Check and resolve issues.
Images and Figures (All Formats)
  • Every image that conveys information must have meaningful alt text describing the content and purpose of the image.
  • Complex images (charts, graphs, diagrams) should include either extended alt text or a text-based description in the body of the document.
  • Decorative images that convey no information should be marked as decorative (empty alt text in Word; artifact in PDF).
  • Ensure text within images is also available as actual text.
  • Use patterns or shapes in addition to color to distinguish data series in charts and graphs.
PowerPoint Presentations (.pptx)
  • Use built-in slide layouts rather than manually placing text boxes.
  • Add alt text to all images, charts, and SmartArt.
  • Ensure a logical reading order on each slide (Review > Check Accessibility will flag reading order issues).
  • Use sufficient color contrast and avoid color as the sole means of conveying information.
  • Add slide titles to every slide.
  • Run the built-in Accessibility Checker.
Video and Audio Content (All Formats)
  • All prerecorded videos with audio must include accurate, synchronized captions.
  • All prerecorded audio-only content must include a text transcript.
  • Video content where visual information is essential to understanding must include audio descriptions or a full text alternative.
  • Auto-generated captions (e.g., from YouTube) should be reviewed and corrected for accuracy before submission.

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All works published in Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (opens in new tab) (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Copyright owners retain all rights to their work without restriction and agree to apply the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license to the final published version of their work as a condition of publication.

End users' rights under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license are outlined on the Creative Commons website (opens in new tab). For all other uses, permission must be obtained from the copyright owners or their authorized agents.

Copyright and licensing terms for Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State are registered with Open Policy Finder (opens in new tab).

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Plagiarism Policy

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State may use Similarity Check, a multi-publisher initiative, to selectively screen article submissions for originality. Similarity Check uses the iThenticate software, which checks submissions against millions of published research papers (the Similarity Check database), documents on the web, and other relevant sources. These submitted papers are not retained in the Similarity Check system after they have been checked. Read more at Crossref's Similarity Check (opens in new tab) page.

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Charges & Fees

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State levies no submission charges, or charges or fees for publication of accepted articles.

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Digital Archiving

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State is preserved using CLOCKSS (opens in new tab), a leading preservation archive that guarantees persistent access to journal content for the very long term. Articles also receive Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) through Crossref (opens in new tab) to ensure they can always be found.

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