AIMS AND SCOPE

The Journal of Sexual Aggression provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of original research findings, reviews, theory, and practice developments regarding sexual aggression in all its forms. The Journal aims to engage readers from a wide range of research, practice and policy areas, including prevention science, crime science, public health, law and regulation, policing and investigation, prosecution and sentencing, corrections and youth justice, child protection, victim advocacy and support, clinical and risk assessment, and offender treatment and risk management. The Journal recognises that human sexual aggression is a global problem, and therefore wishes to include high quality contributions, written in English, from around the world.

All research articles in this journal, including those in special issues, special sections or supplements, have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial Editor screening and refereeing by at least two independent, expert referees. All peer review is double blind and submissions may be made online via ScholarOne Manuscripts.

The Journal of Sexual Aggression is published three times a year in association with the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abuse (NOTA).

About the Journal

Journal of Sexual Aggression is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality, original research. Please see the journal’s Aims & Scope for information about its focus and peer-review policy.

Please note that this journal only publishes manuscripts in English.

Journal of Sexual Aggression accepts the following types of article:

• Original Research Article
• Reviews
• Policy and Practice Papers

Open Access

You have the option to publish open access in this journal via our Open Select publishing program. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership and impact of your research. Articles published Open Select with Taylor & Francis typically receive 35% more citations* and over 5 times as many downloads** compared to those that are not published Open Select.

Your research funder or your institution may require you to publish your article open access. Visit our Author Services website to find out more about open access policies and how you can comply with these.

You will be asked to pay an article publishing charge (APC) to make your article open access and this cost can often be covered by your institution or funder. Use our APC finder to view the APC for this journal. Please note that only the corresponding author is eligible to request funding from their institution, and it is not possible to change the corresponding author to achieve eligibility after submission. For further information, please see details here.

Please visit our Author Services website if you would like more information about our Open Select Program.

*Citations received up to 7th August 2024 for articles published in 2019-2023. Data obtained on 7th August 2024, from Digital Science’s Dimensions platform, available at https://app.dimensions.ai

**Usage in 2021-2023 for articles published in 2019-2023.

Peer Review and Ethics

Taylor & Francis is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will then be double blind peer reviewed by independent, anonymous expert referees. If you have shared an earlier version of your Author’s Original Manuscript on a preprint server, please be aware that anonymity cannot be guaranteed. Further information on our preprints policy and citation requirements can be found on our Preprints Author Services page. Find out more about what to expect during peer review and read our guidance on publishing ethics.

Original Research Article

The Journal of Sexual Aggression invites authors to submit original research articles (including empirical findings or conceptual development). The Journal publishes a range of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research. Authors should ensure appropriate and rigorous methods and data analytic strategies are employed. Manuscripts should include a critical discussion of the wider implications of research findings for research, policy and/or practice.

• Should be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; practice impact statement; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list)
• Should be no more than 8000 words, but longer papers are considered at the editor’s discretion if they are reporting on a substantial body of work.

• Should contain an unstructured abstract of 150 words.
• Should contain between 5 and 7 keywords. Read making your article more discoverable, including information on choosing a title and search engine optimization.
• The practice impact statement is a concise statement of the impact of your research for policy and practice. It should be 2-3 short sentences in length.

Reviews

The Journal of Sexual Aggression invites authors to submit review (scoping, systematic, meta-analytic) articles. The Editor may also commission reviews on specific areas of interest to the Journal’s audience.

• Should be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; practice impact statement; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list)
• Should typically be between 6000 and 8000 words; this limit does not include tables, references or figure captions.
• Should contain an unstructured abstract of 150 words.
• Should contain 5 to 7 keywords. Read making your article more discoverable, including information on choosing a title and search engine optimization.
• The practice impact statement is a concise statement of the impact of your research for policy and practice. It should be 2-3 short sentences in length.

Policy And Practice Papers

The Journal of Sexual Aggression invites policy and practice papers, including case studies, to be submitted for review. These articles may discuss current or emerging legal, policy, or practice developments and debates, but must present a critical analysis, drawing on empirical research as part of the discussion. Authors are invited to first submit a written proposal to the Editor, for initial review by NOTA’s policy and practice subcommittee, prior to authors being invited to make a full submission to the Journal.

• Should be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; practice impact statement; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list)
• Should typically be no more than 6000 words; this limit does not include tables, references or figure captions.

• Should contain an unstructured abstract of 150 words.
• Should contain 5 to 7 keywords. Read making your article more discoverable, including information on choosing a title and search engine optimization.
• The practice impact statement is a concise statement of the impact of your research for policy and practice. It should be 2-3 short sentences in length.

Format-Free Submission

Authors may submit their paper in any scholarly format or layout. Manuscripts may be supplied as single or multiple files. These can be Word, rich text format (rtf), open document format (odt), PDF, or LaTeX files. Figures and tables can be placed within the text or submitted as separate documents. Figures should be of sufficient resolution to enable refereeing.

• There are no strict formatting requirements, but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to evaluate a manuscript: abstract, author affiliation, figures, tables, funder information, references. Further details may be requested upon acceptance.
• References can be in any style or format, so long as a consistent scholarly citation format is applied. For manuscripts submitted in LaTeX format a .bib reference file must be included. Author name(s), journal or book title, article or chapter title, year of publication, volume and issue (where appropriate) and page numbers are essential. All bibliographic entries must contain a corresponding in-text citation. The addition of DOI (Digital Object Identifier) numbers is recommended but not essential.
• If you are submitting in LaTeX, please convert the files to PDF beforehand. The PDF should be uploaded as the “Manuscript – with author details”/”Manuscript – anonymous” file. You will also need to upload your LaTeX source files, which should be uploaded as a single zip file alongside your submission and marked as “LaTeX Source Files”.
• The journal reference style will be applied to the paper post-acceptance by Taylor & Francis.
• Spelling can be US or UK English so long as usage is consistent.

Note that, regardless of the file format of the original submission, an editable version of the article must be supplied at the revision stage.