Affiliation Policy

The Journal of Contemporary Social Issues (JCSI) requires all authors to provide accurate, complete, and verifiable institutional affiliations to ensure transparency, proper attribution of scholarly work, and consistency in research identity. This policy outlines the standards and expectations regarding author affiliations for all submissions.

Definition and Purpose

An author’s affiliation refers to the institution, organization, or entity where the research was conducted or where the author was employed, enrolled, or officially associated during the time the study was carried out. Affiliations serve several important purposes: they establish the academic or professional context of the work, ensure credit is attributed correctly, and support transparency, discoverability, and accountability in scholarly publishing.

Affiliation Requirements

Authors must list the institution with which they were primarily associated at the time of conducting the research. If the work was conducted independently, authors should use “Independent Researcher” as their affiliation. All affiliations must be the official, full names of institutions, written clearly and consistently. Abbreviations should only be used following the full institutional name during the first mention. Affiliations must include the department, faculty, university or organization name, city, and country to ensure proper indexing and citation.

Multiple Affiliations

Authors with more than one active institutional affiliation may list multiple affiliations, provided they have a legitimate and ongoing connection with each institution. When listing multiple affiliations, authors should ensure that each institution has contributed meaningfully to their research or supported their role as a researcher. The journal does not encourage listing honorary or ceremonial affiliations unless they have direct relevance to the study.

Affiliation Verification

JCSI reserves the right to verify the authenticity of author affiliations at any stage of the submission or publication process. Verification may include checking institutional webpages, professional profiles, email domain validation, or contacting the institution directly. If an affiliation cannot be confirmed or is found to be incorrect or misleading, the journal may request correction, reject the manuscript, or issue a post-publication notice depending on the severity of the issue.

Use of Institutional Email Addresses

Authors are strongly encouraged to use their official institutional email addresses during submission. If an institutional email is not available, authors must provide an explanation and may be asked to provide additional verification. The corresponding author bears responsibility for ensuring that contact details are accurate and up-to-date throughout the review and publication process.

Changes to Affiliations

Affiliations should reflect the author’s position at the time the research was conducted. Authors may provide a “current affiliation” note if their employment has changed. Requests to modify affiliations after submission will only be accepted if the change reflects a genuine employment transition and does not misrepresent the research context. No affiliation changes will be allowed once the article is published, except in cases of proven error.

Affiliation for Students and Researchers Under Training

Students, research assistants, or trainees must list the institution at which their study or research training took place. Supervisory or external institutions should not be listed unless the author held an official research position there.

Affiliation Misrepresentation

Providing false, exaggerated, or inappropriate affiliations—including listing institutions with which the author has no valid connection—is considered a breach of publication ethics. In such cases, the journal will follow COPE guidelines, which may include rejecting the manuscript, retracting the article, notifying the institution, or prohibiting future submissions to the journal.

Acknowledgment of Institutional Support

If an author received funding, logistical support, or technical assistance from an institution not listed as an affiliation, this should be acknowledged separately in the Acknowledgments section. Institutional support does not automatically qualify someone for authorship or affiliation.