Submissions

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Author Guidelines

Journal of Media Survey Center welcomes original scholarly contributions in the field of media and communication studies, with a particular focus on Bulgaria, Southeast Europe, and comparative international perspectives. The journal publishes research articles, review articles, case studies, media surveys and analytical reports, and book reviews addressing media systems, journalism, digital communication, audience research, media policy, democracy, political communication, and communication theory.

All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration by another journal. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts comply with the principles of academic integrity, proper citation, research ethics, and copyright law.

Manuscripts may be submitted in English or Bulgarian. Authors are expected to use clear academic language and to ensure that the text has been carefully proofread before submission.

Research articles should normally not exceed 36,000 characters including spaces. Longer studies may be considered only after a decision by the Editorial Board. Book reviews and shorter analytical texts may vary in length depending on their subject and format.

Manuscripts should be submitted in MS Word format. The recommended font is Times New Roman, 12 pt. Authors should use simple formatting only, such as bold and italics, and avoid special styles, tabs, or complex formatting. Tables should be created in Word and should not be submitted as images. Visual materials, including photographs, figures, charts, and diagrams, should also be provided as separate JPG files in print-quality resolution.

The title page must include the following information:

For manuscripts in Bulgarian:

  • Title in Bulgarian and English;
  • Full name of the author(s);
  • Institutional affiliation in Bulgarian and English;
  • Institutional email address;
  • ORCID iD, where available;
  • Abstract in Bulgarian and English;
  • Keywords in Bulgarian and English.

For manuscripts in English:

  • Title in English;
  • Full name of the author(s);
  • Institutional affiliation in English;
  • Institutional email address;
  • ORCID iD, where available;
  • Abstract in English and Bulgarian;
  • Keywords in English and Bulgarian.

The abstract should be between 100 and 150 words or approximately 600–1000 characters including spaces. It should clearly reflect the structure and content of the manuscript and include the following elements: background, purpose and tasks, methods, results, and significance or implications. The abstract should accurately represent the full text, as it is often the most visible part of the publication in indexing databases.

Authors should provide 5 to 8 keywords in both English and Bulgarian. Keywords should be terms or phrases that describe the main topic, methods, and conceptual focus of the manuscript. They should not simply repeat the words used in the title.

Research articles and studies should preferably follow the IMRaD structure:

  • Introduction;
  • Methods;
  • Results;
  • Discussion;
  • Conclusion.

Additional subheadings may be used when necessary to organize the argument more precisely.

The reference list should include only sources cited in the manuscript. Bibliographic references must follow the international standard BDS ISO 690:2021. References should be arranged alphabetically, first in Cyrillic and then in Latin script. For bibliographic descriptions in Cyrillic, authors should provide a transliterated version in Latin script in square brackets on the same line. Transliteration should follow BDS ISO 9:2001.

In-text citation follows the numbering system / Vancouver style, using superscript numerical references and full bibliographic descriptions in footnotes on the same page. The numbering should be continuous throughout the manuscript.

The use of secondary citation formulas such as “qtd. in,” “as cited in,” or “cited by” is not accepted. Authors are expected to consult and cite the original source. The use of shortened repeated references such as “Ibid.” or “Op. cit.” is not recommended.

Examples of bibliographic references:

Book by one author

CHOMSKY, Noam. Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies. Montreal: CBC Enterprises, 1989, pp. 20–21.

Book by two or more authors

WELLINGTON, Jerry J.; BATHMAKER, Ann-Marie; HUNT, Cheryl. Succeeding with Your Doctorate. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005, pp. 48–49.

Chapter in an edited volume

WILLIAMS, Peter. The Pentagon Position of Mass Media. In: Impact of Mass Media. Ed. by Ronald E. Hiebert. New York: Longman, 1999, pp. 327–328.

Journal article

DECEMBER, John. Units of Analysis for Internet Communication. Journal of Communication, 1996, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 14–38.

Online source

FUNG, Brian. Fidelity Fund Again Trims Elon Musk’s X Valuation. CNN Business [online], 02.01.2024 [viewed 15.01.2024]. Available from: URL

If a DOI is available, it should be cited instead of a URL. When citing online sources without DOI, authors should include the date of access in the following format: [viewed DD.MM.YYYY]. If the source is behind a paywall, this should be indicated with [paywall].

Authors submitting empirical research must clearly describe their research design, including research questions, corpus or sample, data collection procedures, analytical method, and ethical considerations. When the research involves interviews, surveys, personal data, vulnerable groups, or visual materials involving identifiable individuals, authors must state how informed consent, anonymity, and data protection have been ensured.

All research articles, review articles, case studies, and media surveys or reports undergo double-blind peer review. To support this process, authors should submit an anonymized version of the manuscript that does not contain names, affiliations, acknowledgements, or other identifying information. Author details should be provided separately.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to request revisions or decline manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s scholarly, ethical, or technical requirements.

Submission Preparation Checklist

Before submitting your manuscript to the Journal of Media Survey Center, please confirm that your submission meets the following requirements:

  • The manuscript is original, unpublished, and is not currently under consideration by another journal or publication.
  • The manuscript falls within the scope of the journal and addresses topics related to media and communication studies, journalism, digital communication, audience research, media policy, media systems, democracy, or related fields.
  • The manuscript is submitted in MS Word format.
  • The text is formatted in Times New Roman, 12 pt, with simple formatting only. Special styles, tabs, and unnecessary layout formatting have been avoided.
  • The manuscript does not exceed 36,000 characters including spaces, unless previously approved by the Editorial Board.
  • The manuscript includes a title, abstract, and keywords in the required languages:
    • For manuscripts in Bulgarian: title, abstract, and keywords in Bulgarian and English.
    • For manuscripts in English: title, abstract, and keywords in English and Bulgarian.
  • The abstract is between 100 and 150 words or approximately 600–1000 characters including spaces and includes background, purpose and tasks, methods, results, and significance or implications.
  • The manuscript includes 5 to 8 keywords in Bulgarian and English.
  • The author information has been provided separately and includes full name, institutional affiliation, institutional email address, and ORCID iD, where available.
  • The submitted manuscript has been anonymized for double-blind peer review and does not contain names, affiliations, acknowledgements, or other identifying information.
  • The manuscript follows the recommended structure for research articles: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, where applicable.
  • All tables have been created in Word and are not submitted as images.
  • All figures, charts, photographs, diagrams, and other visual materials are also provided as separate files in suitable quality.
  • All sources cited in the text are included in the reference list.
  • References follow BDS ISO 690:2021, and sources in Cyrillic include a transliterated version in Latin script where required.
  • In-text citation follows the numbering system / Vancouver style, using superscript numerical references and full bibliographic descriptions in footnotes.
  • The manuscript does not use secondary citations such as “qtd. in,” “as cited in,” or “cited by.” Original sources have been consulted and cited.
  • The author has obtained permission to use any copyrighted material, including images, tables, figures, or extended textual excerpts.
  • For empirical research, the manuscript clearly describes the research design, methods, corpus or sample, data collection procedures, and ethical considerations.
  • Where the research involves interviews, surveys, personal data, vulnerable groups, or identifiable individuals, informed consent, anonymity, and data protection have been ensured.
  • The author confirms that there is no plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, or other breach of academic integrity.
  • Any potential conflict of interest has been disclosed to the editors.
  • The author agrees that the manuscript may undergo initial editorial screening and double-blind peer review.

Articles

Section default policy

Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright over their work and grant Journal of Media Survey Center the right of first publication.

By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors confirm that the work is original, has not been published previously, and is not under consideration by another journal or publication. Authors also confirm that they have obtained the necessary permissions for the use of any copyrighted material included in the manuscript, including images, tables, figures, datasets, or extended textual excerpts.

Articles published in Journal of Media Survey Center are made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), unless otherwise stated. This license allows others to read, download, copy, distribute, print, share, and adapt the work, provided that appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and the journal, and that any changes are clearly indicated.

Authors are permitted to share, deposit, and archive the published version of their work in institutional repositories, personal websites, academic networks, and other non-commercial platforms, with proper citation of the original publication in the journal.

The views expressed in published articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board, the Media Survey Center, the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, or Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

The editorial board of Journal of Media Survey Center is committed to the responsible management of personal data of all parties involved in the publication of the journal. Data protection is a core value in the workflow of the journal. The only personal data used herein are names, email addresses, links, and ISO certified personal identifiers (PIDs), such as ORCIDs, which are publicly available on this website and in Journal of Media Survey Center itself. This data is used only for the stated purposes of Journal of Media Survey Center, namely the publication of a scientific journal, and is not shared for any other purpose or with any other party. As Journal of Media Survey Center is closely associated with Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, the journal follows the University's privacy policy in full. Journal of Media Survey Center website does not collect tracking data and does not host analytics services.

Journal of Media Survey Center is published in an EU Member State and fully complies with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation). Therefore, in accordance with Article 13(1) and (2) of the Regulation (GDPR), the editors inform that:

- The personal data controller of all parties involved (editors/authors/reviewers) is the Editorial Board, represented by Journal of Media Survey Center’ s Editor-in-Chief;

- The personal data of all parties involved are processed only for the purpose of carrying out the review and publication procedures of the journal in a regular and transparent manner;

- The recipients of the personal data (i.e. names, email addresses, ORCIDs, links) of the parties involved (editors/authors/reviewers) are the journal's readers, others involved in the publication process, and users of the referencing and indexing services;

- Journal of Media Survey Center only collects the data needed to publish academic content, accordingly this data is stored indefinitely as it is essential to the publishing process itself;

- Prior to the publication of an issue of Journal of Media Survey Center, the editors/authors/reviewers reserve the right to:

  • to request the editorial board, represented by the editor-in-chief of Journal of Media Survey Center, to access and rectify or erase personal data concerning the data subject, or to restrict processing, or to object to processing, as well as to the right to data portability;
  • to withdraw their consent at any time, without prejudice to the lawfulness of the processing based on the consent given before its withdrawal;

After publication, the editorial staff of Journal of Media Survey Centercannot be expected to comply with a deletion request due to the technical limitations associated with such a request. For example, the Editorial Board of Journal of Media Survey Centercannot cancel the printing of the current volume of the journal, nor can force the retrieval of online content from a cold repository that is designed to protect open access knowledge.

Providing personal data is a mandatory condition for submitting an article, regardless of whether the subject is an author, co-author or reviewer. Therefore, in case of non-compliance with this requirement, the Editorial Board will be forced to refuse consideration/publication of the article or review in question in Journal of Media Survey Center.