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Journal of Consumer Culture

Journal of Consumer Culture


eISSN: 17412900 | ISSN: 14695405 | Current volume: 23 | Current issue: 4 Frequency: Quarterly

Journal of Consumer Culture is an established journal, supporting and promoting the continuing expansion in interdisciplinary research focused on consumption and consumer culture, opening up debates and areas of exploration.

Global in perspective and drawing on both theory and empirical research, the journal reflects the need to engage critically with modern consumer culture and to understand its central role in contemporary social processes.

"With its global sweep and international contributors, this journal is a valuable addition to any library." The Times Higher Education Supplement


Indexed in the Social Science Citation Index Expanded®

The Journal of Consumer Culture is fully peer reviewed journal, that supports and promotes the continuing expansion in interdisciplinary research focused on consumption and consumer culture, opening up debates and areas of exploration. Global in perspective and drawing on both theory and empirical research, the journal reflects the need to engage critically with modern consumer culture and to understand its central role in contemporary social processes.

The Journal of Consumer Culture brings together articles from the many social sciences and humanities in which consumer culture has become a significant focus. It also engages with overarching contemporary perspectives on social transformation, all of which give an unprecedented importance to consumption in understanding social processes at both local and global levels.

The Journal of Consumer Culture covers a wide range of topics relating consumer culture to issues such as:

  • globalization
  • shopping and marketing
  • the body
  • ecommerce and the information society 
  • social divisions of gender, class, sexuality and ethnicity
  • commodification
  • aestheticisation and virtuality
  • science and technology studies
  • environmental critiques
  • popular and material culture
  • identity
  • taste, style and fashion
  • classical and contemporary social theory
  • economic sociology
  • work
  • production and design
  • media and cultural consumption
Editor
Steven Miles Manchester Metropolitan University
History Editor
Matthew Hilton University of Birmingham , UK
Anthropology Editor
William T S Mazzarella University of Chicago, USA
Economics and Environmental Studies Editor
Juliet Schor Boston College, USA
Marketing and Cultural Studies Editor
J Craig Thompson University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Sociology Editor
Alan Warde Manchester University, UK
Geography Editor
Susanne Freidberg Dartmouth College, USA
Managing Editor
Madeleine Dutton University of Brighton, UK
Reviews Editor
Tom Brock Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Founding Editor
George Ritzer University of Maryland, USA
Social Media Convenor
Paul Widdop Leeds Beckett University, UK
Editorial Board
Mark Granovetter Stanford University
Douglas Kellner University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Angela McRobbie Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK
Danny Miller University College London, UK
Don Slater LSE, UK
Viviana Zelizer Princeton University, USA
Sharon Zukin City University of New York, USA
Advisory Editorial Board
Arjun Appadurai New York University, USA
Russell W Belk York University, Canada
Colin Campbell University of York, UK
Allison Clarke University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria
Daniel Thomas Cook Rutgers University-Camden, USA
Gary Cross Pennsylvania State University, USA
Dominique Desjeux Sorbonne, France
Pasi Falk University of Helsinki, Finland
Ben Fine School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
Gary Alan Fine Northwestern University
Mark Gottdiener University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY, USA
Victoria de Grazia Columbia University, USA
Eva Illouz Jerusalem University, Israel
Sut Jhally University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Stephen Kline Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
Michèle Lamont Harvard University, USA
Peter Lunt University of Leicester, UK
Michel Maffesoli Université René Déscartes, Paris V, France
Frank Mort University of Manchester, UK
Chandra Mukerji University of California, San Diego, USA
Mica Nava University of East London, UK
Per Ostergaard Odense University, Denmark
Elspeth Probyn University of Sydney, Australia
Juliet Schor Boston College, USA
Nigel Thrift Tsinghua University, China
Melanie Wallendorf University of Arizona, USA
Alan Warde Manchester University, UK
Richard Wilk Indiana University, USA
Elizabeth Wilson London Metropolitan University, UK
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  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Journal of Consumer Culture

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

    This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/JOCC to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Consumer Culture will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
    3. Publishing policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript
      4.1 Formatting
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Supplementary material
      4.4 Reference style
      4.5 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

     

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Consumer Culture, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    Journal of Consumer Culture publishes papers and book reviews.

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    Journal of Consumer Culture is fully peer reviewed and each submission will be refereed anonymously by at least two referees.

    2.2 Authorship

    All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    2.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    •    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
    •    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
    •    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    2.3.2 Writing assistance

    Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance”).

    It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

    Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

    2.4 Funding

    Journal of Consumer Culture requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    Journal of Consumer Culture encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

    2.6 Research Data

    The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

    Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

    • share your research data in a relevant public data repository
    • include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
    • cite this data in your research

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    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    Journal of Consumer Culture and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    Journal of Consumer Culture offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway. Length should not normally exceed 8000 words.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

    Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    4.3 Supplementary material

    This journal does not currently accept supplementary material.

    4.4 Reference style

    Journal of Consumer Culture adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file

    4.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Journal of Consumer Culture is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/JOCC to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    Books for review or manuscripts of reviews should be sent to:

    Dr. Tom Brock
    Department of Sociology
    Geoffrey Manton Building
    Manchester metropolitan University
    Manchester
    M15 6LL

    t.brock@mmu.ac.uk

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities ensuring that their work is recognised.

    The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice. 

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of Consumer Culture editorial office as follows:

    Steven Miles

    S.Miles@mmu.ac.uk

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