Sixth ISA Worldwide Competition for Junior Sociologists – ISA (International Sociological Association)

1. The International Sociological Association (ISA) announces the organization of the Sixth ISA Worldwide Competition for Junior Sociologists. The winners will be invited to participate in the XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology which will take place in Yokohama, Japan in July 2014.
2. By Junior Scholars we mean people who obtained his/her first Master’s degree (or an equivalent graduate diploma) in sociology or in a related discipline, less than 10 years prior to May 1st, 2013. In case of joint or multiple authorship, this rule applies to all authors of the submitted paper.
3. Candidates must send
   • An original paper that has not been previously published anywhere.
   • The paper should be no more than 6,000 words typewritten double-spaced on one side of the paper with margins of 3 cm and the pages numbered.
   • An abstract (maximum 500 words) with five key words must be included in the paper.
   • Notes and the bibliography should appear at the end of the text.

   Papers which do not conform to these rules run the risk of being rejected.

   We prefer papers focusing on central sociological problems and/or socially relevant issues. The phenomena examined may be social, economic, political, cultural or of any other kind, but their interpretation or analysis must show a sociological orientation (for instance, through the identification of social processes underlying the phenomena under scrutiny, critique of commonsense interpretations or of well established theories, etc.).

   Empirical research papers must go beyond descriptive reporting of results to broader, analytical interpretations. Papers will be judged according to perceptiveness with which issues are treated, the quality of empirical materials presented, the consistency with which an analytic framework is used, the originality of ideas, and the clarity of style.

   Extensiveness of referencing or the use of advanced statistical methods will be considered to be of only secondary importance, so as to provide participants throughout the world with as equal an opportunity as possible. We are particularly interested in receiving papers from scholars in Third World Countries.

   The winners of the previous Competitions are not allowed to compete.

4. Papers may be written in one of the following languages: English, French, Spanish as well as Arabic, Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Russian. Assessors will be appointed for each of these languages. To give a fair chance for participants whose mother tongue is none of the above, there will be assessors in English, French and Spanish, respectively, for papers submitted by authors, who use any of these as a foreign language. All other scholars may also make use of this option if they prefer.A revision has been made in the interest of inclusiveness as follows: Papers are expected to be written in one of the official languages of the ISA (English, Spanish and French). Papers written in other languages will be assessed by scholars competent in these languages.
   Where necessary the papers of finalists will be translated into one of the official languages of the ISA. [March 2012]
5. An electronic file of the paper and a cover letter (in .doc or .pdf) should be e-mailed as an attachment to Yoshimichi Sato at ysato@sal.tohoku.ac.jp by Wednesday, May 1st, 2013. The subject of the message should be “Junior Competition 2014.”In order to protect anonymity during the selection process, authors should not put their name on the paper itself, but the cover letter should include their family name (capital letters), first name, sex, date of birth, mother tongue, degrees, e-mail address, mailing address where they can be reached and (optionally) their present occupation. All this information should be given in one of the official languages of the ISA (English, French, and Spanish). An electronic acknowledgement of the electronic submissions will be given.
6. Initially, a Jury will consider which papers reach a sufficiently high standard to be issued with a letter of official commendation and be listed on ISA website. Each language Jury will then preselect (by September 2013) a maximum of three papers. These finalists will receive Merit Award Certificates, a four-year membership in the ISA, and a registration to the XVIII World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama, Japan in July, 2014.

The ISA, however, cannot guarantee to cover costs for their travel and accommodations. All authors thus preselected will also be invited to participate in a five-day seminar prior to the Congress.

Out of the preselected finalists, the Grand Jury chaired by the ISA President Michael Burawoy will select up to five winning papers. Their authors will be immediately invited, all expenses paid, to participate in the World Congress. In case of multiple authorship, the subvention will have to be shared.

Additional information may be obtained from Yoshimichi Sato, ysato@sal.tohoku.ac.jp, Coordinator of the Competition.

Committee of the Sixth ISA Worldwide Competition for Junior Sociologists:

• Yoshimichi Sato, Chair, Tohoku University, Japan
• Emma Porio, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines
• Habibul Khondker, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
• Benjamin Tejerina, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain

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