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name: joc-submission description: Use when running the final pre-submission preflight for the Journal of Communication (JoC) via Manuscript Central — format selection, double-anonymous preparation, page/abstract caps, APA-7th formatting, Word (.docx), the Data Availability Statement, and declarations. Final checks; it does not draft content.

Submission Preflight (joc-submission)

The last check before pressing submit on Manuscript Central. JoC is double-anonymous, so the single most common avoidable failure is an under-anonymized main document or supplement. Verify volatile specifics on the official page before relying on them.

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
• Unsure which files/metadata Manuscript Central expects
• Confirming the page/abstract caps are met and the manuscript is properly anonymized

Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)

• Owner / publisher: International Communication Association (ICA) / Oxford University Press.
• Portal: Manuscript Central (mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcom).
• Review model: double-anonymous — anonymize the main document and supplemental materials; provide a separate title page.
• Formats: original research article (main document ≤ 35 pages), JoC Forum (3,000–6,000 words), special-issue submissions.
• Abstract: ≤ 150 words.
• Length: main document ≤ 35 pages, including the abstract, main text, references, tables, figures, and endnotes.
• Style & file: APA 7th edition; Microsoft Word (.docx) (PDF not accepted); 12-pt Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1.0-inch margins.
• Self-citations: written in the third person.
• Transparency: Data Availability Statement required; preregistration is encouraged, not required — note it in the cover letter; Open Science Badges are supported for open data, open materials, and preregistration. No formal Registered Reports (Stage 1/Stage 2) track is confirmed for JoC — do not assume one exists (需复核 on live calls-for-papers).
• Review process: double-anonymous; external review is usually by two or three referees (需复核); formal desk-screening criteria are not enumerated on the official pages.
• Fee & open access: no submission fee (verified 2026-06-22); hybrid open-access option — authors may pay an OA fee (APC) to make the accepted manuscript freely available. Read-and-Publish agreements may cover the APC, and OUP offers Research4Life waivers (Tier 3) plus discretionary waivers. The exact APC amount/currency is maintained separately by OUP and changes — confirm the current figure on the live OUP charges page.
• Decision timeline: time-to-first-decision is reported approximately as within ~90–120 days; treat as approximate and confirm on the live guidelines page (需复核).

Preflight checklist

Format & length

• Format chosen and its cap met (article ≤ 35 pages / Forum 3,000–6,000 words)
• Page count includes abstract, text, references, tables, figures, endnotes
• Abstract ≤ 150 words, states question + approach + finding

Anonymity (double-anonymous)

• No author names, affiliations, or acknowledgments in the main document
• Supplemental materials also anonymized (no identifying links/paths)
• Self-citations in the third person ("Smith and Lee (2024) showed…", not "as we showed…")
• Identifying file metadata stripped (document properties, comments)
• Separate (non-anonymous) title page with contact info + brief bio prepared as a distinct file

Format & metadata

• APA 7th edition formatting; consistent author-date citations
• Word (.docx), 12-pt Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1.0-inch margins
• Figures/tables self-contained, accessible (see joc-tables-figures)

Compliance & files

• Ethics / IRB / human-subjects compliance
• Data Availability Statement included; preregistration noted in cover letter if applicable
• Open Science Badge materials staged if a badge is claimed (see joc-open-science-and-transparency)

Desk-reject and return-to-author patterns (avoidable before upload)

At the ICA flagship the handling editor screens for fit and form before review. The failures that most often trigger a return or an early decline are mechanical — fix them in the preflight:

Trigger seen at intake	Editor action	Preflight fix
Author name in main doc or file properties	returned for anonymity	strip metadata; identity to the title page
Abstract > 150 words	returned for format	cut to ≤ 150; question + approach + finding
Main document > 35 pages (all elements counted)	returned for length	move robustness grids and codebooks out
PDF uploaded as main file	rejected at upload	submit Word (.docx)
No Data Availability Statement	flagged incomplete	add the DAS (repository + identifier, or exemption)
"Too narrow / platform-specific" intro	declined without review	reframe to field-wide reach

Calibration anchor: what "ready" means at JoC (hedged)

A JoC-ready submission clears three bars at once: a theory-advancing contribution (not a bare effect), valid message/exposure measurement an expert referee will trust, and broad significance legible to ICA's readership. Volatile specifics — page rules, badge mechanics, exact APC amount, reviewer count, decision timeline — drift; confirm against the current submission guidelines.

Worked micro-example: a 5-minute anonymity sweep (illustrative)

Before upload, a content-analysis manuscript runs the sweep: (1) search the main doc for the author surname — two first-person self-cites get rewritten in the third person; (2) an OSF link in the supplement resolving to a named project page is swapped for a view-only anonymized link; (3) clear the author field in document properties; (4) confirm the codebook and intercoder-reliability report sit in the supplement, not the main text. All four would otherwise return the paper.

Anti-patterns

• Leaving author identifiers in the text, supplements, or file metadata (breaks anonymity)
• First-person self-references ("as we previously found") instead of third-person
• Submitting a PDF when JoC requires Word (.docx)
• Abstract over 150 words; main document over 35 pages
• Omitting the Data Availability Statement

Output format

【Format】Article / JoC Forum / Special issue (cap met? Y/N)
【Anonymized】main doc + supplements + file metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Self-citations third person】[Y/N]
【Abstract】word count (≤150)
【Length】≤ 35 pages incl. refs/tables/figures/endnotes? [Y/N]
【APA 7th + Word .docx】[Y/N]
【Data Availability Statement】included? [Y/N]
【Next】await decision → joc-rebuttal on R&R

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — reference managers, anonymization, repro tooling
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official JoC URLs behind every fact in this pack