Topic
Any topic within the area of social behaviour and its investigation. Authors are free to choose both their topic and title.
Organizer
The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) and the Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JTSB)
Prizes
A prize of CHF 7,000 for the best essay.
Deadline
31 March 2017
Guidelines
Authors are free to choose the topic they wish to write on, and their title. The winning essay will be selected from the following: ALL articles accepted for publication in the JTSB since 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015); from 1 April 2015, those articles accepted for publication by the JTSB where the author chooses, at submission, the option additionally to be considered for the Prize (this allows but does not require articles to have an essay-type style and format); and the field of essays submitted following the advertised Call in March 2016.
The essay will be judged on its originality and independence of thought, its scholarly quality, its potential to challenge received ideas, and the success with which it matches the criteria of the ISRF and the JTSB. The successful essay will be intellectually radical, orthogonal to existing debates, and articulate a strong internal critique across the fields of social science research. Its challenge to received ideas will have the potential to provoke a re-thinking of the topic.
The ISRF is interested in original research ideas that take new approaches and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems. The full statement of the ISRF's criteria and goals may be viewed
The JTSB aims to advance understandings of social behaviour, that is, people acting in relation to, or being constituted through, the social world of other people, institutions, and material and symbolic culture. More detail about the Journal and recent debates can be found on the Journal's website.
Essays selected for the shortlist by the Editors and the ISRF will be judged by a joint ISRF-JTSB academic panel (the ISRF Essay Prize Committee). The panel's decision will be final, and no assessments or comments will be made available. The result will be notified to applicants by email during July 2017, and will then be announced by posting on the websites of the ISRF and of the JTSB. The ISRF and the JTSB reserve the right not to award the Prize if there is no essay judged to be of sufficient merit.
Authors must indicate in an accompanying letter to the Editors that they wish their essay to be considered for the prize when submitting.
Essay format:Follow the JTSB Author Guidelines, available on the JTSB website:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1468-5914/homepage/ForAuthors.html
Essay length: 10,000 words, all inclusive.
Language:English
Submissions should be made online here: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jtsb
Inquiries
Queries: essayprize2017@isrf.org