Submission Preflight (crim-submission)

The last check before pressing submit through the official ASC/Wiley online submission link. Criminology uses double-anonymized review, so the most common avoidable failure is an under-anonymized main document. Verify length/abstract caps and portal prompts on the live official page.

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
• Unsure which files/metadata the official online submission system expects
• Confirming the manuscript is anonymized and formatted to the journal's APA-based style

Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)

• Owner / publisher: American Society of Criminology (ASC) / Wiley.
• Portal: use the official online submission link exposed by the ASC/Wiley journal pages at upload.
• Review model / files: double anonymized; prepare a separate title page and anonymized main document.
• Style: a form of APA; fall back to APA (6th ed.) for anything unspecified; author-date, alphabetical reference list; everything double-spaced.
• Author bio: a short biography (< 100 words) per author on the title page.
• Language: APA bias-free, person-first language for justice-involved populations.
• Exclusivity: one journal at a time — simultaneous submission is not allowed.
• Length / abstract caps: no numeric cap is encoded here; confirm on the live author-guidelines page.
• ORCID: Wiley ACT lists ORCID as Encouraged for Criminology.
• Fees / OA: Wiley ACT lists Hybrid Open Access and an optional APC of $3,750; do not treat that APC as a submission fee.
• Preprints: Wiley ACT lists Criminology as Does Not Accept Preprints.

Preflight checklist

Files & length

• Separate title page (authors, affiliations, < 100-word bios) prepared as its own file
• Anonymized main document uploaded separately
• Length/abstract within the journal's current live cap

Anonymity (blinded workflow)

• No author names, affiliations, or acknowledgments in the main document
• No obvious self-references ("as we showed in…"); self-citations neutralized
• Identifying file metadata stripped (document properties, comments)
• Restricted-data acknowledgments/grant numbers kept off the main document

Format & language

• APA-based style; consistent author-date citations; double-spaced throughout
• Bias-free, person-first language for offenders, victims, justice-involved people
• Figures/tables/maps self-contained and accessible (see crim-tables-figures)
• Corresponding-author ORCID ready (encouraged by Wiley ACT)

Compliance & files

• Ethics / IRB / human-subjects + data-use agreements in order
• Single-submission commitment honored (not under review elsewhere)
• Data-availability statement + reproducibility package staged (see crim-data-and-transparency)

Anti-patterns

• Author identifiers left in the main document, acknowledgments, or file metadata (breaks anonymity)
• Mixing citation styles or single-spacing the manuscript
• Stigmatizing labels instead of person-first language
• Submitting while the paper is under review at another journal (prohibited)
• Sending a policy-evaluation paper here instead of Criminology & Public Policy

Anonymity failure modes that trip the desk (Criminology specifics)

Because Criminology runs a blinded workflow, the most common avoidable bounce-back at the ASC/Wiley desk is a main document that quietly de-anonymizes the author. Crime research has its own leak channels. Scan for each before upload.

Worked vignette: a one-page preflight (illustrative)

A team uploading a recidivism survival study splits the file into a title page (authors, affiliations, three < 100-word bios) and an anonymized main document; confirms double-spacing across the 6 tables and references; converts "felons" to "people with a prior conviction"; strips the agency name from methods; and stages the NACJD access note off the main document. They leave the numeric length check open until the current cap is read from the live page.

Referee/editor-desk pushback at submission (the Criminology fix)

• "Anonymity is broken in section 3." Fix: third-person self-reference; identifying details to the cover note.
• "Citation style is inconsistent." Fix: one APA-based style end to end via a reference manager.
• "Stigmatizing labels throughout." Fix: APA bias-free, person-first language for justice-involved people.

Output format

【Files】title page + anonymized main document both prepared? [Y/N]
【Anonymized】text + self-refs + file metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Length/abstract within live cap】[Y/N]
【APA-based style + double-spaced】[Y/N]
【Bias-free / person-first language】[Y/N]
【Single submission + ethics/DUA】[Y/N]
【Data + transparency staged】[Y/N]
【Next】await decision → crim-rebuttal on R&R

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — reference managers, anonymization, repro tooling
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — ASC/Wiley portal route, APA-based style, double-anonymized review, ACT OA/ORCID/preprint fields