About the Journal

We invite current graduate students and recent PhDs / candidates of sciences (who received their degrees no earlier than five years ago) specializing in social sciences—sociology, anthropology, ethnography, social history, and related disciplines—to submit their work. The competition is open to research articles in English or Russian, not previously published or currently under consideration at any other journal, that are based on original empirical research using qualitative methods.

The competition has no thematic restrictions. Submissions to the competition may take into account the journal’s focus on understanding processes of post-Soviet transformations; however, the subject matter of submitted articles will not have bearing on either selecting materials for publication or determining the winners. The goals of the competition are to attract talented early-career authors, disseminate findings of current research, promote innovative ways of analyzing social processes, and advance development of qualitative methodology.

The selection committee, consisting of members of the journal’s editorial and advisory boards, will evaluate submissions based on the following criteria:

• originality of empirical data;
• theoretical and methodological validity of the analysis;
• quality and depth of the analysis;
• the study’s contribution to existing scholarship on the topic;
• structure, logic, and style of the article;
• research creativity.

Submissions should not exceed 9,000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography.

Best articles, after going through the standard double-blind peer review, will be published in the journal’s future issues. Finalists from past competitions were published in No. 2, 2016 and No. 2, 2012.

In addition, winners will receive cash prizes.

Please send submissions with “Young Scholars Competition” in the subject line to laboratorium@soclabo.org.

Deadline for submissions is September 1, 2023.

Finalists and winners will be announced after October 15, 2023.