Call for Proposals:  Information & Requirements

SUBMISSION

All proposals must be submitted electronically using the appropriate online form, which can be found on the SCE website.  SCE will NOT accept any paper/fax submissions. Only members in good standing (current) dues paid prior to submitting the proposal) may propose a paper, panel, poster, or conversation with an author.  All member participants on panels for non-concurrent sessions must also be in good standing. All participants will be required to register for the Annual Meeting.

If proposals involve research on or interviews with human subjects, authors are expected to show evidence that they secured approval from an institutional Review Board before beginning their research (see “Publication criteria and IRB Regulations” on the JSCE tab of the webpage.)

1. To broaden opportunities for members to present their work at the annual meeting and in the JSCE, the SCE allows full members to present papers or serve on panels in concurrent or plenary sessions only every other year. This every-other-year rule does not apply
1. to members who make presentations in non-concurrent sessions for Interest or Working Groups or those who present at a Poster Session the previous year.
2. to members who served the previous year as respondents.
3. to members who have made a presentation in a concurrent session sponsored by one of the Working Groups the previous year.
2. No member who is involved in scoring proposals is eligible to submit proposals or participate in panels during concurrent sessions, for that year.
3. Student members may submit paper proposals or participate in panel proposals if they have successfully completed qualifying exams before the deadline for the submission of proposals.
4. Non-members may not submit paper proposals or participate in panel proposals for concurrent sessions, but are eligible to participate in non-concurrent Interest Group and Working Group sessions.
5. Interest and Working Groups may submit proposals for concurrent sessions, which will be evaluated competitively. Each of the Working Groups is guaranteed one concurrent session if their proposal for a concurrent session is submitted by the deadline. Working Groups may, in addition, propose a panel or paper for a second concurrent session, to be evaluated competitively.
6. Those proposing panels should limit the number of panelists so as to ensure that adequate time is reserved for discussion. Panel proposals should indicate that panelists have been contacted and agree to serve. 
7. An individual member may submit a separate paper proposal even if he or she is also listed as a presenter in a panel proposal. If both are accepted for the program, the member must choose between the two.
8. SCE members are eligible to present a paper or serve on a panel even if they have agreed to serve as a respondent in another concurrent session or to an SJE or an SSME paper at the meeting. 
9. All presentations made during plenary and concurrent sessions are eligible for review and publication in the JSCE.

Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Committee on the following criteria:

1. Originality.
2. Timeliness.
3. Interest to the Society.
4. For papers: academic quality—detail and coherence of the argument; clearly articulated methodology; scholarly promise and significance, and manageability of the topic within a 25-30-page paper.
5. For panels: academic quality—coherence of the presentations; scholarly promise and significance, manageability of the topic as it relates to number of panelists.
6. Sessions dedicated to reporting on books that are in print before the annual meeting will not be accepted, particularly when the session involves presentations by the authors or editors of the book in question.

1. Interest and Working Groups normally meet during early morning or evening time slots. Interest or Working Group requests for these sessions are exempt from competitive review and are accepted on a space-available basis. The “every-other-year” rule does NOT apply to these sessions.
2. For early morning or evening scheduling, Interest and Working Group proposals should be submitted in accordance with the Group Policy.  Group proposals must be made by the group's convener(s) in order to be considered.
3. These Interest and Working Group proposals may include student members at any stage in their program and non-members, so long as the proposals also includes full members.
4. Any full or student member or even small group of members of the SCE, who is not presenting in a plenary or concurrent session, may submit a proposal for the poster session. Students need not have passed their comprehensive exams. The "every other year" rule does NOT apply to poster sessions.  
5. Posters can convey a simple project, trace a longer-term trajectory in your work, or convey a broader discussion.  If accepted, your poster will be listed in the program and you will be expected to stand with your poster for the scheduled Poster Session.  For more information on posters visit the Poster Information page.

DETAILS for Conversation with an Author sessions:

1. Books to be discussed at the 2025 annual meeting must have been published no earlier than January 1, 2023, and no later than April 30, 2024. 
2. Authors must agree to be present for the discussion.
3. Since there are space constraints on the number of books accepted, book discussion proposals are date stamped and accepted on a first come, first served basis.
4. All participants, including authors, must sign up and purchase tickets (if food is available) to attend Conversation with an Author sessions.
5. Proposals to discuss revised editions of books that have been previously included in a Conversation with an Author session will not be accepted.
6. To protect the SCE financially from undersubscribed tables, the number of tables at the Conversation with an Author session will be limited. If very few sign up to discuss a particular book, that table may be cancelled and the few who indicated interest will be reassigned to other tables or receive a refund. In the case of reassignment, each person will be given a choice of which other table to join, space permitting.

Process for selecting Concurrent Sessions: 

1. All individual proposals for concurrent sessions compete for program slots.
2. All proposals for concurrent sessions are initially scored in a process of anonymous review—proposals are read and scored by each member of the Program Committee as well as representatives of many prominent constituencies within the Society.
3. Approximately three-fourths of concurrent session openings are allocated strictly based on these numerical tallies.
4. The remaining concurrent session openings are filled during a meeting of the Program Committee.  In this stage of the review, names of those submitting proposals are available to the Program Committee, and the committee considers remaining proposals in light of their scholarly contribution but also in relation to such things as: the theme(s) proposed for this annual meeting (if any) , the responsibility to provide a range of subject matter addressing the diverse interests of the membership in a balanced program, the frequency of presentations by particular proposers, and matters of gender, ethnic, and denominational diversity.
5. Except in the case of panel proposals, only one paper is permitted in each concurrent session, to allow time for discussion.
6. Only the names of actual proposers can appear in the program. Additional names can be added only with the approval of the Program Committee.
7. Interest Group may also submit a proposal for a concurrent session.  Such proposals must be submitted by the group’s convener(s) and will be evaluated on a competitive basis by exactly the same criteria used to evaluate other proposals. In any given year, approval will not be granted to more than two concurrent session proposals from any one Interest Group.
8. During any given concurrent session, a maximum of two slots can be allocated to Interest and Working Groups, with Working Groups given priority.
9. Each of the Working Groups is guaranteed one concurrent session if their proposal for a concurrent session is submitted by the deadline.  The proposal for the reserved concurrent session is not subject to competitive review.  If a Working Group does not submit a proposal for a concurrent session by the deadline, that reserved session will be reassigned to the pool of sessions available for individual members submitting proposals for concurrent sessions.
10. Working Groups may, in addition, propose a panel or paper for a second concurrent session. Proposals from Working Groups for additional concurrent sessions will be evaluated on a competitive basis by exactly the same criteria used to evaluate other proposals. In any given year, approval will not be granted for more than two concurrent session proposals from any one Working Group. If a Working Group opts to submit more than one proposal, the convener(s) should specify clearly which proposal is to be given the guaranteed concurrent session slot and which is to be subject to competitive review.