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Types of submissions

The Stata Journal publishes reviewed papers together with shorter notes or comments, regular columns, book reviews, and other material of interest to Stata users.

What kinds of papers does the Stata Journal publish?

A paper should potentially be of interest to users of the statistical software Stata. We are especially interested in publishing the following kinds of papers:

  • Expository papers that link the use of Stata commands or programs to associated principles, such as those that will serve as tutorials for readers first encountering a new field of statistics or a major new technique.

  • Papers that go "beyond the Stata manual" in explaining key features or uses of Stata that are relevant to intermediate or advanced users of Stata.

  • Papers that discuss new commands or Stata programs of interest either to a wide spectrum of users (e.g., in data management or graphics) or to some large segment of Stata users (e.g., in survey statistics, survival analysis, panel analysis, limited dependent variable modeling).

  • Papers that analyze the statistical properties of new or existing estimators and tests in Stata. This includes topics such as simulations of bias, convergence, or small-sample properties of estimators and tests; power analyses; and comparisons of tests or estimators.

  • Papers of interest or usefulness to researchers, especially in fields that are of practical importance but not often written up in texts or other journals (e.g., the use of Stata in managing datasets, particularly large datasets, with advice from hard-won experience).

  • Papers of interest to those teaching with Stata. Topics might include extended examples of techniques and interpretation of results, simulations of statistical concepts, and overviews of subject areas.

This list is not intended to be exclusive, merely suggestive, and the editors are happy to consider other kinds of papers with some link to Stata.

We do not publish in the Stata Journal (1) any articles on statistics or statistical science, however broadly defined, that lack Stata content or specific application to Stata use, or (2) Stata programs that lack supporting discussion.

Notes, Comments, Columns, and Book Reviews

Notes and comments are normally short (about one page or less). Notes may include, for example, explanation of a neat trick using a few lines of Stata that appears to be worth publicizing. Comments should refer to material previously published in the Journal (or in the Stata Technical Bulletin).

Columns and book reviews are solicited by the Editors. Book reviews will concentrate on books about Stata or that contain examples using Stata. We will also carry occasional reviews of books that may be interesting or valuable to many readers. We welcome suggestions of books to review.

Stata tips

Stata tips are very concise notes about Stata commands, features, or tricks that users may not have encountered. A tip will draw attention to useful details in Stata or Stata’s uses. Tips must be brief, usually one or two printed pages. Tips, however, do not include expositions of user-written commands.

Software updates

Software updates flag that software previously published in the Stata Journal or the Stata Technical Bulletin has been revised by the author(s). The revision could be, for example, a bug fix, an extension, a modernization, or some combination of these. Software updates are matched by an entry in Stata's .key files so that users who keep their Stata up to date are pointed to the latest version of any package published via the Stata Journal when they use search or findit. The Software update submission will always consist of (1) at least one paragraph explaining the revision concisely and (2) copies of all files associated with the software (.ado files, .sthlp or .hlp files, and any others).

To submit a software update, download the official software from the Stata Journal website; see the Stata Journal FAQ for downloading instructions. Make the necessary changes to the files and submit all the files to editors@stata-journal.com.


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