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The Stata Journal FAQ

1. Introduction

2. Stata Journal publication information

3. Accessing Journal software

4. The Stata Journal history

5. Submission guidelines for authors

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1. Introduction

1.1 What is the Stata Journal?

    The Stata Journal is a printed and electronic journal containing reviewed articles related to Stata together with community-contributed software additions to Stata. The Journal is included in scientific citation indexes. The Stata Journal is available by subscription.

    Accompanying each issue is software that can be installed into Stata. The software is available for free over the Internet to both subscribers and nonsubscribers.

1.2 What is the purpose of the Stata Journal?

    The Stata Journal is a publication for all Stata users, both novice and experienced, with various levels of expertise in statistics, research design, data management, graphics, reporting of results, and of Stata in particular.

    A portion of the article "The Stata Journal begins publication fourth quarter 2001", which appeared in STB-61, May 2001, states

      The numerous daily postings on Statalist illustrate very well the readership we have in mind, as those who follow it will appreciate. As with many listservers, the style and content of Statalist discussions have evolved into an expression of members’ interests and expertise. Statalist is centered on, but in no sense limited to, Stata users. Members’ questions and answers range back and forth through specifics on using Stata to general questions on data management; statistical data analysis and modeling; and what is and is not good practice, statistically, computationally and scientifically. Statalist is widely appreciated, not just as a relatively rapid and effective way of solving Stata problems, but also as a source of wisdom on statistical matters in the widest sense. It is this mix that we seek to emulate, although with more substantial and more durable contributions, in the Stata Journal.

1.3 What types of articles appear in the Stata Journal?

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

    Full details on the types of articles published can be found at stata-journal.com/submissions.

    We do not publish in the Stata Journal 1) any articles on statistics or statistical science, however broadly defined, that lack Stata content or specific application to Stata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, 2) Stata programs or code that lack sufficient supporting discussion, or 3) empirical case studies that are not innovative in Stata terms, which are better aimed at relevant disciplinary or transdisciplinary journals.

1.4 Who is responsible for the Stata Journal?

1.5 What is a tag?

    Each article, column, note, or comment in the Stata Journal is assigned a letter-number code, such as st0042, an0034, or ds0012.

    A number such as st0042 indicates that this article is number 42 in the st category.

    A number such as st0042_1 indicates that this article, column, note, or comment is related to the original st0042 article and could have the same or different authors.

    The following category codes are used:

    an announcements
    dm data management
    ds datasets
    gn general
    gr graphics
    pr programming & utilities
    st statistics

1.6 Suggested citation guidelines

    The appropriate citation for an article in the Stata Journal is

      Author name. Year. Tag. Title. Stata Journal volume_number: page_range.

    For example,

      Royston, P. 2001. st0001. Flexible parametric alternatives to the Cox model, and more. Stata Journal 1: 1–28.

    In some cases, it is necessary to abbreviate the name of the Stata Journal. The official abbreviation is SJ.


2. Stata Journal publication information

2.1 Does the Stata Journal have an ISSN number?

    The ISSN number for the printed Journal is 1536-867X, and the ISSN number for the electronic Journal is 1536-8734.

2.2 When is the Journal published?

    The Journal is published quarterly:

      Jan–Mar
      Apr–Jun
      Jul–Sep
      Oct–Dec

    Volume 1 refers to the first year, Volume 2 the second, and so on. Issues are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 within each year. The first issue of the Journal was published Oct–Dec, 2001, and that issue is numbered Volume 1, Number 1:

      Volume 1 Number 1: 2001 Oct–Dec

      Volume 2 Number 1: 2002 Jan–Mar
      Volume 2 Number 2: 2002 Apr–Jun
      Volume 2 Number 3: 2002 Jul–Sep
      Volume 2 Number 4: 2002 Oct–Dec

      Volume 3 Number 1: 2003 Jan–Mar
      ...

2.3 How do I subscribe to the Journal?

2.4 How do I obtain past issues?

2.5 Is there an institutional subscription rate?

    The Stata Journal and the contents of the supporting files (programs, datasets, and help files) are copyright © by StataCorp LLC. The contents of the supporting files (programs, datasets, and help files) may be copied or reproduced by any means whatsoever, in whole or in part, as long as any copy or reproduction includes attribution to both (1) the author and (2) the Stata Journal.

    The articles appearing in the Stata Journal may be copied or reproduced as printed copies, in whole or in part, as long as any copy or reproduction includes attribution to both (1) the author and (2) the Stata Journal.

    Written permission must be obtained from StataCorp if you wish to make electronic copies of the insertions. This precludes placing electronic copies of the Stata Journal, in whole or in part, on publicly accessible web sites, fileservers, or other locations where the copy may be accessed by anyone other than the subscriber.

    Users of any of the software, ideas, data, or other materials published in the Stata Journal or the supporting files understand that such use is made without warranty of any kind, by either the Stata Journal, the author, or StataCorp. In particular, there is no warranty of fitness of purpose or merchantability, nor for special, incidental, or consequential damages such as loss of profits. The purpose of the Stata Journal is to promote free communication among Stata users.

    The Stata Journal (ISSN 1536-867X) is a publication of Stata Press, and Stata is a registered trademark of StataCorp LLC.


3. Accessing Journal software

    If you wanted to install insert st0001 from Volume 1, Number 1, you could use the net command:

          . net from https://www.stata-journal.com/software
          . net cd sj1-1
          . net describe st0001
          . net install st0001
    
    

    or you could

    1. Pull down Help and select SJ and community-contributed features.
    2. Click on Stata Journal.
    3. Click on sj1-1.
    4. Click on st0001.
    5. Click on click here to install.

    See [U] 17.6 How do I install an addition? and [U] 29 Using the Internet to keep up to date.


4. The Stata Journal history

4.1 What is the STB?

    The STB—the Stata Technical Bulletin—is the predecessor of the Stata Journal. It was published six times per year between May 1991 and May 2001.

    For ten years, the STB served as a means of distributing new commands and Stata updates, both community-contributed and "official". When the STB began, there was no Internet or, at least, no Internet that was used to distribute software and updates, and the STB fulfilled this need. Users back then subscribed to the STB with diskettes, and these diskettes contained the updates.

    More recently, the growth of the Internet along with the growth in both the number and the diversity of Stata users allowed the editors to gradually introduce changes in the STB. In particular, the Internet, Stata's website, and the Statalist listserver allowed instant communication among users, and moreover, improvements to Stata software actually allowed it to search the Internet for desired statistical capabilities—whether written by StataCorp or by users—and instantly install what it finds.

    Over its last five years, STB "inserts" became less announcements and short articles describing community-contributed programs and became more longer articles describing complicated programs as well as more general articles about how Stata can be used to analyze interesting datasets.

    When the STB began, timeliness was of primary importance. Nowadays, printed matter cannot compete with the Internet in that respect; however, printed material is more considered, more substantial, and more trustworthy. Thus the editors came to the conclusion that a new vehicle needed to be created, the Stata Journal. The editors decided that the Journal should be printed less often (4 times per year rather than 6), allowing them more time to review articles and making the articles even more considered, substantial, and trustworthy. They also knew that they wanted to change the emphasis of the articles. Programs with documentation will always be welcome, but we believe that users want and need more expository articles about statistics and using Stata, rather than about Stata as a program.

4.2 Past editors

  • H. Joseph Newton, Texas A&M University
    June 1996 through December 2021 (SJ-1-1 through SJ-21-4)
    May 1996 through May 2001 (STB-31 through STB-61)

  • Sean Becketti
    May 1993 through March 1996 (STB-13 through STB-30)

  • Joseph Hilbe, Arizona State University
    May 1991 through March 1993 (STB-1 through STB-12)

4.3 STB/SJ issues and Stata releases

    Stata 18

      SJ vol. 23 no. 2 through current, Apr–Jun 2023 through today

    Stata 17

      SJ vol. 21 no. 2 through SJ vol. 23 no. 1, Apr–Jun 2021 through Jan–Mar 2023

    Stata 16

      SJ vol. 19 no. 3 through SJ vol. 21 no. 1, Jul–Sep 2019 through Jan–Mar 2021

    Stata 15

      SJ vol. 17 no. 3 through SJ vol. 19 no. 2, Jul–Sep 2017 through Apr–Jun 2019

    Stata 14

      SJ vol. 15 no. 2 through SJ vol. 17 no. 2, Apr–Jun 2015 through Apr–Jun 2017

    Stata 13

      SJ vol. 13 no. 3 through SJ vol. 15 no. 1, Jul–Sep 2013 through Jan–Mar 2015

    Stata 12

      SJ vol. 11 no. 3 through SJ vol. 13 no. 2, Jul–Sep 2011 through Apr–Jun 2013

    Stata 11

      SJ vol. 9 no. 3 through SJ vol. 11 no. 2, Jul–Sep 2009 through Apr–Jun 2011

    Stata 10

      SJ vol. 7 no. 2 through SJ vol. 9 no. 2, Apr–Jun 2007 through Apr–Jun 2009

    Stata 9

      SJ vol. 5 no. 2 through SJ vol. 7 no. 1, Apr–Jun 2005 through Jan–Mar 2007

    Stata 8

      SJ vol. 3 no. 1 through SJ vol. 5 no. 1, Jan–Mar 2003 through Jan–Mar 2005

    Stata 7

      SJ vol. 1 no. 1 through SJ vol. 2 no. 4, Oct–Dec 2001 through Oct–Dec 2002
      STB-60 through STB-61, March 2001 through May 2001

    Stata 6.0

      STB-48 through STB-59, March 1999 through January 2001

    Stata 5.0

      STB-34 through STB-47, November 1996 through January 1999

    Stata 4.0

      STB-24 through STB-33, March 1995 through September 1996

    Stata 3.0

      STB-15 through STB-23, September 1993 through January 1995

    Stata 2.1

      STB-7 through STB-14, May 1992 through July 1993

    Stata 2.05

      STB-4 through STB-6, November 1991 through March 1992

    Stata 2.0

      STB-1 through STB-3, May 1991 through September 1991

5. Submission guidelines for authors


(last revised 30 November 2023)