Organizer of the event:
University of Miskolc
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
| Address: | 3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros |
| E-mail: | boldek@uni-miskolc.hu |
| Website: | https://bolcsesz.uni-miskolc.hu/uj/index.php |
The Section’s website address: https://tarstudotdk2025.uni-miskolc.hu/
Section e-mail address: tarstudotdk2025@uni-miskolc.hu
Date of the event: 24–26 April 2025.
| Chair of the Organizing Committee: | Dr Habil. Kinga Szabó-Tóth | |
| Habilitated Associate Professor, Head of the Institute | ||
| Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | ||
| E-mail: kinga.szabo.toth@uni-miskolc.hu | ||
| Secretary of the Organizing Committee | Dr Habil. Zsolt Udvarvölgyi | |
| College Professor | ||
| Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | ||
| E-mail: zsolt.udvarvolgyi@uni-miskolc.hu | ||
| Organizing Secretary: | Dr. Sándor Fekete | |
| Associate Professor | ||
| Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences | ||
| E-mail: sandor.fekete@uni-miskolc.hu | ||
| Student delegate: | Máté János Takács | |
| University Student | ||
| E-mail: | ||
| Deputy student delegate: | Zsófia Lupkovics | |
| University Student | ||
| E-mail: | ||
The National Association for Student Research (OTDT), the Social Sciences Section Committee of the OTDT and the organizing University of Miskolc, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences hereby announce the Social Sciences Section of the 37th National Student Research Conference under the conditions of the following call.
The conditions for participation and registration in the Social Sciences Section of the 37th OTDK are set out in the General Call of the 37th OTDK and in this Call of the OTDT Social Sciences Section Committee.
In the 37th National Student Research Conference (OTDK), TDK papers and authors (in the case of multi-author TDK papers, all authors) may participate that meet the conditions specified in the General Call for the 37th National Student Research Conference. Details are provided in Supplement 2 of the General Call for the 37th OTDK.
Study circles from cross-border universities and colleges can participate in the 37th OTDK under the same professional conditions as those in Hungary. Details are available in the General Call of the 37th OTDK.
The conference is also open to secondary school students in Hungary and across borders who present their research results at conferences of higher education institutions or national high school science student conferences (for details see Supplement 4 of the General Call for the 37th OTDK) and are nominated for the 37th OTDK. A detailed description of the participation of secondary school students is available in the General Call of the 37th OTDK.
A thesis produced in the course of continuous TDK activity during BA and BSc education, can be entered to the 37th OTDK, if it meets the requirements of the Call and its Supplements and has been presented at a student research conference either during the BA/BSc or the subsequent MA/MSc training and where it was delegated to the OTDK.
Supplement 1 to the Section Call includes:
During the application process, students must indicate which session would be the most suitable for presenting their TDK paper, as well as another session that could also be appropriate.
The fundamental rules for the establishment of the final session assignment are included in the General Call of the 37th OTDK. The Social Sciences Section Committee may, based on the number of TDK papers received and their topic, merge some of the planned sessions/topics or create additional ones. Therefore, a TDK paper may be assigned to a different session than the one indicated by the author(s) during registration. The condition for starting an independent session is the receipt of at least 6 TDK papers from at least 2 institutions in the given topic, on the condition that at least 5 of the 6 to 15 papers will be presented at the 37th OTDK. If the number of TDK papers to be presented in a given session is fewer than 5, that session may be merged with another session at the discretion of the Chair of the Social Sciences Section Committee.
The Social Sciences Section Committee reserves the right to reject TDK papers that do not fall within the field of the Social Sciences Section and, with appreciation for the application, to redirect them to a different section of the 37th National Student Research Conference that is more appropriate for the TDK paper’s field. The acceptance of TDK papers recommended for another section based on differing academic fields will be decided by the relevant section committee, and acceptance is not automatic.
It is the responsibility of the student to ensure the correct academic classification of their TDK paper. We advise students to make their decision regarding the selection of the scientific field with care and, if possible, to seek the opinion of their advisor as well as institutional student research leaders. For multi- and interdisciplinary papers, the academic field selected should be the one that represents the largest percentage of the topic, theoretical-literature background, and methodology in the TDK paper.
The Social Sciences Section Committee also reserves the right to reject a TDK paper without written review. Rejection without review is only possible if the TDK paper
a) does not specify or delineate the topic under investigation, or does not clearly state the research question; or
b) has an incoherent line of reasoning (e.g., the TDK paper analyses unrelated topics, or the structure does not meet general and professional communication standards); or
c) lacks coherence in its main parts (e.g., the literature review is unrelated to the specified topic or research questions; the research methodology is evidently unsuitable for answering the research questions); or
d) does not go beyond a simple summary of easily accessible literature and does not present results of an independent research.
No appeal may be made against the Section Committee’s decision to reject a TDK paper.
The Social Sciences Section Committee will make the final decision regarding sessions and the classification of TDK papers, and students will be notified of this decision through the OTDT online system by March 15, 2025, at the latest.
4.1.1. Pre-registration of TDK papers
Following the institutional student research conference, the upload of the TDK paper and selection of the section must be completed within 30 days of the email specified in point 4 of Supplement No. 2 of the General Call for the 37th OTDK. Participants who will be eligible to submit a TDK paper at a student research conference held within 30 days before the application deadline for the Social Sciences Section of the 37th OTDK must upload their TDK paper to the OTDT online system by the application deadline.
ATTENTION! Uploading TDK paper does not automatically constitute registration for the 37th OTDK. Applications must be submitted during the registration period, following the steps described in the next section.
4.1.2. The application
Registration period: 15 November 2024 – 8 January 2024 (Wednesday), 16:00 (CET)
Students’ tasks during this period are:
A common expectation for documents signed by hand or electronically:
a) A document authenticated using the identification-based document authentication service (Client Gateway AVDH, available at https://niszavdh.gov.hu/index) via the Client Gateway.
OR
b) a printed and hand-signed document may be accepted in scanned (PDF) format.
After the registration deadline for students – 8 January 2025 (Wednesday), 16:00 (CET) – it will no longer be possible for students to upload application documents in the OTDT online system.
Uploading the documents of the student research conference and sending them to the OTDT Office according to Supplement 2 of the General Call for the 37th OTDK.
A) Approval of participant registrations in the OTDT online system (all registrations are automatically approved in the system; therefore, action is only required if the institution/faculty does not wish to delegate a submitted TDK paper to the OTDK).
B) For TDK papers and authors registered in the Social Sciences Section, the summary list of approved registrations must be printed from the OTDT online system, signed by hand, scanned, and uploaded in PDF format to the OTDT online system, OR the summary list generated in Excel format from the OTDT online system must be converted to PDF, electronically signed, and then uploaded to the OTDT online system.
Common expectations for documents signed by hand or electronically:
a) A document authenticated using the identification-based document authentication service (Client Gateway AVDH, available at https://mo.hu/szuf_avdh_feltoltes) via the Client Gateway
OR
b) a printed and hand-signed document may be accepted in scanned (PDF) format.
Deadline for institutional and faculty TDT Chairs to upload documents to the OTDT online system: 13 January 2025 (Monday) 16:00 (CET). After the deadline, it is no longer possible to upload application documents to the OTDT online system.
We are unable to accept TDK papers that do not meet the requirements outlined in the Section Call; such applications will be rejected.
Applications submitted individually are invalid.
The registration fees for the 37th OTDK will be decided at a later stage, subject to the availability of funding.
A certificate of participation in the OTDK will be awarded to all authors and supervisors of each paper presented. In addition, a maximum of one-third of the papers presented may be awarded one of the first, second and third places per section, taking into account that a maximum of one application per session may be awarded first place. The Section Panel may award a special prize to TDK papers that do not achieve ranking but are judged by the Session Panel to be worthy of recognition on the basis of their professional merit, and which are judged to be immediately behind the winning applications. The authors of the winning papers and those of the papers receiving the Special Prize of the Session Panel will each receive a certificate for the ranking or the Special Session Panel Prize.
The total number of winning papers and papers awarded the Special Prize of the Session Panel may not exceed 50% of the total number of papers presented in a section. Further rules on prizes are set out in Supplement 3 of the General Call.
Submission of Pro Scientia Gold Medal application
The authors of TDK papers that have been awarded first place at the national conference may apply for the Pro Scientia Gold Medal, provided that they meet the additional criteria set out in the call. Details are provided in Supplement 5 of the 37th OTDK General Call.
We invite and welcome all interested students and their supervisors!
Budapest, 9 April 2024.
| Dr. Tamás Bartus | Dr. Kinga Dóra Szabó-Tóth |
| Full Professor | Habilitated Associate Professor |
| Chair of the OTDT Social Sciences Committee | Chair of the Organizing Committee of the 37th OTDK Social Sciences Section |
Note: If any interpretational issues arise between the Hungarian call and its English translation, the Hungarian version shall prevail.
TDK papers can be submitted in Hungarian and English. The language of the presentation is the same as that of the TDK paper.
The content of the TDK paper submitted to the 37th OTDK must be identical to the paper that was presented at the university-level student research conference and earned the qualification for the 37th OTDK.
All TDK papers submitted to the OTDK are subject to a plagiarism check evaluated by a three-member special committee set up by the Social Sciences Section Committee. The Committee reviews the results of the plagiarism check one by one. We specifically draw the attention of applicants to the fact that plagiarism is not permitted in any form; even one’s own work may not be cited without proper referencing (prohibition of self-plagiarism).
To avoid plagiarism and simultaneously ensure anonymity, we recommend the following note in the footnotes for sections identical to those in a thesis/dissertation: “’This chapter/subchapter/excerpt matches the chapter/subchapter/excerpt of the author’s thesis/dissertation submitted/defended under the title […]”
TDK papers that are proven to infringe copyright will be excluded from the 37th OTDK by the OTDT, with simultaneous notification to the nominating institution.
Rules on the use of artificial intelligence
During the writing of the TDK paper, artificial intelligence may only be used for minor tasks (e.g., literature search, exploring certain topics). The final text must not be a product of artificial intelligence. Authors must clearly indicate (in a footnote attached to the chapter or subchapter title or to the first sentence of the paragraph) which parts of the TDK paper were prepared using artificial intelligence as a preliminary step. If the Section Committee can prove that a significant portion of the paper is generated by artificial intelligence, it will be treated as a plagiarized work.
General requirements
Time for uploading: within 30 days after the acceptance of the student research conference, as described in Supplement 2, point 4 of the General Call of the 37th OTDK. Students who gain eligibility with their TDK paper at an institutional TDK conference held within 30 days before the registration deadline of the 37th OTDK Social Sciences Section must upload their TDK paper to the OTDT online system by the registration deadline at the latest.
All TDK papers must include the date (day, month, year) the paper was closed.
The TDK paper must be uploaded in PDF format. The maximum file size is 10 megabytes.
TDK papers that do not meet the minimum page limit set by the Social Sciences Section or exceed the maximum number of pages cannot be uploaded to the OTDT online system.
General formal requirements
Font: Times New Roman
Font size: 12
Line spacing: 1.5
Margin: 2.5
Section-specific requirements
Minimum number of pages of the TDK paper: 20
Maximum number of pages of the TDK paper: 60
The main content of the TDK paper — excluding the cover page, table of contents, bibliography, and appendices — should be between 20 and 40 pages.
Non-content sections may not exceed 20 pages.
It is not allowed to upload a supplementary document.
The reference format must comply with professional standards (e.g., Harvard style).
A 10-point font and single line spacing can be used in the bibliography, tables, and appendices.
Figures and tables must be numbered and referenced accordingly in the text.
The TDK paper must be submitted anonymously. Only the title, a pseudonym, and the date of completion may appear on the cover page. Both the title and pseudonym are mandatory. The pseudonym should consist of three letters and three numbers and should be randomly generated. Papers submitted without anonymity may be excluded from the competition.
The abstract should concisely summarize the main questions and/or statements of the TDK paper, the methods used to address the questions/verify the statements, the steps of the research process steps, and the results. The abstract should include a brief overview – maximum 500 characters – of the student’s own results.
The abstract must be uploaded to the OTDT online system. (The other data: names of authors, institution, supervisor, etc. are generated by the online system).
Language of the abstract: the same as the language of the TDK paper (Hungarian/English).
The abstract should be at least 1500 and no more than 2500 characters.
The submitted TDK paper will receive at least two independent written and quantified evaluations. The scoring criteria, along with the maximum points available, are as follows:
| 1. Articulation of the problem under investigation, quality of arguments supporting the relevance of the problem | 5 points |
| 2. Quality/relevance of the reviewed literature and sources, quality of the literature review | 10 points |
| 3. Execution of the research, methodological rigor, and the selection of methods | 10 points |
| 4. Soundness of conclusions drawn and originality of ideas | 10 points |
| 5. Structure and organization of the paper/argumentation, clarity of thought | 5 points |
| 6. Layout and academic style of the TDK paper | 5 points |
| 7. Contribution of the paper to solving or better understanding a scientific/practical issue | 5 points |
| Total: | 50 points |
The score awarded for the written work is the average of the scores given by the two reviewers.
If there is a difference of 15 points or more between the two scores, a third reviewer will be asked to assess the paper, and the final score will be the average of the three scores.
Only TDK papers with an average score of at least 30 points may be presented at the 37th OTDK.
At the 37th OTDK, the results of the TDK paper must also be presented orally. At the conference, participants will have 15 minutes to present their TDK paper (presentation), followed by a 10-minute discussion. The evaluation criteria for the oral presentation are as follows:
| 1. Knowledge and preparedness of the presenter regarding the topic (based on the presentation and the paper) | 30 points |
| 2. Presentation style (time management, visuals, presentation skills, style, etc.) | 10 points |
| 3. Responses to reviewers’ comments and debate skills | 10 points |
| Total: | 50 points |
The final score of the TDK paper is determined by the sum of the average of the two or more written scores and the points earned in the oral presentation.
The organizers of the Social Sciences Section will strive to have the written evaluations ready by the 10th day before the conference; however, if this is not the case, the TDK paper will not be excluded from the 37th OTDK for this reason. Evaluations will be published by the Social Sciences Section Organizing Committee of the via the OTDT online system. Both the score and the written review will be made public 10 days prior to the conference.
