Submissions

Articles

Section default policy

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

The Editorial Board of the journal is committed to the standards required for an ethical publication process at all stages, with the following being expected from editors, peer-reviewers, and authors:

Authors

*The editors require the authors to provide a submission statement of originality regarding the text, as well as an acknowledgement of any form of funding received for the research in the text

*The authors will attest that the manuscript is not submitted, undergoing review, or published elsewhere.

*Manuscripts must meet the formal requirements found in the Submission Guidelines or they will not be accepted.

Reviewers

*The reviewer will inform the Editors in the case of any conflict of interests or if the evaluation of the manuscript is not possible for any other reason.

*The reviewer will follow the standardized form provided by the Editors.

Editors

*Every manuscript submitted to the journal will be subjected to an evaluation by the Editors, followed by a double-blind evaluation undertaken by two external referees.

*The Editors will not accept any sort of unethical behaviour and all acts suspected of malpractice will be thoroughly investigated.

*The Editors will correct any proven major inaccuracy or misleading statement that has been published in the journal.

*Any articles which are proven to be plagiarised will be retracted. The journal uses the Turnitin platform for detecting textual similarities.

Abstracting and Indexing

Political Studies Forum is indexed in the following international databases: CEEOL DOAJ HEINONLINE INDEX COPERNICUS ERIH PLUS

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Preparation of the Manuscript

Manuscripts must be written in the Microsoft Word program, using the 12-point Times New Roman font, with a 1,5 line spacing and without leaving spaces between paragraphs. Research articles must be between 5.000 and 8.000 words in length. Essays, book reviews and statements will be prepared taking a total of 1.000 to 3.000 words into account. Please find a sample of the text structure in the attachment. Authors are invited to use this model when writing their research articles. Political Studies Forum uses the Harvard reference guide, which can be found here. 

Manuscripts must be submitted to politicalstudiesforum@e-uvt.ro and must contain the following:

■ An anonymised manuscript (including the title and abstract), which should not contain any sort of information identifying the author. The abstract must be between 200-250 words, and include five keywords. The abstract must be written in a single paragraph and briefly describe the research question, the theoretical approach, and the findings of the manuscript.

■ A title page containing the complete title of the manuscript, as well as the names and full professional affiliation of the authors, including a weblink to their institution, their contact details, and a short CV of maximum 250 words.

Double-blind peer-review process

Manuscripts are initially evaluated by the editors for an assessment with respect to meeting the general criteria and profile of the journal. If the article is not in line with the journal’s requirements, it may be desk-rejected and the authors advised to submit it to a more suitable publication. 

The requirements which the authors must consider are the following:

■ Does the manuscript follow a proper structural scheme (Introduction, Theory, Methods, Findings, Discussions/Conclusion), needed for a comprehensive and professional research work?

■ Does the manuscript bring a substantial contribution to knowledge in the field of Central and East European Studies and/or does it fit the broader thematic priorities of the journal?

■ Is the theoretical perspective sufficiently anchored in the current state of the literature and does the manuscript provide alternative arguments in a critical and innovative manner?

■ Are the research methods used by the authors in collecting and analysing their data sufficiently and properly explained?

■ Are there any limitations, identified in regard to the provided information and/or the methodology, exposed in the manuscript?

■ Are the conclusions sufficiently clear and detailed – in order to offer a theoretical and empirical perspective on the article`s implications for further research?

If the submission passes this first stage of evaluation, it will be handled by an editor who organizes the peer-review process. Papers are anonymised before sending them to at two independent reviewers, coming from different academic institutions from those belonging to the authors. They will be asked to evaluate the paper based on its quality with respect to: structure, content, theoretical arguments, methodology, trustworthiness and applicability of findings, as well as to the added value provided to the current state of research.

The decision on whether the manuscript will be peer-reviewed will be communicated to the authors within two weeks from submission. Please allow an additional time of eight to ten weeks (depending on the reviewers` availability) for the decision concerning the publication: acceptance / acceptance conditioned by minor or major revisions / invitation to submit the article elsewhere / rejection.

The Editors are responsible for the final decision on publishing the manuscript. The Editors may also suggest changes in the manuscript in the interests of clarity, which will be made after consultation with the authors. The authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript is in final form.

For any additional information or clarifications, please contact the editorial team of Political Studies Forum, at politicalstudiesforum@e-uvt.ro

INITIAL SCREENING AND PEER-REVIEW PROCESS

Manuscripts are initially evaluated by the editors for an assessment with respect to meeting the general criteria and profile of the journal. If the article is not in line with the journal’s requirements, it may be desk-rejected and the authors advised to submit it to a more suitable publication. 

The requirements which the authors must consider are the following:

■ Does the manuscript follow a proper structural scheme (Introduction, Theory, Methods, Findings, Discussions/Conclusion), needed for a comprehensive and professional research work?

■ Does the manuscript bring a substantial contribution to knowledge in the field of Central and East European Studies and/or does it fit the broader thematic priorities of the journal?

■ Is the theoretical perspective sufficiently anchored in the current state of the literature and does the manuscript provide alternative arguments in a critical and innovative manner?

■ Are the research methods used by the authors in collecting and analysing their data sufficiently and properly explained?

■ Are there any limitations, identified in regard to the provided information and/or the methodology, exposed in the manuscript?

■ Are the conclusions sufficiently clear and detailed – in order to offer a theoretical and empirical perspective on the article`s implications for further research?

If the submission passes this first stage of evaluation, it will be handled by an editor who organizes the peer-review process. Papers are anonymised before sending them to at two independent reviewers, coming from different academic institutions from those belonging to the authors. They will be asked to evaluate the paper based on its quality with respect to: structure, content, theoretical arguments, methodology, trustworthiness and applicability of findings, as well as to the added value provided to the current state of research.

The decision on whether the manuscript will be peer-reviewed will be communicated to the authors within two weeks from submission. Please allow an additional time of eight to ten weeks (depending on the reviewers` availability) for the decision concerning the publication: acceptance / acceptance conditioned by minor or major revisions / invitation to submit the article elsewhere / rejection.

The Editors are responsible for the final decision on publishing the manuscript. The Editors may also suggest changes in the manuscript in the interests of clarity, which will be made after consultation with the authors. The authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript is in final form.

For any additional information or clarifications, please contact the editorial team of Political Studies Forum, at politicalstudiesforum@e-uvt.ro