Manuscript Submission Guidelines

The Journal of Political Science complies with the rules of the Committee on Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/).

Please read the guidelines, then visit our Journal platform to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts that do not comply with these guidelines may be returned. Our journal platform is open to submit articles at any time, where you can also read a review of your article.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Political Science will be reviewed. As part of the submission process, the author (s) will have to ensure that you submit your original work, that you have the rights to the work, that you submit the work for first publication in the Journal, and that it is not considered for publication elsewhere or published elsewhere. Note that Journal of Political Science is published online biannually. The journal will be published in summer (end of June) and in winter (end of December).

Open Access

Journal of Political Science is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) and will be hosted online in perpetuity. This journal is financially supported by the Yerevan State Unviersity and therefore does not charge an article processing charge for open access publication. There is no charge for submitting a paper to the journal.

Article processing charge

Every peer-reviewed research article appearing in this journal will be published open access. This means that the article is universally and freely accessible via the internet in perpetuity, in an easily readable format immediately after publication. Please note that this journal is financially supported by Yerevan State Unviersity, and therefore does not charge an article processing charge for open access publication.

Aims and scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Political Science, please ensure you have read the aims and scope. Journal of Political Science is a glocal studies journal that focuses on the South Caucasus and Black Sea region, including the Eastern Partnership space, where the lines of European and Eurasian integration processes intersect. Submissions may address domestic and international politics, economic and developmental issues sharing that are key to understanding today’s glocal society. The journal also invites submissions with an interdisciplinary approach, including history, culture, anthropology and ethnography, and which seek to contribute to the sustainable developed and resilience of the South Caucasus and Black Sea region.

Article types

 The length of a submission is limited to 7,000-10,000 words including notes and bibliography. The editors of the Journal also accept book reviews, as well as informational materials about scientific reports, which should contain about 500-1000 words.

Page margins should be as follows: 1) top 25 mm, bottom 25 mm, right 25 mm, and left 20 mm; 2) The English font for the paper should be Times New Roman; 3) The size of the font - 12; 4) The spacing between the lines - 1.5; 4) The width of charts, tables and images - up to 125 mm.

Editorial policies

1. Peer review policy

The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Journal of Political Science utilizes a double-blind peer review process in which the reviewer and authors’ names and information are withheld from the other. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief who then makes the final decision. 

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor / Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process. 

1. Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status.

1. Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Publishing policies

1. Publication ethics

Journal of Political Science is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors (https://publicationethics.org/files/International%20standards_authors_for%20website_11_Nov_2011.pdf) and view the Ethical Guidelines (https://journals.ysu.am/index.php/j-pol-sci/ethicalGuidelines).

1. Plagiarism

Journal of Political Science takes issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

Preparing your manuscript

1. Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word.

1. Article Structure

Subdivision - numbered heads

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading.

Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix,

Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Vitae

Include in the manuscript a short (maximum 100 words) biography of each author. (In separate file).

Figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Journal’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

Reference style

Journal of Political Science adheres to the Chicago reference style. Please review the guidelines on Chicago-style (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html#cg-journal) to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

Endnotes are included as part of the Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations style (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html).

Submitting your manuscript

1. How to submit your manuscript?

Journal of Political Science is a web based online submission and peer review system. Visit https://journals.ysu.am/index.php/j-pol-sci/about/submissions to login and submit your article online. 

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. 

1. Title, keywords and abstract

Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google.

1. Information required for completing your submission

Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed on the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

1. ORCID

Journal Political Science supports ORCID criteria (https://orcid.org/). ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized. 

The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

On acceptance and publication

If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Please note that this journal is financially supported by Yerevan State University, and therefore does not charge an article processing charge for open access publication

Online publication

One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time it will be completely free to view and download for all.

Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the Journal of Political Science editorial office at the following email address: ashalex@ysu.am