• Home
    • About
      • About the Journal
      • Editorial Team
      • Editorial Policies
      • Submissions
    • Contact
    • Content
      • Articles
      • Issue Archive
    • Research Integrity
    • Get Involved
    \

    Log in

    Don't have an account? Register Here
    Log in With ORCiD

    -------------- OR --------------
    You can reset your password here
    Register

    Quick links

    • Submitting an Article Online
    • Author Guidelines
    • Submission Preparation Checklist
    • Copyright Notice
    • Privacy Statement
    • Publication Fees

    Submissions

    Submitting an Article Online

    Sorry, submissions are temporarily disabled for this journal

    Author Guidelines

    Article types | Structure | Permissions |Language & text | Data & Symbols | Figures & Tables | References

    Submissions should be made electronically through this website. Once submitted, the author can track the submission and communicate with the editors via the online journal management system.

    Please ensure that you consider the following guidelines when preparing your manuscript. Failure to do so may delay processing your submission.

    Article types

    • Research articles must describe the outcomes and application of unpublished original research. These should make a substantial contribution to knowledge and understanding in the subject matter and should be supported by relevant figures and tabulated data. Research articles should be no more than 8,000 words in length.
    • Methods articles should outline and test new techniques and discuss potential applications and significance of the technique. In addition, articles that critique or modify extant methodologies and approaches are welcome. Authors should provide a detailed summary of the protocol followed and establish replicability within the body of the paper. Methods articles should be no longer than 4,000 words in length.
    • Commentaries should reflect upon or critique a specific "happening" such as a release of a major study or other notable occurrence related to journal focus. Authors interested in submitting a commentary piece should discuss the content with the editor before submitting a manuscript. Commentary articles should be no longer than 3,000 words in length.

    All word limits include referencing and citation.

     

    Structure

    Title page
    The names of all authors, affiliations, contact details, biography (optional) and the corresponding author details must be completed online as part of the submission process. All authors must fit within the journal's definition of an author, available here.

    Author names should include a forename and a surname. Forenames cannot include only initials.

    • J. Bloggs is not preferred. The full name, Joe Bloggs is required (this will enhance the 'findability' of your publication).

    The affiliation should ideally include ‘Department, Institution, City, Country’. However only the Institution and Country are mandatory.

    Abstract
    Research articles must have the main text prefaced by an abstract of no more than 250 words summarising the main arguments and conclusions of the article. This must have the heading ‘Abstract’ and be easily identified from the start of the main text.

    A list of up to six key words may be placed below the abstract (optional).

    The Abstract and Keywords should also be added to the metadata when making the initial online submission.

    Main text
    The body of the submission should be structured in a logical and easy to follow manner. A clear introduction section should be given that allows non-specialists in the subject an understanding of the publication and a background of the issue(s) involved. Methods, results, discussion and conclusion sections may then follow to clearly detail the information and research presented.

    Up to three level headings may be present and must be clearly identifiable using different font sizes, bold or italics. We suggest using Headings 1, 2 and 3 in MS-Word’s ‘Style’ section.

    Data Accessibility
    If data, structured methods or code used in the research project have been made openly available, a statement should be added to inform the reader how/where to access these files. This should include the repository location and the DOI linking to it. Read our reproducibility guide for more information on best practice and maximising the impact of your open data.

    If it is not possible to use a repository then the journal can host supplementary files. Such files must be listed in the Data Accessibility section, with a corresponding number, title and optional description. Ideally, the supplementary files are also cited in the main text.

    e.g. Supplementary file 1: Appendix. Scientific data related to the experiments.

    Supplementary files will not be typeset so they must be provided in their final form and must be submitted for review during the original submission process. They will be assigned a DOI and linked to from the publication by the publisher.

    NOTE: If data used in the research project has not been made available, a statement confirming this should be added, along with reasoning why.

    The journal's data policy is available on the Editorial Policies page.

    Ethics and consent (if applicable)
    Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Where applicable, studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee and the authors should include a statement within the article text detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and reference number of the approval. The identity of the research subject(s) should be anonymised whenever possible. For research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardian) and added to this statement. If a study involving human subjects/tissue/data was exempt from requiring ethical approval, a confirmation statement from the relevant body should be included within the submission.

    Experiments using animals must follow national standards of care. For further information, click here.

    Acknowledgements (optional)
    Any acknowledgements must be headed and in a separate paragraph, placed after the main text but before the reference list.

    Funding Information (if applicable)
    Should the research have received a funding grant then the grant provider and grant number should be detailed. 

    Competing interests
    If any of the authors have any competing interests then these must be declared. A short paragraph should be placed before the references. Guidelines for competing interests can be found here. If there are no competing interests to declare then the following statement should be present: The author(s) has/have no competing interests to declare.

    Authors' contributions
    A sentence or a short paragraph detailing the roles that each author held to contribute to the authorship of the submission. Individuals listed must fit within the definition of an author, as per our authorship guidelines.

    References
    All references cited within the submission must be listed at the end of the main text file.

     

    Permissions

    The author is responsible for obtaining all permissions required prior to submission of the manuscript. Permission and owner details should be mentioned for all third-party content included in the submission or used in the research.

    If a method or tool is introduced in the study, including software, questionnaires, and scales, the license this is available under and any requirement for permission for use should be stated. If an existing method or tool is used in the research, it is the author's responsibility to check the license and obtain the necessary permissions. Statements confirming that permission was granted should be included in the Materials and Methods section.

     

    Language & Text

    Capitalisation
    For the submission title:

    Capitalise all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs and subordinate conjunctions (i.e. as, because, although). Use lowercase for all articles, coordinate conjunctions and prepositions.

    • Slip-Sliding on a Yellow Brick Road: Stabilization Efforts in Afghanistan

    Headings within the main text:

    First level headings in the text should follow the same rule as the main title.

    For lower-level subheadings, only capitalise first letter and proper nouns.

    Headings should be under 75 characters.

    Spelling
    Submissions must be made in English. Authors are welcome to use American or British spellings as long as they are used consistently throughout the whole of the submission.

    • Colour (UK) vs. Color (US)

    When referring to proper nouns and normal institutional titles, the official, original spelling must be used.

    • World Health Organization, not World Health Organisation

    Grammar
    American or English grammar rules may be used as long as they are used consistently and match the spelling format (see above). For instance, you may use a serial comma or not.

    • red, white, and blue OR red, white and blue

    Font
    The font used should be commonly available and in an easily readable size. This may be changed during the typesetting process.

    Underlined text should be avoided whenever possible.

    Bold or italicised text to emphasise a point are permitted, although should be restricted to minimal occurrences to maximise their efficiency.

    Lists
    Use bullet points to denote a list without hierarchy or order of value. If the list indicates a specific sequence then a numbered list must be used.

    Lists should be used sparingly to maximise their impact.

    Quotation marks
    Use single quotation marks except for quotes within another speech, in which case double quotation marks are used.

    Quotations that are longer than three lines in length must be in an indented paragraph separate from the main text.

    The standard, non-italicised font must be used for all quotes.

    It must be clear from the text and/or citation where the quote is sourced. If quoting from material that is under copyright then permission will need to be obtained from the copyright holder.

    Acronyms & Abbreviations
    With abbreviations, the crucial goal is to ensure that the reader – particularly one who may not be fully familiar with the topic or context being addressed – is able to follow along. Spell out almost all acronyms on first use, indicating the acronym in parentheses immediately thereafter. Use the acronym for all subsequent references.

    • Research completed by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows …

    A number of abbreviations are so common that they do not require the full text on the first instance. Examples of these can be found here.

    Abbreviations should usually be in capital letters without full stops.

    • USA, not U.S.A

    Common examples from Latin origin do not follow this rule and should be lower case and can include full stops.

    • e.g., i.e., etc.

    Use of footnotes
    Use footnotes rather than endnotes (we refer to these as ‘Notes’ in the online publication). 

     

    Data & Symbols

    Symbols
    Symbols are permitted within the main text and datasets as long as they are commonly in use or have explanatory definition on their first usage.

    Hyphenation, em and en dashes
    There is no set rule on the use of hyphenation between words, as long as they are consistently used.

    Em dashes should be used sparingly. If they are present, they should denote emphasis, change of thought or interruption to the main sentence and can replace commas, parentheses, colons or semicolons.

    • The president’s niece—daughter of his younger brother—caused a media scandal when…

    En dashes can be used to replace ‘to’ when indicating a range. No space should surround the dash.

    • 10-25 years
    • pp. 10-65

    Numbers
    For numbers zero to nine please spell the whole words. Please use figures for numbers 10 or higher.

    We are happy for authors to use either words or figures to represent large whole figures (i.e. one million or 1,000,000) as long as the usage is consistent throughout the text.

    If the sentence includes a series of numbers then figures must be used in each instance.

    • Artefacts were found at depths of 5, 9, and 29 cm.

    If the number appears as part of a dataset, in conjunction with a symbol or as part of a table then the figure must be used.

    • This study confirmed that 5% of…

    If a sentence starts with a number it must be spelt, or the sentence should be re-written so that it no longer starts with the number.

    • Fifteen examples were found to exist…
    • The result showed that 15 examples existed…

    Do not use a comma for a decimal place.

    • 2.43 NOT 2,43

    Numbers that are less than zero must have ‘0’ precede the decimal point.

    • 0.24 NOT .24

    Units of measurement
    Symbols following a figure to denote a unit of measurement must be taken from the latest SI brochure. See http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf for the full brochure.

    Formula
    Formulae must be proofed carefully by the author. Editors will not edit formulae. If special software has been used to create formulae, the way it is laid out is the way they will appear in the publication.

     

    Figures & Tables

    Figures
    Figures, including graphs and diagrams, must be professionally and clearly presented. If a figure is not easy to understand or does not appear to be of a suitable quality, the editor may ask to re-render or omit it.

    All figures must be cited within the main text, in consecutive order using Arabic numerals (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).

    Each figure must have an accompanying descriptive main title. This should clearly and concisely summarise the content and/or use of the figure image. A short additional figure legend is optional to offer a further description.

    • Figure 1: 1685 map of London.
    • Figure 1: 1685 map of London. Note the addition of St Paul’s Cathedral, absent from earlier maps.

    Figure titles and legends should be placed within the text document, either after the paragraph of their first citation, or as a list after the references.

    The source of the image should be included, along with any relevant copyright information and a statement of authorisation (if needed).

    • Figure 1: Firemen try to free workers buried under piles of concrete and metal girders. Photo: Claude-Michel Masson. Reproduced with permission of the photographer.

    If your figure file includes text then please present the font as Ariel, Helvetica, or Verdana. This will mean that it matches the typeset text.

    NOTE: All figures must be uploaded separately as supplementary files during the submission process, if possible in colour and at a resolution of at least 300dpi. Each file should not be more than 20MB. Standard formats accepted are: JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, EPS. For line drawings, please provide the original vector file (e.g. .ai, or .eps).

    Tables
    Tables must be created using a word processor's table function, not tabbed text.

    Tables should be included in the manuscript. The final layout will place the tables as close to their first citation as possible.

    All tables must be cited within the main text, and numbered with Arabic numerals in consecutive order (e.g. Table 1, Table 2, etc.).

    Each table must have an accompanying descriptive title. This should clearly and concisely summarise the content and/or use of the table. A short additional table legend is optional to offer a further description of the table. The table title and legend should be placed above the table.

    Tables should not include:

    • Rotated text
    • Colour to denote meaning (it will not display the same on all devices)
    • Images
    • Vertical or diagonal lines
    • Multiple parts (e.g. ‘Table 1a’ and ‘Table 1b’). These should either be merged into one table, or separated into ‘Table 1’ and ‘Table 2’.

    NOTE: If there are more columns than can fit on a single page, then the table will be placed horizontally on the page. If it still can't fit horizontally on a page, the table will be broken into two.

     

    References

    This journal uses the Chicago ‘author-year’ reference system – see below for examples of how to format (for more information, visit The Chicago Manual of Style Online):

    • Books: 

    Last name, First name. Year. Title. Place of publication: Publisher. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxx 
    Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin. Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. 2007. The War: An Intimate History, 1941–1945. New York: Knopf. 

    • Chapters within books: 

    Last name, First name. Year. “Chapter title.” In Book title, edited by Editor name, Page numbers, Place of publication: Publisher. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxx 
    Kelly, John D. 2010. “Seeing Red: Mao Fetishism, Pax Americana, and the Moral Economy of War.” In Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, edited by John D. Kelly, Beatrice Jauregui, Sean T. Mitchell, and Jeremy Walton, 67–83. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 

    • Journal articles: 

    Last name, First name. Year. “Article title.” Journal title Volume(issue): Page numbers. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxx 
    Kossinets, Gueorgi, and Duncan J. Watts. 2009. “Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social Network.” American Journal of Sociology 115:405–50. Accessed February 28, 2010. doi:10.1086/599247. 

    • Newspaper articles (online): 

    Last name, First name. Year. “Article title.” Newspaper title, Month Date. Accessed Month Date Year. URL. 
    Stolberg, Sheryl Gay, and Robert Pear. 2010. “Wary Centrists Posing Challenge in Health Care Vote.” New York Times, February 27. Accessed February 28, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/politics/28health.html. 

    • Newspaper articles (print): 

    Last name, First name. Year. “Article title.” Newspaper title, Month Date. 
    Mendelsohn, Daniel. 2010. “But Enough about Me.” New Yorker, January 25. 

    • Conference papers: 

    Last name, First name. Year. “Title.” Paper presented at Conference name, Conference location, Month Date. 
    Adelman, Rachel. 2009. “ ‘Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On’: God’s Footstool in the Aramaic Targumim and Midrashic Tradition.” Paper presented at the annual meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 21–24. 

    • Organisational publications/Grey literature: 

    Organisation. Year. “Title.” Series/publication number. Retrieved from (if online). 
    World Bank. 2008. “Textbooks and school library provision in secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa.” World Bank Working Paper No. 126. Africa Human Development Series. Retrieved from EBL database. 

    • Theses and dissertations: 

    Last name, First name. Year. “Title.” PhD diss., University name. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxx 
    Choi, Mihwa. 2008. “Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty.” PhD diss., University of Chicago. 

    • Websites: 

    Author/Organisation. Year. “Title.” Accessed Month Date. URL 
    McDonald’s Corporation. 2008. “McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts.” Accessed July 19. http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.

    Submission Preparation Checklist

    As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

    1. The submission has not been previously published, in part or in whole, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
    2. All third-party-owned materials used have been identified with appropriate credit lines, and permission has been obtained from the copyright holder for all formats of the journal. Authors acknowledge their responsibility to gain all permissions prior to submission.
    3. All authors qualify as authors, as defined in the authorship guidelines, and have given permission to be listed on the submitted paper.
    4. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines. Every effort has been made to ensure that the submission is ready for peer review according to the journal's review policy (following the instructions to ensure blind peer review).
    5. Tables are all cited in the main text and are included within the text document.
    6. Figures are all cited in the main text and are uploaded as supplementary files. Figures/images have a resolution of at least 150dpi (300dpi or above preferred). The files are in one of the following formats: JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, EPS (to maximise quality, the original source file is preferred).

    Copyright Notice

    Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms. If a submission is rejected or withdrawn prior to publication, all rights return to the author(s):

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
    2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
    3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

    Submitting to the journal implicitly confirms that all named authors and rights holders have agreed to the above terms of publication. It is the submitting author's responsibility to ensure all authors and relevant institutional bodies have given their agreement at the point of submission.

    Note: some institutions require authors to seek written approval in relation to the terms of publication. Should this be required, authors can request a separate licence agreement document from the editorial team (e.g. authors who are Crown employees).

    Privacy Statement

    The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. The full privacy policy can be viewed here.

    Publication Fees

    Thanks to the support of the London School of Economics there is no charge for publication in this journal.

    • E-ISSN: 2634-1506
    • Published by Houghton St Press
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • LSE Library
      Accessibility Statement | This website is run by LSE Press and is part of the Ubiquity Partner Network.