Journal information | British Journal of Political Science

Contributions should be typed in double spacing, and should have a left-hand margin of at least 25mm/1 inch and a right hand margin of at least 40mm/1.5 inches. Typesize should be no smaller than 12 point. Contributors are asked to retain an exact replica themselves for use in answering copy-editor’s enquiries and correcting proofs. Authors should not attempt to hard code typesetting such as page breaks and white space in the submitted manuscript.

Accepted manuscripts must be submitted in MS Word or LaTeX. Authors using LaTeX must supply the source file as well as all additional input files required to produce the final document, such as images etc. LaTeX documents should use standard fonts and avoid using specialized packages as far as possible. (Note the Footnotes should be double-spaced using type no smaller than 10 point. They should be numbered consecutively.

References should appear in the main text itself. Each direct quotation must be accompanied by a reference containing a page number. References in should be made in the following manner:

Text:

Elster criticizes the reliance of functionalism in common Marxist explanations of technical change, and proposes alternative foundations based on intentional explanations (Elster 1983, 174). Others have argued …

Multiple references should be ordered alphabetically and separated by semicolons, i.e.

Multiple references to the same author in the same year should be separated by a letter in alphabetical order, by their order of appearance in the list of references, i.e.

When there are three authors or more, ‘et al.’ is used in the in text citation and in the references list.

The original year of publication should be inserted in brackets for items where publication year differs substantially from the original year of publication, e.g. (Marx and Engels 2004[1848]).

Items that have no date identified can be listed as follows: (Marshall, Jaggers and Gurr ND).

References

Please ensure that your references are complete, and that all of the references in the reference list are cited in the text. All items should be listed in alphabetical order in the reference list. Items by the same author should be listed in chronological order. Wherever possible, please prepare your references using the samples below. For more than 3 authors, please cite the first author and et al.

Reference to an article

Hechter M (1995) Reflections on historical prophecy in the social sciences. American Journal of Sociology 100, 1520–1527.

References to an article in a journal that has no paper version should include the issue number as well as the volume number.

Reference to an article published online, not yet published in an issue

Dzutsati V (2021) Secessionist conflict as diversion from inequality: The missing link between grievance and repression. Conflict Management and Peace Science, DOI: xxxxxx, accessed on 15 June 2022.

Reference to a book

Elster J (1983) Explaining Technical Change: A Case Study in the Philosophy of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book

Simmons BA, Dobbin F and Garrett G (2008) The diffusion of liberalization. In Simmons BA, Dobbin F and Garrett G (eds), The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 59–80.

Reference to an edited book

Andreas P and Greenhill KM (eds) (2010) Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Reference to an electronic publication

Please indicate the URL of the webpage, date when item was accessed, plus any identifying information

Marshall MG, Jaggers K and Gurr TR (2010) Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2010. Available from http://www.systemicpeace.org/p..., accessed 18 May 2012.

Reference to an unpublished item

Aachen CH (2000). Why Lagged Dependent Variables Can Suppress the Explanatory Power of Other Independent Variables. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Political Methodology Society, Los Angeles, CA, 20–22 July.

Tables and figures: Each table and figure should be placed in the text close to where discussed (i.e., not on separate sheets at the end).

Tables should be clearly laid out and designed to fit into a space of 190 x 120mm. Tables should preferably be designed using the table editor tool in MS Word (or typeset in LaTeX), not by manually inserting spaces or tabulators. Vertical lines between columns should be omitted, and horizontal lines limited to the top and bottom of the table, with an additional one below the column headings (see published articles for examples). Totals and percentages should be labelled, and the units should be explicitly identified. See published examples.

Authors should avoid using figures with an excessive number of digits and rescale variables so that all figures in a table can be displayed with the same number of digits after decimal points, ideally nor more than 3. Use initial zeros, i.e., 0.300 rather than .300. Authors who wish to flag ‘statistically significant’ statistics using asterisks should avoid using excessive numbers of asterisks and consider alternative symbols such as a dagger if they wish to indicate a large number of significance levels.

Figures should not contain more detail than can be clearly shown in a space of 200 x 133mm and should be computer drawn. The resolution of images should be at least 300 dpi. Authors should avoid figures using shaded outer margins and figures using colours other than greyscale. Although it is possible to publish figures in colour where this is required, this must be agreed in advance and the authors may have to cover the additional costs of colour printing. Authors should ensure that they have permission to reproduce any copyrighted material.

Data citation

The British Journal of Political Science is a signatory of the Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT) statement, promoting data sharing and research transparency in political science.

The BJPolS Dataverse site is dedicated to the replication data for the articles the Journal publishes. Authors of accepted articles need to deposit their data and any additional materials required to replicate an article's empirical analyses on this site, which can be found here: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/BJPolS

(A step by step guide to uploading the data to the site can be found here)

Any additional materials that are non-essential to the replication of the published results, but which could be of interest to readers, should be published as supplementary material in on-line appendices to be hosted at Cambridge Core.

We acknowledge that not all articles might be straightforwardly covered by DA-RT, which is why the Journal is equally sensitive to the needs of authors working in nonquantitative traditions as well as those authors that use quantitative data, but where the ability to share data is restricted because of sensitive human subject constraints. For that reason, the Journal will take a flexible approach to data sharing and transparency where these constraints exist. Having built a strong reputation over 40 years for taking a pluralistic view on both theoretical viewpoints as well as methodological approaches, we continue to encourage researchers of all traditions to submit their work to the Journal.

Upon uploading replication data to the BJPolS Dataverse, the author will receive the citation information for the data – including a DOI:

Gandrud C (2017) Replication Data for: The Measurement of Real-Time Perceptions of Financial Stress: Implications for Political Science. doi:10.7910/DVN/GSJO9Q, Harvard Dataverse, DRAFT VERSION

This should be placed in the article’s reference list and ordered alphabetically. Please replace the DRAFT VERSION with V1 and include the universal numerical footprint (UNF) if one has been provided:

Gandrud C (2017) Replication Data for: The Measurement of Real-Time Perceptions of Financial Stress: Implications for Political Science”. doi:10.7910/DVN/GSJO9Q, Harvard Dataverse, V1. UNF:6:1TrYcMQn4I4uDbBrh99dVA==

The data should also be cited in a separate section headed ‘Supplementary Material’ before the reference list.

A further separate section before the reference list headed ‘Funding’ should list any acknowledgements of research support / assistance, e.g. 'Support for this research was provided by the Economic and Social Research Council (Award no. ***). Replication data is available at Gandrud 2017.’

Quotations of more than 50 words should be indented in the typescript and typed in double line spacing. Use single inverted commas for shorter quotations. Square brackets should be used to enclose interpolations, and three dots to indicate omissions. Make sure there are no errors in the spelling, punctuation and capitalization of quotations.

Spelling: English or American is permitted, so long as each article employs one or the other consistently throughout. In general use the spelling –ize (not –ise), connection, judgement, dispatch, co-operation, biased, focused. Capitals: Use as few as possible and use them consistently. Italics should be used for foreign words other than proper names. Italics for emphasis are discouraged. Abbreviations: Omit full stops in abbreviations consisting of capital letters (MP, USA). Use capitals for acronyms such as NATO and UNESCO. Dates should be in the form 1 May 1968, 1970s (no apostrophe), the twentieth century. Numbers up to 100 should normally be spelt out, except for percentages, exact quantities, or a series of numbers. Use ‘per cent’ (not %) except in tables. Include a comma in numbers over 999. The second of a pair of numbers should be abbreviated (i.e. 175–6 not 175–176), except for numbers 11–19 which retain the 1.

We expect authors to use gender-neutral language.

Proofs are supplied only to ensure that the printed version coincides with the manuscript accepted. Rewriting an article in proof is not allowed. You will be sent a copy-edited version as an attachment, along with any questions that have arisen, before the article goes to the printer. Please make sure that your manuscript is in a final form at this stage.