SYMPOSIA AND NEW IDEAS GUIDELINES

We have gathered important information on the production of PSR Symposia and New Ideas sections, as well as key facts to be aware of before and during the completion of a symposium proposal.

You can download the following documents:

or read the guidelines below.

SYMPOSIA AND NEW IDEAS PROPOSAL

Please send your proposal to psr@brunel.ac.uk

Political Studies Review (PSR) accepts proposals for a Symposia and New Ideas section on a rolling basis. The selection will be based upon which proposal in their judgement has the most potential in terms of:

a) the quality of the individual papers submitted,
b) the extent to which the proposal as a whole makes an original, coherent and creative contribution to the field,
c) the extent to which the proposal stimulates wide-ranging debate and cutting-edge discussion of a topical issue or political issue that appeals to a broad audience in the UK and internationally,
d) the extent to which the proposal seeks to demonstrate the essential utility of political science through enhancing understanding and dialogue both within the political science profession, across disciplinary subfields and outside
the scholarly community.

Proposals should be a maximum of 2000 words long in total and should include the following information:

Full contact details and a short biography of the Guest Editor(s);
• A proposed title for the Symposia and New Ideas section;
• A clear frame or rationale which includes: the theoretical framework and empirical content of the Symposia and New Ideas section; its relationship to existing literature and how the contribution will advance knowledge in politics; claim to be original in approach and/or thinking; saliency to politics field. We would expect this rationale should to be around 600-1000 words in length;
• A list of contributors: include institutional affiliations and confirmation of their commitment to the Symposia and New Ideas Section;
• Abstracts for each paper (150 words max each);
• Provide details of the origin of the proposal, e.g., a workshop, conference, research project etc.;
• The current stage of development of the proposed section. This should include clear milestones for its completion such as a) submission of first drafts by individual authors to Guest Editors; b) submission of revised papers to Guest Editors; c) submission of the draft Symposia and New Ideas section to the PSR Editorial team for collective external review purposes prior to the final decision;
• The maximum number of contributions allowed in a Symposia and New Ideas section is seven, including the introduction.


The symposium proposal will be processed via Scholar One and guest editors are expected to use the Scholar One system for the entire editorial process.

GUIDELINES FOR GUEST EDITOR/EDITORS

YOUR ROLE AS GUEST EDITOR

  • As a guest editor, you will be a part of a whole editorial process, a major aim of which is to provide an audience with a high-quality research publication. We expect you will have read and reviewed all papers at least once before they are submitted to our editorial system, ScholarOne.
  • You should use your best judgment regarding the quality and coherence of each paper and ensure that each contribution adds to the theme of the Symposia and New Ideas section in a clear and meaningful way.
  • If a paper does not meet these standards, please do not submit the paper to our editorial system.
  • We expect you to remind authors early and often of editorial deadlines and follow up if necessary.
  • PSR Lead Editors reserve the right to reject any paper submitted to the Symposia and New Ideas section should it not meet PSR quality standards or if it does not constructively contribute to the Symposia and New Ideas section as a whole.

THE STRUCTURE OF A SYMPOSIA AND NEW IDEAS SECTION

  • A Symposia and New Ideas section needs to have a minimum of three papers and an introduction to the section written by the Guest Editors that pass external peer review and are approved by the Lead Editors.
  • Should the Symposia and New Ideas section fall below the minimum of three papers, we may publish some of the papers in a regular issue of the journal.
  • The maximum number of contributions allowed in a Symposia and New Ideas section is seven, including the introduction.

GUEST EDITOR INTRODUCTION TO TO THE SYMPOSIA AND NEW IDEAS SECTION

  • The introduction to the Symposia and New Ideas section should be a presentation of the overarching theme of the Symposia and New Ideas section.
  • It should be limited to 2,500 words and should outline the theme, and make a case about the perspective adopted in the Symposia and New Ideas section to address that theme.
  • Papers in the Symposia and New Ideas section are limited to 3000 words inclusive of all notes and references.
  • The overarching aim of the introduction should be to explain how the collected papers work together to address the theme in a specific way.
  • Papers are reviewed by one external reviewer and one member of the PSR editorial team
  • Where papers constitute a short response,  the editors may decide to review internally.
  • The introduction will be reviewed by the editors.
  • The introduction should only be submitted to the Scholar One system, once all other articles in the Section have been accepted.

PUBLICATION PROCESS MILESTONES

Due dates can vary depending on the publisher’s capacity and authors’ and reviewers’ availability. The average duration of a publication process may be significantly shorter, but basing on our experience and considering tense timetables of all stakeholders involved, below we present relatively distant deadlines.

STEP 1

Guest Editors submit a detailed outline of the Symposia and New Ideas section
You can contact members of our editorial team or send it to psr@brunel.ac.uk

STEP 2

Abstracts for all papers are delivered
Due date: max. 4 weeks after submitting the outline

STEP 3

Editor comments on abstracts returned
Due date: max. 8 weeks after delivering abstracts

STEP 4

Guest Editors submit 3 suggestions for external reviewers per paper
Due date: max. 12 weeks after receiving editor comments on abstracts

STEP 5

All papers submitted to Scholar One editorial review system
Due date: max. 12 weeks after receiving editor comments on abstracts

STEP 6

A review process and author revisions
Due dates can vary depending on reviewers’ and authors’ availability. It can take up to 12 months, or longer if agreed on with authors and a guest editor.

STEP 7

A production process, including final corrections, proofs, and deciding on the final deadline of a publication.
Due dates can vary depending on the publisher’s capacity and authors’availability.

STEP 8

Online publication
An online release of the section’s articles usually takes place a few months before a printed issue’s publication

STEP 9

A printed publication

*** The whole publication process can take up to 24 months, or longer if agreed on with authors and a guest editor ***

STEP 10

Section’s promotion
We promote the Symposia and New Ideas section and separate articles throughout the whole quarter until the new issue is published. More: Impact and Promotion.

REVIEWER SELECTION PROCESS

  • As Guest Editors, we ask that you make recommendations for at least two potential reviewers for each paper.
  • These recommendations should be sent to the PSR editor or at psr@brunel.ac.uk when the paper is submitted to our editorial system.
  • This system will ensure the independent review of each paper in the Symposia and New Ideas section. Please keep in mind that suggested reviewers should have no conflicts of interest with the author(s) or with you as Guest Editors.

SCHOLAR ONE EDITORIAL REVIEW SYSTEM

  • Each paper will be submitted to our online editorial system (Scholar One).
  • Further details about the submission process can be found here.

IMPACT AND PROMOTION

  • The PSR editorial team is committed to a mission of research dissemination (more: Impact and promotion).
  • Each article will be promoted for 3 months after the section’s publication until the next issue will be published.
  • If authors want to highlight some aspects of their papers, they can also provide up to two tweet suggestions per paper.
  • If you have tweets about the Section as a whole or have pictures or special media corresponding to the section, please let us know.
  • These tweets will be used to promote the section on the PSR Twitter feed @PolStudiesRev.
  • Please also indicate if any papers would be suited to a blog format.
  • We will then invite the author(s) of that paper to write for the PSA or PSR blogs.
  • This will also help promote the section to a wider audience.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

  • Each paper has a maximum word count of 3000 (including references).
  • Papers over this limit will be asked to revise.
  • We expect proofread versions of each paper before they are submitted to our editorial system for external review.

EXAMPLES OF PAPERS, THAT ARE A PART OF THE SYMPOSIA AND NEW IDEAS SECTION