Aims and scope
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Testimonials
Contact us

Aims and scope

Global Political Economy is the much-anticipated journal for the discipline of global political economy, with an explicit intention of cross-disciplinarity, spanning international relations, sociology, feminism and gender studies, political science, business studies, science and technology studies, communications, economics, geography, and more, encouraging debates and discussions across these arenas.  

Offering a critical platform for research that interrogates prevailing institutions, norms and patterns of authority and explanatory categories, authors will engage with and drive debates around emancipatory discourses and praxis. Its timing is exceptional. After over a decade of discussions between colleagues across the globe, the exigencies of the contemporary moment of a global pandemic and impending recession make this the opportune moment to begin this new journal.  

Global Political Economy will publish work that discusses issues which concern people whether inside the academy or outside of it, looking at the global political economy and its systemic contradictions, constant crises and upheaval. With the following list of topics, and beyond, as objects of inquiry to be critiqued and debated, Global Political Economy aims to gain fresh insights into complex and often unseen modes, forms and operations of global power relations, social forces and historical change.  

We are committed to encouraging submissions from early career researchers and scholars based in non-Western institutions (where we will consider translations in some instances). We are committed to diversity and representation of authors with regards to sex, race and class, and we hold the same mandate within our referencing policy and reviewer selection. 

Global Political Economy's editors will lead on calls for contributions in specific areas within emerging, reinvigorated, or gaps in global political economy research, such as in feminism, technology studies and public health studies. We also welcome Special Issue suggestions.  

The journal addresses debates and critiques in and of:

• Global relations of (re)production and exploitation
• Domination, disruption, resistance, emancipation
• State, economy, society, nature
• Sex and gender
• Social reproduction
• Global health, public services
• Supply and value chains, production networks
• Technologies of power and surveillance
• Knowledge production
• Digitalisation, platform economy
• Work, labour, industrial relations
• Critical legal and policy studies
• Class analysis, class struggle
• Race and othering
• Statelessness, migration
• Historical materialism
• Development, de-development
• Colonialism, decolonialism, imperialism
• Energy and food
• Environment, ecology
• Slow growth, green capitalism, de-growth
• Education, pedagogy
• Finance, financialisation
• Spatial scales, the production of space
• Regionalisation, triadisation
• Historical sociology
• The rise of non-triad regions
• Varieties of capitalism
• Globalisation, global governance
• Geopolitics, geo-economic rivalry

GPE works closely with the Critical Political Economy Research Network (CPERN) for the purpose of mutual support.

Please consider submitting your original manuscript to Global Political Economy.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion statement outlines the ways in which we seek to ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion are integral to all aspects of our publishing, and how we might encourage and drive positive change. 

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Testimonials 

“This journal is the central milestone in the coming of age of critical political economy, and its agenda of elucidating the theme of emancipatory praxis.” 

Angela Wigger, Associate Professor Global Political Economy, Radboud University, The Netherlands

“This much-needed innovative, inclusive and interdisciplinary journal fills an important gap in academic journals, dedicated to global political economy.  I have no doubt that the GPE journal will make lasting and vital impacts on the debates." 

Susanne Soederberg, Professor of Global Political Economy, Queen’s University, Canada

Contact us

Editorial office

GPE.editorial@gmail.com

Open access, subscriptions and free trials

Bristol University Press: bup-journals@bristol.ac.uk

Call for special issue proposals 

Proposals are invited on a rolling basis, in the format described below, for consideration by the Editors and the Associate Board.

What are we looking for?

The aim of a Special Issue is to bring together a set of cutting-edge research articles that develop a specific debate or topic on the theme relevant to the remit of the Global Political Economy. This may include articles presenting theoretical, conceptual and/or empirical material. A Special Issue must be integrated around a common theme, and must take forward scholarly debate. It may be internationally comparative or may focus on one specific region of the world, and/or focus on specific themes and debates.

Topics that we would like to consider in future Special Issues are:

• Global relations of (re)production and exploitation
• Domination, disruption, resistance, emancipation
• State, economy, society, nature
• Sex and gender
• Social reproduction
• Global health, public services
• Supply and value chains, production networks
• Technologies of power and surveillance
• Knowledge production
• Digitalisation, platform economy
• Work, labour, industrial relations
• Critical legal and policy studies
• Class analysis, class struggle
• Race and othering
• Statelessness, migration
• Historical materialism
• Development, de-development
• Colonialism, decolonialism, imperialism
• Political economy of circular economy
• Energy and food
• Environment, ecology
• Slow growth, green capitalism, de-growth
• Education, pedagogy
• Finance, financialisation
• Spatial scales, the production of space
• Regionalisation, triadisation
• Historical sociology
• The rise of non-triad regions
• Varieties of capitalism
• Globalisation, global governance
• Geopolitics, geo-economic rivalry

How to present a Special Issue proposal for the Global Political Economy journal

A Special Issue proposal must include the following sections:

1. Title: This should clearly reflect the contribution of the proposed Special Issue.
2. Details of guest editor(s): Provide contact details, institutional affiliations, and a short academic profile (of up to 150 words) for each proposed guest editor.
3. Description: In no more than 1,000 words, outline the intellectual focus of the proposed Special Issue; how its proposed content engages with significant issues; and the contribution it will make to the field of global political economy.
4. Draft contents page: This should set out the structure of the Special Issue, listing the titles and authors of each proposed article and stating clearly whether named contributors are already confirmed or are speculative.
5. Article abstracts: A 150-word abstract for each article to be included in the collection must be provided. (Special Issues should include an editor’s or editors’ introduction of approximately 6,000-8,000 words and 6-8 articles, each of approx. 7,000 - 8,000 words.)
6. Timetable statement: Please include your timetable for initial submission, review, resubmission, copy-editing, etc. This may also include ideas for reviewers or meetings. As a guide, we would expect initial submission of full-length articles in September 2022 to be ready for publication in November 2023.
7. Maximising impact: Please consider how you intend to promote and disseminate the Special Issue (blogs, events, conferences, other social media, etc.). Useful tips are here.

How will proposals be assessed?

GPE Editors and Associate Board will review all proposals received and make decisions based on the following criteria:

1. Global appeal
2. Intellectual significance, originality and rigour. The Global Political Economy journal is committed to fostering, developing and showcasing critical, emancipatory debates from consciously cross-disciplinary angles and approaches. Originality of ideas and key interventions into existing literature are both important features for a Special Issue and should be outlined in proposals.
3. Profile of contributors. The Global Political Economy journal is committed to supporting scholars from all backgrounds, disciplines, and parts of the world. Proposals which include a mix of established scholars and ‘rising stars’, and those which are internationally inclusive are particularly welcome. Furthermore, proposals will need to demonstrate gender balance in the contributions.
4. Editorial leadership:

a) Are the proposed guest editors experts and sufficiently knowledgeable in the field?
b) Do they have a track record in producing cutting-edge research?
c) Are they committed to the proactive role they will play in steering and managing the development of the Special Issue?
d) Do they have the time and capacity to dedicate the required level of attention to this project?
e) Is the timetable realistic?

The editorial process:

If a proposal is accepted, a clear time-line and memorandum of agreement will be established.

The Guest Editor(s) will normally manage the process of:

1. Initially considering papers.
2. Identifying reviewers and sending the papers out for double anonymous peer review, in consultation with (one of the) GPE Chief Editors, using the journal’s ‘Editorial Manager’ system (a tutorial for this will be provided).
3. Communicating reviewers’ comments to the authors.
4. Deciding whether revised papers need to be reviewed again.
5. Making a provisional decision to accept or reject.
6. Finalising all editorial decisions with GPE Chief Editors.

GPE will appoint one of its Chief Editors to work closely with the guest editor/s in a supportive manner. The Editors will aim to publish the Special Issue according to the original agreed timeline, but proposers should note, and inform all potential contributors, that GPE’s Editors may decide to:

• Run the Special Issue in a later issue than originally planned.
• Accept only some of the papers and put them instead in a Themed Issue, which also includes papers from elsewhere.
• Accept only one or two papers and present them as regular contributions to the journal.
• Determine that none of the papers meets the quality standards or targeted content of the journal.

Informal queries prior to submission of a proposal may be sent to the Editors through the journal’s email address: gpe.editorial@gmail.com and/or directly to the Editors in Chief.

What are we looking for?
How to submit an article
Editorial review process
Ethical guidelines
Copyright and permissions
Style
Alt-text
References
English language editing service
Open Access
Self-Archiving and institutional repositories
How to maximise the impact of your article
Contact us

Visit our journal author toolkit for resources and advice to support you through the publication process and beyond.

What are we looking for?

• Research Articles: We invite articles of up to 9,000 words (including endnotes and references), on the themes indicated in our aims and scope. Articles must be original contributions to knowledge, which should make reference to other critical work in the field. Global Political Economy has a particular commitment to providing a platform for debates from both hemispheres and from non-English speaking arenas.
• Debates: We invite shorter topical pieces providing critical background analysis and reference to current events and issues (maximum 3,000 words, reviewed by Editorial Board).
• Commentary: We invite medium length topical pieces which provide comment and analyses on the themes of the journal, where researchers can go into more depth in making first impressions and providing responses to current affairs, make calls for specific academic debates to be refreshed and/or other intellectual contributions (maximum 6,000 words, reviewed by Editorial Board)
• Book Review Symposia: We invite authors and book editors to organise a Book Review Symposia for their new publications. We suggest a minimum of three reviewers and a maximum of five, where each reviewer engages with the book, writing 3-4000 words per review. Reviewers should ideally offer different perspectives on the book, e.g., selected from different disciplines or where a reviewers’ expertise means they analyse different aspects of a book. The suggestion is that authors and/or editors of books write a response to the reviews, also of 3-4,000 words. If you are interested, please contact the journal with a pitch at gpe.editorial@gmail.com. 

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How to submit an article

All submissions should be made online via the Global Political Economy Editorial Manager website: https://www.editorialmanager.com/gpe/default.aspx

Initial manuscript submission via Editorial Manager

Manuscripts must be in Word or Rich Text Format (not pdf). New users should first create an account, specify their areas of interest and provide full contact details.

Preparing your anonymised manuscript

Your initial submission must consist of the following seperate files:

1. A cover page including: the article title, author name(s) and affiliations (institution affiliation and country only, no department details required), the article abstract up to 250 words, up to 5 key words/short phrases and the article word count. A cover page template is available to download here.
2. A fully anonymised manuscript which does not include any of the information included in the cover page. It should not include any acknowledgments, funding details, or conflicts of interest that would identify the author(s). References to the authors' own work should be anonymised as follows: "Author's own, [year]". Please note that submissions that have not been sufficiently anonymised will be returned.
3. If you have any Figures and Tables these must be uploaded as separate files at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate where they should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources where appropriate. 
4. In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: Bristol University Press | Alt-text guidance for authors.

For help submitting an article via Editorial Manager, please view our online tutorial.

Once a submission has been conditionally accepted, you will be invited to submit a final, non-anonymised version via Editorial Manager.

Checklist: what to include in your final non-anonymised manuscript:

A cover page including:

1. Title: short and concise running title and, if necessary, a (short) informative subtitle;
2. Author names and affiliations;
3. Abstract: no longer than 250 words, outlining the central question, approach/method, findings and take home message;
4. Up to 5 keywords;

The main manuscript including:

1. The non-anonymised text of your article: 9,000 words for Research Articles, 3,000 words for Debates.
2. Key messages: Each research article must include 3-4 ‘key messages’ summarising the main messages from the paper in up to four bullet points. The contribution made by the paper to the field should be clear from these key messages. Each bullet point must be less than 100 characters. These points may be used to promote your article on social media.
3. Short author bios: supply a short biographical statement for each of the authors of maximum 50 words.
4. Funding details: list any funding including the grant numbers you have received for the research covered in your article as follows: ‘This work was supported by the [Funding Agency] under Grant [number xxxx].’ 
5. Conflict of interest statement: please declare any possible conflicts of interest, or state ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’ if there are none.
6. Acknowledgements: acknowledge people who have provided you with any substantial assistance or advice with collecting the data, developing your ideas, editing or any other comments to develop your argument or text. 
7. Figures and Tables: should be submitted as separate files. Figures should ideally be in an Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file format. Please indicate where figures and tables should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure/Table X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).
8. In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. Guidance on how to write this is available here: Bristol University Press | Alt-text guidance for authors.
9. Supplementary data: We recommend that any supplemental data is hosted in a data repository (such as figshare) for maximum exposure, and is cited as a reference in the article.
10. Journal Contributor Publishing Agreement: please upload a scanned copy of the completed and signed  agreement with your final non-anonymised manuscript. The Journal Contributor Publishing Agreement can be downloaded here.

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Editorial review process

All submissions are first desk-reviewed by the Editor(s) in Chief who will assess whether the manuscript fits the aims and scope as well as the quality standards of the journal. Research articles that are selected to be sent out for review will be evaluated through double anonymous peer review by at least two referees. Global Political Economy aims to return the reviews along with an initial decision within two months of submission. 

Please also read our Journals Editorial Policies.

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Ethical guidelines

At Bristol University Press we are committed to upholding the highest standards of review and publication ethics in our journals. Bristol University Press is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), and will take appropriate action in cases of possible misconduct in line with COPE guidance.

Find out more about our ethical guidelines.

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Copyright and permissions

Global Political Economy is published by Bristol University Press. Articles are considered for publication on the understanding that on acceptance the author(s) grant(s) Bristol University Press the exclusive right and licence to publish the article. Copyright remains with the author(s) or other original copyright owners and we will acknowledge this in the copyright line that appears on the published article.

Authors will be asked to sign a journal contributor agreement to this effect, which should be submitted online along with the final manuscript. All authors should agree to the agreement. For jointly authored articles the corresponding author may sign on behalf of co-authors provided that they have obtained the co-authors' consent. The journal contributor agreement can be downloaded here.

Where copyright is not owned by the author(s), the corresponding author is responsible for obtaining the consent of the copyright holder. This includes figures, tables, and excerpts. Evidence of this permission should be provided to Bristol University Press. General information on rights and permissions can be found here.

To request permission to reproduce any part of articles published in Global Political Economy, please email: bup-permissions@bristol.ac.uk.

For information on what is permissible use for different versions of your article please see our policy on self archiving and institutional repositories.

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Style

• British English spelling and punctuation is preferred.
• Non-discriminatory language is mandatory. See our guidelines to sensitive language (appendix C of document).
• Explanatory notes should be kept to a minimum. If it is necessary to use them, they must be numbered consecutively in the text and listed at the end of the article. Please do not embed notes in the text.
• Please do not embed bibliographic references in the text, footnotes, live links or macros; the final submitted file should be clear of track changes and ready for print.
• Tables and charts should be separated from the text and submitted in a Word or Excel file, with their placement in the text clearly indicated by inserting: ‘Table X here’. Please provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).
• Figures, diagrams and maps should be separated from the text and, ideally, submitted in an Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file. Figures created in Word or Excel are acceptable in those file formats. If the figures, diagrams and maps are in other formats (i.e. have been pasted into a Word file rather than created in it) please contact bup-journalsproduction@bristol.ac.uk for advice. Please indicate where figures should be placed in the text, by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources (where appropriate).

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Alt-text

In order to improve our accessibility for people with visual impairments, we are now required to ask authors to provide a brief description known as alt text to describe any visual content such as photos, illustrations or figures. It will not be visible in the article but is embedded into the images so a PDF reader can read out the descriptions. See our guidance on writing alt-text.

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References

To ensure your bibliography is complete before submitting your final article, we recommend using a reference manager such as Zotero when writing your article. If you cannot find the style under the specific Bristol University Press journal name, the closest format is Zotero "Consumption and Society".

Download the endnote output style for Policy Press and Bristol University Press Journals.

Policy Press uses a custom version of the Harvard system of referencing:

• In-text citations: give the author’s surname followed by year of publication in brackets;
• If there is more than one reference to the same author and year, this should be distinguished by a, b, c, d and so on being added to the year.
• In lists of references given within the text, place in chronological order, from old to new. For example (Smith, 1989; Jones, 1990; Amler, 2002; Brown, 2007).
• List all references in full at the end of the article and remove any references not cited in the text;
• Names should be listed in the references as cited, for example, surnames containing de, De, de la, Le, van, von, Van, Von should be listed under ‘D’, ‘L’ and ‘V’ respectively. If in doubt, check the author ORCID or a recognised database such as Scopus or Web of Science to verify their most known surname.
• For works with multiple authors, list all names up to six. For works with more than six authors, list the first six names followed by ‘et al’.
• Book and journal titles should be in italics;
• Website details should be placed at the end of the reference;
• Ibid/op cit: please do not use; we would prefer that you repeated the information.
• Immediately before submitting your final version, check that all references cited in the text are in the bibliography and that references in the bibliography are cited correctly in the text.

Examples

Book:
Bengtson, V.L. and Lowenstein, A. (2003) Global Aging and its Challenge to Families, Transaction Publishers.

Darling, D. (2010) Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists, Policy Press. 

Book with editor:
Bengtson, V.L. and Lowenstein, A. (eds) (2003) Global Aging and its Challenge to Families, 5th edn, Transaction Publishers.

Chapter in book or in multi-authored publication:
Bengtson, V.L. and Lowenstein, A. (2003) Citizenship in action: the lived experiences of citizens with dementia who campaign for social change, in R. Smith, R. Means and K. Keegan (eds) Global Aging and its Challenge to Families, Transaction Publishers, pp 305–26.

Journal reference:
Williamson, E. and Abrahams, H. A. (2014) A review of the provision of intervention programmes for female victims and survivors of domestic abuse in the UK, Journal of Women and Social Work, 29(1): 178-191. doi: doi.org/10.1177/0886109913516452

Jeffrey, C., Williams, E., de Araujo, P., Fortin-Rochberg, R., O'Malley, T., Hill, A-M., et al (2009) The challenge of politics, Policy & Politics, 36(4): 545–57. doi: doi.org/10.1177/0886108913516454

Website reference:
Womensaid (2016) What is domestic abuse?, https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/.

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Editorial Board

Editors in Chief

Mònica Clua-Losada, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Phoebe V Moore, University of Essex, UK

Associate Editors

David Bailey, University of Birmingham, UK
Bernd Bonfert, EM Normandie, France
Gareth Bryant, University of Sydney, Australia 
Catia Gregoratti, Lund University, Sweden
Inga Rademacher, City St George’s, University of London, UK
Roberto Roccu, King’s College London, UK
Chandrima Roy, University of Leicester UK
Jokubas Salyga, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, US 
Saori Shibata, University of Sheffield, UK 
Yuliya Yurchenko, University of Greenwich, UK

Editorial Advisory Board

Ilias Alami, University of Cambridge, UK 
Maurizio Atzeni, National Research Council of Argentina, Argentina
Riccardo Bellofiore, University of Bergamo, Italy 
Andreas Bieler, Nottingham University, UK
Peter Bloom, University of Essex, UK
Umut Bozkurt, Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus
Ian Bruff, University of Manchester, UK
Masaya Llavaneras-Blanco, Huron University College, Canada
Charmaine Chua, University of California, US
Premilla D'Cruz, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India
Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, University of Bath, UK 
Bill Dunn, Kingston University London, UK 
Juanita Elias, Warwick University, UK
Frank Engster, Berlin, Germany
James Galbraith, University of Texas at Austin, US
Jule Goikoetxea, University of the Basque Country, Spain
Laura Horn, Roskilde University, Denmark
Brendan Howe, Ewha Woman's University, Korea
Johannes Jäger, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, Austria 
Martijn Konigs, University of Sydney, Australia
Joohee Lee, Ewha Womans University, Korea
Josep Maria Antentas, University of Barcelona, Catalonia
Miguel Martinez Lucio , University of Manchester, UK
Marie Moran, University College Dublin, Ireland 
Adam Morton, University of Sydney, Australia
Kirstin Munro,  New School for Social Research, US
Rodrigo Nunes, University of Essex, UK
Edemilson Paraná, LUT University, Finland
Heikki Patomaki, University of Helsinki, Finland 
Magnus Ryner, King's College London, UK
Alfredo Saad-Filho, SOAS University of London, UK 
Pedro Salgado, University of Portsmouth, UK
Stevphen Shukaitis, University of Essex, UK
Susanne Soederberg, Queen's University, Canada
Maria del Carmen Suarez, University of Cuenca, Ecuador
Bastiaan Van Apeldoorn, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
Owen Worth, University of Limerick, Ireland
Angela Wigger, Radbound University, Netherlands 

Call for papers

Global Political Economy is the much-anticipated journal for the discipline of global political economy, with an explicit intention of cross-disciplinarity, spanning international relations, sociology, feminism and gender studies, political science, geography, business studies, science and technology studies, economics and more, encouraging debates and discussions across these arenas. Find out more about the journal's aims and scope.

Research articles up to 9,000 words, commentary pieces of up to 6,000, and debate pieces of up to 3,000 words are invited which address engaging critiques of:

• Global relations of (re)production and exploitation
• Domination, disruption, resistance, emancipation
• State, economy, society, nature
• Sex and gender
• Social reproduction
• Global health, public services
• Supply and value chains, production networks
• Technologies of power and surveillance
• Knowledge production
• Digitalisation, platform economy
• Work, labour, industrial relations
• Critical legal and policy studies
• Class analysis, class struggle
• Race and othering
• Statelessness, migration
• Historical materialism
• Development, de-development
• Colonialism, decolonialism, imperialism
• Energy and food
• Environment, ecology
• Slow growth, green capitalism, de-growth
• Education, pedagogy
• Finance, financialisation
• Spatial scales, the production of space
• Regionalisation, triadisation
• Historical sociology
• The rise of non-triad regions
• Varieties of capitalism
• Globalisation, global governance
• Geopolitics, geo-economic rivalry

Please consider submitting your original manuscript to: https://www.editorialmanager.com/gpe/default.aspx. Please refer to our instructions for authors.

If you have ideas you would like to discuss, please contact the editorial team at GPE.editorial@gmail.com. 

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