Aims and scope 
Supporters
Journal metrics
EDI statement
Equitable citations policy
Abstracting and indexing 
Prizes
Testimonials
Book series 
Contact us

Aims and scope

Policy & Politics invites submissions that focus on the intersection of policy and politics, and that make a theoretical, conceptual or methodological contribution guided by two principles: (1) comprehensive coverage of the politics of public policy and (2) inclusivity in research approaches.

• Comprehensive coverage of the politics of public policy:

Policy & Politics encompasses scholarship that focuses on any aspect of the policy process and discusses the broader implications for politics, power and democratic processes of the research. We are particularly interested in research that examines public policy issues comparatively; seeks to advance established policy theories and to promote new theories; spans the micro and the macro in the study of policy and politics; deals with all substantive subfields in the study of public policy; and we welcome studies of public policy that span the world. As part of this effort, we look for scholarship that builds on and contributes to existing foundations of knowledge about public policy, as well as innovates and takes risks in breaking into new frontiers of what we know about public policy.

• Inclusivity in research approaches:

Policy & Politics seeks scholarship from different epistemological and ontological orientations and from different methodological perspectives, including quantitative and qualitative approaches and interpretive methods. The journal is also interested in scholarship that makes methodological advancements in the study of public policy. Policy & Politics does not align itself to any disciplinary perspective and particularly is open to scholarship that bridges political science, public policy, public administration and management, non-profit studies, social policy and other perspectives. Rather, we encourage scholarship that challenges any dominant disciplinary assumptions in the study of public policy and that offers better alternatives.

As an independently owned journal published by Bristol University Press, we are committed to supporting authors in translating their scholarship through blogs and videos to both academic and practitioner audiences.

The Policy & Politics team is committed to an editorial process that is as quick as possible, fair and thoughtful, constructive, and tailored to the betterment of the scholarship under review. Given our embrace of the comprehensive coverage of public policy and diversity in research approaches, we recognise and accept diverse criteria in gauging and improving scholarship. We also adhere to some simple criteria expected of all published work including: (1) publicness and transparency in all aspects of its scholarship; and (2) substantial contributions to our understanding of public policy and/or its research approaches.

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Supporters 

We would like to thank the University of Exeter, the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Colorado, Denver for supporting the Policy & Politics editorial team. 

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Journal metrics

Impact Factor and rankings

2023 Impact Factor: 4.3 (2yr), 4.2 (5yr)
Ranking: 19/317 in Political Science (Q1);
9/91 in Public Administration (Q1)

2023 Journal Citation Indicator: 1.77 
Ranking: 36/317 in Political Science (Q1);
10/91 in Public Administration (Q1)

2023 Scopus Cite Score: 7.9
Ranking: 60/1,466 in Sociology and Political Science (95th percentile)
20/232 in Public Administration (91st percentile)
70/399 in Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law (82nd percentile)

2023 SJR: 1.111
Ranking: 30/216 in Public Administration (Q1)

Average lead times

Submission to first decision: 26 days
Acceptance to online publication: 32 days

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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion statement  

Policy & Politics acknowledges that underrepresented and minority communities (women, ethnic or racial minorities, people who identify as LGBTQ+, indigenous peoples, first-generation university students, persons with disabilities, international students, English-as-subsequent-language learners, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and scholars in the Global South) encounter harmful bias in academic publication processes.

We aim to address these inequities at Policy & Politics through the following actions:

• Recruiting a diverse and inclusive editorial board;
• Committing to represent diverse authors, voices, epistemologies and ontologies in P&P;
• Publishing in formats that meet the basic guidelines for web accessibility;
• Acknowledging the harm caused by unintentional biases;
• Humbly listening to critique of our practices from underrepresented and minority communities with the intention of making our publication processes as equitable as possible;
• Sponsoring scholarship in targeted unrepresented areas via our international sponsorship fund.

Diversity in scholarship promotes historically underrepresented authors, ideas and perspectives in policy scholarship. Mindful of these purposes, Policy & Politics remains dedicated to continual evaluation, reflection and innovation in all its endeavours.

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Equitable citations policy 

Policy & Politics is committed to addressing inequities in academic publication processes that are suffered by underrepresented and minority communities and has set out its position in an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy.

As part of this commitment, we recognise that references cited in journals such as ours sometimes replicate and reinforce such inequities by underrepresenting minority scholars. Clearly not all minority group characteristics are easily visible in citations, but those inferred which are easier to discern include gender, race early career scholars and scholars from underrepresented parts of the world such as the Global South, among others.

To address these inequities, we exhort our authors whose manuscripts are accepted for publication to critically examine their references with a view to including citations of equally rigorous and relevant scholarship by underrepresented minority authors. To support this effort, Policy & Politics will no longer count reference lists in our maximum word count of 8,000 for all articles.

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Abstracting and indexing

Policy & Politics is abstracted and/or indexed in:

• ASSIA (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts)
• Australian Family & Society Abstracts
• British Humanities Index
• EBSCO Publishing Library Services
• European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS)
• Geographical Abstracts
• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
• International Development Abstracts
• International Political Science Abstracts
• PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service)
• ProQuest Central
• ProQuest Criminal Justice Collection
• ProQuest Politics Collection
• ProQuest Social Science Premium Collection
• Scopus
• Social Policy and Practice
• Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) (Web of Science)
• Social Care Online
• Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts

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Prizes 

Ken Young Best Paper Prize 

The Ken Young Best Paper Prize is awarded to the paper published in the previous year’s volume judged to represent excellence in the field. The winner’s paper will receive publicity and a period of free electronic access to their article to encourage use and citation. 

• The selected paper must have been published in the previous year’s volume. 
• All papers, including review articles, are eligible.
• Individual authors and teams of authors are eligible.
• The nominations will be shortlisted and selected by the co-editors.
• Metrics on downloads and citations are used as part of the selection.
• A short written summary statement is published on the rationale for the selection.

Bleddyn Davies Early Career Prize

The Bleddyn Davies Early Career Prize is awarded to the best paper published in the previous year’s volume by an early career author. The winner’s paper will receive publicity and a period of free electronic access to their article to encourage use and citation.

• The selected paper must have been published in the previous year’s volume. 
• Early career authors are those who completed their PhD no more than four years ago.
• Individual authors and teams of authors are eligible.
• The nominations will be shortlisted and selected by the co-editors.
• Metrics on downloads and citations are used as part of the selection.
• A short written summary statement is published on the rationale for the selection.

See previous winners

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Testimonials  

“It is a truly stellar achievement that Policy & Politics celebrates its 50th year as a multidisciplinary journal in the study of national as well as European and global public policy. It is as accessible for the early career researcher as it is for the senior scholar. Alongside its wide-ranging scope and empirical interests, this journal also strives to exceed in its ambitions for scholarly quality and academic integrity you would expect from a top quartile publication. No wonder it’s the journal of choice for so many.” 

Diane Stone, Professor of Global Policy, European University Institute in Florence, Italy and Vice President of the International Public Policy Association  

“Policy & Politics should be the journal of choice for those of us studying public policy who refuse to be tribal. What matters is the quality of scholarship, not the method utilized for attaining new insights. This journal speaks to the pressing problems of our times.” 
 
Agnes Batory, Professor of Public Policy and Pro-Rector for Social Sciences and Humanities, Central European University, Vienna, Austria

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Book series  

Based on special issues of Policy & Politics, the New Perspectives in Policy & Politics book series focuses on state-of-the-art contributions that aim to reorient perennial debates and open up emerging seams of research. Topics range from institutional reform to network governance, and from public expectations to political inequality. 

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Contact us  

Editorial enquiries: 

Editorial Office: tpp-pp@bristol.ac.uk  

Open Access, subscriptions and free trials: 

Policy Press: bup-journals@bristol.ac.uk

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Read our instructions for authors for guidance on how to prepare your submissions. The instructions include the following: 

Instructions  
How to submit 
Submit a review article
Ethical guidelines
Copyright and permissions
Data availability 
Style 
Alt-text
References
English language editing service 
Editorial review process 
Special Issues and themed issues
Open Access 
Author toolkit 
Tips for acceptance (PDF)
Editorial guidelines on maximising impact (PDF)
Video abstracts (PDF)
Contact us 

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

Instructions

Submissions must not exceed 8,000 words, including all tables but not including references nor online appendices. References will be excluded from the word count in accordance with our equitable citations policy. The use of online appendices is encouraged, to make data associated with your article available to others.

Case studies that aim to make contributions in theory, methods or other forms of knowledge relevant for the diverse scholarship of P&P beyond the specific case are welcomed. Please note we do not accept policy reports.

Titles should be short, literal and include one or two of your keywords within the first 65 characters. 

Abstracts should be up to 250 words, summarising your research clearly and concisely. Abstracts should contain your essential findings and 3–6 of your keywords in the first two sentences.

Keywords should be up to eight words or phrases that other scholars will use as search terms to find articles on your topic. Ensure that they are consistent with terminology used in your field, and if you’re unsure, check what keywords other articles on the topic use. Use your keywords throughout your article, but only where they flow naturally with the text. 

All submissions will be subject to double anonymous peer-review processes (unless stated otherwise) by referees currently working in the appropriate field. The editors aim to provide quick decisions and to ensure that submission to publication takes the minimum possible time; most papers can be published online ahead of print publication. The final decision on publication rests with the editors. 

Those submissions most likely to be accepted for publication are ones which:

• Advance academic debate by offering a clear and explicit contribution to knowledge; 
• Anticipate and analytically frame those topical and important trends which are likely to shape governance and policy over the next decade or more at an international, national and local level;  
• Investigate and compare public sector institutions, services, cultures and goods, including in relation to other sectors (markets, civil society and so on);  
• Offer a comparative analysis which is historical and/or geographical and designed to draw lessons, e.g. About policy transfer and cross-national influences, for an international audience;  
• Achieve a high degree of theoretical sophistication and innovation, especially in relation to empirical data, methods and methodologies;  
• Provide an analysis of the social, economic and political impacts (including public attitudes and effects on service users) of key social and public policies;  
• Helpfully summarise and reflect on a comprehensive body of literature and knowledge in the form of review articles;  
• Propose arguments which are potentially controversial while still achieving a high level of rigour and professionalism in scope, research and presentation;  
• Extend or critique previously published material, articles and debates in  Policy & Politics. 

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How to submit

Format neutral submission

Our format neutral submission makes preparing your manuscript easier and faster. No specific formatting is required for new submissions, however revised submissions must follow the journal house style. 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.

All submissions should be made online at the Policy & Politics Editorial Manager website: http://www.editorialmanager.com/policypol/default.aspx. 

Instructions for using Editorial Manager

If you are interested in public policy and adjacent subjects, such as politics and social policy, we encourage you to either register at, or log in to, the Editorial Manager site and specify your areas of interest so that you can be invited to support the journal by reviewing articles relevant to your expertise.

Preparing your anonymised manuscript 

      Your initial submission must consist of the following separate 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 eight key words/short phrases and the article word count, excluding references. 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 author names nor the names of research projects, acknowledgments, funding details or conflicts of interest that would identify the author(s). References to the author's own work should be anonymised as follows: 'Author's own, [year]'. A reasonable level of self-citations that substantiate your argument are acceptable; however they should not enable reviewers to identify you as the author. Consequently you should not use phrases which could undermine your anonymity such as 'as I argued previously'. Please note that submissions that have not been sufficiently anonymised will be returned. 
3. If you have any figures and tables, please upload them as separate files at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate where these 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. 

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

1. A cover page including: the article title, author name(s) and affiliations (institution affiliation and country only, no department details required) including ORCIDs where available, the article abstract (up to 250 words), up to eight key words and the word count. 

 Your non-anonymised manuscript should include:

1. 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].'
2. 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. Find out more about declaring conflicts of interest in the Bristol University Press/ Policy Press ethical guidelines.
3. Research ethics statement: please advise if any clearance was granted by your institution or an external ethics committee and provide a statement detailing the approval granted. If your research involved human participants but you did not obtain formal ethics approval, please include a statement to that effect giving the reason.
4. Acknowledgements: acknowledge those who have provided you with any substantial assistance or advice with collecting data, developing your ideas, editing or any other comments to develop your argument or text.
5. Figures and tables: should be included as separate files at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate where these should be placed in the text by inserting: ‘Figure X here’ and provide numbers, titles and sources where appropriate. For advice about less common file formats, please contact bup-journalsproduction@bristol.ac.uk.
6. 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. Guidance on how to write this is available here: Bristol University Press | Alt-text guidance for authors.
7. Supplemental data: We recommend that any supplemental data are hosted in a data repository (such as figshare) for maximum exposure, and are cited as a reference in the article. 
8. 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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Ethical guidelines

At Policy Press we are committed to upholding the highest standards of review and publication ethics in our journals. Policy 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

Policy & Politics is published by Policy Press. Articles are considered for publication on the understanding that on acceptance the author(s) grant(s) Policy 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 Publishing 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 Publishing 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 Policy Press. General information on rights and permissions can be found here.

To request permission to reproduce any part of articles published in Policy & Politics, 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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Data sharing policy

We are fully supportive of academic data sharing and support the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets) principles. In the humanities and social sciences data sharing can support transparency of research methods, allow others to build on published work, and provide credit to the data creator in the form of citations. We acknowledge that data cannot always be shared due to reasons of confidentiality, consent or legality especially when working with sensitive data or vulnerable populations.

Where appropriate we encourage all authors to include a data availability statement to accompany their article. When using data in your article, the author(s) take(s) responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the analysis. Your statement should either:

1. provide a link to all the data and/or materials, or
2. explain that data and materials will be shared if the manuscript is accepted for publication, or
3. explain why data and/or materials cannot be shared.

More information on our data sharing policy can be found here.

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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. 
• A reasonable level of self-citations that substantiate your argument are acceptable; however they should not enable reviewers to identify you as the author. Consequently you should not use phrases which could undermine your anonymity such as 'as I argued previously'. 
• 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). 
• A comprehensive style guide can be found here (Editorial and Production Guidelines)

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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 review process

The practice of editorial review is at the heart of good scholarly publishing and is carried out on all reputable journals. To maintain high standards of academic rigour, Policy & Politics employs double anonymous review, where both the referee and the author remain anonymous throughout the process, and all submissions are handled according to the procedure below: 

Initial manuscript evaluation

All new submissions are screened for completeness and adherence to our house style and word limit as well as for fit with our editorial statement. Those that pass are then assigned to a co-editor for consideration for sending for peer review.

Co-editor evaluation

The assigned co-editor reads the paper and makes a recommendation to either send the paper for peer review or to reject without review. This recommendation is second checked by at least one other co-editor who also reads the paper. All decisions are discussed and agreed collectively. Those manuscripts deemed suitable for peer review are passed to at least two expert referees for review. If the decision is taken to reject the paper without review, authors are given feedback to explain this.

Reviewer selection

Reviewers are sought according to their expertise. We welcome suggestions for reviewers from authors, though these recommendations may or may not be used.

Reviewer reports

Reviewers are asked to evaluate the manuscript and provide constructive anonymised comments for the author. Reviewers are not expected to correct or copy edit manuscripts.

Duration of review

Typically the manuscript will be reviewed within 45 days from the date it was sent out, although this can vary significantly depending on the availability of reviewers for the particular subject. Should the reviewers' reports contradict one another or a report is unduly delayed, a further expert opinion will be sought. If necessary, revised manuscripts may be returned to the initial reviewers. Co-editors may request more than one revision of a manuscript, and alternative reviewers may also be invited to review the manuscript at any time.

Decisions

As a result of the peer-review process, the possible decisions are (1) reject; (2) request major revisions; (3) request minor revisions; (4) conditionally accept subject to minor amends; or (5) accept. Please note that the request for major or minor revisions does not guarantee that a revised paper will be automatically accepted. Once again, all decisions are collectively agreed by the co-editors. This decision is sent to the author along with any recommendations made by the referees. The above process ensures that all submissions are considered transparently, fairly and on merit. The co-editors’ decisions are therefore final. 

Time to publication

On acceptance, after receipt of the final version of the manuscript, it takes, on average, 28 days for the final citable article to be published online via Fast Track. Subsequently this is compiled into an online and printed issue which can take up to several months.

Special issues and themed issues

Policy & Politics has been publishing innovative works at the intersection of public policy and politics for over 50 years. It is a leading, top quartile journal that is committed to advancing scholarly understanding of the dynamics of policy-making and implementation. By exploring the interplay between political actors, governing institutions and policy issues, the journal contributes to building policy process theory; and by reflecting on the evolving context in which these interactions occur, it provides timely and fresh insights into the influence of politics on policy and vice versa.

Please see our annual call for special issue proposals for information about ongoing calls.
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Contact us

Editorial enquiries: 

Editorial office: tpp-pp@bristol.ac.uk

Open Access, subscriptions and free trials: 

Policy Press: bup-journals@bristol.ac.uk 

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Management Board

Oscar Berglund, Co-Editor; University of Bristol, UK
Claire Dunlop,Co-Editor; University of Exeter, UK
Elizabeth Koebele, Co-Editor, University of Nevada, Reno, US
Kristin Taylor, Co-Editor, Wayne State University, US
Christopher M. Weible, Co-Editor, University of Colorado Denver, US

Allegra Fullerton, Digital Associate Editor, University of Colorado Denver, US
Alex Marsh, Chair of the Board; University of Bristol, UK
Sarah Brown, Senior Journal Manager; University of Bristol, UK
Karen West, Head of School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK
Julia Mortimer, Publisher; Bristol University Press and Policy Press, UK 

Editorial Advisory Board 

Abdulai Abdul-Gafaru, University of Ghana, Ghana 
Heidrun Åm, Norwegian University for Science and Technology, Norway 
Rhys Andrews, Cardiff University, UK 
Sarah Ayres, University of Bristol, UK 
Christina Boswell, University of Edinburgh, UK 
Paul Cairney, University of Stirling, UK
Meng-Hsuan Chou, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore  
Rob DeLeo, Bentley University, US
Jennifer Dodge, University at Albany, US 
Anna Durnova, Institute for Advanced Studies, Austria 
Thomas Elston, University of Oxford, UK 
Isabelle Engeli, University of Exeter, UK 
Alejandro Miguel Estévez, Universidad Torcuato di Tella and Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina 
Paul Fawcett, University of Melbourne, Australia 
Maria Tullia Galanti, University of Milan, Italy
Ting Gong, City University, Hong Kong SAR 
Tanya Heikkila, University of Colorado Denver, US
Eva Hejzlarova, Charles University, Czechia 
Karin Ingold, University of Bern, Switzerland 
Yijia Jing, Fudan University, China 
Ann Kingiri, African Centre for Technology Studies, Kenya 
Jenny Lewis, University of Melbourne, Australia  
Emanuela Lombardo, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain 
Steve Martin, Cardiff University, UK 
Felicity Matthews, University of Sheffield, UK 
Amy Mazur, Washington State University, US
Jack Mewhirter, University of Cincinnati, US
M. Jae Moon, Yonsei University, South Korea 
Ana Cláudia Niedhardt Capella, São Paulo State University, Brazil 
Raul Pacheco-Vega, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Mexico 
Stephanie Paterson, Concordia University, Canada 
Caryn Peiffer, University of Bristol, UK  
Evangelia Petridou, Mid Sweden University, Sweden; NTNU Social Research, Norway
Osmany Porto, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil
R. A. W. Rhodes, University of Southampton, UK
Christine Rothmayr Allison, Université de Montréal, Canada 
Thomas Schillemans, Utrecht University, Netherlands 
Caroline Schlaufer, University of Bern, Switzerland
Elizabeth Shanahan, Montana State University, US
Saba Siddiki, Syracuse University, US
Gabriel Siles-Brugge, University of Bristol, UK
Richard Simmons, University of Stirling, UK 
Katherine Smith, University of Strathclyde, UK 
Diane Stone, European University Institute, Italy 
Emily Flore St Denny, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Jale Tosun, Heidelberg University, Germany 
Annemieke van den Dool, Duke Kunshan University, China
Sam Workman, West Virginia University, US
Hongtao Yi, Florida State University, US
Nikolaos Zahariadis, Rhodes College, US 
Ling Zhu, University of Houston, US
Xufeng Zhu, Tsinghua University, China 

Early Career Researcher Board

Gracia Brueckmann, Post-doctoral researcher, University of Bern, Switzerland
Juan Du, Assistant Professor, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
Diego Galego, Assistant Professor, Rutgers University, US
Rachel McGovern, PhD student, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, US
Bishnu Mohapatra, Assistant Professor, MIT-World Peace University, Pune, India
Katrin Pakizer, Post-doctoral researcher, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Switzerland and Research Associate, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland
Julia Schmid, PhD student University of Vienna, Austria
Hope Yohn, PhD student University of Colorado, Denver, US

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Annual call for special issue proposals

Policy & Politics has been publishing innovative works at the intersection of public policy and politics for over 50 years. It is a world-leading, top quartile journal that is committed to advancing scholarly understanding of the dynamics of policy-making and implementation. By exploring the interplay between political actors, governing institutions and policy issues, the journal contributes to building policy process theory; and by reflecting on the evolving context in which these interactions occur, it provides timely and fresh insights into the influence of politics on policy and vice versa.

The journal’s co-editors invite proposals for a special issue to be published online and in print that will make a significant contribution to our understanding of the nexus of public policy and politics. The journal only has space to publish one special issue each year, so this is a competitive process. Following an internal review process, only the strongest proposal will be selected. To be successful, proposals need to offer a coherent set of excellent original research articles that will reframe or develop knowledge on a topic that is at the leading edge of current debates and is clearly relevant to the journal’s worldwide readership. Proposals may include a mixture of theoretical, conceptual and empirical cases and a range of research methods, and must demonstrate how they will make a significant and lasting contribution to the field.

Special issues of this scope generally take at least eighteen months to two years from the acceptance of a proposal through to final publication. In return, we offer constructive and clear editorial guidance throughout the development process to optimise its readership and impact. In addition, we undertake significant article-level marketing for special issues, as we publish one of the most widely read journal blogs in the discipline and have the highest Twitter following of all the journals in this field as well as our more recent presence on BlueSky. Our special issues are also eligible for consideration for publication in book form in the Policy & Politics series published by Policy Press.

Please read our summary proposal form on how to develop your proposal to ensure that you include all the information we will need to evaluate it. If you would like to talk through any aspect of your proposal, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The timetable for evaluating proposals is set out below:

Guidance on what to include in your special issue proposal

Policy & Politics views special issues as an important element of scholarly activity. The aim of this document is to set out our procedure for reviewing proposals, selecting the strongest, and supporting guest editors in the development of the issue to final publication.

What are we looking for from a Policy & Politics special issue?

The aim of a special issue is to bring together a set of cutting-edge research articles that attempts to reframe or develop a specific debate or topic. This may include a mixture of theoretical, conceptual and empirical cases but must very clearly take forward an area of the discipline. There is an expectation that Policy & Politics special issues will make a significant and lasting contribution to the field. Special issues generally consist of a collection of eight papers of 8,000 words each, excluding references. One of these papers should be the editors' introduction comprising a fully citeable 8,000 word article that makes an original contribution in its own right.

A special issue proposal must include the following sections:

1. How would your special issue advance the broad study of policy & politics? 
2. What would be its theoretical and scholarly contributions? 
3. Why do we need this special issue? 
4. What are the gaps you plan to fill? 
5. Please provide a 300 word summary that summarises the aims and contribution of your issue to the field (an ‘elevator pitch’). 
6. Please provide draft abstracts for each article and an indicative list of contributors to enable us to evaluate the fit of your proposed issue with the journal’s scope.

How are proposals assessed?

The team of Co-editors will review all initial proposals and come to a collective decision on whether they feel each project meets the criteria outlined below. If a proposal is deemed by the editors to stand little chance of acceptance, the proposers will be advised of this immediately to enable them to approach other journals (or book publishers) without undue delay.

In assessing proposals, the following criteria are important:

1. Intellectual significance, originality and rigour
   Questions that help inform this dimension include: How does this proposal seek to challenge dominant assumptions? How might this special issue set the agenda in terms of future debates? Does the proposal have particularly novel, timely or innovative dimensions? Is it attempting to fill a significant gap in the current literature? Will it have international appeal?
2. Diversity of contributors
   Policy & Politics is committed to supporting diverse scholars from all backgrounds, disciplines and parts of the world. Therefore, a special issue proposal might consider the following questions: Does the proposal contain a mixture of established scholars and ‘rising stars’ of the profession? Does it offer an appropriate gender and ethnicity balance? Is the proposal inclusive of the diversities we refer to in the journal’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion statement?
3. Editorial leadership
   Special issues are not an ‘easy option’. They are a challenging yet rewarding form of intellectual output. The editors of Policy & Politics will therefore consider the following questions in coming to a decision about a proposal: Are the proposed editors experts in the field? Do they have a track record in producing cutting-edge research? Is the timetable realistic? Is there evidence that the editors will play a proactive role in steering and managing the project? At a more practical level, do the proposed editors demonstrate that they have the time and capacity to dedicate the required level of attention to this project?

The editorial process

Once a proposal is accepted, a clear time-line and milestone dates will be established based on previous best practice and experience. The co-editors will normally manage the process of:

1. initially considering papers;
2. identifying reviewers and sending the papers out to review, in consultation with guest editors;
3. communicating reviewers’ comments to the authors;
4. deciding whether revised papers need to be reviewed again; and
5. making a decision to accept or reject.

The co-editors reserve the right to make final decisions on all accepted articles for any special issue. While they will work closely with the guest editor/s in a supportive and constructive manner, the final decision rests with them.

Policy & Politics uses Editorial Manager, an online submission system to manage the peer-review process. We will provide online guidance to use this system. Please note that although the co-editors have agreed in principle to a special issue proposal, they may decide to:

1. run the special issue in a later issue of the journal than originally planned.
2. accept only a few of the papers and put them instead in a themed issue, which also includes papers from elsewhere.
3. accept only one or two papers and present them as regular contributions to the journal.
4. determine that none of the papers meets either the quality standards or targeted content of the journal.

Each of our Highlights Collections brings together research from a range of different perspectives to explore a key aspect of policy making.  

Democratic Innovations

Policy Process Theories 

Policy Learning and Policy Innovation

Policy Expertise in Times of Crisis

Feminist Politics

Policy Feedback

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