PS: Political Science & Politics accepts four kinds of submissions:

1. Original research articles 4,800 words or fewer (relating to Politics, The Profession, or The Teacher. PS’s Politics section includes evidence-based research on contemporary political issues around the world. PS’s The Profession section includes evidence-based research relating to the political science discipline. PS’s The Teacher section includes systematic and evidence-based assessments of new, creative, or experimental teaching tools and strategies to improve classroom and co-curricular learning experiences for teaching political science); 
2. Symposias featuring a group of five to ten research contributions on a specified topic (3,600 words or fewer each). The hopeful Guest Editor first submits a symposium proposal to Editorial Manager to determine whether the symposium will be accepted. Please see the Guidelines for Symposium Proposals page to learn more.
3. Comment and Controversy submissions, which are original research articles that comment on, extend, methodologically assess, or correct published work. These manuscripts must be 4,800 words or fewer, provide new evidence or analysis that substantially changes the conclusions or interpretations of the published work, and communicate these findings in a collegial and respectful manner. Please see the Comment and Controversy page for more detailed information.
4. Special Issue Proposal submit a proposal to guest edit a special issue via Editorial Manager. Please see the Guidelines for Special Issue Proposal page for more information.

Please see our FAQs and Guidelines for Proposals pages for more information on these types of submissions.

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically at www.editorialmanager.com/ps. Please send questions or concerns to ps@apsanet.org.

When submitting a manuscript through the online Editorial Manager system, the authors should have the following information available:

• three keywords that describe the manuscript;
• a cover letter available to upload
• an abstract of no more than 200 words; an abstract is required for all article types upon submission
• the number of words in the manuscript (not to exceed 4,800 words for articles and 3,600 for symposia);
• the number of figures and tables; and
• a anonymized manuscript in Microsoft Word

Keywords and classifications describe the content of your manuscript. The keywords should designate which subfield(s) of political science your work falls into, as well as any particular aspects of your submission. The classifications indicate areas of research specialization. These terms are standard among the APSA and its journals. After you have made the classification selections, choose the Next button to continue. Anonymizing your manuscript is required.

In Editorial Manager, when answering the question about a paper’s anonymity, consider the following to avoid your submission being returned to you prior to review:

• Do your names appear on the title page or in the header or footer areas? If so, remove them before submitting the paper.
• Does the paper refer to your previous work in the text of the manuscript using phrases such as “in my earlier work (Smith 2004),” or “in our 2003 article on … we”? Revise these. Such self-references do not comply with the double-anonymous peer-review process.
• Have acknowledgements been included with the version submitted for review that indicate specific grant numbers, your conference presentations, or other easily recognized background details that would reveal your identity to the reviewers?

As part of the submission process, you may suggest two reviewers to review your work. You should name potential reviewers who possess a particular expertise to assess the submission. You also have the option to note any opposed reviewers upon submission. After uploading your manuscript, view and approve the system-generated PDF before logging out of the system. You will receive a confirmation email upon successfully submitting your manuscript.

Authors should follow the manuscript preparation guidelines below. Any submission that does not follow them will be sent back to the authors, delaying the review process.

Word Count

• Maximum 4,800 (article and comment & controversy); 3,600 (symposium)
• The word count for each of these submissions is all inclusive of the title, abstract, article, tables, figures, footnotes, and references. It does not include the separately uploaded appendix/supplementary material. Thus, the entire manuscript Word document should adhere to the respective word limits.

Formatting

• Manuscripts should be double-spaced and formatted for 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper
• 12 point font
• Page numbers are required on all pages.
• Manuscripts should include in-text citations that will correspond with endnotes and references. Endnotes and references should conform to the Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition
• Do not use acronyms or computational abbreviations when discussing variables.

Figures and Tables

• Please place figures and tables exactly where should appear in the manuscript or use the placeholder “” and then include the figure on the next page.
• Please number figures and tables in consecutive order.
• Please provide adequate explanation for variables that appear in the tables and figures.

Charges apply for all color figures that appear in the print version of the journal. At the time of submission, contributors should clearly state whether their figures should appear in color in the online version only, or whether they should appear in color both online and in the print version. There is no charge for including color figures in the online version of the journal but it must be clear that color is needed to enhance the meaning of the figure, rather than simply being for aesthetic purposes. If you request color figures in the printed version, you will be contacted by CCC-Rightslink who are acting on our behalf to collect Author Charges. Please follow their instructions to avoid any delay in the publication of your article. Note: other requirements for table and figures regarding resolution and formats will be provided should your manuscript be accepted for publication.

References

• Author-Date system of the 17th Edition of the Chicago Manual of Style
• Information can be found in Chapter 15, Documentation II: Author-Date References
• Click here for access to the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide. Please be sure to change to Author-Date
• See below for a basic reference list example.
• Please include a link to all non-published work, i.e. working papers, conference papers, etc.
• Publication information for each reference must be complete and correct at time of submission.

In-Text Citations

• Use the Author-Date system in the following format: (Author Year, Pages). Note there is no comma between the author and the year. Separate mass citations with a semicolon.
• Do not redact your self-citations.
• Do not use footnotes for simple citations.

Examples

 “In the book by Ahlquist and Levi (2013), …”

Or at the end of a sentence (Mansbridge 1986).

Citations may appear at the end of each (in-)dependent clause.

Appendices

• Figures and Tables appearing in the appendices should be lettered to distinguish them from those in the manuscript (Table A.1, A.2, Figures A.1, A.2 etc)
• Each appendix should have a descriptive title.
• Appendices must be submitted as a separate appendix document.

Beginning January 1, 2019, an ORCID iD is a requirement for corresponding authors submitting to PS. The Editorial Manager system will prompt authors to attach an ORCID iD to their manuscript during the submission process. Authors can also choose to update their Editorial Manager profile with their ORCID iD in advance to save themselves time during the submission process. Including an ORCID iD with your article submission improves the discoverability of your work and creates more opportunity for recognition. By using your iD you can also benefit from having your ORCID record automatically updated when your article is published. ORCID deposits your iD to Crossref and, provided you have given them permission to do so, they’ll update your record automatically each time you publish an article. Learn more about ORCID and Crossref’s automatic update functionality.

Do not hesitate, in any cases of doubt, to consult the PS Editorial Offices with more specific questions by sending an e-mail to ps@apsanet.org.

Please consult our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for further information.