Policy and Governance

Guidelines for Authors (How to Prepare Manuscript)

General Information

The Journal publishes 2 times a year and considers submissions of articles, analysis pieces, and review articles. Information about all three can be found below. In all cases, the Journal is committed to publishing pieces of the highest academic quality. Please note that because of the distinct nature of articles, analysis pieces and review articles they all have a same submission, reviewing and preparation process. Note that all submissions share the same policies in relation to formatting (style), production, licence to publish, open access, self-archiving, and conflict of interest. Work submitted for publication must be previously unpublished and not under consideration for publication elsewhere and, if accepted, it should not then be published elsewhere in the same form or language. Please read other sections of website, such as FOR AUTHORS, Research Ethics, PUBLICATION ETHICS to understand our journal’s policies.

Articles

The Journal welcomes submissions of articles that pertain to policy and governance problems as defined in the Aim & Scope of the journal. Articles are only accepted for publication after a double blind reviewing process. The key criterion for acceptance is scholarly rigour and quality. Besides, reading through the website of Grassroots Journals will help understand the publication norms. Of those articles that are ultimately accepted for publication, most are accepted with the need for some revision. The length of time between submission, final acceptance and publication can thus vary significantly.

Articles should be submitted using Online Submission System on the website of Grassroots Journals. The manuscript document should be uploaded in the system. Until the Online Submission Systems comes into functioning, we will receive manuscripts by email too. The manuscript should contain name(s) of author(s) followed by affiliation and email address. Emails of all the authors are mandatory.

Articles should be between 3,000 and 8,000 words in length inclusive of footnotes and abstract. Articles should be consistent with our House Style. Larger size of articles may also be considered.

Particularly if English is not your first language, before submitting your manuscript you may wish to have it edited for language. This is not a mandatory step but may help to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers. Language editing does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services. To access our English Language Service, you may click the link on the website.

Analysis

A particular point to keep in mind is that analyses can act as succinct but valuable pieces of scholarship, and ambitious efforts to analyse recent developments within a broader frame of scholarly reference – comparative, doctrinal, socio-legal – are encouraged. In that spirit, we welcome analysis of significant policy, legal and governance issues from any jurisdiction. We also welcome analysis of cases which that are under appeal, particularly where it is possible to publish the analysis online, ahead of the printed issue. A single analysis may cover a number of related cases or policy papers.

We encourage contributions from senior and junior academics alike. In particular, we are open to analysis writing from doctoral students, who are focusing their work in a particular area of research. Note that the full text of a legislation or policy document is not likely to be included. This allows the analysis to concentrate on the implications and wider context of the item under discussion. Where the relevant judgment of a case is not reproduced, authors should give a brief summary of the facts of the case and the holding.

Editorial Process and Guidelines for Analysis Authors

Analyses should be in the region of 1500-5000 words. Where possible, the Journal is keen to encourage a larger number of shorter analyses per issue. All analysis manuscripts received will be refereed by both the editors and at least one external academic. Authors should provide a title for the case analysis, and a list of up to 5 keywords. The Journal will not consider accepting analyses which have originally been published other than in English.

Review/Research Articles

The Journal’s Review/Research Articles section carries reviews of original works in the area of policy and governance. In support of the Journal’s broad remit, the section encourages Review/Research Article contributions which promote scholarly discourse across a spectrum of themes related to policy and governance as identified in the Aim & Scope of the journal. Review/Research Articles should be in the region of 3,000 to 8,000 words, excluding references. This allows author’s space to say something substantive about the work(s) under review.

House Style - APA

PAGE LAYOUT

Articles, analysis pieces and review articles should be in English, double spaced (including footnotes) and should include page numbers. Authors, please comply with the following.

• An abstract of the paper, of around 150-300 words, should be included at the start of the article, followed by up to 3-5 keywords.
• Article titles should be in bold.
• Author names should be Title Case and Centred, along with affiliation and email
• Corresponding author name should be asterisk/marked. ORCID should be mentioned of the Corresponding author.
• Article headings:

H1> 1. Numbered, Title Case and Ranged Left

H2> 1.1 Numbered, Title Case and Ranged Left

H3> 1.1.1 Numbered, sentence case and ranged left

• Please DO NOT use the tab key when indenting for a paragraph. This Journals of The Grassroots Institute use one line space between two paragraphs and do not use tab key to begin a new paragraph.

REFERENCING STYLE

This journal adopts APA style of citation and referencing. To read and understand more, please download the following files:

• APA Guideline (PDF)
• APA Presentation (PowerPoint)

APA Format Citation Guide

Below is a complete guide to APA (American Psychological Association) in-text and reference list citations. This easy-to-use, comprehensive guide makes citing any source easy. Core Components of an APA Reference:

1. APA Referencing Basics: Reference List

A reference list is a complete list of references used in a piece of writing including the author name, date of publication, title and more. An APA reference list must:

• Be on a new page at the end of the document
• Be centred
• Be alphabetically by name of first author (or title if the author isn’t known, in this case a, an and the should be ignored)
  • If there are multiple works by the same author these are ordered by date, if the works are in the same year they are ordered alphabetically by the title and are allocated a letter (a,b,c etc.) after the date
• Contain full references for all in-text references used.

2. APA Referencing Basics: In-Text Citation

In-text references must be included following the use of a quote or paraphrase taken from another piece of work.

In-text citations are citations within the main body of the text and refer to a direct quote or paraphrase. They correspond to a reference in the main reference list. These citations include the surname of the author and date of publication only. Using an example author James Mitchell, this takes the form:

Mitchell (2017) states^… Or ^…(Mitchell, 2017).

The structure of this changes depending on whether a direct quote or parenthetical used:

• Direct Quote: The citation must follow the quote directly and contain a page number after the date, for example (Mitchell, 2017, p.104). This rule holds for all of the variations listed.
• Parenthetical: The page number is not needed.

Two Authors:

The surname of both authors is stated with either ‘and’ or an ampersand between. For example:

Mitchell and Smith (2017) state^… Or ^…(Mitchell & Smith, 2017).

Three, Four or Five Authors:

For the first cite, all names should be listed:

Mitchell, Smith, and Thomson (2017) state^… Or ^…(Mitchell, Smith, & Thomson, 2017).

Further cites can be shorted to the first author’s name followed by et al:

Mitchell et al (2017) state^… Or ^…(Mitchell et al., 2017).

Six or More Authors:

Only the first author’s surname should be stated followed by et al, see the above example.

No Authors:

If the author is unknown, the first few words of the reference should be used. This is usually the title of the source.

If this is the title of a book, periodical, brochure or report, is should be italicised. For example:
(A guide to citation, 2017).

If this is the title of an article, chapter or web page, it should be in quotation marks. For example:
(“APA Citation”, 2017).

Citing Authors with Multiple Works from One Year:

Works should be cited with a, b, c etc. following the date. These letters are assigned within the reference list, which is sorted alphabetically by the surname of the first author. For example:

(Mitchell, 2017a) Or (Mitchell, 2017b).

Citing Multiple Works in One Parentheses:

If these works are by the same author, the surname is stated once followed by the dates in order chronologically. For instance:

Mitchell (2007, 2013, 2017) Or (Mitchell, 2007, 2013, 2017)

If these works are by multiple authors then the references are ordered alphabetically by the first author separated by a semicolon as follows:

(Mitchell & Smith 2017; Thomson, Coyne, & Davis, 2015).

Citing a Group or Organisation:

For the first cite, the full name of the group must be used. Subsequently this can be shortened. For example:

First cite: (International Citation Association, 2015)
Further Cites: (Citation Association, 2015)

Citing a Secondary Source:

In this situation the original author and date should be stated first followed by ‘as cited in’ followed by the author and date of the secondary source. For example:
Lorde (1980) as cited in Mitchell (2017) Or (Lorde, 1980, as cited in Mitchell, 2017)

3. How to Cite Different Source Types

• In-text citation doesn’t vary depending on source type, unless the author is unknown.
• Reference list citations are highly variable depending on the source.

How to Cite a Book (Title, not chapter) in APA Format

Book referencing is the most basic style; it matches the template above, minus the URL section. So the basic format of a book reference is as follows:

How to Cite an Edited Book in APA Format

This reference format is very similar to the book format apart from one extra inclusion:

(Ed(s)). The basic format is as follows:

Edited book example:

Williams, S.T. (Ed.). (2015). Referencing: A guide to citation rules (3rd ed.). New York, NY: My Publisher

How to Cite a Chapter in an Edited Book in APA Format

Edited books are collations of chapters written by different authors. To reference a single chapter, a different format is needed. The basic structure is as follows:

Edited book chapter example:

In the following example, B.N. Troy is the author of the chapter and S.T. Williams is the editor.

Troy, B.N. (2015). APA citation rules. In S.T, Williams (Ed.). A guide to citation rules (2nd ed., pp. 50-95). New York, NY: Publishers.

How to Cite an E-Book in APA Format

An E-Book reference is the same as a book reference expect the publisher is swapped for a URL. The basic structure is as follows:

Author surname, initial(s) (Ed(s).*). (Year). Title (ed.*). Retrieved from URL

*optional.

E-Book example:

Mitchell, J.A., Thomson, M., & Coyne, R.P. (2017). A guide to citation. Retrieved from https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager

How to Cite an E-Book Chapter in APA Format

This follows the same structure as an edited book chapter reference except the publisher is exchanged for a URL. The structure is as follows:

Last name of the chapter author, initial(s). (Year). Chapter title. In editor initial(s), surname (Ed.). Title (ed., pp.chapter page range). Retrieved from URL

E-Book chapter example:

Troy, B.N. (2015). APA citation rules. In S.T, Williams (Ed.). A guide to citation rules (2nd ed., pp. 50-95). Retrieved from https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager

How to Cite a Journal Article in Print or Online in APA Format

Articles differ from book citations in that the publisher and publisher location are not included. For journal articles, these are replaced with the journal title, volume number, issue number and page number. The basic structure is:

Journal Article Examples:

Mitchell, J.A. (2017). Citation: Why is it so important. Mendeley Journal, 67(2), 81-95

Mitchell, J.A. (2017). Citation: Why is it so important. Mendeley Journal, 67(2), 81-95. Retrieved from https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager

How to Cite a Newspaper Articles in Print or Online in APA Format

The basic structure is as follows:

Author surname, initial(s). (Year, Month Day). Title. Title of Newspaper, column/section, p. or pp. Retrieved from URL*

**Only include if the article is online.

Note: the date includes the year, month and date.

Newspaper Articles Example:

Mitchell, J.A. (2017). Changes to citation formats shake the research world. The Mendeley Telegraph, Research News, pp.9. Retrieved from https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/reference-manager

How to Cite Magazine Articles in Print or Online in APA Format

Mitchell, J.A. (2017). How citation changed the research world. The Mendeley, pp. 26-28.

How to Cite Non-Print Material in APA Format

How to Cite an Image in APA Format

The basic format to cite an image is:

Image Example:

Millais, J.E. (1851-1852). Ophelia [painting]. Retrieved from www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506

How to Cite a Film in APA Format

The basic format of a film citation is:

Producer surname, initial (Producer), & Director surname, initial (Director). (Year of Release). Title of film [Motion Picture]. Country of Origin: Studio.

Film Example:

Hitchcock, A. (Producer), & Hitchcock, A. (1954) Rear window. United States of America: Paramount Pictures.

How to Cite a TV Programme in APA Format

The basic format is as follows:

Writer surname, initial(s) (Writer), & Director surname, initial(s) (Director). (Year of Release). Episode title [Television series episode]. In Executive producer surname, initial(s) (Executive Producer), TV series name. City, State of original channel: Network, Studio or Distributor

TV Programme Example:

Catlin, M., and Walley-Beckett, Moire (Writers), & Johnson, R (Director). (2010). Fly [Television series episode]. In Schnauz, T. (Executive Producer). Breaking bad. Culver City, CA: Sony Pictures Television

How to Cite a Song in APA Format

The basic format to cite a song in APA format is as follows:

Song Example:

Beyonce, Diplo, MNEK, Koenig, E., Haynie, E., Tillman, J., and Rhoden, S.M. (2016) Hold up [Recorded by Beyonce]. On Lemonade [visual album]. New York, NY: Parkwood Records (August 16)

How to Cite a Website in APA Format

When citing a website, the basic structure is as follows:

Author surname, initial(s). (Year, month day). Title. Retrieved from URL

Website example:

Mitchell, J.A. (2017, May 21). How and when to reference. Retrieved from https://www.howandwhentoreference.com.

GENERAL GUIDING NOTES FOR AUTHORS ARE COMMON FOR ALL THE JOURNALS OF THE GRASSROOTS INSTITUTE. PLEASE VISIT OUR READ RELEVANT SECTIONS ON THE WEBSITE WWW.GRASSROOTSJOURNALS.ORG