On this page you can find details about:

IPA Publication Ethics

IPA Peer Review Process

IPA Manuscript Submission Guidelines

This publication ethics statement is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) core practices as well as other internationally accepted guidelines and standards. International Political Anthropology (IPA) publishes contributions based only on their quality, importance, originality, and relevance to its Aims and Scope [embed link to Aim & Scope]. IPA is also committed to ensure that financial or any other gains have no impact or influence on decisions of the Editorial Board. We do not charge author fees or solicit or accept advertising. The relevant duties and expectations of authors, reviewers, and editors of the journal are stated below.

Responsibilities of Authors

By submitting a manuscript to IPA, the contributor(s) certify that it is their own, original work and that it has neither been published previously nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere. They also confirm that the sources of any ideas and/or words in the manuscript that are not their own have been properly attributed through appropriate citations and/or quotes.

Authors who publish in IPA will release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, Version 4.0. Each of the authors will sign a declaration to this effect before publication. This license allows anyone to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given. The author(s) retain copyright on work published by IPA unless specified otherwise.

If copyrighted material is used in an article, the necessary permission must be enclosed with the submission in a separate file. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to include any images or artwork for which they do not hold copyright in their articles, or to adapt any such images or artwork for inclusion in their articles. The copyright holder must be made explicitly aware that the image(s) or artwork will be made freely available online as part of the article under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license.

By submitting to IPA, the contributor(s) certify that the work is not currently under submission to, or being considered by, any other journal. Submitting the same manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unacceptable. If discovered, such practices shall result in rejection of a manuscript under consideration.

Transparency is vital to academic research and publishing. Conflicts of interest (COI) occur when an author and/or contributor has engaged in an activity which may affect the validity of research by influencing their work for personal gain. Where articles published in the journal are based, in whole or part, on funded research, authors are requested to clearly acknowledge any funding they have received. Authors should also indicate any potential conflicts of interest when submitting articles for publication. The editors may decide not to publish an article when it is believed the competing interests are such that they may have compromised the work, the analyses or interpretations presented.

The authors’ names should be listed in the submission in the order agreed by them, and all authors take responsibility for their own contributions. Individuals submitting articles to be considered for publication will only be credited authorship and/or contributorship if they have provided this substantially through research, writing, editing, and approval for publication. Acknowledgements may be noted for those contributors not meeting authorship or contributorship requirements. Ghost authors are not permitted as all authors and/or contributors meeting authorship and/or contributorship requirements should be listed. Authorship and/or contributorship disputes may be referred to the chief editors of the journal for resolution.
Please note that we do not accept papers that are generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning Tools, as such tools cannot take responsibility for the submitted work and therefore cannot be considered as authors. Where such tools or technologies are used as part of the design or methodology of a research study, their use should be clearly described in an acknowledgements section.

IPA requires authors to follow strict ethical guidelines for research in relation to consent, conduct, confidentiality, and promotion. If the manuscript involves data collection from, or about, living humans, the author must indicate on submission that their research had the approval of the relevant Research Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board and provide proper documentation regarding the Board’s determination.

Where appropriate and reasonable, authors who are reporting on original data are encouraged to archive the data underpinning their paper in a public repository. We understand that it may not be appropriate for all researchers to archive their data in a public repository due to ethical or legal requirements and/or resource implications. Authors are not required to archive or share their data in order to publish with IPA.
 

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Publication of articles in IPA is subject to double-blind peer review by subject matter experts. Reviewers of IPA perform the work for the journal on a purely voluntary basis and without any financial return.

All material submitted to the journal will remain confidential while under review. All communications with reviewers are carried out only by the editors. Reviewers are free to decline invitations at their discretion. Further, they should excuse themselves from the assignment if it becomes apparent to them at any stage that they do not possess the required expertise to perform the review, or that they may have a potential conflict of interest in performing the review.

Reviewers who have accepted manuscript assignments are expected to submit their reviews within a maximum of three months.

Privileged information or ideas obtained by reviewers through the peer review process must be kept confidential and not used for any other purpose, including personal advantage. Every manuscript must be treated as a confidential document.

Reviewers are requested to be objective and refrain from engaging in personal criticism of the author(s). They are encouraged to express their views clearly, explaining and justifying all recommendations made. They are requested to provide detailed and constructive feedback to assist the author(s) in improving their work, even if the manuscript is, in their opinion, not publishable currently.

Reviewers should suggest relevant published works which have not been cited by the author(s). They should also point out any instances where proper attribution of sources has not been provided. They should call to the attention of the editors any major resemblances between a manuscript under consideration and other published articles or papers of which they are aware, as well as any concerns they might have in relation to the ethical acceptability of the research reported in the manuscript.

Responsibilities of Editors

The chief editors have the responsibility for deciding if a submission made to IPA should be published, and in doing so are guided by the journal’s policies as determined by the editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editors may consult with the other members of the editorial board, as well as with reviewers, in making such decisions.

The editors’ decision to accept or reject a paper for publication will be based only on the paper’s importance, originality, and clarity, and the study’s relevance to the remit of the journal.

The editors will disclose only appropriate and necessary information about a submission under consideration to the author(s), reviewers and potential reviewers. Additionally, the editors will make every effort to ensure the integrity of the blind review process.

Complaints and Appeals

IPA adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on how to handle appeals to editorial decisions or complaints about elements of the journal’s content or management.

We welcome appeals; however, we require compelling evidence or new information to consider an appeal in response to the editor’s or reviewers’ position.

As an author, if you wish to appeal the decision of the editors, please take the following steps:

• contact the chief editors in writing explaining clearly the reasons you disagree with the decision and specific evidence against comments provided by the editor(s) or reviewer(s), or highlight where you believe errors have been made
• provide any new information or data that you would like the editors to consider
• the editors will consider one appeal per article and the decision following an appeal is final but the mere fact of an appeal being made should not affect the final decision.

Comments or complaints on issues to do with the journal’s management may be submitted through the chief editors by email. The editors will respond promptly to all complaints and will endeavour to resolve issues in a timely manner. We may also refer such complaints to the journal’s Editorial Board, COPE, or seek independent advice. IPA takes all complaints seriously be they made anonymously or not, and if you do make a complaint, we will treat you with professionalism and courtesy. In return, we would request the same respect for editors and reviewers. Any abuse or harassment of editors or reviewers will not be tolerated, and if this occurs your complaint may no longer be considered.

Post-publication discussion and corrections

Dissenting views to articles are encouraged to be emailed to the editorial team. After review and acceptance, the editorial may be published in our commentaries section. Corrections, revisions, or retractions will be published as soon as possible and close to the front of the subsequent issue.

Allegations of misconduct

The editors of IPA take seriously any allegation of academic misconduct, including fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism, or other practices negatively impacting the trustworthiness of our publication. We commit to taking all necessary actions, in accordance with COPE guidelines [embed link to COPE here], to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

If the event that we receive any allegations of academic misconduct, we will inform the author(s) involved that concerns have been raised. The chief editors will initiate an investigation and, if necessary or appropriate, liaise with relevant institutions and research bodies or third parties. If the conclusion of the investigation is that there is evidence of misconduct or inaccuracy of the content published, we will consider issuing a correction, retraction, or expression of concern, as relevant. If any content is retracted, we will do so in a way that preserves the integrity of the academic record and of other affiliated works. This includes maintaining any associated metadata and, if legally possible, the abstract.

Journal management

International Political Anthropology is a publication of the International Political Anthropology Association in collaboration with the Department of Politics, University of Trieste. The relationship of the editors to both institutions is based on the principle of editorial independence. In all cases, the editors will make decisions on which articles to publish based on quality and suitability for readers rather than for financial or other gain.

International Political Anthropology uses a double-blind peer review, which means that the identity of the author is concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. The double-blind model aims to ensure the impartiality and integrity of the review process, through ensuring the anonymity of both authors and reviewers.

The peer review process for your manuscript at International Political Anthropology includes the following steps:

1. Editorial Assessment

Upon submission of your article, the Chief Editors will check that the paper is appropriate for the journal and is sufficiently original and interesting. If not, the paper may be rejected without being reviewed any further. Typically, editorial assessment will take place within one month of an article being submitted.

2. Invitation to Reviewers

International Political Anthropology requires two peer reviewers for each research article. The editorial team will send invitations to individuals they believe would be appropriate reviewers. As responses are received, further invitations will be issued, if necessary, until the required number of reviewers is obtained.

3. Review is Conducted

Peer reviewers are asked to review the article and submit their report to the editorial team within a maximum of three months.

Reviewers can make the following recommendations to the journal: accept without revisions; accept with major revisions; accept with minor revisions; reject the article. In the event that the reviews differ widely, the editorial team may invite an additional reviewer so as to get an extra opinion before making a decision.

4. Decision Letter

Once all reviews have been received, the editorial team will send a decision email to the author, including any relevant reviewer comments and recommendations.

5. Major and Minor Revisions

• If the article is accepted, the paper is sent to production.
• If the reviewers request minor revisions, the editorial team will work directly with the author to address the reviewers’ recommendations, without submitting the article to the reviewers a second time. 
• If the reviewers request major revisions, the author will be given three months to submit a revised version of the article addressing the reviewers’ recommendations and concerns. Once resubmitted, the article will be returned to the original reviewers, who can recommend either to accept the article; accept with major revisions; accept with minor revisions; or reject the article. The reviewers will be given two months to read the revised article and give their recommendation.
• If the article is rejected, the editorial team will include constructive comments from the reviewers to help the author improve the article.

Typically, a research article will take six-nine months to complete the peer review process and be sent to production.

Preparing your Manuscript for Peer Review

To facilitate peer review, authors are requested to include a blinded copy of their manuscript with no author details as part of their submission package. Besides the obvious need to remove names and affiliations, there are other steps that need to be taken to ensure the blinded manuscript is correctly prepared for double-blind peer review.

• Use the third person to refer to work the author has previously undertaken, e.g. replace any phrases like “as we have shown before” with “… has been shown before [Anonymous, 2007]”.
• Limit self-references to papers that are relevant for those reviewing the submitted paper.
• Cite papers published by the Author in the text as follows:  ‘[Anonymous, 2007]’.
• For blinding in the reference list:  ‘[Anonymous 2007] Details omitted for double-blind reviewing.’
• Remove references to funding sources
• Do not include acknowledgments
• Remove any identifying information, including author names, from file names and ensure document properties are also anonymized.

Please read the guidelines below, then email you submission to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.

Before submitting your manuscript to International Political Anthropology, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope of the journal.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of International Political Anthropology will be reviewed.

By submitting a manuscript to IPA, the contributor(s) certify that it is their own, original work and that it has neither been published previously nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere.

Article Types

International Political Anthropology publishes both research articles and book reviews.

Research articles should be between 7000 and 9000 words, including notes and references, and must be accompanied with a 150-word abstract and 5-10 key words in alphabetical order. Longer manuscripts will be considered only in exceptional circumstances.

Book reviews should not be more than 2000 words.

Suggestions for commentary pieces and works which fall outside of the parameters set out above are welcome, but please send suggestions in the first instance to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Peer Review

Research articles submitted to International Political Anthropology are subject to a double-blind peer-review process. Full details of this process can be found here.

Authorship

The authors’ names should be listed in the submission in the order agreed by them, and all authors take responsibility for their own contributions. Individuals submitting articles to be considered for publication will only be credited authorship and/or contributorship if they have provided this substantially through research, writing, editing, and approval for publication. Acknowledgements may be noted for those contributors not meeting authorship or contributorship requirements.

Please note that we do not accept papers that are generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning Tools. Where such tools or technologies are used as part of the design or methodology of a research study, their use should be clearly described in an acknowledgements section.

Declaration of funding

Where articles published in the journal are based, in whole or part, on funded research, authors are requested to clearly acknowledge any funding they have received. Authors should also indicate any potential conflicts of interest when submitting articles for publication. The editors may decide not to publish an article when it is believed the competing interests are such that they may have compromised the work, the analyses or interpretations presented.

Copyright and Licencing

Authors who publish in IPA will release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license Version 4.0. Each of the authors will sign a declaration to this effect before publication. This license allows anyone to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given. The author(s) retain copyright on work published by IPA unless specified otherwise.

If copyrighted material is used in an article, the necessary permission must be enclosed with the submission in a separate file. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to include any images or artwork for which they do not hold copyright in their articles, or to adapt any such images or artwork for inclusion in their articles. The copyright holder must be made explicitly aware that the image(s) or artwork will be made freely available online as part of the article under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license Version 4.0.

Preparing your manuscript for submission

Manuscripts should be submitted as a Word File and include a cover page giving the full name, address, email, ORCID ID and institutional affiliation of the author(s). Where there are multiple authors of a research article, the corresponding author should be clearly identified on the cover page.

The submission should also include the manuscript title, a 150-word abstract and 5-10 key words in alphabetical order. 

Manuscripts should be double-spaced and use at least 12pt font. 

Manuscripts should include a reference list giving full references for all works used in or referred to in the research article. International Political Anthropology adheres to the Harvard reference style.

To facilitate peer review, authors are requested to include an additional, blinded copy of their manuscript with no author details as part of their submission package. Besides the obvious need to remove names and affiliations, there are other steps that need to be taken to ensure the blinded manuscript is correctly prepared for peer review.

• Use the third person to refer to work the author has previously undertaken, e.g. replace any phrases like “as we have shown before” with “… has been shown before [Anonymous, 2007]”.
• Limit self-references to papers that are relevant for those reviewing the submitted paper.
• Cite papers published by the Author in the text as follows:  ‘[Anonymous, 2007]’.
• For blinding in the reference list:  ‘[Anonymous 2007] Details omitted for double-blind reviewing.’
• Remove references to funding sources
• Do not include acknowledgments
• Remove any identifying information, including author names, from file names and ensure document properties are also anonymized.

Acceptance and publication

The editors will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

Authors are free to post final accepted versions of articles published by the journal on third party repositories or social networking sites, clearly indicating them as such and acknowledging in such cases that the article was published in IPA. In the case of published versions, the author should post a link to the journal website rather than the full text of the article.

The ensure long-term electronic backup and preservation of materials published in the journal, all articles will be will be preserved by the PKP Preservation Network, of which IPA is a member.