Public Affairs And Governance

Author Guidelines

Vision

Public Affairs and Governance, the bi-annual refereed journal is an rndeavour to look into different dimensions of Public Affairs, Public Administration, Public Management ,Public Service and other matters related to the governance.

Scope

The journal Public Affairs and Governance invites research papers, review articles, notes on fact finding and analytical research reports /studies etc. related to different aspects of public affairs, public administration, public management, public service and governance. The papers need not only be technical but should certainly add significantly to the existing body of knowledge and/or present a different perspective. Readability and sustaining the reader’s interest is an important criterion. Research based articles are strongly encouraged but focus should be on analysis and recommendations cutting down on technical aspects. Policy papers, best practices and case studies, creative concepts and applications, book reviews, commentaries, interviews and other thought provoking manuscripts are strongly encouraged. The manuscripts that address interdisciplinary topics or approach “traditional” topics from interdisciplinary perspective will be highly encouraged.

Public Affairs and Governance plans to publish the contributions in the following categories:

Policy: Submission in this section should discuss issues of policy framework and macro environment constructs that affect or are likely to affect issues related to governance administration and also the experiences of policy implementation at regional, national or global level so that interested readers may be benefitted accordingly.

Research: This category of papers / report shall be on any type of research- quantitative or qualitative undertaken by author(s). The research may involve the construction or testing of a model or framework. It may also be an action research, market research or survey based one, empirically tested, scientific or analytical one. Suitable encouragement will be accorded to a paper based on comparative study. The contributions likely to be published in the journal must be a work enriching the existing body of knowledge or leading in refining the practice of a profession or an activity.

Concept: The conceptual papers would present premise, make suggestions, develop and test hypothesis. These papers are likely to be discursive and may cover philosophical discussions and comparative studies of thought.

Review: Papers of this category are usually categorised into two classes. First, namely literature reviews, are typically critique of the literature related to a particular issue of academic or practitioner interest. The articles of this kind intend to see the development of thought and analysis of different viewpoints to throw up a pertinent question or converge to an opinion. Authors’ analysis is welcome in particular. Second type is the general reviews which are more general in nature and may provide an overview or historical examination of certain concept, technique, policy, programme/scheme, phenomenon or an institution. These are likely to be more descriptive or instructional (“how to” papers) than discursive.

Case studies: We look forward to two types of cases. One is the case studies of decision making, administrative process, evaluation of public management institution or practice or execution of a policy/progamme/scheme and associated experience. The others are the firm level cases that raise a debate or highlight on a typical decision making situation that is generalisable and related to already established body of theoretical knowledge. Smaller firm level case studies demonstrating best practice or results of policy shall also be entertained in Best practice and/ or Practitioner notes category.

Shorter communications of 1500-3000 words are welcome for following categories:

Viewpoint: This is envisaged as a forum to share imagination and opinions. These shorter communications rely on contents that draw on author beliefs and interpretations. Typical journalistic pieces can find a place in this section.

Best practice: Short communications are a platform to report and share best practices in governance and allied areas that have an educational value for other practitioners and may become fruitful to resolve the problem encountred.

Notes: Others who have a significant experience of working with and for administration -consultants, academics, researchers, and administrators may contribute to this section. These notes are likely to benefit the readers from the experience of such individuals. The papers must highlight the challenges faced by the practitioners and opportunities available to individuals and organisations in administration and academics. The Notes must have some recommendations which are tactical in nature and me able to resolve the problem.

Concern: Entrepreneurs and others may raise relevant issues through this section. A complete (not lengthy) description of the challenge faced can be shared here. This may typically help to initiate a dialogue or research endeavours to seek answers to these pressing concerns.

Book reviews: Terse and lucid reviews of books targeted at start up and those useful for public administration and related subjects are also acceptable. In addition to the publication details of such books, the body of review should highlight objectives and/or overview of the contents of the book; and attributes, achievements and limitations of the book. The review must summarise for whom the book is suitable and for what purposes. Publishers may also send two copies of their publication to the editor for getting the book reviewed by the scholars in the field.

Review Process

Each submission to PAG shall be subjected to the following review process:

1. It shall be reviewed by the editor for general suitability for publication.

2. If it is considered suitable, two reviewers are selected and a double blind review process shall be adopted.

3. Based on the recommendations of the reviewers a decision is taken as to whether the article is accepted as is, returned for revision or rejected.

4. All articles submitted for publication shall be got reviewed within 10 weeks of their receipt so as to avoid annoyance caused to contributors on account of excessive response times.

Preparing Manuscripts

Articles are not restricted to a certain length however, those of 4,000 to 5,000 words are considered proper (Policy, Research, Concept, Review, and Case study sections). Shorter contributions of 1500 to 3,000 words are also invited for inclusion in Viewpoint, Best practice, Notes, Book reviews and Concern sections of the journal (suitable work may include innovative examples of entrepreneurial behaviour and discussion of policy related issues). Following must be kept in mind while preparing manuscripts for the Public Affairs and Governance.

Cover page: The cover page should contain only and only title, structure, abstract, key words, autobiographical note and contact details.

Title: Please suggest a title of not more than ten words, and an auto-biographical note. A brief autobiographical note should include full name, affiliation and contact address including e-mail id and fax number (if any).

Keywords: Authors should also provide up to 5 keywords or descriptors that clearly describe the subject matter of the article as these help to describe the subject content of an article to prospective readers and to index the article for retrieval from a database or bibliography.

The main body of manuscript starts from second page and should conform to following details. Always use UK English.

Headings: These should be typed in capitals and should not be numbered. Sub-headings should be typed in upper and lower case.

Footnotes: These should be used as sparingly as possible and if used should be numbered consecutively and will be listed at the bottom of the page.

Figures, Charts and Diagrams should be kept strictly to a minimum. They should be provided both electronically and as good quality originals. They must be black and white with minimum shading and numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals.

Artwork should be either copied or pasted from the origination software into a blank Microsoft Word document, or saved and imported into a blank Microsoft Word document. Artwork created in MS PowerPoint is also acceptable. Artwork may be submitted in the following standard image formats: .eps Postscript, .pdf – Adobe Acrobat portable document, .ai -Adobe Acrobat portable document, .wmf – Windows Metafile. If it is not possible to supply graphics in the formats listed above, authors should ensure that figures supplied as .tif, .gif, .jpeg, .bmp, .pcx, .pic, .pct are supplied as files of at least 300 dpi and at least 10cm wide.

In the text, the position of a figure should be shown by typing on a separate line the words "take in Figure 2". Authors should supply succinct captions. For photographic images good quality original photographs should be submitted. If submitted electronically they should be saved as .tif files of at least 300dpi and at least 10cm wide. Their position in the text should be shown by typing on a separate line the words "take in Plate 2".

Tables: These should be typed on a separate sheet of paper and numbered consecutively and independently of any figures included in the article. Each table should have a number in roman numerals, a brief title, and vertical and horizontal headings. In the text, the position of the table should be shown by typing on a separate line the words “take in Table I” etc.

Citation and Referencing

Enterprise shall subscribe to Harvard Style for citation and referencing. Authors should cite publications in the text: (Adams, 1997) using the first author’s name. At the end of the paper, a reference list in alphabetical order should be supplied.

For books: surname, initials (year), title of book, publisher, place of publication. e.g. Fulbright, A. and Khan, G. (2001), Competing Strategies, Outhouse Press, Rochester, NJ.

For book chapters: surname, initials (year), “chapter title”, editor’s surname, initials, title of book, publisher, place of publication, pages. e.g. Bessley, M. and Wilson, P. (1999), “Marketing for the Production Manager“ in Levicki, J. (ed.), Taking the Blinkers off Managers, Broom Relm, London, pp. 29-33.

For journal articles: surname, initials (year), “title of article“, journal name in full, volume and/or issue number, pages. e.g. Greenwald, E. (2000), “Empowered to serve”, Management Decision, vol. 33 no. 5, pp. 6-10.

For electronic sources: If available online, the full URL should be supplied at the end of the reference along with the date of access.

Abstract

Abstract not only introduce readers to the paper, they also help the author with a self check. We appreciate a structure abstract as suggested by Emerald. To produce a structure abstract for the journal please evaluate the following fields about your paper and this is also the abstract that we require. Abstracts should contain no more than 250 words. Write concisely and clearly. The abstract should reflect only what appears in the original paper. It should touch upon following points:

Purpose of this paper

What are the reason(s) for writing the paper or the aims of the research?

Design/Methodology/Approach

How are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the paper?

Findings

What was found in the course of the work? This will refer to analysis, discussion, or results.

Practical implications (if applicable)

What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified? Not all papers will have practical implications but most will. What changes to practice should be made as a result of this research/paper?

What is original value of paper?

What is new in the paper? State the value highlights of the paper.

Submission

Preferred method of submitting manuscripts is through electronic mail to the Editor. Submission should be made in Word .doc or .rtf formats. Do not disclose your identity anywhere in the paper except on the cover page. Always indicate which category of submission you are making. Editor/ referees can suggest a change of category.

While submitting electronically always mention in the subject line: Enterprise/Author name/ first three words in the title.

In case manuscript is submitted via surface mail, submit three hard copies which must accompany paper on CD in the desired format. Ensure that file is free of viruses. It is generally good to create a folder and one copy each inside and outside the folder is safe.

Submit to: publicaffairs.governance@gmail.com