POLITICAL ANALYSIS (ISSN: 1047-1987)

Description

Impact Factor: 3.756

Political Analysis uses an electronic submissions process that is available on the Journal’s website at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pa. On ScholarOne Manuscripts' login page, the link entitled "User Tutorials" will provide authors with detailed descriptions of every feature and function of ScholarOne Manuscripts and guide them through the submission process. For further assistance, click on the link entitled "Get Help Now." This will bring up contact information for e-mail and telephone customer support from ScholarOne Manuscripts. Only electronic submissions using this process are accepted. Prior to submission, the corresponding author must prepare a version of the manuscript for review that has all information that might identify the author or authors removed from the manuscript. This includes information on the manuscript’s title page, direct and identifying citations to the author or author’s previous work in the text, or references to supplementary materials that might identify the author or authors. Additionally, the corresponding author should avoid the use of identifying information in the submission file’s name, and in any associated document properties. The failure to properly mask this information may result in substantial delays in the processing of the manuscript.

The corresponding author should submit the original manuscript as a Word or LaTeX source file, following the instructions on the manuscript submission website. Materials that are not part of the original source file (for example, graphics that are referenced from within a LaTeX source file, appendices, or other supplementary materials) can be uploaded during the submissions process but the corresponding author should ensure that these materials do not make it possibly to easily identify the identity of the original author or authors.

The initial submission should be in a format that makes the job of the referee as easy as possible. As a general rule, authors should provide a manuscript that is easy to read. This means that authors should generally submit manuscripts in 12pt font, that are double-spaced, and that use reasonable margins. All pages should be numbered, and manuscripts that are excessively long may be returned to the corresponding author prior to review. It is preferred that footnotes at the bottom of the appropriate page be used.

All sections should be numbered, with the Introduction being Section 1. While in general only one level of numbering will be needed, as in all cases, section and subsection numbering should be used to clarify argument, not to provide typographical consistency. Articles without sections should not number the introduction.

Tables and figures should be as clear as possible, and below there is additional guidance regarding their formatting.

The journal adheres to certain mathematical and notational standards. There is no reason for authors to be concerned with those standards for initial submission, though such concern will make it easier to deal with accepted articles. But initial submissions should strive for mathematical clarity, and a good and consistent notation is an important step toward such clarity. Clarity of the mathematics, tables, and figures is as important a part of the presentation as is verbal clarity.

Authors should not worry about having "too many" equations or "too many" tables. The journal will publish anything that enhances the quality of the final presentation. After acceptance, the editor and author may agree that some tables, figures, or proofs may not be required in the printed article, and may be better placed on the Political Analysis Web site. Such decisions can be postponed until after an article is accepted. It is easy to cut a good article down to its appropriate printed size, whatever that appropriate size may be.

While final details are not critical, there are some important items that it would be helpful to get correct at the start:

This journal uses the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, for citation and reference list details.
Equations should be numbered consecutively, with subnumbering used as appropriate. Equation and other numbering schemes should enhance the clarity of the presentation. All equations must be numbered.
Numbers in the articles and tables should be reported with no more precision than they merit. Careful thought, not computer packages or the need to align tables, should govern how many significant digits are reported. Remember that significant digits are not the same thing as the total number of digits reported. Do not report more significant digits than the standard errors suggest.
Variables should be scaled so as to make the reporting of results as straightforward as possible.
All uncertain numbers should be reported with some indication of how uncertain they are. In general this is best conveyed by confidence intervals or standard errors.
More detail about these, and other, issues may be found below under Final Guidelines.

Final Guidelines for Accepted Articles to Political Analysis

Organization of Copy and Electronic Files
After acceptance, authors will be asked to provide electronic versions of the source files for their manuscript in Word or LaTeX format, and after those are available those files will be moved to the production office.

Full title page (page 1)
Abstract
Text
Reference list
Endnotes (no footnotes!)
Figure legends
Tables
Figures
Authors using LaTeX should use the pa.sty style file, which will help ensure that the paper conforms to PA style (thanks to Jonathan Katz for supplying) as well as: endnotes, setspace, or endfloat.

Authors using LaTeX should remember to supply all non-standard inputs required to produce a Postscript file. Authors should use standard fonts and try to avoid non-standard LaTeX packages.

Special care should be taken with the setting of the math, including such things as bolding vectors and matrices. LaTeX users will find the amssymb and bm packages of use. It would simplify matters if LaTeX authors used a newcommand for vectors, vm (NOT vec):
usepackage{bm}
newcommandvm[1]{% Vector or matrix
bm{mathrm{#1}}}
(thanks to Donald Arsenau).

Microsoft Word users must take special care to ensure that the mathematical notation conforms to standard.

Formulae and Tables
Equations
Equations and other mathematical forms are an important part of the presentation. As such, the author should strive to make the mathematical presentation as clear as possible. Different subareas use different types of notation; authors should strive to use the clearest notation consistent with their particular subarea. Choice of notation, like choice of word, is the prerogative of the author. As with choices about English sentences, choices about mathematical form should be made so as to clarify the presentation.

Authors of technical works should bear in mind that Political Analysis has a varied readership. Try to avoid formulae and specialized terminology in the introduction. Write crisply but clearly; Political Analysis will provide the space for you to explain any technical results. Good mathematical writing calls for the extra effort involved in revising and reworking the manuscript until it will be clear to most if not all of our readers. For a good test of the "readability" of a paper, the comments of a colleague in another speciality should alert you to problems in comprehension that our heterogeneous group of readers might face.

It should be remembered that equations are part of the text and that equal signs function as verbs. Thus equations should contain appropriate punctuation. All symbols used in equations must be clearly defined.

The author should choose a notation that makes the argument easier to follow. In particular, a consistent notation should be chosen to represent different types of mathematical objects (e.g., matrices, scalars, and vectors). Authors are advised to adhere to the best conventions of notation unless there is a good reason not to do so. (If possible authors should attempt to use a markup language rather than hard coding typesetting specifics. The publisher will handle things like page breaking, white space, etc., and there is no reason for authors to worry about these things. Since we will strive for some consistency of notation, it would be better for authors to use constructs like vector instead of overarrow. Authors using LaTeX should use the amsmath package. Attention to these issues can simplify the final typesetting process, but on first submission authors should do whatever will enhance the quality of their article rather than worrying about typesetting issues.

Equations should be numbered consecutively, with subnumbering (e.g., Equations 5a and 5b) used as appropriate. Appendix equations should be labelled A1, etc. Do not number equations by section.

Tables
Numbers in the text of articles and in tables should be reported with no more precision than they are measured and are substantively meaningful. In general, the number of places to the right of the decimal point for a measure should be one more than the number of zeros to the right of the decimal point on the standard error of this measure.

Variables in tables should be rescaled so the entire table (or portion of the table) has a uniform number of digits reported. A table should not have regressions coefficients reported at, say, 77000 in one line and .000046 in another. By appropriate rescaling (e.g., from thousands to millions of dollars, or population in millions per square mile to population in thousands per square mile), it should be possible to provide regression coefficients that are easily comprehensible numbers. The table should clearly note the rescaled units. Rescaled units should be intuitively meaningful, so that, for example, dollar figures would be reported in thousands or millions of dollars. The rescaling of variables should aid, not impede, the clarity of a table.

In most cases, the uncertainty of numerical estimates is better conveyed by confidence intervals or standard errors (or complete likelihood functions or posterior distributions), rather than by hypothesis tests and p-values. However, for those authors who wish to report "statistical significance," statistics with probability levels of less than .001, .01, and .05 may be flagged with 3, 2, and 1 asterisks, respectively, with notes that they are significant at the given levels. Exact probability values may always be given. Political Analysis follows the conventional usage that the unmodified term "significant" implies statistical significance at the 5% level. Authors should not depart from this convention without good reason and without clearly indicating to readers the departure from convention.

It cannot be stressed too much that all articles should strive for maximal clarity. Choices about figures, tables, and mathematics should be made so as to increase clarity. In the end all decisions about clarity must be made by the author (with some help from referees and editors).

Figures
For electronic transmission of papers to the editor and referees, it is necessary that all figures be embedded in the electronic file. This is easily accomplished in Adobe Acrobat or Postscript; those submitting in other formats should make sure that the figures will be seen by the referees. Figures not drawn by computer should be scanned if at all possible. (Scan at the highest resolution possible; it is easy to reduce resolution later.)

All figures should be produced in portrait (not landscape). Authors can submit for review figures that use color other than black and white. For manuscripts accepted for publication, all color figures will be published in color online at no cost. Authors may choose to publish figures in color in the print journal for $600 per figure. For color figures published in the printed journal, you will be issued an invoice at the time your article is published in an issue of Political Analysis. You may choose to have color figures converted to black and white images for the print journal, for which there is no cost.

The final production process will be greatly simplified if all figures are submitted as Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) or TIFF files. Other electronic formats for figures may work, but at a minimum they increase the possibility of errors at the printing stage.

Authors should also make sure to submit hard copy of any figures suitable for scanning by the printer. While the printer tries to work with figures in electronic files, these do not always work out well.

Citations and References
Authors should consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, for references.

Books are referenced as:

Jackman, Simon. 1999. Title. City, State or country: Publisher.

Articles are referenced as:

Author, Alan B., and Charles D. Author. 1999. Title. Journal title 1(2):217-355.

For references with ten authors or fewer, all should be listed; for references with eleven or more, only the first seven should be listed, followed by “et al.” (et al. is italicized).

Those who use LaTeX and BibTeX will find that either the harvard or natbib packages will serve them well. Users of harvard should use the apsr option. All users of BibTeX should use the chicago.bst bibliography style. While reference list formatting is only relevant after an article has been accepted, authors can simplify matters by using either the harvard or natbib package and chicago.bst as they begin writing.

Language Editing
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. If you would like information about one such service please click here. There are other specialist language editing companies that offer similar services and you can also use any of these. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.

Making Data Available for Replication
Political Analysis adheres to a simple replication standard. Unless otherwise noted, appropriate replication materials, including, at a minimum, sufficient data and computer code to allow any reader to reproduce the results of the article, will be permanently posted on the Society's Political Analysis Web site (http://polmeth.wustl.edu/pa/pa_main.html). Authors are also encouraged to post more complete versions of their paper, and other ancillary materials, on that site.

Policy on Submitting Replications and Extensions
Political Analysis now accepts Replication articles for publication on the Political Analysis Web site. Authors interested in submitting such studies should click here for information on preparing Replications and Extensions.

Author Self-Archiving/Public Access Policy from November 2005
For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving policy page.

Permissions for Illustrations and Figures
Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS, and similar licensing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section. Information on permissions contacts for a number of main galleries and museums can also be provided. Should you require copies of this, please contact the editorial office of the journal in question or the Oxford Journals Rights department.

Funding
Details of all funding sources for the work in question should be given in a separate section entitled "Funding." This should appear before the "Acknowledgements" section. The following rules should be followed: the full official funding agency name should be given, i.e. "National Institutes of Health," not "NIH"; grant numbers should be given in parentheses; multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma; agencies should be separated by a semi-colon; no extra wording like "Funding for this work was provided by ..." should be used; where individuals need to be specified for certain sources of funding the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number "to [author initials]." An example is given here: National Institutes of Health (CB5453961 to C.S., DB645473 to M.H.); Funding Agency (hfygr667789).

The sentence should begin: ‘This work was supported by …’
The full official funding agency name should be given, i.e. ‘National Institutes of Health’, not ‘NIH’ (full RIN-approved list of UK funding agencies) Grant numbers should be given in brackets as follows: ‘[grant number xxxx]’
Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma as follows: ‘[grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]’
Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (plus ‘and’ before the last funding agency)
Where individuals need to be specified for certain sources of funding the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number 'to [author initials]'.
An example is given here: ‘This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [AA123456 to C.S., BB765432 to M.H.]; and the Alcohol & Education Research Council [hfygr667789].