Political Studies Review

Published by the Political Studies Association and Blackwell Publishing

Edited by:
Matthew Festenstein and Martin Smith

Print ISSN: 1478-9299
Online ISSN: 1478-9302
Frequency: Three times a year
Current Volume: 8 / 2010

TopAuthor Guidelines

Review Article Guidelines

Book Review Guidelines

Review Article Guidelines

ScopePolitical Studies Review provides unrivalled review coverage of new books and literature on political science and international relations and does so in a timely and comprehensive way. In addition to providing a comprehensive range of reviews of books in politics, PSR is a forum for a range of approaches to reviews and debate in the discipline. PSR both commissions original review essays and strongly encourages submission of review articles, review symposia, longer reviews of books and debates relating to theories and methods in the study of politics. The editors are particularly keen to develop new and exciting approaches to reviewing the discipline and would be happy to consider a range of ideas and suggestions.

Word lengthReview articles are no more than 5000 words in length inclusive of all notes and references

Submit by emailTo submit a review article to Political Studies Review, please prepare a Word document and send it as an email attachment to Rene Bailey at politicalstudies@sheffield.ac.uk.

Style guideFor details on how to handle references and other matters to do with style,please go to http://www.politicalstudiesreview.org/styleguide.asp

Book Review Guidelines

ScopePolitical Studies Review aims to provide one of the world's more extensive review services for books on politics, a tradition maintained since the first issue of Political Studies in 1953. The journal receives around 1500 books a year for review, not all of which can currently be reviewed, since space is limited. We aim to publish printed reviews of 300 to 400 books per year. The two foundations of our strategy are:

• to provide short, accessible and authoritative reviews
• in a timely manner.

Reviewers undertake these short reviews without payment, as a professional service to colleagues. Reviewers can, of course, keep the books they have covered.

Books available for reviewTo request a book to review, email Dawn King at D.P.King@sheffield.ac.uk and tell us your name, institutional affilation and brief details of your research interests and publications.

Word lengthBook reviews are no longer than 400 words per book.

Scope and styleUse the first half of the review to tell readers what the book is about: its fundamental argument; its approach; the topics, countries or cases the author analyses; and what kind of readers the book is aimed at. Use the remainder of the review to give an assessment of how well it succeeds. Does the author succeed in his/her goals? Is the book innovative or noteworthy in theory, method or empirical work? Are there gaps or anomalies in its coverage? How plausible are the author's arguments? Is the book well written? The editors are keen for reviewers to make grounded criticisms and to benchmark books dispassionately against professional standards. But there is no need to cultivate either a 'hanging judge' mentality or an over-praising style.

Submit by emailTo submit a book review to Political Studies Review, please prepare a Word document and send it as an email attachment to Dawn King at D.P.King@sheffield.ac.uk.

Thank you for contibuting to Political Studies Review.

Exclusive Licence Form

Authors will be required to sign an Exclusive Licence Form (ELF) for all papers accepted for publication. Signature of the ELF is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless a signed form has been received. Please note that signature of the Exclusive Licence Form does not affect ownership of copyright in the material. (Government Employees need to complete the Author Warranty sections, although copyright in such cases does not need to be assigned.) After submission authors will retain the right to publish their paper in various media/circumstances (please see the form for further details). To assist authors an appropriate form will be supplied by the editorial office. Alternatively, authors may like to download a copy of the form here. Book reviewers may like to download a copy of the review ELF Here.