INTERGOVERNMENTAL RESEARCH AND POLICY JOURNAL

A ‘HIGH-EFFICIENCY FACTOR JOURNAL’

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For Authors

Submission Guidelines for Authors

Submissions Open

IRPJ welcomes submissions from researchers, practitioners, and policy experts. Manuscripts must be prepared using the IRPJ template and submitted via the journal’s online submission system.

Checklist for submitting articles to IRPJ

Obtain an Orcid number. Look under heading For Authors. See https://irpj.euclid.int/ and follow the instructions. Please provide the Orcid ID number to me, as editor, when you submit your article. You can place it under your author’s name.

ORCID Requirement

All authors must provide an ORCID number. Submissions without ORCID IDs will not be processed. 

IRPJ employs a peer-reviewed, double-blind system managed by an editorial board: 

  • Initial screening: Editorial team checks compliance with IRPJ scope and formatting.
  • Peer review: At least two independent experts evaluate the manuscript.
  • Recommendations: Reviewers suggest acceptance, revision, or rejection.
  • Editorial decision: Final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief.
  • Prepare articles in the approved IRPJ format. Use DOCx format. Other formats are not accepted.
  • Follow JP Safari This it the Template provided to authors.
  • Ensure all headings and subheadings are inserted in proper Uppercase and lowercase typeset, and graphs and figures in the appropriate size. 
  • Include keywords naming the relevant IGOs, using the format:
    European Union (EU), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
  • Indicate policy implications in either the Recommendations, Future Research or Conclusions section. 

Manuscript Preparation

Accepted Article Types

  • Original Research Articles (4,000–6,000 words)
    Comprehensive studies with methodology, findings, and policy analysis.
  • Review Articles (up to 8,000 words)
    Analytical syntheses of existing research, highlighting trends and gaps.
  • Short Communications (≤2,000 words)
    Concise reports of preliminary or innovative findings.
  • Case Studies / Reports (≤2,500 words)
    Real-world descriptive analyses of unique or illustrative cases.
  • Editorials and Commentaries
    Opinion pieces, typically invited, on contemporary issues.

Formatting Standards

  • File type: Microsoft Word (.docx only).
  • Language: English, carefully proofread for clarity and grammar.
  • Font & Spacing: Brill, 11 point, double-spaced.
  • Footnotes and References: Brill, 9 point.
  • Headings: Use clear hierarchy (e.g., 1, 1.1, 1.2).
  • Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides.
  • Page numbering: All pages must be numbered consecutively.
  • Word count:
    • Research articles: 4,000–6,000
    • Review articles: up to 8,000
    • Case reports: up to 2,500
    • Short communications: up to 2,000

Manuscript Structure Guide

Each submission should ideally include the following elements, in the order listed. For non-research submissions (e.g., articles, commentaries, opinions), the sequence may be adapted, but the following can serve as a useful guide:

  • Title Page
    • Article title (concise, informative).
    • Full author names and affiliations.
    • Corresponding author details (email and mailing address).
    • ORCID ID for each author (obtain from ORCID Registration).
  • Abstract (max. 250 words)
    • Summarize objectives, methods, findings, and conclusions.
    • Should be self-contained and suitable for indexing databases.
  • Keywords (3–6 terms)
    • Must include concerned IGOs, e.g., World Bank (WB), African Union (AU).
  • Main Text
    • Introduction: Context, problem statement, and objectives.
    • Literature Review/Theoretical Background
    • Methods / Methodology/Approach: Analytical methods.
    • Results/or Implications for Policy and Practice: Findings, with supporting data.
    • Discussion: Interpretation of results, links to prior research.
    • Conclusion: Key takeaways, explicit policy implications for IGOs.
  • Acknowledgments (optional)
    • Recognize contributors not listed as authors.
  • Conflict of Interest Statement
    • Required for all submissions.
  • References
    • Follow APA 7th edition strictly. Example:

Figures and Tables

  • Figures: 300 dpi minimum, in JPEG or TIFF format.
  • Tables: Must be editable (not images), numbered sequentially.
  • Legends: Each figure and table requires a clear descriptive caption.
  • Avoid duplicating data in both text and visuals.

Plagiarism and Originality Policy

The IRPJ editorial team uses a variety tools to verify the originality of submitted manuscripts. As part of this process, selected submitted manuscripts are scanned and compared with various databases. Plagiarism is when an author attempts to pass off someone else work as his or her own. Duplicate publication, sometimes called self-plagiarism, occurs when an author reuses substantial parts of his or her own published work without providing the appropriate references. This can range from getting an identical paper published in multiple journals, to so-called ‘salami-slicing,’ where authors add small amounts of new data to a previous paper.

PLAGIARISM PRIOR PUBLISHING: All manuscripts submitted for publication are checked for plagiarism after submission and before starting review. If plagiarism is detected by the editorial board member, reviewer, editor etc., in any stage of article process- before or after acceptance then we will alert the same to the author(s) and will ask them to rewrite the content or to cite the references from where the content has been taken. If more than 30% of the paper is plagiarized, the article will be rejected and the author notified.

Submissions in which plagiarism is detected are handled based on the extent of the plagiarism. >5% Plagiarism: The manuscript will be given an ID and the manuscript is sent to author for content revision. 5- 30% Plagiarism: The manuscript will not be given an ID and the manuscript is sent back to author for content revision. >30% Plagiarism: The manuscript will be rejected without the review. The authors are advised to revise the manuscript and resubmit the manuscript.

PLAGIARISM DETECTED AFTER PUBLICATION: If a case of plagiarism comes to light after a paper is published in the journal, the journal will conduct a preliminary investigation. If plagiarism is found, a determination of misconduct will lead the journal to run a statement, bidirectionally linked online to and from the original paper, to note the plagiarism and to provide a reference to the plagiarised material. The paper containing the plagiarism will also be obviously marked on each page of the PDF. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may also be formally retracted.

ORIGINALITY: By submitting Author(s) manuscript to the journal it is understood that it is an original manuscript and is unpublished work and is not under consideration elsewhere. Plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the author’s own work, in whole or in part without proper citation is not tolerated by the journal. In the case of a publication being submitted that was originally published in another language, the title, date and journal of the original publication must be identified by the authors, and the copyright must be obtained. The editor may accept such a translated publication to bring it to the attention of a wider audience.

ACKNOWLEDGING AUTHOR(S) SOURCES: Self-plagiarism is a related issue. Self-plagiarism is the verbatim or near-verbatim reuse of significant portions of one’s own copyrighted work without citing the original source. Note that self-plagiarism does not apply to publications based on the author’s own previously copyrighted work (e.g., appearing in a conference proceedings) where an explicit reference is made to the prior publication. Such reuse does not require quotation marks to delineate the reused text but does require that the source be cited.

By submitting, authors confirm the manuscript is:

  • Original and unpublished.
  • Not under consideration elsewhere.

Fees and Waiver Policy

  • Submission fee: USD 20.
  • Processing fee: USD 70 (covers editorial operations, review, indexing, and archiving).
  • Editing service fee: Optional, if extensive revisions are required.

Fee Waivers:

  • The USD 20 submission fee may be waived upon request for EUCLID faculty members, public researchers and Ph.D. students in EUCLID Participating States.

Copyright and Licensing

  • All IRPJ articles are published open access under a CC-BY license.
  • Authors retain copyright and grant IRPJ the right to publish.
  • CC-BY allows free use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, with appropriate citation of the original authors.

Useful Resources

Authors are encouraged to use:

Summary of Instructions  

  • Obtain an ORCID number. Please provide the number the when submitting article. 
  • Follow the precedent found under For Authors, being the Safari precedent. 
  • Ensure all headings and subheadings are inserted in proper Uppercase and lowercase typeset, and graphs and figures in the appropriate size. 
 

If you have further questions, contact editor : [email protected]