Instructions to Authors
The Swiss Political Science Review publishes contributions from all fields of political science irrespective of their theoretical or methodological approach. Articles and Research Notes are selected through an anonymous peer-review procedure. The SPSR also publishes Review Essays, Debates, and Book Reviews and, occasionally, Special Issues on important topics in the discipline.
The SPSR is the international medium for the study of Swiss politics and issues that have a privileged link with Switzerland, such as direct democracy, federalism, and consociational politics. However, it is by no means limited to publications on Switzerland or by Swiss authors: it is comparative and pluralistic in outlook. The SPSR also welcomes contributions from related disciplines to enrich knowledge in political science.
General Criteria for SPSR Publications
Contributions may be written in English, German, French or Italian, and should not exceed 10,000 words all included. Papers are accepted for review with the understanding that they contain original unpublished work and are not presently submitted elsewhere. No electronic version of a manuscript submitted to the SPSR may be posted on the World Wide Web prior to its publication in the SPSR.
The title page of the manuscript should include the full names of the authors, academic or other professional affiliation, and the complete contact details (address, telephone and email). Tables and figures should be numbered continously. For references authors may use the most recent issue of the SPSR as an example. In deciding how to format your initial submission, please consider the necessity of making these changes if your paper is accepted. If accepted for publication, you may also be asked to submit the original graphs, charts, or other types of figures. Prior publication authors will be asked to submit the electronic version of graphs, charts and figures. All elements (text, numerals, symbols, lines, etc.) need to be accessible for editing and formatting.
Articles must include – language skills permitting – abstracts in English, German and French. Abstracts should not exceed 150 words. They should make reference to research question, approach and results. For indexing and online search purpose, three to five keywords (in English) should accompany the abstract. A brief biographical and bibliographical note about the authors (about 50 words) should also be included.
How to Submit
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via email at manuscripts@spsr.ch. Authors are kindly requested to submit two versions of their article, one of which has to be anonymous (no acknowledgements, no self cites). Please indicate the title and keywords (all keywords in English) in your email. No accompanying letter is required. File format should be DOC or RTF.