About the Journal

PS&P focuses primarily on the interdisciplinary areas of social sciences, such as public policy, public administration, political communication, and governance that have consequences of broad, international significance. It publishes original articles, which are assessed through a rigorous peer-review process. 

The journal aims to:

• Enable theoretical, methodological, and empirical advances in the study of public policy, public administration, and governance.
• Enable cutting-edge research connecting theoretical research with real-world policy problems and vice-versa.
• Encourage diversity in geographical, methodological, and theoretical approaches.

The journal takes a pluralist approach and encourages submissions regardless of the methodological approach and country of study. Also, Public Sciences & Policies publishes articles in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. Articles published are predominantly original research articles, but review articles that assess the state of the art of the policy field are also welcomed.

 

Journal Keywords

Social Sciences – Public Policy – Public Administration – Global – Governance – Political Communication – Human Rights – Civil Society – Economics – Policy Analysis – Policy Cycle – Political Science – Strategic Communication – Public Interest – Research Methodologies

This journal is free of charge for submission and production. 

Peer-review Process

All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous double-blind peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by two anonymous referees.

Papers will only be sent to review if the Editorial Collective board or Associate Editors determine that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements.

Ethics Responsibilities

Public Sciences & Policies is committed to ethics and high standard quality in its publications. We support standards of expected ethical behaviour for all parties involved in publishing in our journal. PS&P publishing policies are inspired by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on appeals to editorial decisions and complaints about the journal´s editorial management of the peer-review process.

Duties of the Related Parties

Editor Duties:

• Publication decision: The journal’s editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor is guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial collective board and constrained by legal requirements. The editor may consult with the editorial board or reviewers in decision making.
• Fair play: The editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
• Confidentiality: The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: The editor must not use unpublished information in his/her research without the author's express written consent. The editor should refuse manuscripts in which the editor has conflicts of interest.
• Involvement and cooperation in the investigation: The editor should take reasonable responsive measures when presented with ethical complaints concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper.

 

Reviewers Duties:

• Contribution to editorial decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions, and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.
• Promptness: Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
• Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others.
• Standards of objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively, and referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
• Acknowledgement of source: Peer reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited. The peer reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest.

 

Authors Duties:

• Reporting Standards: Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain enough detail and references to permit others to continue the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable for Public Sciences & Policies.
• Originality and Plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used secondary sources, the work and/or words of others, this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable for Public Sciences & Policies.
• Duplicate Submission/Publication: Authors are required to declare upon submission that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal or publishing the same article in different journals constitute unethical publishing behaviour, and it is unacceptable for Public Sciences & Policies.
• Acknowledgement of Sources: Proper acknowledgement of the work of others must always be provided. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source. Information obtained in confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the author's explicit written permission of the work involved in these services.
• Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where others have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the paper, have seen and approved the paper's final version, and have agreed to its submission for publication.
• Disclosure and conflicts of interest: All authors should disclose any conflict of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be mentioned.
• Fundamental errors in published works: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, the author must promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

PS&P is indexed at: