Policy & Politics has been publishing seminal works on public and social policy, and politics for over 40 years. It is a world-leading journal – ranked 11th out of all public administration journals - and is committed to advancing understanding of the dynamics of policy-making and implementation. By exploring the interplay between political actors, governing institutions and policy issues, the journal contributes to theories of the policy process; and by reflecting on the evolving context in which these interactions occur, it provides critical insights that are timely and fresh.

The journal’s co-editors invite proposals for a special issue to be published online in 2019 and in print in 2020 that will make a significant contribution to our understanding of public or social policy and/or politics. 

We receive a large number of enquiries about and proposals for special issues which means that we are in the enviable position of selecting only the very strongest. To be successful proposals need to offer a coherent set of excellent original research articles that will reframe or develop knowledge on a topic which is at the leading edge of current debates and is clearly relevant to the journal’s worldwide readership. Proposals may include a mixture of theoretical, conceptual and empirical cases and a range of research methods, but must demonstrate how they will make a significant and lasting contribution to the field.

Special issues of this significance generally take at least eighteen months to two years from the acceptance of a proposal through to final publication.  In return, we can offer a fast-track publication service for all articles with turnaround times of 2-3 months from delivery of the final manuscript to publication. In addition, we undertake significant article-level marketing for special issues, and all special issues are eligible for consideration for publication in book form, in the Policy & Politics series published by Policy Press.

Please read our guidance available to download from http://www.bris.ac.uk/sps/policypolitcs/ on how to develop your proposal, to ensure that you include all the information we will need to evaluate it. If you would like to talk through any aspect of your proposal, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The timetable for evaluating proposals is set out below:

Call for proposals open; submit to mailto:sarah.brown@bristol.ac.uk
30th June 2017
Deadline for submitting proposals
8th December 2017
Decision on selection of one proposal announced
28th February 2018
Initial draft of articles submitted
By 29th June 2018
Peer reviews and feedback given
By 7th December 2018
Revised articles submitted and finalised
1st qtr 2019
Articles published online as fast track
2nd qtr 2019
Special issue print edition
2020