Indian Journal of Public Administration

Indian Journal of Public Administration

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics and strictly adheres to the guidelines set forth by COPE

Manuscripts should be submitted in soft copy (MS Word) as an attachment to submittoiipa@gmail.com and the authors must mention 'Manuscript submission for IJPA' in the subject line.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Indian Journal of Public Administration will be reviewed. 

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in Indian Journal of Public Administration and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere.

If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal

1. What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper

2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research data

3. Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving

4. Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting 
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style

5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 Information required for completing your submission
5.2 Permissions

6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article

7. Further information

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Indian Journal of Public Administration, please ensure you have read the ‘Aims & Scope’ of the journal.

1.2 Article types

There could be three to five sections in the journal, though two sections remain unchanged.

• Unchanged Sections

1. Research Articles: only the research articles are refereed.
2. Book Reviews: vary from number to number invariably guided by limits to the size of the manuscript

• Changed Sections

1. Communication/Discussion
2. Note
3. Review Article

Full-fledged papers should not exceed 6000 words. Brief write-ups of 1,000 to 2,500 words may also be sent; these will be considered for inclusion in other sections.

1.3 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Indian Journal of Public Administration adheres to single anonymize peer review process in which the reviewer’s name is routinely withheld from the author unless the reviewer requests a preference for their identity to be revealed.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in Indian Journal of Public Administration. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

2.2 Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

If the named authors for a manuscript change at any point between submission and acceptance, an Authorship Change Form must be completed and digitally signed by all authors (including any added or removed) . An addition of an author is only permitted following feedback raised during peer review. Completed forms can be uploaded at Revision Submission stage or emailed to the Journal Editorial Office contact (listed on the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines). All requests will be moderated by the Editor and/or Sage staff.

Important: Changes to the author by-line by adding or deleting authors are NOT permitted following acceptance of a paper.

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2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

2.3.1 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding

Indian Journal of Public Administration requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

Indian Journal of Public Administration encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. 

2.6 Research data

At Sage we are committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research. Where relevant, Indian Journal of Public Administration encourages authors to share their research data in a suitable public repository subject to ethical considerations and where data is included, to add a data accessibility statement in their manuscript file. Authors should also follow data citation principles. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway, which includes information about Sage’s partnership with the data repository Figshare.

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3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway 

3.1.1 Plagiarism
Indian Journal of Public Administration and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of Indian Journal of Public Administration against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement    

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Indian Journal of Public Administration offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

The manuscript should be structured as follows:

• Cover page, showing title of the paper, name of author, author’s affiliation and institutional address with pin code, email id and a 100–150 word abstract. In case there are two or more authors, then corresponding author’s name and address details must be clearly specified on the first page itself.
• Abstract: All manuscripts except, editorials, commentaries and reviews, should be accompanied by one paragraph abstract of no more than 150 words along with 4–5 keywords. The abstract should be structured in the following manner: Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion (IMRAD style).  The Introduction should have a brief description of the study followed by the Methodology adopted. It should mention the design, sample description and the tool used. The Results section should include the findings of the study. Discussion should include the inferences drawn from the results and implications.
• The contributors should provide 4–5 keywords for online searchability.
• Text should start on a new page, and must not contain the names of authors.
• References should come at the end of the manuscript. Important note: There is no limit on the number of references allowed.
• Please Note: For each text citation there must be a corresponding citation in the reference list and for each reference list citation there must be a corresponding text citation.
• Tables and figures should be provided in editable format and should be referred to in the text by number separately (e.g., Table 1) not by placement (e.g., see Table below).
• Please Note: All figures and tables should be cited in the text and should have the source (a specific URL, a reference or, if it is author’s own work, ‘The Author’) mentioned irrespective of whether or not they require permissions.
• Figures, including maps, graphs and drawings, should not be larger than page size. They should be numbered and arranged as per their references in the text. All photographs and scanned images should have a resolution of minimum 300 dpi and 1,500 pixels and their format should be TIFF or JPEG. Permissions to reprint should be obtained for copyright protected photographs/images.
• Mathematical formulae, methodological details, etc. should be given separately as an appendix, unless their mention in the main body of the text becomes essential.
• The language and spellings used should be British (UK), with ‘s’ variant, for example, globalisation instead of globalization, labour instead of labor. For non-English and uncommon words and phrases, use italics throughout the text. Meaning of non-English words should be given in parenthesis just after the word when it is used for the first time.
• Articles should use non-sexist and non-racist language.
• Spell out numbers from one to ninety-nine, 100 and above to remain in figures. However, for exact measurement (e.g., China’s GDP growth rate 9.8 per cent) use numbers. Very large round numbers, especially sums of money, may be expressed by a mixture of numerals and spelled-out numbers (India’s population 1.2 billion).
• Single quotes should be used throughout. Double quote marks are to be used within single quotes. Spellings of words in quotations should not be changed. Quotations of 45 words or more should be separated from the text.
• Notes should be numbered serially and presented at the end of the article. Notes must contain more than a mere reference.
• Use ‘per cent’ instead of % in the text. In tables, graphs, etc., % can be used. Use ‘20th century’, ‘the 1990s’.
• Number ranges should not be truncated, for example, 2017–2018.
• The initials must be separated by dots and should be closed up.
• ‘ibid.’ (italic and with a lowercase ‘i’) must be used in the main text.
• Abbreviations are spelled out at first occurrence. Very common ones (US, GDP, BBC) need not be spelled out.
• The journal does not encourage frequent use of capital letters. They should be used selectively and consistently. Proper names such as names of ethnic, religious and national groups are capitalised (the Muslims, the Gurkhas and the Germans). The terms dalits and adivasis, as exceptions, must be set in lowercase. All caste, tribe and community names (the Santhals, the Jatavs) are to be capitalised but generic terms (the kayasths) should to be set in lowercase. Civil, military, religious, and professional titles (the President), institutions (the Parliament, the United Nations) and names of organisations (the Labour Party and the Students Federation of India) are to be capitalised. The names of political tendencies (the marxists, the socialists) should remain in lowercase.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines  

• All photographs and scanned images should have a resolution of minimum 300 dpi/1500 pixels and their format should be TIFF or JPEG.
• Due permissions should be taken for copyright protected photographs/images. Even for photographs/images available in the public domain, it should be clearly ascertained whether or not their reproduction requires permission for purposes of publishing (which is a profit-making endeavour).
• All photographs/scanned images should be provided separately in a folder along with the main article.

Please Note: All figures and tables should be cited in the text and should have the source (a specific URL, a reference or, if it is author’s own work, ‘The Author’) mentioned irrespective of whether or not they require permissions.

• Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

4.3 Supplemental material

This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files

4.4 Reference style

Indian Journal of Public Administration adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

• References: A consolidated listing of all books, articles, essays, theses and documents referred to (including any referred to in the tables, graphs and maps) should be provided at the end of the article.
• Arrangement of references: Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work. In each reference, authors’ names are inverted (last name first) for all authors (first, second or subsequent ones); give the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work unless the work has more than six authors. If the work has more than six authors, list the first six authors and then use et al. after the sixth author’s name.
• Chronological listing: If more than one work by the same author(s) is cited, they should be listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest.
• Sentence case: In references, sentence case (only the first word and any proper noun are capitalized—e.g., ‘The software industry in India’) is to be followed for the titles of papers, books, articles, etc.
• Title case: In references, Journal titles are put in title case (first letter of all words except articles and conjunctions are capitalized—e.g., Journal of Business Ethics).
• Italicize: Book and Journal titles are to be italicized.

Please Note: For each in-text citation there must be a corresponding reference in the reference list and for each reference there must be a corresponding in-text citation.

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5. Submitting your manuscript

Manuscripts for Indian Journal of Public Administration should be submitted in soft copy (MS Word) as an attachment to submittoiipa@gmail.com and the authors must mention 'Manuscript submission for IJPA' in the subject line.

5.1 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.2 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

6.2 Online First publication 

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Indian Journal of Public Administration editorial office at the following address:

E-mail: submittoiipa@gmail.com