Submissions

Login or Register to make a submission.

Author Guidelines

General Guidelines
The Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs (JPNA) accepts manuscripts on a wide range of issues relating to the fields of public and nonprofit affairs. Author(s) must submit their manuscripts electronically (click here). If you have not previously registered with the journal, you will need to register as an author and then follow the instructions on the screen for submission.
 
Readership of the journal includes both academics and practitioners. Author(s) are encouraged to write such that the content of the manuscript is accessible to both groups. When applicable, author(s) are requested to include a discussion of the practical application of the findings to public administrators.
 
Typically, most manuscripts should be no longer than 12,000 words, including the abstract, references, and tables. However, see below for specific submission instructions for each of JPNA's sections. The submission of a manuscript is an indication from the author(s) that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not currently under review at another publication. JPNA strives to have a double-blind review process. Author(s) should prepare their manuscripts accordingly. This includes reviewing the properties of the manuscript to ensure that the names of the author(s) and their institutions have been removed. In the text of the manuscript, the names of the author(s) should not be included and any indication of authorship should be avoided when possible. 
 
The title of the manuscript, along with an abstract (maximum of 150 words) should appear on the first page of the manuscript. The main body of the text should begin on the second page. All tables and figures should be embedded in the manuscript where they are referred to in the body text, rather than placed at the end of the manuscript. On submission of the manuscript, the author(s) will be asked to submit 3-5 keywords. Upon acceptance of a manuscript, the author(s) will receive further instructions on the publication process and initial manuscript formatting for publication. 
 
Use of Figures and Illustrations
The requirements for the inclusion of any figures or illustrations in a manuscript differ between the initial submission for consideration of publication and final publication. Prior to final acceptance, authors must provide a high-resolution .tif or .jpeg file (1200 d.p.i. for line drawing and 300 d.p.i. for color and half-tone artwork). Figures and illustrations should not portray the logo or name of other institutions without consulting the editors prior to submission. In the event that the figures or illustrations are copyrighted material, it is the author(s) responsibility to obtain permission for publication in JPNA under its creative commons license. Any and all fees associated with this permission are the responsibility of the author(s). Evidence in writing that the rights have been obtained must be provided to the editor(s) assigned to the manuscript.
 
Tables
When applicable, tables should be created in MS Word and not pasted into the manuscript as a graphic or Excel file. 
 
References
The journal adheres to the reference and citation guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA). In following APA guidelines, references must include the direct object identifier (DOI) if a DOI has been assigned to the reference by its publishers. All manuscripts must include appropriately formatted citations prior to the final acceptance of the manuscript. Specific questions regarding the formatting of references and in-text citations can be found at http://www.apastyle.org. Verification of whether a DOI has been assigned to a publication and the resulting identifier can be found at http://www.crossref.org/guestquery.
 
Footnotes and Endnotes
When necessary, the journal supports the use of footnotes within the manuscripts it publishes. The use of endnotes, however, should be avoided.
 
Disclosure Statement
Upon submission of a manuscript, author(s) should incorporate a section into the text titled "Disclosure Statement." The section should be placed after the end of the main body of the manuscript but before the reference section. This section should disclose any conflict(s) of interest or funding sources that pertain to the author(s) and/or the research. The statement will be made available to referees. In the event that there are no conflicts or funding sources, author(s) must include the statement:
The author(s) declare that there are no conflicts of interest that relate to the research, authorship, or publication of this article.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • The appropriate disclosure statement was included in the manuscript, as outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it presently before another journal for publication consideration.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines. All identifiable information about the author has been redacted.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word format and all tables and figures are in print-ready format and embedded in the body text and not at the end of the manuscript.

Research Articles

JPNA publishes research articles from diverse theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary backgrounds that addresses topics related to the affairs and management of public and nonprofit organizations. This includes, but is not limited to, research that addresses state and local government management, nonprofit management, intergovernmental relations, organizational theory and behavior, civic engagement, budgeting and finance, human resources, and ethical issues in public affairs. We especially welcome research articles on social equity and other related topics that are commonly discounted in government and nonprofit affairs scholarship, as well as from international scholars and research on public affairs topics outside the U.S. context. Articles are expected to adhere to scientific standards and, when applicable, provide a discussion of the application of the research to the practice of the discipline. Upon submission, articles are first reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editor(s) with content expertise for quality and likelihood of publication. All research articles that pass this initial review will undergo a double-blind peer-review process, with the final decision for publication remaining with the Co-Editors-in-Chief.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
     
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional, contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.

  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see, The Effect of Open Access).

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.