Call for Proposals: The International Affairs 100th anniversary special issue
Andrew Dorman
To mark its centenary the editorial team of International Affairs invites special issue proposals for publication in January 2022.
Background
International Affairs is a leading double-blind peer-reviewed journal publishing academically rigorous, policy relevant articles covering the entire field of International Relations.
The first issue of International Affairs was published in 1922, two years after the founding of its institutional home, the British (later Royal) Institute of International Affairs. The founding editor, G. M. Gathorne-Hardy wrote in the first editorial that ‘the journal will, it is hoped… become a source of information and a guide to judgement in international affairs’. While originally intended as a record of Chatham House meetings and events, the journal soon came to include original research at the cutting edge of the International Relations discipline. We have explored some of the highlights in our ongoing ‘100 years of Chatham House’ series this year.
While in many cases we are proud of the legacy this archive represents, some of the earlier work draws on unacceptable assumptions and theories about world politics — not least during the colonial era in which Chatham House played a regrettable part. In recent years, the editorial team has made a concerted effort to learn from previous mistakes instead of concealing them. International Affairs is committed to increasing the journal’s engagement with under-represented theoretical approaches, focusing on diversity and inclusion, and highlighting the work of academic merit within our extensive archive. Now in its 98th year and 96th volume, International Affairs has risen towards the top of the various academic journal rankings by citation, while maintaining its impact within the practitioner communities it was designed to serve.
To mark 100 years of International Affairs, we are searching for special issue proposals that explore new directions in the field of International Relations. In the spirit of our commitment to rectifying past oversights, we are particularly interested in hearing proposals from or about regions and sub-disciplines that have traditionally been under-represented within our pages.
Submission Guidelines
Please read these guidelines carefully. Proposals that do not follow these guidelines will not be considered.
The special issue should contain 14–18 articles. An introduction can be included either as one of these articles or as a shorter 1,500–3,000 word contribution. It is not necessary for a special issue to have a conclusion. We expect all special issue articles to conform to our Author Guidelines.
We are looking for articles that contribute something new to current academic debates, engage with previous work in the journal and have relevance for practitioners. Authors are asked to write clearly and economically, and to avoid academic or technical jargon as International Affairs spans a wide range of fields and is also aimed at practitioners.
In support of our pursuit of greater diversity and the ongoing ‘50:50 in 2020’ initiative, we expect to see an appropriate global distribution of authors and gender balance among the contributors and, if multiple, guest-editors. Additionally, if your special issue is regionally focused then it must include at least one article by an author based within the region in question.
Proposals should contain the following information:
- Title
- Name, affiliation and email of the proposed guest-editor(s)
- Name, affiliation and email of all agreed contributors
- Background and rationale for the proposal (max. 500 words)
- Detailed abstracts of all papers (max. 300 words per contribution)
- A timetable for submission of all the papers with the last being submitted by 30 April 2021
Submissions timeline:
15 October 2020: All proposals submitted
31 October 2020: Decision on special issue
30 April 2021: Submission of all articles for review
15 June 2021: Completion of reviews
31 July 2021: Submission of revised articles
15 September 2021: Completion of further reviews and decision
15 October 2021: Completion of final changes and all enter production phase
3 January 2022: Publication day
Selection process
The successful proposal will be selected by members of the International Affairs Editorial Board, in conjunction with the editorial team. The editors’ decision is final. Due to the anticipated volume of proposals we are only able to offer minimal feedback on unsuccessful proposals.
The guest-editors will be responsible for ensuring the submission of contributions by an agreed deadline, advising on the selection of referees and working with the editorial team on promotional activities. The editorial team will manage the review and production processes, as well as driving engagement with the published issue through a wide range of communications channels.
Please note that acceptance of a special issue proposal does not guarantee publication of individual contributions. Each article will be treated as an individual submission, and will be evaluated according to the journal’s established peer review process.
How to enter
Proposals should be submitted to adorman@chathamhouse.org with a subject line ‘IA Special Issue proposal 2022’. Any queries should be sent to the same email address.
We very much look forward to reading your proposals!
