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Please ensure that you consider the following guidelines when preparing your manuscript:
Length
Capitalisation of titles
NOTE: Tier 1 subheads should follow the same rule as the titles. For lower-level subheads, only capitalise first letter (plus proper nouns).
Language
Articles must be submitted in English. Authors are welcome to use American or British spellings and grammar as long as they are used consistently. Some of the key differences between English and American English include the following:
Please note that when referring to proper nouns and normal institutional titles, you should always use the official, original spelling. For instance, it is World Health Organization, not World Health Organisation.
Grammar
As with language, American or English spelling and grammar rules may be used as long as they are used consistently. For instance, you may use a serial comma (red, white, and blue) or not (red, white and blue).
Terminology
Avoid excessive jargon and complicated verbiage. Articles should be accessible and easy to read for any audience. Make sure to define potentially controversial terms or those with no universally accepted definition (e.g. "war", "terrorism", "gender").
Use dispassionate language when discussing sensitive topics, including terrorism. Avoid polarizing and emotive language such as "annihilate", "evil", "monsters", glorifying or legitimizing terms such as "lone wolves" (use "lone actors" instead), "soldiers", "warriors", or "martyrs" (depending on context, "fighters", "perpetrators", or "attackers" may be more appropriate) and misleading ones such as "Islamic terrorism" (use "Islamist terrorism" so as not to equate Islam to terrorism), "Islamic State" or "ISIS" (use "Daesh" instead - the terrorist group is not a state). Further, when referring to women, avoid language that would negate women’s agency (e.g. "jihadi wives").
Numbers
We are happy for authors to use either words or figures to represent large figures (i.e. one million or 1,000,000) as long as the usage is consistent within an article. For numbers between zero and twelve we would recommend using words rather than figures, except for when it is a part of a dataset or presented in a table.
When referring to a percentage, please use the words ‘per cent’ rather than the symbol %, again except for when it is a part of a dataset or presented in a table.
Currencies
Quotation marks
Please use single quotation marks except for quotes within another speech, in which case double quotation marks are used.
Acronyms & Abbreviations
With abbreviations, the crucial goal is to ensure that the reader – particularly one who may not be fully familiar with the topic or context being addressed – is able to follow along. Spell out almost all acronyms on first use, indicating the acronym in parentheses immediately thereafter. Use the acronym for all subsequent references. You do not need to spell out abbreviations for US, UK, EU, UN and DC, as in Washington, DC.
Images & Figures
Unless it provides key information related to your submission, do not include photographs/pictures. Such images may ultimately be removed from your piece at the editors’ discretion. Figures, including graphs and diagrams, are, however, acceptable if they are professionally and clearly presented. If a figure is not easy to understand or does not appear to be of a suitable quality, you will be asked to re-render or omit it.
NOTE: Place your images, figures and tables (see below) exactly where you would like them to appear in the article. Do not place figures at the end of the article or in a separate document. if possible submit figure files in colour and at a resolution of at least 150dpi (300dpi preferred), and the file size should not be more than 20MB per file.
Tables
The same principles which apply to figures apply to tables. They should be necessary and should not repeat significant pieces of information already included in the text.
Use of footnotes/endnotes
Please use endnotes rather than footnotes (which we will refer to as ‘Notes’ at the end of the article, before ‘References’). All notes should be kept to the bare minimum and only where crucial clarifying information needs to be conveyed. Avoid using endnotes for purposes of referencing; use in-text citations instead.
In-text citations
Authors are strongly encouraged to use parenthetical citations according to the Chicago style (Adam 1984: 120ff.) For publications authored and published by organisations, use the short form of the organisation’s name or its acronym in lieu of the full name. For instance, do NOT do the following (International Committee of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 2000); instead, you should write (ICRC 2000). Also, please do not include URLs (web addresses) in parenthetical citations.
References
References containing works cited within an article will be listed at the end of the article, in alphabetical order of authors’ surnames). All reading materials should be included in ‘References’ – even works which may not have been cited within an article but which the author wishes to share with the reader (for these, the author should provide additional information in endnotes explaining the relevance of the work).
This journal uses the Harvard (author-date) system – see below for examples of how to format:
Books:
- Adam, D J 1984 Stakeholder analysis. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Silverman, D F and Propp, K K (eds.) 1990 The active interview. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
- Achebe, C 1995 Colonialist Criticism. In: Ashcroft, B et al The Post Colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge. pp. 57–61.
NOTE: If multiple works by the same author are being listed, please re-type the author’s name out for each entry, rather than using a long dash.
Journal articles:
- Martin, L 2010 Bombs, bodies and biopolitics: Securitizing the subject at airport security. Social and Cultural Geography, 11(1): 17-34. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649360903414585
NOTE: Please include DOIs for journal articles where possible.
Newspaper articles:
- Tate, P 2007 Illicit organ trade increasing. The Jordan Times, 6 June, p. 3.
Conference papers:
- Lynch, M 2003 Dialogue in an age of terror. In: The Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA on 18 August 2003, pp. 4-7.
Organisational publications/Grey literature:
- World Health Organization 2010 The world health report – Health systems financing: the path to universal coverage. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.
Theses and dissertations:
- Yudis, A 2004 Failed responsibility of the media in the war on Iraq. Unpublished thesis (PhD), University of Manchester.
Webpage:
- Pascual, Amb. C 2005 Stabilization and Reconstruction: Building peace in a hostile environment. Prepared statement to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 16 June 2005. Available at http://2001-2009.state.gov/s/crs/rls/rm/48644.htm [Last accessed 14 August 2012].
Whilst there will not be a space for full author biographies in the article itself, it is our practice to insert the affiliations and contact details in the space (ideally between 3-6 lines) on the bottom left hand corner of the first page of each article. Please include full postal and email addresses.
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
Stability’s open access model is funded by grants, paid special collections, and the collection of Article Processing Charges from authors. We ask that those authors who have access to funds earmarked for APCs (via a research grant or through their institution) use those funds to cover the £250 APCs of their publication in Stability. Authors without access to such funds should indicate so during the initial submission process.
The APC covers all publication costs (editorial processes; web hosting; indexing; marketing; archiving; DOI registration etc) and ensures that all of the content is fully open access. This approach maximises the potential readership of publications and allows the journal to be run in a sustainable way.
If you do not know about your institution’s policy on open access funding, please contact your departmental/faculty administrators and institution library, as funds may be available to you.
After submitting your paper, you will receive an email from the publisher giving you the option to either make payment arrangements or apply for a waiver of the Article Processing Charge. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Managing Editor, Dr Fiona Macaulay, at f.macaulay@bradford.ac.uk
If you or your institution lack the funds to pay the APC, please provide an explanation and a waiver will be provided.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Editor-in-Chief at msedra@secgovcentre.org.