Types of Submissions
General Section
We accept manuscripts on a wide range of topics in the fields of International Relations/Affairs, Political Science, Contemporary/International History, Area Studies, Development Studies, and related fields to be published in our upcoming issues. Articles may take theoretical or policy-oriented approaches.
STAIR will review manuscripts containing original, unpublished material with a recommended word count of between 5,000 and 10,000 words (including endnotes). We are currently accepting General Section submissions for Issue 20.2 - A New Cold War? View our Current Issue page for more information.
Theme Section
We are currently accepting manuscripts on the theme of A New Cold War? as outlined on our Current Issue page.
STAIR will review manuscripts containing original, unpublished material with a recommended word count of between 5,000 and 10,000 words (including endnotes).
Book Review
You may also submit reviews of books in International Affairs or related fields which have been published within the last three calendar years.
Book reviews are typically between 1,000 and 1,500 words in length. We have included a list of suggested materials on our Current Issue page.
Interviews
In the past, STAIR has published interviews with leading scholars and public figures, although our podcast is becoming the primary destination for our interviews.
Special Sections
Depending on the issue, STAIR may include special sections of relevance to a particular theme or unique to a particular year.
COMMENTARY
STAIR accepts op-ed, analysis, opinion, and current affairs pieces about topics in contemporary International Affairs. Submissions should be between 500 and 2,000 words, and can be emailed to stairjournal@sant.ox.ac.uk. If you have an idea for a submission and would like to pitch it to us, send us something simple in an email (e.g. bullet points or an abstract) and we will get back to you ASAP with instructions on how to move forward if we are interested in publishing it. If you prefer, you can also click the button below to submit a commentary piece via google form instead of going through email.
If you’d like to become a contributor and columnist in the future, you will have news beats disseminated to you by our News Editor which are assigned on a first come, first serve basis. Other topics are welcome, of course, and they need not be news pieces. We do, however, hope to solicit contributions on topics of interest to the Commentary team. To become a columnist, it is expected that contributors submit at least two pieces of publishable quality in six weeks. Columnists are expected to publish at least once a month and will be credited as such, including having articles featured in a Columnist section.
HOW TO SUBMIT
ARTICLe/MANUSCRIPT
Interested authors are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 300 words through the form linked below.
After submitting an abstract, you will be contacted by a member of our Editorial team with guidance on further steps. You will then be asked to submit a full-length manuscript through our official email at stairjournal@sant.ox.ac.uk
Those interested in submitting an article for Issue 20.2 - A New Cold War? should submit their abstracts by February 21, 2025.
Book Reviews
Book Reviews do not require abstracts. You can submit a completed manuscript of 1,000-1,500 words to our email at stairjournal@sant.ox.ac.uk.
Authors will be contacted if their abstracts are of interest and full submissions will be due one month following the abstract deadline. View our current shortlist of literature for review on our Current Issue page.
peer review
All manuscripts submitted by the submission deadline are eligible for peer-review. STAIR is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal, and contributors should allow time for the review process to take place. Our editing and peer-review period is typically two months following the submission deadline. After initial editorial quality control, STAIR distributes submissions to reviewers with expertise directly relevant to the submission. We aim to engage two to three reviewers per submission. Reviewer feedback is shared as promptly as possible. All peer reviewers are either Doctoral Candidates or Doctorate holders in their fields.
In cases where peer-reviewers are not unanimous in their verdict on a submission, we typically aim to solicit input from additional reviewers. Submissions with only a single recommender for publication are rarely published.
Upcoming deadlines
issue 20.1 Abstracts due by: February 21, 2025
issue 20.1 Submissions due by: March 28, 2025
Citation & Style
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Offer your readers vigorous, concise prose in the active voice. Choose vivid verbs and expressions that clearly communicate your meaning.
Avoid excessive use of ‘insider’ jargon.
Use gender-neutral language.
Weak and extraneous prose detracts from the strengths of your argument. Scrutinize your draft for potential deletions, such as expressions, sentences, and paragraphs whose absence would not harm the argument or would help it stand out more prominently.
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We prefer spellings to conform to the 11th Edition Revised of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
Use -ize in preference to -ise as a verbal ending (e.g. realize, specialize). Note, however, several words correctly end in -ise (e.g. advertise, exercise); note also analyse (English spelling), not analyze (American). Elsewhere, wherever possible, indigenous spelling should be used, such as Milošević rather than Milosevic. Double-check the spelling of non-English words.
In non-technical contexts, the following numbers are spelled out: whole numbers from one through one hundred, round numbers, and any number beginning a sentence. For other numbers, numerals are used.
All dates should be in the format of April 6, 1994. text goes here
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All acronyms or non-obvious abbreviations should be spelled out, then referred to in their abbreviated form. For instance, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, thereafter UNAMIR. In general, abbreviations appear without periods, e.g., US, not U.S.
One space, not two, follows any sentence-ending punctuation such as periods, colons, question marks, exclamation points, or quotation marks.
Items in a series are normally separated by commas. When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series, a comma—known as the series comma or the Oxford comma—should appear before the conjunction.
An “en dash” (–), not a hyphen (-), should be used to connect numbers, especially page numbers in endnotes. Amplifying or explanatory elements should be set off by an “em dash” (—).
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Double-space text in 12-point Times New Roman font, except for quotes of 5+ lines which should be indented on both sides and single-spaced.
Tables and figures need not be on separate pages and should be inserted following the paragraph of first mention.
Appendices are permitted and do not add to the word count. They must be labeled, referenced in text, and data cited in endnotes in a distinct section.
Number pages beginning at 1 after the Cover Page and Abstract.
Discursive notes (i.e., commentary on the text) should be kept to a minimum. If required, they should be signaled serially by superscript alphabetic symbols and given as footnotes at the foot of each page.
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Prospective authors should follow the guidelines for the ‘Notes and Bibliography Style’ set out in The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017).
Citations should be given as endnotes, not footnotes. At first mention, a source should be cited in a full note with complete bibliographical details. All subsequent endnotes referring to the same source should be shortened.
Do not use Bibliography Entries style for endnotes. A separate bibliography is not required as long as all sources are correctly cited in the endnotes. Visit the Chicago Manual of Style website for more sample citations.