Journal Submission Guidelines and Deadlines
Submission Deadlines
2026 Standard Issue Volume 1: *Closed June 10, 2026*
Check back later for the next call for submission!
Check back later for the next call for submission!
Submission Form & Rubric
Submit to the Journal using the form below, and view the submission guidelines rubric for specific criteria. For any questions regarding submissions please email Dilara Kiran at [email protected].
I first learned of the Journal of Science Policy and Governance back in 2012, when I was just entering the world of science policy through my Masters program. I was enthused to see a journal so squarely focused on this field that was aimed at students and others who were just learning the art of research, policy and publications. I left academia for a while, but when I returned several years later and reacquainted myself with the journal, I was impressed to see how much bigger and more prestigious it had become. Their call for a special issue on the future of science policy was a perfect fit for a paper I'd been developing, and the special workshops and seminars they ran to help prepare authors to submit helped me ensure that my work was on the right track.
Once my paper was accepted, I found my editors to be very helpful and timely with their feedback, and were patient with me as I carefully weighed what ideas and words to include within the journal's limits. Since the issue's publication, the journal's CEO has tirelessly advocated on behalf of the other authors and myself, connecting us with several opportunities to build our communication skills, present our papers at relevant venues and incorporate our ideas into the journal's official submissions to policymaking bodies.
This level of support goes far above and beyond that of a typical journal, and the fact that it is entirely open-access, with no fees charged to authors, is additional icing on the cake. I also won a prize competition for my paper, which is another plus to getting published as it helped to boost my confidence as an emerging voice in this field. It's as much a supportive community of scholars and policy analysts as it is a place to publish, and that is critical for any young professional. If you are a student or early-career researcher with any interest in science policy, I cannot recommend this journal enough.
- Jeremy Pesner, JSPG published author; Ph.D. student in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
Submission Guidelines & FAQs
WHAT IS THE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE POLICY & GOVERNANCE?
The Journal of Science Policy & Governance (The Journal) is a 501-c3 non-profit organization based in the United States and an internationally recognized, open-access peer review publication that serves as a vehicle for students, post-docs, policy fellows, early career professionals, and young scholars of all academic backgrounds to publish on topics addressing the widest range of issues at the intersection of science, technology, innovation, public policy and governance.
The Journal publishes high quality articles on an accelerated timeline and serves as an independent platform for the next generation of STEM and policy leaders to bolster their research and writing credentials while contributing to current debate around science and technology policy and management.
Established in 2011 by senior leaders and young scholars in S&T policy, The Journal’s mission is to help catalyze and promote the substantive engagement of students and early career trainees in science policy and governance debate through writing for policy, public and academic audiences. Through dedicated outreach organized by our leadership teams, The Journal seeks to elevate the voices of young scholars in S&T policy debate.
The Journal publishes high quality articles on an accelerated timeline and serves as an independent platform for the next generation of STEM and policy leaders to bolster their research and writing credentials while contributing to current debate around science and technology policy and management.
Established in 2011 by senior leaders and young scholars in S&T policy, The Journal’s mission is to help catalyze and promote the substantive engagement of students and early career trainees in science policy and governance debate through writing for policy, public and academic audiences. Through dedicated outreach organized by our leadership teams, The Journal seeks to elevate the voices of young scholars in S&T policy debate.
WHO CAN PUBLISH AT JSPG?
Eligible authors only need to meet ONE of the eligibility criteria below:
For groups of co-authors, at least half of the co-authors must fit at least one of the eligibility criteria above (in other words, a minority or half of co-authors may be more established professionals).
Please click here to find specific descriptions of each category. Last authors on each submission may be in one of the categories above, or be established career policy professionals or other professionals (these categories are also described in the link above). If you have any further questions about which category you or another author on your submission fall into, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
Note: Members of JSPG, including staff, board members, editors, advisors, and student ambassadors, are not permitted to publish articles in the journal while in this capacity. For any questions, please email [email protected].
- Current student (undergraduate or graduate), or recent graduate within 10 years of earning a degree (bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral)
- Current policy fellow, or recent policy fellow within 10 years of completing a policy fellowship
- Current postdoctoral associate, or recent postdoctoral associate within 10 years of completing postdoctoral work
- Early career policy professional, defined as within 10 years of beginning a career in policy
For groups of co-authors, at least half of the co-authors must fit at least one of the eligibility criteria above (in other words, a minority or half of co-authors may be more established professionals).
Please click here to find specific descriptions of each category. Last authors on each submission may be in one of the categories above, or be established career policy professionals or other professionals (these categories are also described in the link above). If you have any further questions about which category you or another author on your submission fall into, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
Note: Members of JSPG, including staff, board members, editors, advisors, and student ambassadors, are not permitted to publish articles in the journal while in this capacity. For any questions, please email [email protected].
WHAT PUBLICATION FORMATS ARE ACCEPTED?
The Journal publishes articles in a range of formats. When submitting an article, authors should decide which format to use. Please note that this guidance has been updated as of July 2026. Guidance on our various formats is detailed below.
Op-Ed
Brief, persuasive opinion article up to 1000 words in length. Must include a specific call to action and a minimum of 10 citations.
Policy Memo
Short, analytical article up to 2000 words in length. Must be directed toward an identified audience/specific decision-making body (a specific politician, governing committee, or independent organization, etc.). Required sections include (but are not limited to): statement of the issue/problem, policy options (one to three, with discussions of advantages and disadvantages of each), and final recommendation. Must include a minimum of 10 citations.
Position Paper
A medium-length, thorough analysis of the intersection of science and policy, with recommendations addressing a broader, identified science policy audience (policymakers, agency staff, advocacy groups, think tanks, institutional leaders, etc). ranging from 2000-4000 words in length. Required sections include (but are not limited to): statement of the issue/problem, policy proposal analysis (minimum of 2, with discussions of advantages and disadvantages of each), and final recommendation (rooted in proposal analysis and comparison). Must include a minimum of 20 citations.
Fact Sheet
Brief informative piece, up to 1000 words in length. Describes relevant scientific or policy details that a non-specialist audience (lay readers, students, journalists, etc.) would find helpful as a quick overview of a science policy topic. Should NOT make recommendations. Must include a minimum of 10 citations.
Workshop Report
A medium length, summative discussion of a recent workshop, ranging from 2000 - 4000 words in length. Required sections include (but are not limited to): statement of the issue/purpose of convening the workshop, key findings, and recommendations to policymakers, relevant institutions, and/or future workshop organizers. Must include a minimum of 20 citations.
Policy Analysis
A long-form, comprehensive examination of at least 3 existing, proposed, or potential policies or technologies, greater than 4000 words in length (with a maximum of 30 pages). This analysis can focus more heavily on policy or on technology (the latter was previously called a Technology Assessment at The Journal) but should address both areas meaningfully. Required sections include (but are not limited to): statement of the issue/useful history of the topic, current state of the art (both scientifically and politically), analysis of policy (existing, proposed, or potential), and recommendations (based on analysis). Must include a minimum of 20 citations.
Book review
A short, critical work examining a relevant science policy book based on content, style, and merit, up to 2000 words in length. Reviewers may use the book review format to situate the book within a broader science policy context or to promulgate their own ideas on the topic of the book. However, the review must remain substantively grounded in the book's content, arguments, and contributions.
Other
Other styles of articles are also welcome and may be considered for publication. Authors wishing to submit other article types must clearly define the article purpose and intended audience, must outline the article structure, and must articulate the manuscript's contribution to the science policy discourse and value added to The Journal's body of work and mission. The Editorial Board has the discretion to suggest a different article format type when applicable. Examples include white papers, consensus studies, and other such reports.
WHAT TOPICS MUST SUBMISSIONS COVER?
Submissions on all topics are welcome as long as they relate to the theme of science, technology, and innovation policy or the governance of science and technology. The Journal publishes articles covering a variety of policy areas including, but not limited to:
Advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, bio-medicine and drug development, cybersecurity, data science, engineering, energy and nuclear policy, food science, geoscience, government-university-industry interfaces, health, innovation, international science diplomacy, science for national security, scientific research policy, the management of science and technology, the environment and climate change, the application of technology in developing countries, technology and Internet policy, technology transfer and commercialization, STEM education and workforce, space policy, sociological study of science communication or science communication as it relates to public policy.
Advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, bio-medicine and drug development, cybersecurity, data science, engineering, energy and nuclear policy, food science, geoscience, government-university-industry interfaces, health, innovation, international science diplomacy, science for national security, scientific research policy, the management of science and technology, the environment and climate change, the application of technology in developing countries, technology and Internet policy, technology transfer and commercialization, STEM education and workforce, space policy, sociological study of science communication or science communication as it relates to public policy.
WHAT ARE FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSIONS?
Submissions to The Journal should be in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Word compatible format. Submissions should be 12 point Times New Roman font, single spaced, with 1” margins, and include page numbers. Submissions do not need to be formatted according to Chicago Style to be considered, reviewed, or accepted, but Chicago style citations are required for final publication. The word limit for each submission type excludes the title, author information, executive summary, references and figures. Please review the submission form for more information. If you have any additional questions about formatting please email [email protected].
WHAT ARE REQUIREMENTS FOR ARTICLE IMAGES?
Please attach an image associated with your article, to be published online alongside the article if accepted. Images will be submitted to The Journal through the regular submission form at the time of article submission. Images will be published under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. All images must have a resolution of 300 dpi at final size. We recommend sites such as Pixabay, Pexels, Flickr or Wunderstock for free to use images. Images in PNG (.png) or JPEG (.jpeg/.jpg) formats are accepted. If you have any questions about images, please email [email protected].
HOW WILL MY ARTICLE BE SHARED ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
The Journal, with its partner and supporting organizations, maintains a vibrant science & technology policy presence on social media which serves a key vehicle for reaching critical academic, policy and general audiences. If you wish to be tagged when your article is shared through our Twitter account, please include your professional and/or departmental Twitter name in your submission email. Your full name and information from your biography (see below) will be incorporated into posts on Facebook and LinkedIn.
HOW WILL MY ARTICLE BE SHARED WITH MEDIA OR POLICY AUDIENCES?
The Journal staff will actively pitch and promote published pieces to relevant media outlets and other policy audiences, in order to elevate the profile of published work. If you have particular outlets where you would recommend that we pitch your article, please let us know.
HOW DO I SUBMIT TO JSPG?
Articles should be submitted to the editorial board using submission form at the top of this page. The form ensures that all required information is provided. Questions may be directed to [email protected].
When you are submitting an article for review, please note the following:
When you are submitting an article for review, please note the following:
- You should include all authors and institutional affiliations as well as which eligibility criteria the author(s) fall under as described above.
- All writing must be the original work of the author(s), and all included figures must be original or have copyright permissions included with submission.
- Text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools (including ChatGPT) cannot be used in The Journal submissions as that would violate the requirement to submit original work.
- Submissions should be in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Word compatible format. PDFs are not accepted.
- All citation styles are welcome for submission, but Chicago author-date citation style will be required for accepted submissions. Please note that we will not accept Chicago with endnotes citation for final publication.
- You should indicate if your article is a resubmission to JSPG from a prior issue. If so, please indicate which issue.
WHAT IS THE PROCESS FROM SUBMISSION TO PUBLICATION?
We operate on an accelerated publication time scale whereby the process from submission deadline to final publication is around 3-4 months. During this time articles are thoroughly peer reviewed and will go through at least two rounds of editing and review. Questions regarding your submission may be directed to [email protected].
WHAT IS THE PUBLICATION FEE?
The Journal endeavors to serve students and early career researchers, and in doing so we do not apply a publication fee.
HOW DO COMPETITIONS WORK FOR SPECIAL ISSUES?
The Journal maintains its independence as a peer-reviewed journal and an organization dedicated to scientific integrity. To that end, The Journal's editorial process will be managed by members of the The Journal's editorial board, in consultation with The Journal's CEO. Issue sponsors and partners will not influence any aspect of the editorial review process or issue development.
Partners will sponsor an issue and be provided with the associated visibility and promotional benefits. For special issues, partners may choose to hold a competition to award cash prizes or offer additional benefits to published authors on a case by case basis. Given The Journal's integrity statement, accepted articles in their post-edited, final format will be provided to partners for competition purposes. Competition judges and criteria will be determined by the partner organization.
Partners will sponsor an issue and be provided with the associated visibility and promotional benefits. For special issues, partners may choose to hold a competition to award cash prizes or offer additional benefits to published authors on a case by case basis. Given The Journal's integrity statement, accepted articles in their post-edited, final format will be provided to partners for competition purposes. Competition judges and criteria will be determined by the partner organization.
WHAT IS THE PUBLICATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND THE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE POLICY & GOVERNANCE?
Once an article has been (provisionally) accepted, and the Editor-in-Chief is satisfied that sufficient corrections have been made to the article (if necessary) so that the article is of a publishable standard, a Publication Agreement must be agreed between the author and the journal and a signed copy of the agreement will be retained by the Editor-in-Chief. The copyright in the article shall remain with the author. Nothing in the agreement should be construed as an assignment of copyright ownership to the Journal of Science Policy & Governance. In the agreement, the author grants to the Journal of Science Policy & Governance a license to publish, reproduce, distribute, and display the article by any method now known or developed at a later stage.
Specifically, the author grants to the Journal of Science Policy & Governance an exclusive right of first publication. The author may self-archive an author-created version of his/her article on his/her own website and or in his/her institutional repository. He/she may also deposit this version on his/her funder’s or funder’s designated repository at the funder’s request or as a result of a legal obligation. Authors may not use the publisher’s PDF version, which is posted on www.sciencepolicyjournal.org, for the purpose of self-archiving or deposit. Prior versions of the article published on non-commercial pre-print servers like arXiv.org can remain on these servers and/or can be updated with the author’s accepted version. The final published version (in pdf or html/xml format) cannot be used for this purpose.
Acknowledgement needs to be given to the final publication and a link should be inserted to the published article on JSPG’s website, accompanied by the text “The final publication is available at www.sciencepolicyjournal.org.” The author also grants the Journal of Science Policy and Governance a non-exclusive right of publication thereafter the first publication. This non-exclusive license includes the right to authorize publication in a variety of formats including, without limitation, book, digital, Internet, and other formats now existing or hereafter developed.
The author must also agree upon final acceptance of the article by the Editor in Chief that any reproduction of the article, including, but not limited to, its publication, posting, or excerption in print, digital, or on the Internet, shall give attribution to the article’s original publication in the Journal of Science Policy & Governance, using an appropriate method of citation.
In the publication agreement, the author must warrant that the article is original and has not been published elsewhere in its current, or similar, form. If any substantial element of the paper has been previously published, authors need to declare this to the journal editor upon submission. Previously posted preprints on non-commercial preprint servers will be considered as long as they are clearly identified as non-peer reviewed works. If considered for publication after the peer review process, the accepted article will need to be substantially different from the original submission. Moreover, the authors should make a note in the published paper if this was previously posted as a preprint and link to that particular article.
The author also warrants that he/she has the right to license the article to the Journal of Science Policy & Governance, and has not made any agreement that would conflict with this Agreement. The author will sign for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. The author also warrants that the article does not libel anyone, invade anyone's privacy, infringe anyone's copyright, or otherwise violate any statutory or common law right of anyone. The author agrees to indemnify the JSPG against any claim or action alleging facts which, if true, constitute a breach of any of the foregoing warranties.
JSPG outreach staff organize writing workshops to help prospective authors improve their writing and quality of articles prior to submission. In addition, submitted articles undergo a rigorous peer review process with detailed feedback provided to authors. The author understands that, before publication, reasonable editing and revision of the article may be performed by the Journal of Science Policy & Governance. The article will not be published unless it is acceptable in its final form to both the author and the Journal of Science Policy & Governance editorial team and journal leadership.
Specifically, the author grants to the Journal of Science Policy & Governance an exclusive right of first publication. The author may self-archive an author-created version of his/her article on his/her own website and or in his/her institutional repository. He/she may also deposit this version on his/her funder’s or funder’s designated repository at the funder’s request or as a result of a legal obligation. Authors may not use the publisher’s PDF version, which is posted on www.sciencepolicyjournal.org, for the purpose of self-archiving or deposit. Prior versions of the article published on non-commercial pre-print servers like arXiv.org can remain on these servers and/or can be updated with the author’s accepted version. The final published version (in pdf or html/xml format) cannot be used for this purpose.
Acknowledgement needs to be given to the final publication and a link should be inserted to the published article on JSPG’s website, accompanied by the text “The final publication is available at www.sciencepolicyjournal.org.” The author also grants the Journal of Science Policy and Governance a non-exclusive right of publication thereafter the first publication. This non-exclusive license includes the right to authorize publication in a variety of formats including, without limitation, book, digital, Internet, and other formats now existing or hereafter developed.
The author must also agree upon final acceptance of the article by the Editor in Chief that any reproduction of the article, including, but not limited to, its publication, posting, or excerption in print, digital, or on the Internet, shall give attribution to the article’s original publication in the Journal of Science Policy & Governance, using an appropriate method of citation.
In the publication agreement, the author must warrant that the article is original and has not been published elsewhere in its current, or similar, form. If any substantial element of the paper has been previously published, authors need to declare this to the journal editor upon submission. Previously posted preprints on non-commercial preprint servers will be considered as long as they are clearly identified as non-peer reviewed works. If considered for publication after the peer review process, the accepted article will need to be substantially different from the original submission. Moreover, the authors should make a note in the published paper if this was previously posted as a preprint and link to that particular article.
The author also warrants that he/she has the right to license the article to the Journal of Science Policy & Governance, and has not made any agreement that would conflict with this Agreement. The author will sign for and accepts responsibility for releasing this material on behalf of any and all co-authors. The author also warrants that the article does not libel anyone, invade anyone's privacy, infringe anyone's copyright, or otherwise violate any statutory or common law right of anyone. The author agrees to indemnify the JSPG against any claim or action alleging facts which, if true, constitute a breach of any of the foregoing warranties.
JSPG outreach staff organize writing workshops to help prospective authors improve their writing and quality of articles prior to submission. In addition, submitted articles undergo a rigorous peer review process with detailed feedback provided to authors. The author understands that, before publication, reasonable editing and revision of the article may be performed by the Journal of Science Policy & Governance. The article will not be published unless it is acceptable in its final form to both the author and the Journal of Science Policy & Governance editorial team and journal leadership.
WHAT ARE REQUIREMENTS FOR RESUBMISSION TO THE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE POLICY & GOVERNANCE?
For authors whose articles have been rejected during the editorial review process, the The Journal editorial team will provide detailed feedback. Such authors may resubmit a different version to a subsequent issue deadline as original work and indicate on the submission form that this work was resubmitted from a previous issue (and name the issue). Authors may only submit to one The Journal issue at any given point. If they wish to withdraw their submission and have it considered for another issue, they may do so by emailing [email protected]. Article withdrawal is only permitted within 30 days post submission. Articles may be resubmitted only after the decision has been made on the initial review cycle and they have been notified of this decision through the current editorial process.
