Manuscripts should be submitted via our submission form at https://www.politicsincentraleurope.eu/submissions or via e-mail to pce@mup.cz, preferably in Word format.

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

POLITICS IN CENTRAL EUROPE publishes original, peer-reviewed manuscripts that provide scientific essays focusing on issues in comparative politics, policy analysis, international relations and other sub-disciplines of political science, as well as original theoretical or conceptual analyses. All essays must contribute to a broad understanding of the region of Central Europe.

Style Guidelines

Below are some guidelines for in-text citations, notes, and references, which authors may find useful when preparing manuscripts for submission.

Your Paper, Your Way and the Initial Submission

Your paper, your way – Please note that we do not request any specific citation or formatting style until after a paper has been accepted for publication. However, it is up to the author to change the citation style according to the journal's requirements once the manuscript is accepted.

The initial submission should include two compulsory documents.

First, the anonymised version of the manuscript. According to the ‘your paper, your way’ principle, this document may use any formatting and citation style as long as it is clear and consistent. The paper should fit within the range of 6,000 to 12,000 words including all footnotes and references. If your paper is significantly shorter or longer, please consult that with the PCE editorial team before you submit it.
Second, the title page which shall include the author’s name, abstract (100-200 words), key words, the author’s institutional affiliation, contact details (especially email address) and funding (or any other) acknowledgement. Acknowledgments may be added or changed after the completion of the review process.
Other relevant documents may be included as well.

Citation Style and Bibliography

PCE uses the author-date style of citations.

In-text Citations

This is what citations should look like (Waltz 1979).

Specific examples

Multiple works including multiple works by the same author (Keohane 2012; Waltz 1959, 1979; Wendt 1999, 2015).

A work by more authors (March & Olsen 1984).

Citation with page number(s) (Ikenberry 2011: 60–61) and chapters (Linklater 1998: chap.: 3).

If there are four or more authors, please use the first author et al. (Ferreira et al. 2019) – please note that all the authors need to be mentioned in the final list of bibliography. For three and fewer authors, please use all the authors (Suzuki, Zhang & Quirk 2013).

Formatting Bibliography

Monograph
Waltz, K. N. (1979): Theory of International Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Edited volume
Suzuki, S., Zhang, Y. & Quirk, J. (eds.) (2013): International Orders in the Early Modern World: Before the Rise of the West. Abingdon, New York: Routledge.

Book chapter
Mahoney, J. & Thelen, K. (2009): A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change. In: Mahoney, James & Thelen, K. (eds.): Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–37.

Journal article
March, J. G. & Olsen, J. P. (1984): The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life. The American Political Science Review, 78(3), 734–749.

Newspaper (or magazine) article
Broad, W. J. (2020): A.I. Versus the Coronavirus. The New York Times, 26 March, <accessed online: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/science/ai-versus-the-coronavirus.html>.

Newspaper article without author (institution as author)
BBC (2005): Putin Deplores Collapse of USSR. BBC News, 25 April, <accessed online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4480745.stm>.

Online document or webpage
State Council of PRC (1998): China’s National Defense. The State Council of PRC, July, <accessed online: http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/5/index.htm>.

Dissertation
Hawking, S. (1966): Properties of Expanding Universes (Doctoral thesis). Cambridge: University of Cambridge, <accessed online: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/251038>.

Languages other than English

In case of documents written in language other than English, please state the original title of the document [English translation should be stated right after that in square brackets]. PCE is a generalist journal, please always Romanise alphabet when necessary (i.e. the Cyrillic script, Chinese characters, the Arabic alphabet etc. should not be used).

Shen, Z. (2007): Zhong Su Guanxi Shigang [History of Sino-Soviet Relations]. Beijing: Xinhua Press.

Xinhua (2009): Jiang Bingkun: Liang’an Ying Jiangou Jingji Wenhua Shehui Deng Liangxing Hudong Jizhi [Jiang Bingkun: Construction of Cross-Strait Interaction Mechanism Should Be Economic, Cultural and Social]. Xinhua, 26 April, <accessed online: http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-04/26/content_11258701.htm>.

Example of bibliography (full list)

BBC (2005): Putin Deplores Collapse of USSR. BBC News, 25 April, <accessed online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4480745.stm>.

Broad, W. J. (2020): A.I. Versus the Coronavirus. The New York Times, 26 March, <accessed online: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/science/ai-versus-the-coronavirus.html>.

Ferreira, F. A. F., Esperança, J. P., Xavier, M. A. S., Costa, R. L. & Pérez-Gladish, B. (2019): A Socio-Technical Approach to the Evaluation of Social Credit Applications. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 70(10), 1801–1816.

Ikenberry, G. J. (2011): The Future of the Liberal World Order: Internationalism After America. Foreign Affairs, 90(3), 56–68.

Keohane, R. O. (2012): Twenty Years of Institutional Liberalism. International Relations, 26(2), 125–138.

Linklater, A. (1998): The Transformation of Political Community: Ethical Foundations of the Post-Westphalian Era. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.

Mahoney, J. & Thelen, K. (2009): A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change. In: Mahoney, James & Thelen, Kathleen (eds.): Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–37.

March, J. G. & Olsen, J. P. (1984): The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life. The American Political Science Review, 78(3), 734–749.

Shen, Z. (2007): Zhong Su Guanxi Shigang [History of Sino-Soviet Relations]. Beijing: Xinhua Press.

State Council of PRC (1998): China’s National Defense. The State Council of PRC, July, <accessed online: http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/5/index.htm>.

Suzuki, S., Zhang, Y. & Quirk, J. (eds.) (2013): International Orders in the Early Modern World: Before the Rise of the West. Abingdon, New York: Routledge.

Waltz, K. N. (1959): Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press.

Waltz, K. N. (1979): Theory of International Politics. Berkeley: University Of California Press.

Wendt, A. (1999): Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wendt, A. (2015): Quantum Mind and Social Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Xinhua (2009): Jiang Bingkun: Liang’an Ying Jiangou Jingji Wenhua Shehui Deng Liangxing Hudong Jizhi [Jiang Bingkun: Construction of Cross-Strait Interaction Mechanism Should Be Economic, Cultural and Social]. Xinhua, 26 April, <accessed online: http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-04/26/content_11258701.htm>.

Style and Formatting

Article title
Use upper case letters in all words except for articles, short preposition and conjunctions. Please, do not use upper case letters for the whole title.

Keywords
Separate keywords with commas, not semicolons.

Abstract
The length of the abstract should be 100–200 words.

Subtitles
Subtitles should not have all words in upper case as the main title. Please, make the subtitles clearly distinct (preferably use blue colour for Level 1, green for Level 2, orange for Level 3) in case you use more levels of subtitles but do not use numbering (e.g. 1.1, 1.2.3, etc.). Do not have more than 3 levels of titles.

Spelling
Keep consistent British spelling throughout the text with -ise and -isation endings (politicise, politicisation); favour, labour. This does not apply to cases when a text with other spellings are cited.

Dates
Use the following format: 10 June 2011. The format can change for special cases (“September 11”).

Quotation marks
Use single quotation marks, double quotation marks should be used only within single marks. Expressions that are not direct speech should have punctuation outside of quotations marks.
Example:
Clinton said: ‘Vote like your democracy depends on it.’
This author says that ‘this topic is important’.
The author said yesterday that ‘as far as this term “populism” is concerned, I think it's a fad’.　

Figures and tables

All diagrams, charts and graphs should be referred to as figures and be numbered. Refer to figures and tables by their number, not their position (do not use for example “As the following table shows…”). Colour-based charts cannot be included as the pages are black-and-white. All tables and graphs should be sent as separate documents – tables as .docx or similar (.doc, .odt), charts as .xls documents with data or images, images as .jpeg or .png.

Political leaders and personalities; institutions, alliances etc.

Please provide the figure/political leader’s full name and position for the first reference in the text. You can then proceed to refer to him/her by their last name.

Spell out the whole names of institutions, alliances and similar proper names the first time you mention them, followed by the abbreviation that will be used throughout the text (Court of Justice of the European Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, etc.)

Exceptions: US, UK, UN, EU.

Hyperlinks

Do not use underlining and different colour for hyperlinks, neither in text, nor in endnotes. Make sure you have removed all hyperlinks (incorrect: http://www.politicsincentraleurope.eu correct: http://www.politicsincentraleurope.eu).

Politics in Central Europe

The Journal of the Central European Political Science Association

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Volume 21 (2025)

Volume 20 (2024)

Volume 19 (2023)

Volume 18 (2022)

Volume 17 (2021)

Volume 16 (2020)

Volume 15 (2019)

Volume 14 (2018)

Volume 13 (2017)

Volume 12 (2016)

Volume 11 (2015)

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