Submitting an Article Online

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Author Guidelines

Authors are invited to submit manuscripts that fall within the focus of the journal. Please read the information on the Peer Review Process and follow the below guidelines.

During the submission procedure, a list of sections to choose from will be offered by means of a drop down menu. In case you were not explicitly invited by the guest-editor of a special feature, we kindly ask you to select ‘research articles’ or ‘review articles’ when finalizing the submission of your manuscript. In case your paper does belong to a particular special feature, the guest-editor will have instructed you what section to select.

If a paper is accepted for publication, authors will be charged an publication fee (or, Article Processing Charge (APC)). For details, see below (under: 'Publication Fees' and 'Waiver Information.'

The Journal provides immediate open access to its content. Author(s) retain copyright of their articles. Articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY 3.0)

The submission should contain the following parts:

1. Title, abstract and keywords (to be entered during the submission procedure - not as a separate file)
2. A title page, containing author names and affiliations, and a short acknowledgment text
3. Main text: (anonymous) body text and tables (WORD format or rich-text format), figures, photographs and equations (JPG, GIF, PNG formats are acceptable; figures and equations should also be images).
4. If applicable, appendices (most formats are accepted: text-only appendices must be in WORD or rich-text format). We strongly encourage the submission of a (copy-right free, rectangular-sized, 100x100 pixels) picture that represents your article, and that can be used as a thumbnail accompanying your paper on our website, in case of publication 

The main text should not exceed 8,000 words, including tables, graphs, footnotes, and references.

All papers must be in English. Use either British or US spellings – do so consistently. Write with precision, clarity, and economy: use the active voice and first person whenever appropriate. Separate paragraphs with a space. Refrain from using italics for emphasis. Do not underline text.

Footnotes should be used when appropriate and placed on the relevant page of your manuscript. They should not be used for references alone. Do not use endnotes.

Standard headings must appear on a single line by themselves, and be UPPER CASE. Lower order headings must appear on a line by themselves and should be left-justified, italicized, and lowercase except for the initial letter of the first word which should be uppercase.

Refer to a table, a figure or a picture in the paragraph preceding its location. Our template will automatically reproduce a table, figure or picture after the paragraph in which it is first mentioned. A table, figure or picture will not show up, if no reference to it is made in the text.

IJC follows  the standard set by The Chicago Manual of Style Online (15th edition) for science and social science. Check each citation in the text against the Literature Cited to ensure that they match exactly.

Figures and photographs must be supplied as graphic files (in GIF, JPG, or PNG formats) at 72 dpi and no wider than 700 pixels (unless given explicit permission by the managing editor). Please ensure that any text used in your figures is legible.

Insert the equation into the body text of your manuscript exactly where you would like the equation to appear. Please, send us picture format versions, of the equations that you use, as well (e.g. as an appendix).

Submission Preparation Checklist

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.

1. The work submitted herein has not been published elsewhere, nor is it at present being considered for publication by another journal. If either of these conditions applies, the author must provide complete details in a covering letter to the editors. Failure to notify the editors is grounds for rejection.
2. The manuscript complies with the stated word limit of 8000 words. The editors may permit the references to be excluded from the word count.
3. The text adheres to the formatting requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
4. The text of the paper itself and that of the tables and any textual appendices are either in doc format for Microsoft WORD or Rich Text Format (RTF).
5. Equations and figures, if present, are correctly located in the body text of the paper in GIF, JPG or PNG format.
6. Use of copyrighted material such as figures, tables, trademarks, logos is discouraged by the editors. If such materials are used, the author has 1) declared in a cover letter that such material is submitted and 2) received written permission from the original publisher to use the materials.

7. In the case of multiple authors, we will in the published article by default provide all email addresses.

   All authors have given permission to be listed on the submitted paper. The corresponding author is authorized to speak on behalf of the authors.

8. All DOIs for online references have been provided, when available.
9. The author declares the absence of any conflict of interest.

Copyright Notice

The International Journal of the Commons provides immediate open access to its content.

Authors retain copyright of their articles. Articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY 3.0).

Authors are explicitly encouraged to deposit their article in their institutional repository.

If you have any questions you can always directly contact the Editors.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose to any other party.

On rare occasions, subscribers to our journal will receive notifications related with the International Association of the Commons (IASC).

Publication Fees

The International Journal of the Commons (IJC) is not for profit. Articles published in IJC are available free to readers. Therefore, to cover our costs there is a charge for publication. There is no charge for manuscripts that are not accepted for publication and no submission charge.

Members of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) benefit from a significant discount. This discount applies in case one or several authors of the publication either is a member, or applied for membership before the article is made available online. Here, you can register for IASC membership.

We cover an Article Procession Charge (APC) according to the following principles:

Regarding the VAT regime that we are subject to, the following applies:

·        In case of invoices to individuals, regardless of country, a VAT rate of 21% applies

·        In case of invoices to institutes with a VAT-identification number outside of the Netherlands, VAT does not need to be paid directly, but the VAT identification number needs to be mentioned on the invoice. VAT is then paid by the institute in the home country of the institute.

·        In case of invoices to institutes without a VAT-identification number outside Netherlands, a VAT rate of 21% applies.

Waiver Information

A limited number of full or partial waivers may be granted if all authors live and work in developing countries. Waivers may also be granted to students if they are the sole author on the paper. Waivers must be granted before submission. In case you think you are eligible for an exemption contact us before submitting your manuscript.