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Administration & Society

Administration & Society


Editor
Karen Hult Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA


eISSN: 15523039 | ISSN: 00953997 | Current volume: 56 | Current issue: 3 Frequency: 10 Times/Year

Administration & Society advances understanding of public and nonprofit organizations, their administrative processes, their effects on society, and their place in governing systems.

Today's Topics and Problems

For over fifty years, Administration & Society has served as a leading forum for the exchange of ideas and information on current topics, research questions, and philosophical dilemmas of interest to scholars and practitioners in public administration and related disciplines. Administration & Society publishes ten issues a year, providing up-to-date scholarship that enables researchers and practitioners to stay ahead in their fields.

In-Depth Analyses

Empirical research reports and theoretical articles provide thoughtful and significant analyses of administrative issues at the cross-national and international levels, and at the federal, state and local levels in the United States. Written by authors from a variety of fields, articles address such concerns as:

  • political, social, economic, psychological forces that shape administrative goals and performance processes by which policies are formulated, implemented and changed
  • relationships between societal groups and public and nonprofit organizations
  • theory and practice of bureaucratic politics
  • evaluation of the effects of policies on society

International and Interdisciplinary

Each issue of Administration & Society delivers the latest thinking in the study of public administration across disciplines and across the globe, reporting new research as it develops.

Administration & Society seeks to further the understanding of public and human service organizations, their administrative processes, and their effect on society. The peer reviewed journal publishes empirically oriented research reports and theoretically specific articles that synthesize or contribute to the advancement of understanding and explanation in these fields. Of particular interest are (1) studies that analyze the effects of the introduction of administrative strategies, programs, change interventions, and training; and (2) studies of intergroup, interorganizational, and organization-environment relationships and policy processes.

Journal Editor
Karen Hult Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Associate Editor
Adam Eckerd Old Dominion University, USA
Managing Editor
Kyla Yeadon Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Editor Emeritus
Brian J. Cook Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Gary L. Wamsley Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Editorial Board
Jennifer Alexander Cleveland State University, USA
Richard C. Box University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA
Barry Bozeman Arizona State University, USA
Lori A. Brainard George Washington University, USA
Thomas J. Catlaw Public Administration Theory Network, USA
Phillip J. Cooper Portland State University, USA
Terry L. Cooper University of Southern California, USA
Christine Demchak U.S. Naval War College, USA
Robert F. Durant American University, USA
Charles T. Goodsell Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Mary Ellen Guy University of Colorado, Denver, USA
A. B. Hoflund University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA
Laura S. Jensen Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
Donald F. Kettl University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
Robert S. Kravchuk Indiana University, USA
Laurence E. Lynn Jr. University of Texas, Austin, USA
Rene McEldowney Auburn University, USA
Kenneth J. Meier American University, USA
Matthew S. Mingus Western Michigan University, USA
Rosemary O'Leary University of Kansas, USA
Laurence J. O'Toole Jr. University of Georgia, USA
B. Guy Peters University of Pittsburgh, USA
Jos C. N. Raadschelders The Ohio State University, USA
Hal G. Rainey University of Georgia, USA
Norma M. Riccucci Rutgers University, Newark, USA
Alasdair Roberts University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA
David H. Rosenbloom American University, USA
Mark Rutgers University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Patricia Shields Texas State University, San Marcos, USA
Michael Spicer Cleveland State University, USA
Camilla M. Stivers Cleveland State University, USA
Richard M. Walker City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
William L. Waugh Georgia State University, USA
Edward Weber Oregon State University, USA
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  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Administration & Society

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

    Please read the guidelines below then visit Administration & Societys submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/adminsoc to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Administration & Society will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in Administration & Society and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Administration & Society may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in Administration & Society. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to Administration & Society's author archiving policy.

    If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
      2.6 Research Data
    3. Publishing policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript
      4.1 Formatting
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Supplemental material
      4.4 Reference style
      4.5 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

     

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Administration & Society, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    Administration & Society publishes two types of articles: regular research articles, and Perspectives.

    • Regular research articles are the primary content of A&S. They include empirical research reports that are well-grounded in relevant theory, as well as articles that develop new or extend existing normative and positive theory. Manuscripts must not exceed 35 typewritten, double-spaced pages, excluding references, tables, charts, and notes. Tables, charts, notes, and references must all be on separate pages, also completely double-spaced. A double-spaced abstract of approximately 100 words as well as a double-spaced brief biographical paragraph describing the author’s affiliation, research interest, and recent publications should accompany regular research article manuscripts. There is no limit on the number of references allowed.
    • Perspectives is a new section of A&S dedicated to ideas in administration and society. Perspectives articles are intended to highlight theoretical, methodological, or philosophical concepts or controversies in public administration and governance. Examples of Perspectives articles include creative theorizing, novel or critical analyses of existing literature and theory, insights into administration from different disciplines, or reinterpretations of classic works. Perspectives manuscripts are peer-reviewed by the Perspectives editor and at least one external reviewer. Manuscripts must not exceed 25 typewritten, double-spaced pages inclusive of references. Tables, charts, notes, and references must all be on separate pages, also completely double-spaced. A double-spaced abstract of approximately 100 words as well as a double-spaced brief biographical paragraph describing the author’s affiliation, research interest, and recent publications should accompany the manuscript. There is no limit on the number of references allowed.

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.
    Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
    •  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
    •  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
    •  The author has recommended the reviewer
    •  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).

    2.2 Authorship

    All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support. Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

    2.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    •    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
    •    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
    •    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    2.3.2 Writing assistance

    Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

    2.4 Funding

    Administration & Society requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    Administration & Society encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

    2.6 Research data

    The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

    Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

    • share your research data in a relevant public data repository
    • include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
    • cite this data in your research

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    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    Administration & Society and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of Administration & Society against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributors Publishing Agreement. Sages Journal Contributors Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    Administration & Society offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. A Word template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. Articles must not exceed 35 typewritten, double-spaced pages. Tables, charts, notes, and references must all be on separate pages, also completely double-spaced. A double-spaced abstract of approximately 100 words as well as a double-spaced brief biographical paragraph describing the author’s affiliation, research interest, and recent publications should accompany the manuscript.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

    Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    4.3 Supplemental material

    This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

    4.4 Reference style

    Administration & Society adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    4.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit Administration & Society’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Administration & Society is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/adminsoc to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for Administration & Society in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

    The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID, you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publications metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your articles progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Administration & Society editorial office as follows: aaseditors@gmail.com

    7.1 Appealing the publication decision

    Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.

    If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.

     

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