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Progress in Development Studies

Progress in Development Studies


eISSN: 1477027X | ISSN: 14649934 | Current volume: 24 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Quarterly

Progress in Development Studies is a double-anonymized journal about current debates in international development studies. The journal focuses on critical discussion of international development processes, policies and interventions in relation to poverty, inequality, and human wellbeing in a globalised world. We carry material that contributes to the cutting edge of development studies debates. We publish main papers, that may be theoretical, empirical or methodological in focus.

Progress in Development Studies takes the view that development should be defined as change, whether positive or negative, whether intentional or unintentional. Whilst most contributions focus on developing countries, we also welcome consideration of development issues from the so-called 'developed nations' in respect of the incidence of poverty, inequalities and processes of globalization.

Electronic Access:
Progress in Development Studies is available electronically on SAGE Journals Online at
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/PDJ

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Progress in Development Studies is a double-anonymized journal about current debates in international development studies. The journal focuses on critical discussion of international development processes, policies and interventions in relation to poverty, inequality, and human wellbeing in a globalised world. We carry material that contributes to the cutting edge of development studies debates.

We welcome innovative contributions of emerging importance to development, as well as contributions on more established areas of development debates. These include but are not restricted to debates around:

  • Poverty alleviation and international aid
  • Climate change, environmental degradation and sustainable development
  • Risk, vulnerability, and human security
  • Political governance and civil society
  • Gender relations and inequality
  • Human rights and development
  • Migration, urbanisation and development
  • Children, youth and development
  • Livelihoods and food security
  • Social protection and Social policy
  • The international debt crisis
  • Economic development, work and industrialization

Progress in Development Studies takes the view that development should be defined as change, whether positive or negative. Whilst most contributions focus on developing countries, this does not preclude the consideration of Eastern European, or indeed, so-called 'developed nations' in respect of the incidence of poverty, inequalities and processes of globalisation and related matters.

Progress in Development Studies is a double-blind peer reviewed journal.

We publish main papers, that may be theoretical, empirical or methodological in focus, as well as progress reports, commentaries and observations. We carry materials from both specific social science disciplines as well as interdisciplinary perspectives that engage with development studies. From time to time we publish special issues on themes of particular relevance.

Editor-in-Chief
Adam Fejerskov Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Denmark
Founding Editor
Rob Potter (b. 1950 –d. 2014) University of Reading, UK (2003–2014)
Associate Editors
Maren Duvendack School of International Development, University of East Anglia, UK
Antonio A R Ioris School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, UK
Book Review Editor
Jessica Omukuti University of York, UK
International Advisory Board
Jayanta Bandyopadhyay Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata, India
Andrea Cornwall School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), London
Vandana Desai Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Chris Dixon Global Policy Institute, UK
J Ferguson University of California, USA
Timothy Forsyth Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics, UK
Prakash Kashwan University of Connecticut, USA
Catherine Locke University of East Anglia, UK
Dibyendu Maiti Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India
D Marshall University of the West Indies, Barbados
D Simon Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Chandni Singh Indian Institute for Human Settlements, India
Katie Wright Reader in International Development, University of East London, UK
  • Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC)
  • CCC
  • Clarivate Analytics: Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
  • DeepDyve
  • Dutch-KB
  • EBSCO
  • Indian Citation Index (ICI)
  • J-Gate
  • OCLC
  • Ohio
  • Portico
  • Pro-Quest-RSP
  • ProQuest-Illustrata
  • ProQuest: Bioscience Library
  • ProQuest: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
  • Research Papers in Economics (RePEc)
  • SCOPUS
  • UGC-CARE (GROUP II)
  • Progress in Development Studies (PDJ)

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site [https://peerreview.sagepub.com/pdj] to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Book Reviews should be submitted to the Book Reviews Editor, Jessica Omukuti at jessica.omukuti@insis.ox.ac.uk

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Progress in Development Studies 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.

    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

    3. Publishing polices

    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 Supplementary material
    4.4 Reference style

    5. Submitting your manuscript

    5.1 ORCID
    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    5.2 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 Progress in Development Studies, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article types
    Progress in Development Studies (PIDS) provides an international forum for the review of development-oriented work in the social, economic and environmental sciences. We publish Main Papers (8000 words, excluding tables, figures and references) and Book Reviews (500–1000 words). We also publish special issues on themes of particular relevance. Occasionally, we publish Progress Reports (2000 words) , short Commentaries or Observations (2000–3000 words) as one-off opinion pieces.

    Main Papers may be theoretical, empirical or methodological in focus and must make a significant contribution to the development studies debates. They may present overviews of the literature and thinking, or practice, or empirically derived case study material, pertaining to a particular subarea of development-related work, so long as it relates directly to new insights into development and the subarea being considered.   As per the aims and scope of the journal, our view is that development is change, whether positive or negative, whether intentional or unintentional. Whilst most contributions focus on developing countries, we also welcome consideration of development issues from the so-called 'developed nations' in respect of the incidence of poverty, inequalities and processes of globalisation.

    Progress Reports monitor significant advances in theory and/or practice in a given subfield and provide a reasoned appraisal of new approaches. Commentaries and Observations are invited where authors wish to critique aspects of change within the field (or recent publications that have appeared in PIDS).

    Contributors are advised that the majority of rejections are at the stage of desk review (within approximately 2 - 4 weeks), most commonly because the manuscript does not address our remit closely enough. Therefore, potential contributors are advised to carefully study the guidance on our aims and scope, as well as to explore back issues of PIDS, before submission.

    From time to time, PIDS publishes Special Issues on themes of particular relevance. The guidelines for proposals for special issues are found below (link). However, prospective editors are welcome to contact the editor, Adam Fejerskov at admo@diis.dk to discuss their ideas in advance of submitting a full proposal.

    Special Issue Proposals

    PIDS welcomes proposals for special issues. A special issue should contain a maximum of 6 papers as well as an introductory paper by the guest editors. Guest editors should prepare a proposal as follows:

    1. Title of the SI:
    2. Guest Editors of the SI:
    3. Summary of rationale for the SI (under 600 words):
    4. Title for the introduction:
    5. Authors for the introduction (if different from guest editors):
    6. Extended Abstract for the introduction (upto 1,000 words, excluding references):
    7. Anticipated length of full introduction (number of words):
    8. And then for each proposed article we would ask for:
      a. Title:
      b. Authors:
      c. Abstract (of around 500 words):
    9. A timeline that takes us to submission of the full set of manuscripts for review.

    Proposals will initially be screened by the PIDS editorial board. Guest editors should note that agreement in principle to proceed with a special issue at this stage is provisional. Once the full manuscript is delivered, each article will be sent for double-anonymize external review in accordance with our usual reviewing process. We expect guest editors to be pro-active in managing the initial submissions, revisions and final copy of manuscripts, both in terms of their promptness of their delivery and the quality of the manuscripts, but the final decision to publish (or not) remains with the PIDS editors.

    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
    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

    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.

    If the named authors for a manuscript change at any point between submission and acceptance, an Authorship Change Form must be completed and digitally signed by all authors (including any added or removed) . An addition of an author is only permitted following feedback raised during peer review. Completed forms can be uploaded at Revision Submission stage or emailed to the Journal Editorial Office contact (listed on the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines). All requests will be moderated by the Editor and/or Sage staff.

    Important: Changes to the author by-line by adding or deleting authors are NOT permitted following acceptance of a paper.

    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.

    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.

    2.4 Funding
    Progress in Development Studies 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
    Progress in Development Studies encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway

    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
    Progress in Development Studies 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 the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised 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 Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence 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
    Progress in Development Studies 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.

    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission                  

    4.1 Formatting
    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    • All articles must be accompanied by 4–6 keywords and an abstract of about 100 words. Notes should be numbered serially and presented at the end of the article. Notes must contain more than a mere reference.
    • The manuscript should only have 3 levels of heading as follows:

    Primary heading
    Secondary heading
    Tertiary heading: With the text carrying along the same line for this heading. 

    • British Spellings throughout; universal ‘z’ in ‘-ize’, ‘-ization’ words. 
    • Use single quotes throughout. Double quotes only to be used within single quotes. Spellings of words in quotations should not be changed. Quotations of 45 words or more should be separated from the text and indented with one space with a line space above and below. 
    • Use ‘19th century’, ‘1980s’. Spell out numbers from one to nine, 10 and above to remain in figures. However, for exact measurements, use only figures (3 km, 9 percent, not %). Use thousands and millions, not lakhs and crores. Avoid saying ‘recently’ but rather give the year.
    • Notes should be numbered serially and presented at the end of the article. Notes must contain more than a mere reference.
    • There is no limit on the number of references allowed.

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

    4.3 Supplementary 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 supplementary files

    4.4 Reference style
    Progress in Development Studies adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    5. Submitting your manuscript
    Progress in Development Studies is hosted on Sage Track Sage, a web based online submission and peer review system. Visit [https://peerreview.sagepub.com/PDJ] 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 the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. 

    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 publication’s 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. 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 permissionfrom 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

    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production
    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned 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.

    7. Further information

    All correspondence should be made sent to the Journal Administrator at https://peerreview.sagepub.com/pdj
    Or the editor Adam Fejerskov at admo@diis.dk

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