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Human Development &
Capability Association

Agency, Well-Being and Justice

For Authors

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The Journal of Human Development and Capabilities accepts the following types of article: research articles, policy articles, book reviews, review articles, and notes and comments. The JHDC invites the submission of papers addressing issues related to human development and the capabilities approach. Papers undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process. The Journal publishes papers of high quality that make an important contribution to its scope and aims. Please note that this journal only publishes manuscripts in English, French and Spanish.

The journal uses ScholarOne Manuscripts (previously Manuscript Central) to peer review manuscript submissions. Complete guidelines for preparing and submitting your manuscript to the JHDC are provided below and can be downloaded here.

Submissions should be made electronically via the JHDC’s ScholarOne Manuscripts page . New users should first create an account. Once logged in, submissions are made via the Author Centre. The Journal accepts submissions in English, French and Spanish. For papers in English, please use British spelling style consistently throughout your manuscript.

Manuscripts –ideally between 5000 and 8000 words in length (including endnotes and references), should be submitted in Word format and must adhere to the journal’s guidelines for references, citations and permissions (please refer to “Guidelines for preparing manuscripts”, below ). The manuscript should be identified as “Main Document”, with all information identifying the authors removed to allow it to be refereed anonymously, and should include the following:

  • The title of the paper
  • An abstract of approximately 150–200 words
  • Key words (for indexing and online searching purposes)
  • Numbered pages in sequence.
  • Spell-checked text (if you are not a native speaker of English, you may wish to get your article reviewed by a native speaker before submission)
  • All necessary material (e.g. figures and tables and their captions; appendices)
  • Permission obtained for use of copyrighted material reproduced from other sources (including the Internet), particularly for figures and tables (see http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/permission.asp )

In addition to the main manuscript, a separate file should also be uploaded, identified as “Title Page – not for review”, and must include all of the following information:

  • The title of the paper
  • The names of the authors
  • The full postal and email addresses of all the authors
  • Affiliation details for each author (job title, institution, city, country)
  • A brief biographical note for each author (around 100 words)
  • One author should be indicated as “Corresponding author”. He/she will be notified of the selection outcome after submission of the manuscript to an anonymous peer review process, and if the article is approved for publication, will check proofs, receive correspondence, and receive a complimentary print copy of the issue containing the article and offprints.

Contributors should bear in mind that they are addressing a diverse audience of academics, policy-makers and development practitioners. Jargon should be avoided where possible and the choice of terms should be clearly defined.

Policy Forum

The Policy Forum section seeks to bridge academia and policy. It intends to provide a platform for both theorists and empiricists to contribute towards policy solutions for real world human development challenges.  However, while the papers are shorter in length and more accessible than typical journal articles, the Forum is not an op-ed section.

Each Policy Forum can include up to four papers. Papers submitted for consideration to the Policy Forum should be between 2000 and 3500 words, with a maximum of one figure and 15 references (included in the word count). They must focus on, suggest or discuss policy recommendations, policy implications or policy evaluation. Selected suggestions for further reading can be included.

Each submission will be peer reviewed by two external reviewers, and the review process will be similar to the standard articles with the final decision to publish being made by the Editor in Chief. However, unlike the normal review process, only Policy Forum articles with a recommendation for minor revisions will go forward.

Book Reviews

Those interested in reviewing a book or having their book reviewed should contact the Book Review Editor: Josh Platzky Miller, PlatzkyMillerJ@ufs.ac.za. In some cases, the Journal may be able to provide a complimentary copy of the book under review. Longer review articles will also be considered for publication at the discretion of the editors. These articles may focus on specific themes, review multiple books simultaneously and/or include commentary and analysis that goes beyond standard book reviews. Such articles will be treated as regular paper submissions and should be prepared in accordance with the general instructions for authors.

Notes & Comments

A regular feature of the JHDC is the Notes & Comments section, which is intended to accommodate relatively shorter articles. Submissions to the Notes and Comments section should be approximately 2,000 and 3,000 words. ‘Notes’ would be particularly (though obviously not exclusively) well served by short pieces dealing with measurement issues. “Comments” would be relatively brief essays inspired by work published in the Journal, and could, typically, assume the form of extension, modification, criticism or correction. In specific instances, and at the discretion of the Editors, a comment can be referred to the author of the original paper that is the subject of the comment.

Guidelines for preparing manuscripts

General

For papers in English, the JHDC uses British spellings only.

Figures and Tables

  • All tables and figures must be supplied, identified by an Arabic numeral, and cited within the text (for example “(see Figure 1)”; “Table 2 shows….”.
  • Tables, figures, and captions should be separated from the body of the text, their approximate position should be indicated in the manuscript.
  • Figure graphics must be in highest possible resolution. Figure graphics must be viewable in black-and-white format if your article is not printing in colour (for further information please visit http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/artwork.asp ).
  • Captions for all tables and figures captions must be provided.

Endnotes
Explanatory notes should be kept to a minimum. They should be indicated in the text with a superscript number and grouped as endnotes, after the text, and before the reference list.

JHDC REFERENCES GUIDE

JHDC uses the Chicago author-date reference system. If you have any queries and require advice or information, please contact the journal’s Managing Editor

  • Full bibliographic detail must be included for each item in your References list, and all references must be in correct format for the journal (please refer to the Chicago author-date guide for details). Numerical references are not acceptable.
  • All items in your References list must be cited (indicated) in your text, and vice versa.
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