International Institute of Social Studies

How to prepare your manuscript

Please read these instructions carefully: the editors reserve the right to return/reject any submitted manuscript which does not comply with the instructions below.

  • All submissions must be original pieces and should not have been published or be under consideration elsewhere.
  • Articles for submission should be within the range of 8,000 to 10,000 words (including text, abstract, notes, and references): only in exceptional circumstances will the editors consider a manuscript outside this range. Articles should include an abstract of 100–200 words. Authors should provide a total word-count for the manuscript together with their submission.

  • Comments on articles which have been published in earlier issues of Development and Change are expected to be shorter than this, usually in the range of 3,000–6,000 words.

  • Titles of articles should be brief, attractive and accurate in describing what the paper is about.

  • Keywords should be provided for all submissions (minimum of two, maximum of eight).

  • Headings and sub-headings within the text should be short and clear. Avoid too many levels of sub-heading. Avoid numbered (sub-)headings.

  • Development and Change uses the following hierarchy of headings within the text:

HEADING LEVEL A
Heading Level B
Heading Level C

  • Use footnotes rather than endnotes. The location of footnotes within the text should be indicated by superscript numbers.

  • Tables, figures, appendices etc.: please note that the page extent of additional material will be taken into account when judging the overall length of a paper. Submissions which include many tables, figures, appendices etc. should therefore contain a shorter text, in order to compensate.

  • Artwork (figures, graphs, maps etc.) should be supplied separately (not embedded into the text), preferably as TIFF, EDS or PDF files.

  • Headings for tables/figures should be placed above each table/figure and should follow this layout:

Table 1. Asset Ownership by Household Category
Figure 5. Communication Flows

  • Notes and sources should be placed under each table/figure. Column headings in tables should clearly define the data presented.