About the Journal

Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration (SJPA) is an open access, double-blind peer-reviewed journal that publishes four issues per year, presenting articles on public administration with perspectives from political and management studies to economics and law studies.

Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration:

  • Welcomes interdisciplinary and innovative articles that highlight relevant and contemporary problems in public administration;
  • Targets scholars as well as practitioners with an interest in public administration at the European, national, regional or local level;
  • Encourages pioneering research in order to improve the understanding and deepen the knowledge of the public administration practice in Scandinavia and elsewhere;
  • Strengthens public administration networks in theoretical as well as practical knowledge;
  • Encourages pluralistic methodological approaches.

SJPA welcomes papers as well as book reviews. All articles are subject to a double-blind peer review process. Our aim is to give a first decision (i.e. Accept submission, Revision required, Resubmit for Review or Decline submission) within three months of receiving a manuscript. SJPA provides immediate open access to its content on the principle of making research freely available to the public and supporting a greater global exchange of knowledge. SJPA does not charge any publication fees.

Indexing and Ranking

  • Scopus
  • EBSCO
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • Sherpa Romeo
  • Libris
  • Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers (NSD, 1)
  • Publication Forum (JUFO, 1)

The review process

All submitted manuscripts are first assessed by an editor who decides whether the manuscript is suitable for submission for peer review. Manuscripts that are considered suitable for further review are sent to two or more experts who are given the task of highlighting the manuscript's general and specific merits and shortcomings.

The journal uses a double-blind review procedure before publication, which means that writers and reviewers are anonymous throughout the review process. The aim is for a first decision to be given within three months of receipt of the manuscript. However, the review time may vary beyond this approximate range, depending on the availability of suitable reviewers or other unforeseeable conditions. Reviewers are encouraged to provide constructive criticism, even if the article is not considered suitable for publication.

Based on the reviewers' reports, the editor compiles a recommendation to accept the manuscript for publication, to ask the author for revisions or to reject the manuscript. The overall responsibility for the publication rests with the journal's editor-in-chief.

SJPA does not accept articles submitted by the journal’s own editors.

The journal gratefully accepts manuscripts that have previously been uploaded before review as preliminary versions, on personal websites, presented at conferences or made available through other informal communication channels. However, the author(s) must own the copyright to the text in question. 

Peer-review policy

  • Reviewers and authors of manuscripts should not be close colleagues, family members, work on the same research project or otherwise work closely together.
  • Reviewers should only accept assignments to assess manuscripts that fall within subject areas appropriate to their expertise.
  • Reviewers should respond to invitations and submit comments within a reasonable period of time, as peer review is necessary for the academic process.
  • Reviewers' comments should not be influenced by nationality, religious or political beliefs, gender or any of the author's characteristics; or by commercial interests.
  • Comments from reviewers must be free from hostile or provocative language.
  • Review protocols shall not include personal attacks, libel or derogatory comments.
  • Reviewers are selected from both internal members of the SJPA's editorial board and external experts in the subject of the manuscript.

Learn more about the journal's editorial policies >> and ethics statement >>

Readership

The main target group is scholars as well as practitioners with an interest in public administration at the European, national, regional or local level.

Publication fees

There are no publication fees associated with this journal.

Publication frequency

SJPA publishes four issues per year.

Publisher

SJPA is published by the School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg. Learn more about the journal's publisher >>