Politcus  Submission Guidelines 

Student Information Required: 

Name, email, year of study, class that your paper has been written for if applicable 

Types of Essays Acceptable: 

  • We ask that all essays submitted clearly state a thesis statement or argument, engage with Political subject matter, and present a new or distinct contribution to the field of political studies.  

  • An original piece of research on politics and/or international affairs 

  • A term paper or major work 

  • Sections of an undergraduate thesis  

  • Please note that we do not accept opinion pieces or op-ed style papers for submission 

  • All essays must be submitted as a word document through our submission portal at OJS https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/politicus/index

Length Requirements:  

  • 6-30 pages including references and/or appendages, 2.0 spacing and normal margins 

  • OR 1000-7000 words, not including references  

Required Citation Style: 

Spelling and Grammar: 

  • All spelling and grammar should follow Canadian English - for example, favour vs favor, standardise vs. standardize.  

Images and Data: 

  • Please use minimal colour for graphs, data and images where possible 

  • All images, data, graphs or any other supplementary used that is not your own must be cited under Chicago 17th edition (author-date) formatting. 

Subject Matter Accepted:  

All fields involving or related to Political subject matter: International Affairs, Political Theory, Comparative Politics, Environmental Politics, Gender and Politics, Canadian Politics, European Politics, Global Governance, Development Theory, Policy Briefs etc. 

Editorial Board Policy: 

Politicus operates using a double-blind peer review model which means that both the referee and author remain anonymous throughout the review process. After initial reviews are made, the Editorial Board will discuss the piece among each other in greater depth and discuss if it is publishable. We have three stages of review, the last being a professor review stage which is then followed by copy edits.  

Your paper can be rejected at any stage in the review process. If we decide to reject your paper, we will inform of you of why this decision has been made and offer comments. You will be given two weeks to complete all revisions the board deems necessary during regular review process; this timeline may be shortened as needed during final stages of review. 

All submissions will be reviewed by the Panel of Referees and evaluated based on the following model: 

  • Accept submission

  • Accept with revisions/revisions required

  • Decline submission

  • Resubmit for review

  • Resubmit elsewhere

Academic Integrity Policy: 

Politicus will not accept papers that are plagiarized, copied, or breach academic integrity in any way. To the best of their ability, our editorial board will point out any plagiarized submissions, and if an essay is suspected of plagiarism, it will be reported to the university. In accordance with this, we will not take papers previously published and ask that papers be submitted only to Politicus. If your paper is rejected, you are free to submit it wherever you please.  

Anti-Discrimination Policy:  

Politicus is a fair process club and aims to produce work written by all individuals regardless of political view, sexual orientation, race, gender, religion, or any other factor. We have a no tolerance policy for prejudice and discrimination in our team and will address any concerns about discriminatory treatment as quickly as possible. In addition to this, Politicus will strive to actively provide a space for dialogue, discussion, and education through our platform and through the works that we publish.