Guidelines for authors
International Studies
The journal International Studies publishes scientific papers, translations of relevant works into Croatian, and reviews of books and other publications. All scientific papers are reviewed by at least two anonymous and independent referees (double-blind peer review) and are categorized based on the reviewers’ recommendations into the following categories:
- Original scientific paper (an original scholarly work in which new results of fundamental or applied research is presented. These include new, as yet unknown scientific facts, insights, and theories that represent a contribution to science, while the work is written in such a way that any qualified researcher, based on the given information, can reach the same results, observations, calculations, or theoretical conclusions as the author).
- Preliminary communication (a scientific work containing scientific knowledge or the results of scientific research whose nature requires publication. This scientific article necessarily contains one or more scientific informations but without enough details that would allow the reader to verify the presented scientific knowledge, research results and scientific information as it is possible with an original scientific paper).
- Review paper (a scientific work that contains a thorough presentation of a specific question or research problem about which scientific information have already been published, ie. the results of scientific research or scientific insights. It does not have to contain original – new research results, but can be based on already published research results, although it can also contain the author’s original and new research results, which usually do not represent an essential element of the research subject).
- Conference paper (presentations that have already been reviewed and categorized for the purposes of a conference will be categorized into one of the categories listed above, and they may also be reviewed by the reviewers determined by the journal).
Alongside scientific papers, International Studies also publishes non-scientific texts that are reviewed by the Editors.
Translations of relevant works into Croatian, the contents of which are of interest to the scientific and professional community, are also published in the journal. Such translations should not exceed 20 text cards, one card equalling 1800 character spaces.
Reviews of books and other publications, that need to be written as critical reviews, and which should not exceed 5 text cards.
The journal also publishes interviews, reports from conferences and other academic events, as well as other similar shorter forms.
Fees, publishing model, copyright and originality
The journal International Studies does not charge article processing fees or any other fees to authors and is published in Platinum Open Access meaning that all published content is available to readers free of charge.
The author (or authors) is the copyright holder and retains publishing rights.
Submitted manuscripts must be the author’s original work and adhere to scholarly best-practices regarding proper attribution and citation. All submitted manuscripts are checked for authenticity using the “Turnitin” plagiarism detection software and will be rejected in case of gross plagiarism or returned to the author for corrections in case of small misattributions.
The Editors will not consider for publication articles that were submitted to multiple journals or in large part include redundant (already published) research.
Manuscript characteristics and publication requirements
Manuscripts sent to the journal must adhere to the following requirements:
- they must not have been already published or submitted for publication elsewhere;
- they should not be shorter than 18000 character spaces nor longer than 64000 character spaces, including abstracts, footnotes and references;
- they should be submitted in MS Word (.doc or .docx);
- the manuscript header should contain a clear, concise and informative manuscript title, the author’s name and surname, academic title, and the full name and full address of the institution with which the author is affiliated;
- below the title information of the manuscript an abstract should be written in Croatian or English (in the language in which the manuscript is submitted). The abstract should be approximately 1250 character spaces, including blank spaces, and at least 1000 characters spaces and at most 1500 character spaces. In the abstract the author, exclusively using the passive voice, should offer a concise and precise description of the paper’s contents and research results. Four to eight keywords should also be provided;
- the title, abstract, and keywords should also be translated into Croatian or English (depending on the language of the manuscript) and added to the manuscript at the end. Non-Croatian speaking authors will consult with the Editor regarding translating this material into Croatian;
- sources should be referenced in text notes, in a style similar to the APA (American Psychological Association) style, with several graphic and stylistic differences described in more detail at the end of this document;
- footnotes should be denoted with Arabic numerals in the text and contain additional information at the discretion of the author. Footnotes should not be used to cite the author’s sources. Sources are presented in text notes. If necessary, the author may use footnotes to cite sources with the agreement of the Editors. Alongside the additional information given in the footnote, the author may, if found necessary for said additional information, include a text-note within the footnote, keeping in mind that the footnote’s primary function is not referencing sources;
- Graphics, pictures and the like should be submitted (for now) only in black and white;
- the reference list should be alphabetically ordered based on the author’s last name, and based on the publication dates for works by the same author, and the information about the cited sources in the bibliography should include the publisher, publication location, and year of publication, as presented in more detail at the end of this document;
- authors should adhere to the methodological requirements typical for the writing of scientific papers, as described in the appropriate methodological literature for the paper’s field and approach;
- Everything else should be done adhering to the best practices of writing scholarly papers and utilizing scholarly methodology in respect to the rules of the profession.
- After publication the author will receive one printed copy of the issue in which their work has been published.
Submissions of manuscripts and the review process
Articles are submitted electronically to the e-mail address medjunarodne.studije@libertas.hr. We kindly request all authors to also read in detail our Publication Ethics Statement before submitting an article.
The review process is explained in detail on our website here.
For further clarifications potential authors can contact the Editor-in-Chief, doc. dr. sc. Vladimir Filipović via e-mail at vfilipovic@libertas.hr.
Guidelines for references
In-text citations
Referencing sources should be consistent throughout the manuscript and be in accordance with the following guidelines:
All sources cited within the text should be referenced with short text notes, for example: (Huntington, 1991: 109) or in the case of two authors (Mrakovčić & Vuković, 2019: 78), and in case of three or more authors (Jefferson et al., 2020: 75).
Listing the exact page number is not mandatory while paraphrasing sources, but it is mandatory for direct quotations. Listing the page number is not mandatory for sources which do not contain any pagination, as is the case for some web sources, or some written sources.
The bibliography
A full alphabetical list of references should be provided at the end of the manuscript according to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) guidelines. The guidelines with most of the relevant examples can be found here. Please note that the journal employs one exception to these guidelines where the year of publication should NOT be placed in brackets.
A few of the most common examples include:
Books:
Sapolsky, R. M. 2017. Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.
Journal articles:
Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. 2019. Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
Articles or chapters in edited volumes:
Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. 2019. Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345–359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016
Web sources:
Toner, K. 2020, September 24. When Covid-19 hit, he turned his newspaper route into a lifeline for senior citizens. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/us/coronavirus-newspaper-deliveryman-groceries-senior-citizens-cnnheroes-trnd/index.html
For more examples please consult the APA style guidelines available at the aforementioned website here.