ROPPA SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
General Information
Acceptable Topics: The mission of the Review of Public Personnel Administration is to present timely, rigorous scholarship on human resource management in public service organizations. ROPPA is a refereed journal that welcomes articles reflecting the varied approaches and methodologies used in the study and practice of HRM. Of particular interest are studies that analyze the effects of specific HR procedures or programs on the management function and studies that assess the impact of HRM on the broader areas of public policy and administration. Both traditional and emerging topics are welcomed. These include, but are not limited to, merit system reforms, the changing workplace/workforce, equal employment opportunity, quality of work life, relations between HR professionals and line managers, nonprofit HR issues, information technology innovations, decentralization, downsizing, deregulation, grievances and appeals, staffing, recruitment, retention, classification and compensation, performance appraisal, training and development, leadership, motivation, employee benefits, diversity, labor-management relations, mediation, arbitration, public sector unions, HRM in international organizations, and comparative HR. If you have a question about what may be considered acceptable, please contact Editor-in-Chief Stephen Condrey (condrey@cviog.uga.edu).
Special Note on Double Submissions: Manuscripts submitted to ROPPA may not be under consideration for publication at any other journal at the time of submission and, following submission to ROPPA, may not be submitted for publication to ANY other source pending official, written notification of the final decision by ROPPA. Submission to ROPPA indicates that this is your primary choice for publication and ROPPA retains sole publication rights until a final publication decision is made. If you have any questions regarding this policy, contact Editor-in-Chief Stephen Condrey (condrey@cviog.uga.edu).
Review Process: Manuscripts are blind peer reviewed by three reviewers.
Manuscript Length: Manuscripts should not exceed 25 typewritten double-spaced pages (inclusive of tables, charts, graphs, and endnotes) and should conform to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition). Prospective authors should follow the manuscript format described below.
Manuscript Submission
Electronic Submission: Forward the manuscript as an attached file via email to Editor-in-Chief Dr. Stephen E. Condrey at condrey@cviog.uga.edu. The file should be a single .doc file containing all parts of the manuscript specified below under Basic Submission Package Requirements.
Basic Submission Package Requirements: A cover sheet with the manuscript’s title and all authors’ names, affiliations, and complete contact information (mailing address, phone, fax, and email address), plus about five keywords must be included. Biographical statements for each author not exceeding 40 words and an abstract not exceeding 150 words should be provided on separate pages. The manuscript's title should also appear on the page containing the abstract. All copy (including tables, endnotes, and references) should be double-spaced using Times New Roman size 12 font, one-inch margins, and numbered pages. Prospective authors must follow the more detailed requirements below, as they must be met prior to final acceptance for publication.
Detailed Style and Format Requirements
Reference Style: Manuscripts submitted to ROPPA should generally follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition). What follows emphasizes, expands on, or modifies information found in what is referred to as the APA Manual.
Maximum Length: Articles should be limited to 25 typewritten, double-spaced pages, exclusive of the front matter indicated below.
Front Matter: Because editors and referees review articles without reference to the author’s name or institutional affiliation, identifying information should be removed from all portions of the submitted manuscript with the exception of the cover sheet. To facilitate this process, the first three separate pages of the submitted manuscript, in order, should be:
1. A cover sheet containing the manuscript title, author name (s), affiliation (s), mailing address (es), primary telephone and fax numbers, email addresses, and four or five keywords.
2. Biographical statements for each author of not more than 40 words.
3. An abstract of no more than 150 words, with the manuscript’s title repeated above the abstract.
Format: All copy, including indented matter, notes, and references should be typed double-spaced on standard white background with one-inch margins using Times New Roman size 12 font. All pages should be numbered.
Text Citations: All references in the text or any notes should be identified by the last name of the author, year of publication, and include pagination where appropriate. Format should be as follows:
1. Author’s name in text: Johnston (2001, p. 150)
2. Author’s name not in text: (Johnston, 2001)
3. Two authors: (Johnston & Denby, 2001, p. 150)
4. Three or more authors:
First citation: (Johnston, Denby, & Smith, 2001, p. 150)
Subsequent: (Johnston et al., 2001, p. 150)
Ibid., op. cit., loc., supra infra, or cf: should not be used. Subsequent citations of the same source should be listed in the same manner as the first citation, except as noted above for multiple authors. Complete information for every reference should be listed at the end of the article starting on a new page labeled REFERENCES.
Footnotes: Footnotes are not to be used in the main text. If it is important enough to say, include it in the text.
Notes: Notes are for discursive comments and not for documentation. Superscripted numbers for notes should be inserted into the text, but not electronically embedded in the text. All notes included in the article should appear at the end of the article, starting on a new page labeled NOTES.
Tables and Figures: Tables and figures should be typed on separate sheets of paper and numbered in Arabic. Indicate placement of tables or figures in the text by writing "Insert Table 1 about here," or "Insert Figure 1 about here." Footnotes to tables or figures should be superscripted in the table body and indicated beneath the table by the use of lower case "a," "b," "c," etc. Table or figure source material should follow lettered footnotes as one paragraph headed with the word "Sources." Sources for tables and figures should be cited as in text and in references. Figures must be originals, and all lines should be clean and jet-black. Tables should not have cells or lines dividing the different elements. Preferably, each element will be separated by tabs. If not created within the context of .doc, .wpd, or .rtf files, final versions of figures, charts, or graphs for publication should be submitted in one of the following postscript or bitmapped formats: EPS, GIF, JPEG, TIF or WMF.
Heads: Articles, titles, subtitles, and text subheads should be selected carefully with consideration to appropriateness and conciseness. Subheads should be limited to three levels:
1. Major level (flush left, bold, all caps)
2. Second level (indented, bold, caps and lowercase)
3. Third level (indented, italicized, caps and lowercase, period following, text following on the same line)
References: Every citation must have a reference and every reference must be cited. References should be double-spaced and listed alphabetically by author and (for the same author cited in different sources) chronologically by the year of publication with the most recent year first; use "a," "b," "c," etc. after the same year if necessary. Do not use et al in the reference list; names of all authors of a publication cited should be listed.
References must be complete. References for books must include author(s) with the last name of the author listed first, followed by the author’s first and middle initials, date, title of publication, place of publication and publisher. For periodical references, the entry must include author(s) with the last name of the author listed first followed by the author’s first name and middle initials, date, title of article and journal, volume number, and pages; for foreign journals include city of publication. Examples of acceptable references appear below.
Gossett, C. W. (1997, November). Civil service reform: The case of Georgia. Paper presented at the Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co. 401 U.S. 424 (1971).
Human Resources (1999, February). Governing, 23-25.
International City/County Management Association (ICMA). (1999). Performance indicators/support services/human resources. ICMA Comparative Performance Measurement Program. Retrieved May 30, 1999, from http://www.icma.org/performance/PI-support.cfm.
Kettl, D., Ingraham, P. W., Sanders, R., & Horner, C. (1996). Civil service reform: Building a government that works. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institute.
Mishra, A. K. (1996). Organizational responses to crisis: The centrality of trust. In R. M. Kramer & T. R. Tyler (Eds.) Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research (pp. 261-287). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). (1983). Revitalizing federal management: Managers and their overburdened systems. Washington, DC: NAPA.
Perry, J., Wise, L. R., & Martin, M. (1994). Breaking the civil service mold: The case of Indianapolis. Review of Public Personnel Administration 14 (2), 40-54.
Final Check
Be sure to:
Provide complete contact information.
Use single spaces rather than double spaces between sentences and after colons.
Spell out or define acronyms, abbreviations, or jargon on first use.
Provide translations for non-English titles in references.
Remember that even under fair use provisions, authors may need to obtain permission from applicable copyright holders to quote, reprint, or adapt works or portions of works from other sources (e.g., poetry, song lyrics, quotations from unpublished works, and tables, figures, or exhibits).
Authors who want to refine the use of English in their manuscripts might consider utilizing the services of SPi, a non-affiliated company that offers Professional Editing Services to authors of journal articles in the areas of science, technology, medicine or the social sciences. SPi specializes in editing and correcting English-language manuscripts written by authors with a primary language other than English. Visit http://www.prof-editing.com for more information about SPi’s Professional Editing Services, pricing, and turn-around times, or to obtain a free quote or submit a manuscript for language polishing.
Please be aware that SAGE has no affiliation with SPi and makes no endorsement of the company. An author’s use of SPi’s services in no way guarantees that his or her submission will ultimately be accepted. Any arrangement an author enters into will be exclusively between the author and SPi, and any costs incurred are the sole responsibility of the author.
