by Kristin Taylor (co-editor), Elizabeth Koebele (co-editor) & Allegra Fullerton (Digital Associate Editor)
At the recent journal editors’ roundtable at the Conference on Policy Process Research in January 2026 in Bern, Switzerland, we were struck by the number of scholars seeking advice on how to choose the best journal to publish their research in. So, we thought we’d follow up with our top tips on choosing where to publish. Ultimately, the choice of whether a paper is accepted for review or not is at the discretion of the editorial team; however, there are ways to increase your odds of your work being selected to go under review, whether at Policy & Politics or elsewhere.
Firstly, check if your paper aligns within the aims and scope of the journal you are considering. Astonishingly, Policy & Politics desk rejects around 75% of submissions every year primarily due to their lack of fit with our aims and scope. Such rejections are largely avoidable by rigorously reading journal aims, scope, and other summaries or editorial statements on journals’ webpages. It is also worth reviewing the last several months of publications from the journal. Your submission may be more likely to be sent out for review if it engages in or extends an ongoing discourse in the journal, including pointing to areas that need further attention. Journals track debates on issues within their scope over time, so if your research questions are responding to a debate already ongoing in the journal – partly indicated through citations of appropriate articles in your references – you stand a much better chance of your article passing the desk reject stage.
Secondly, check the prevalence of the journals you are referencing in your own references list and compare this against the authors published in a journal’s recent issues, as well as the members of the journal’s editorial board. These sources can provide good guidance as to where a natural home for your work might be. If you don’t recognise any of the names nor their scholarship, the journal you’re considering is probably not the right audience for your work, raising the chance it will be desk rejected.
Thirdly, pay attention to the ‘hallmark’ of the journal you’re interested in submitting to. For example, Policy & Politics has a broad interest in articles on public policy, but the unique hallmark of our articles is a focus on the politics of policymaking, as outlined in our aims and scope. Sometimes, journal hallmarks can shift with new leadership, and journals will also grow into new areas, so be sure to revisit a journal’s website over time. Other places to look for cues about journal hallmarks are the social media posts of the journal. Do they post materials that signal what type of work they want to curate? While some work that does not address a journal’s hallmark issue may still be published if it is of high quality and fits within the journal’s aims and scope, these can serve as excellent guidance for assessing which journals might be most likely to send your work out for review.
Finally, remember that peer-reviewed publishing is a competitive process, so you need to clearly spell out the novel contribution of your research in the first couple of sentences of your abstract and reinforce it in your introduction. At Policy & Politics, we receive hundreds of submissions a year, many of which are rejected because they aren’t clear on what they’re adding to the existing body of knowledge in their field. If in doubt, spell it out – and on that note, make sure all of your spelling and grammar is correct, as these signal the professionalism of your submission to the editors.
We hope these tips are helpful, whether you are investigating submitting your work to Policy & Politics or elsewhere. We recognise the privileged position we occupy in judging the quality of some of the best scholarship in our field, and want to help our authors and prospective authors to produce the highest quality research. We look forward to reading your submissions!
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