About the Journal
Focus and Scope
The multitude of theoretical approaches and concepts in International Relations (IR) and Public Policy (PP) present several challenges to teaching and learning. In addition to a fairly imposing canon of 'traditional' approaches, the fields of IR and PP have seen the profusion of a wide variety of theoretical innovations and challenges. Instructors of IR and PP struggle to cover canonical material and can find it difficult to allocate ample time for the investigation of more recent conceptual developments and debates.
As students begin to engage with contemporary scholarship in their independent studies, they are often overwhelmed and intimidated by the way in which advanced concepts, theories, and methods are deployed. Tendencies towards interdisciplinary exploration within IR and PP scholarship complicate matters, as students must make sense of casual references to scholars, philosophers, and other thinkers to whom their disciplinary training has not yet introduced them. Upper-level undergraduates, Master's students, and incoming PhD students commonly report a sense of being overwhelmed and feeling 'behind' because their peers whom appear comfortable with advanced concepts with which they are not familiar. Significantly, students have difficulty finding 'bridging resources' that can serve as primer for further investigations into advanced concepts in IR and PP. It is difficult to find resources that introduce and contextualize challenging topics in a way that helpfully provides a combination of rigorous academic work, broad-based framing and accessible writing.
Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy will provide a forum for the exploration of contested concepts, with an emphasis on education, innovation and excellence. The journal will hold as a guiding philosophy the idea that accessibility and intelligibility are academic virtues worth fostering, as well as the assertion that an author who artfully balances nuance with lucidity in order to make difficult material accessible makes an important and worthwhile scholarly contribution to the field. We favor submissions that frame introductions to key concepts, thinkers and debates, in original and thoughtful ways, in order to facilitate intellectual engagement and exploration without sacrificing intellectual sophistication.
Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy is an International Relations and Public Policy journal and welcomes work that intersects with topics and issues in global politics and public policy.
Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy welcomes a variety of methods and approaches to subjects and topics in global politics, with an emphasis on accessibility and clarity.
Should you have any questions about the suitability of your manuscript for consideration in Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy, please do not hesitate to contact the bcgp@mcmaster.ca.
Peer Review Process
Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy operates a rigorous double blind review process, meaning that the identities of both the author(s) and reviewers are always concealed from one another. Video submissions will be screened by the editors and will remain unlinked until after the blind peer review process. All submissions are screened by the editors to determine whether or not they should be sent for external review. If your paper is deemed unsuitable for the journal, it will be returned to you without being sent to review. Once it has been determined that a submission is to be sent to review it will be assigned to three independent reviewers. Reviewers are chosen on the basis of their familiarity with the subject matter of your paper as well as their availability for completing the review within the allotted time. We endeavor to complete the review process within 2-3 months, although occasionally this can take longer. We regret any delays that authors may experience during the course of the review process, as these are often out of our control.
Should you have any questions about the suitability of your submission for Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy, please contact the Editorial Office at bcgp@mcmaster.ca.
Publication Frequency
Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy publishes approved submissions on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Journal History
In order to promote accessibility, the journal will use an innovative mixed-media format wherein submissions will include both a text-based 'article' component and a related multimedia 'lecture' component, a combination analogous to an author’s contribution to a traditional disciplinary conference experience.
In order to promote a high standard of quality, submissions will be subject to a process of anonymous peer-review. Unlike most journals, however, this process will include additional opportunities for a participatory dynamic of online conversation, interaction and engagement that takes place in concert with the traditional review process, helping to shape the publication in its final form.
Multimedia components should be no longer than 10 -15 minutes and must be provided during the paper submission process.
If an article is rejected, authors can delete the video or have it open to the public as part of the ongoing 'Conversations' on the Bridges: Conversations in Global Politics and Public Policy youtube channel. The editorial board reserves the right to remove, disaffiliate and delete videos from the youtube channel at any time.
