Guideline for authors

The Caucasus Strategic Perspectives (CSP) embraces an editorial review and online submission systems. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts conform to the journal style. We prefer academically sound articles as well as academic style writing. 

- Authors should submit their manuscript online, via editor.submissions@cspjournal.az in Microsoft Word formats with the full title and affiliation of the author included.

- Please avoid repetition in the article; do not repeat the points in the article again in a conclusion section.

- The submissions must be in English and the spelling (British) should be consistent throughout. We strongly recommend that non-native speakers have their articles edited and proofread by a native English speaker before submitting to CSP – this will increase the likelihood of their publication. 

- Articles should be written between 3,000–5,000 words (including abstract, key words, footnotes, conclusion), and commentaries between 2500-3000 words. Please check with the editor beforehand should you wish to extend beyond the suggested length or would like to submit a shorter contribution.

- Articles should include an abstract with the length of within 150-200 words and it must contain no references and followed by 3-5 keywords. Abstract should set out briefly and clearly the main objectives and results/conclusions of the work, and it should give a clear idea of what has been achieved.

- Abbreviations and capitalizations should be consistent throughout the text. The use of full stops in lower case abbreviations is necessary (et al., ibid., ed.). However please avoid using this type of punctuation in capitalized abbreviations (UN; Washington, DC), with the exception of the abbreviation for the United States of America, which must include points (U.S.).

- Foreign language words or terms should be italicized.

- Dates within the article to be given as follows: June 1, 2010, 1990s, 21st century, mid-18th century, 1991-2001. 

- Please use double quotation marks for all quotations; and single ones for concepts that are not directly quoted (eg. so-called ‘hard power’) as well as for quotes within quotes.

- If the quoted sentence exceeds more than 30 words, you should omit the quotation marks, start the quote from a new line and indent the quote about 1cm from the left/right-hand margin of the page.

- Pages should be numbered using digit numbers in the footer of each page.

- “Times New Roman” fonts, 12 point, 1-spaced are recommended for the text’s body; titles in the article should be 12 point, bold and in uppercase form; the sub-titles should be 12 point and in the title case form. Headings should be flush left, using upper case. 

 

Footnotes and References

- All notes should appear as footnotes and provide full citations.

- Please do not use active links (clickable) or hyperlinks in the footnotes.

- References should include the full name of the author, title of the work and publication date.

- We, however, do not include References sections into the final publication.

- If there are more than 3 authors/editors, the first 3 author names are listed followed by ‘et al.’; if the author group consists of 3 authors or fewer, all author names should be listed.

- A translation of the original title (if it is not in English) must be given in square brackets after the original title. 

- We highly recommend you find useful and relevant information in the previous articles, which can dramatically benefit your literatures and references.

In the case of Books the following order should be observed in footnotes:

S.Author(s) Surname, Title of Book, (Place of Publishing: Publisher, year) page numbers (p. or pp.).

- M.Holland, The European Union and Third World, (London: The European Union Series, 2002), p.45.

Edited Volume:

B.Author(s) Surname, "Chapter Title", in C.Editor & D.Editor (eds.), Book Title (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), page number(s).

- D.Carr, "Intentionality", in Edo Pivčević (ed.), Phenomenology and Philosophical Understanding (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), p.23.

- M.Higgs, “Change and Its Leadership: The Role of Positive Emotions,” in P. Alex Linley, Susan Harrington, and Nicola Garcea (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology and Work (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp.67-72.

Journal articles:

Author(s) Surname.D, “Article Title”, Journal Title, Vol.xx, No.yy, year, page numbers (p. or pp.), URL (if online and followed by (Accessed: Month Day, Year)).

- Vahl, M. and Celac, S. “Ready for a Breakthrough: Elements for a European Union Strategy towards the Black Sea Region,” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2, June 2006, p.35.

Web sources:

Website, Title, Publication Month Day, Year, Available at: URL (Accessed: Month Day, Year)  

Surname, N., “Article Title”, Web Site Title, Publication Month Day, Year, Available at: URL (Accessed: Month Day, Year).

- President.az, Azerbaijani President, German Federal Chancellor held joint press conference, Press Conferences, August 25, 2018, Available at: https://en.president.az/articles/29744 (Accessed: September 24, 2018)

- Mammadov.R., "Southern Gas Corridor Has Prospects For Expansion In Eastern, Central Europe", Trend, May 8, 2018, Available at: https://en.trend.az/business/energy/2899703.html (Accessed: September 25, 2018)

Newspaper Articles:

(if authored) Surname, N., “Article Title”, Newspaper Title, Publication Month Day, Year, pp.XX.

(if unauthored) “Article Title”, Newspaper Title, Publication Month Day, Year, pp.XX.

Social media sources:

Surname, N., Title of Youtube video, Name of Channel, Youtube video, Month Day, Year, Available at: URL (Accessed: September 20, 2010)

Surname, N., “Tweeted Text”, Twitter, Month Day, Year, Time am/pm., Available at: URL (Accessed: September 20, 2010)

Interviews:

Interview with Name Surname, Azerbaijan's Presidential Advisor, (if via email/phone), Baku, February 15, 2019.

Interview with an official from DG Energy, European Commission, Brussels, May 25, 2014 (if many from same org. should be separately numbered as: official (1), official (2)...)

Interview with an expert (if anonymous) from Georgia, (if via email/phone), Baku, February 15, 2019.

Legal Sources:

The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Article. 1, Sec. 2

(if quoted second time:) Azerbaijan's Constitution, op.cit. Art.10, Sec.4.

PhD/Master/Bachelor thesis:

Donatello, L., NATO's Strategy Towards the South Caucasus: Country-by-Country Approach, PhD/Master/Bachelor thesis, Oxford, University of Oxford, 2009. p.45. 

Official/Institutional sources:

Organisation name, "details of the work as appropriate to its form", Place, Organization, Year. 

- European Commission, "Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament - On security of energy supply and international cooperation", September 7,  2011, Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF (Accessed: September 23, 2018)

- European Commission, Directorate-General Trade, “Azerbaijan: EU Bilateral Trade and Trade with the World”, October 15, 2015 Available at: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/ doclib/html/113418.htm (Accessed: October 25, 2015) 

- United Nations General Assembly, 12th High Level Panel, "Resilience for More Secure World", New York, United Nations, 2004, p.7.

Secondary sources and footnoted sources or arguments:

- Nixon, M., The Futures of China's Economic Expansion, China, Beijing University Press, 2005, p.11, quoted in Norman, D., Economic Integration Trends in Eurasia, Moscow, Pushkin Publishing House, 2006, p.45.

For repeated quotations:

When a particular source is quoted more than once in the article, there is no need to provide full bibliographic details each time in a footnote. You should use the Latin abbreviations for repeating quotations:
1. Ibid. (ibidem, meaning ‘in the same place’) relates to the same work, quoted immediately before.
a) Ibid. can refer to the same page:
1 Durham, B., The State and War, Washington, DC Publishing House, 2013, p.81.
2 Ibid.

b) Ibid. can also refer to a different page:
1 Durham, B., The State and War, Washington, DC Publishing House, 2013, p.81.
2 Ibid., p.101.

2. op.cit. (opera citato, meaning ‘in the work quoted’) is used for works previously quoted, but not immediately before. You do not need to repeat the author’s first name (initial), just the family name. It refers to a different page of a work quoted earlier.

1 Durham, B., The State and War, Washington, DC Publishing House, 2013, p.81.
2 Maximillian, T., Art of War on the Mountains, London, Electra Publishing, 2005, p.47.
3 Durham, op.cit., p.312. 

 

Review Process

The editors and referees use three-step guidelines in assessing submissions:

1) Literary quality: Writing style, usage of the language, organization (paragraphing, syntax, flow etc.);

2) Use of references: Referencing, sources, relationships of the footnotes to the text;

3) Scholarship quality: Depth of research, quality; contribution, originality of the contribution (new and creative thought) and plausibility of the author’s argument.

 

Certain Rights Reserved to Author

The author is responsible for guaranteeing that the manuscript submitted to Caucasus Strategic Perspectives is original, and is not under consideration by any other publication(s) at the time of submission AND which has never been published. The author may re-publish the article in any other journal, but he/she should first contact Editors (executive.editor@cspjournal.az) for permission, and such publication must include notice that the article was first published by CSP Journal.