JCPA: THE JOURNAL AND ITS MISSION
The Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice (JCPA) has pioneered comparative policy studies since 1998 and still is the only explicitly comparative journal of policy analytic studies. Affiliated with the Society for International Comparative Policy Analysis (ICPA), the JCPA mission is to stimulate the intellectual development of comparative policy studies and the growth of an international community of scholars actively involved in advancing the field. The JCPA invites manuscripts that make a significant contribution to the comparison of public policy, in terms of theories and multi-methods, as well as their relation to public affairs, governance, administration, management or political science.
JCPA Aims and Scope
The JCPA publishes scholarship which captures differences or similarities in policy issues, their causality, and their potential solutions. Therefore, the journal develops and applies comparative methods, and contributes to establishing comparative policy analysis as a robust domain of study for policy learning, for research and practice.
Criteria: submissions should reflect the Aims and Scope of the journal by explicitly addressing any of the following:
- comparative theory development and/or testing
- the development and/or application of comparative research methods
- comparative empirical policy research analysis
- lesson-drawing and extrapolation in research and practice
Requirements: The JCPA is published 6 times per year, is double-blind peer reviewed, and adheres to the highest quality of scholarship. The average time to publication time is 6-10 months. Papers must relate to public policy and be explicitly comparative. Papers must not exceed 8,000 words. Read the Instructions for Authors on how to submit your article. Authors can choose to publish Gold Open Access.
Interdisciplinarity: The JCPA encourages interdisciplinary contributions in all fields of public policy analysis, as long as they rely on a comparative methodology, with either a case-based or a variable-based research design.
Functionally: articles may address sector policies (such as energy, health, education, etc.), policy problems (such as climate change, state capture or the impact of artificial intelligence), and state capacities and institutional change (such as public finance and budgeting, administrative reform, performance measurement)—among others.
JCPA Special Sections
The JCPA welcomes submissions to each of the following sections: Policy Innovation, Comparative Policy Concepts, Statistics, and Analytics, Qualitative Comparative Policy Studies and Book Reviews.
Special Issue Symposia Publications
The JCPA welcomes proposals for Special Symposia Issues on a variety of topics and disciplines. Please visit our Special Issues page and read our Guidelines.
JCPA Annual Award for the Best Comparative Article
The Award is granted for highest excellence in comparative public policy to articles published in the JCPA and adjudicated by an international academic committee. JCPA and ICPA Society, and Routledge extend a Certificate and a monetary grant.
JCPA Awards for the Best Comparative Conference Paper
To advance the field, the JCPA Award is granted for highest excellence in comparative public policy to conference papers presented at partner associations’ conferences and adjudicated by an international academic committee. JCPA and ICPA Society, and Routledge extend a Certificate and monetary grant.