The editors of Comparative Political Studies seek proposals for special issues. Each issue will focus on a substantive or methodological question of broad interest to scholars of comparative politics. Issues with a substantive theme should contain papers that directly engage theoretical debates, offer substantially important new empirical findings, and/or use new data or novel methodological approaches to shed light on existing theoretical questions.

Interested scholars should submit a fully-developed proposal to the editors at cps@umn.edu.
The proposal should pose the question that unifies the papers the issue would contain, and provide a 300-word rationale for why CPS should devote an issue to that question. It should then provide a list of 4-6 paper authors.

The proposal should contain paper titles and abstracts of 300 words for each paper. Each abstract should explicitly and clearly explain how the paper addresses the question that the special issue addresses. Guest editors will also be responsible for writing a short (3000-5000 words or less) introduction to the issue.

Editors will respond to all proposals with an expression of interest or not. Initial indication of interest on editors’ part should not be taken as a guarantee that papers will be published.

All papers submitted for special issues will go through CPS’ normal review process: Editors will prescreen papers, returning those deemed unsuitable. All papers that pass internal review will be sent out for double-blind peer review. To facilitate the review process for special issues, proposals must also indicate that all papers have already been or will have been presented (as a group) at at least one public (e.g. APSA) or private conference on the topic’s theme before submission to CPS. Having papers written and presented before submission will also facilitate participation by CPS editors in the initial stages of paper preparation.

Comparative Political Studies (CPS), published fourteen times a year, offers scholarly work on comparative politics at both the cross-national and intra-national levels. Dedicated to relevant, in-depth analyses, CPS provides the timeliest methodology, theory, and research in the field of comparative politics. Journal articles discuss innovative work on comparative methodology, theory, and research from around the world with important implications for the formation of domestic and foreign policies.

Average time from submission to first decision: 33 days