Introductory information:

Papers should be written on relevant public administration and public policy issues. Standard analytical papers, literature review papers, but also interesting case studies and other types of papers relevant for the discipline can be submitted.

 

Peer Review Process: Decisions about the publication of a manuscript are based on the recommendation of the editorial board ("gate-keeping") and an additional double-blind peer review process conducted by two appropriate specialists from a relevant field. The Editor-in-chief together with Deputy Editor-in-chief and Editorial Board selects these specialists.

Submissions should not have been published previously and should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Papers presented at a professional conference qualify for consideration. The submission of manuscripts that have undergone substantial revision after having been presented at a professional meeting is encouraged.
 
Copyrights policy/license terms: This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights and agree to the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license hyperlinked to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Open Access Statement: The journal is an Open Access journal that allows a free unlimited access to all its contents without any restrictions upon publication to all users.

Archiving policy: Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.

Plagiarism Policy: the editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.

Article Processing Charge: Authors who do not hold NISPAcee individual membership or are not from the NISPAcee member institution are charged € 400 to cover the open access publishing costs. Authors who hold NISPAcee individual membership or are from the NISPAcee member institution are charged € 300 to cover the open access publishing costs. All authors are responsible for language editing. We do require certificate of proofreading (sign by the official proofreader, including his full name and contact data, confirming that this article has been proof-read), otherwise editing of their papers will be charged by NISPAcee € 200 that consider each paper respectively.

Editor-in-chief:
Juraj Nemec, Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic and Matej Bel University, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

Deputy Editor-in-chief:
Primož Pevčin, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Members of Editorial Board:
Geert Bouckaert, Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium
Wolfgang Drechsler, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
Gyorgy Jenei, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Gyorgy Hajnal, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

Journal Reviewers operate as an unbiased platform and contribute a crucial service to enhance the standard of publication, catalysing advancements in research within specific field of reviewers´ expertise. In case you would like to contribute to this matter, please send us an application/nomination for a Journal Reviewer. The application should include a cover letter that describes in what area an article review can be provided, professional CV including a list of an applicant publications and the link to ORCID/researchgate. Please send the application with a subject matter: Application for the post of NISPAcee Journal Reviewer to the email address: nispa@nispa.org

Editorial correspondence should be addressed to nispa@nispa.org. Manuscripts should be submitted via the on-line submission system.

Manuscript Guidelines:

1. Structure of a Paper

Title
The title should be a brief phrase adequately describing the content of the paper.
 
Author(s)
Author(s) name (first name surname) in italics without any titles, with a footnote (no italics) indicating each author’s institution, city and country.

Abstract
An abstract is a summary of the information in a document. The abstract should not ex¬ceed 250 words. It should be designed to clearly define the content of the paper. The abstract should: (i) state the principal objectives and scope of the research; (ii) describe the methodology employed; (iii) summarise results and findings; and (iv) state the principal conclusions. References to literature, bibliographic information, figures, or tables should not be included in the abstract.

Keywords
Up to 5 keywords. Keywords should generally be nouns instead of adjectives or adverbs and must be listed in alphabetically, separated by commas. Do not use abbreviations.  
 
Introduction
The introduction should supply sufficient background information on the topic and also provide the rationale for the present study. Suggested guidelines are as follows: (i) the introduction should first clearly present the nature and scope of the problem that was researched; (ii) provide an overview of the pertinent literature used; (iii) state the research methodology employed and, if necessary, the reasons for using a particular method; and (iv) the principal results of the investigation should be stated.

Literature review
This part reviews the existing state of knowledge about the topic of the paper. We recommend checking especially publications dealing with the region covered.

Methodology
The methodology part should describe and explain all the methodological aspects of the paper, such as the methods used, data collection method, and the validity of the sample.

Results
This section should contain an overall description of the topic and the present data gathered during the research project. The manuscript should utilise representative data rather than repetitive information. Data that will be referenced several times in the text should be provided in tables or graphs. All data, repetitive or otherwise, should be meaningful. Results must be clearly and simply stated as this section comprises innovative research findings for an international community of academics and practitioners.

Discussion
This section presents principles, relationships, and generalisations indicated by the researcher’s findings. This should not restate information present in the results section but should: (i) point out any exceptions or lack of correlation; (ii) define unresolved issues; (iii) show how the results and interpretations agree (or contrast) with previously published work; (iv) discuss the theoretical implications of the work, and any possible practical applications; and (v) summarise the evidence for each conclusion. The primary purpose of the discussion section is to show the relationships between the facts that have been observed during the course of the research. The discussion section should end with a brief summary or conclusion regarding the significance of the work.

Conclusions
Conclusions summarise findings, may propose policy recommendations or future research directions.

Acknowledgements
Assistance received from any individual who contributed significantly to the work or to the interpretation of the work and / or external financial assistance, such as grants, contracts, or fellowships, must be acknowledged.

References
APA format (7th edition) is requested. Only significant, published references should be cited. References to unpublished data, papers in the press, abstracts, theses, and other secondary materials should not be listed in the references section. If such a reference is essential, it may be added parenthetically or as a footnote in the text. Second, the authors should verify all references with the original publication prior to submitting the manuscript. Stylistically, authors should utilise the in-text parenthetical reference system with complete references alphabetised at the end of the text.

2. Submission procedure
Papers shall be submitted electronically via the on-line submission system, in the style as prescribed below.

3. Language editing
Papers should be language edited (UK English is required), or this service can be purchased from the NISPAcee.

4. Paper length
The final version of the completed paper (without references) should not exceed 7000 words.

5. Style
NISPAcee requires the following stylistic points to be followed for all manuscripts.

5.1 Format and Language
Papers should be submitted in RTF, DOC format and written in English. If necessary, the tables, graphs, or other graphics can be submitted separately in other formats, e.g., XLS, PDF, EPS, TIF, JPG.

5.2 Titles and Subtitles
Titles should by typed in capital letters in Times New Roman size 12 and bolded. Names of authors should follow below the title in italics with a footnote indicating the author(s)’ institution, city and country.
Subtitles should appear in bold with only the first letters capitalised. Subtitles and the main body of the text of the paper should be in Times New Roman, size 10. New paragraphs should not be indented.
 
5.3 Keywords
Times New Roman; size 10 font, no words in italics; Keywords:bold, colon; proper nouns, places - first letter Uppercase, e.g. Slovakia; abbreviations - all Uppercase, e.g. NGO; all other words lowercase, e.g. synthetic; comma between words; nothing after last keyword

5.4 Numbering Sections
For purposes of clarity, sections and sub-sections of the text should utilise the scientific numbering system. Please note that no more than two levels of sub-sections should be used whenever possible.

5.5 Bullets and Numbering
<Tab> should be used after each bullet or number prior to beginning the text, and <enter> after each bulleted or numbered sentence. Each bulleted or numbered sentence / phrase should be followed by ";” with the exception of the final point, which should end with a period (".”).
Example:
•<Tab> Deciding about the organisation of the process and about the feedback to politicians; <Enter>
•<Tab> Recruitment and selection of the ‘policy-making team’; <Enter>
•<Tab> Monitoring the progress, deciding about the pace and deadlines; <Enter>
•<Tab> Judging the interim drafts and products. <Enter>

5.6 Notes
Note that numbers should be placed within the main body of the text in superscript. Notes should be numbered consecutively from "1” and collected at the end of the page.

5.7 Tables, Illustrations (Graphs, Figures)
The tables, graphs, or other graphics should be written in English and can be submitted in the text or separately in RTF, DOC format or in other formats, e.g.XLS, PDF, EPS, TIF, JPG.

5.8 References
APA format (7th edition) is requested.