CALL FOR EDITORS: QUADERNI DELL’OSSERVATORIO ELETTORALE (QOE) / ITALIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTORAL STUDIES (IJES)

2023-10-26

The Società Italiana di Studi Elettorali (SISE) is issuing a call for editors for the journal ‘Quaderni dell’Osservatorio Elettorale’ (QOE) / ‘Italian Journal of Electoral Studies’ (IJES).

Background

Quaderni dell’Osservatorio Elettorale/Italian Journal of Electoral Studies (QOE-IJES) is a scientific journal covering all aspects of electoral studies.

QOE was founded in 1977 by a group of scholars devoted to electoral behaviour and published by the Tuscany Region. In 1980 prof. Mario Caciagli was appointed Editor in Chief. QOE has remained until today a reference for electoral studies in Italy as well as in foreign countries. Since 2015 all contributions published in QOE have undergone a rigorous double-blind peer review process before publication.

The journal was significantly renewed in 2020 and has taken the name of Quaderni dell’Osservatorio Elettorale (QOE) / ‘Italian Journal of Electoral Studies’ (IJES). Since then, it has been published by Firenze University Press (FUP) and, in 2023, was acknowledged as “Classe A” for the disciplinary area of Political Science (14/A2), which is the official ranking of academic journals set up by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and its evaluation agency ANVUR. This status has been granted retroactively since 2020.

The journal is open to scholars working in any of the major social science disciplines – notably political science, political economy, sociology – as well as to those working in the field of contemporary history and law. Along with the contributions of more experienced scholars, the journal hosts and encourages the work of younger researchers.

Quaderni dell’Osservatorio Elettorale/Italian Journal of Electoral Studies (QOE-IJES) also invites distinguished guest editors to oversee special issues.

Publication on QOE/IJES is free of charge.

Term

The successful candidate team will become the editors of QOE/IJES for a three-year term beginning 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2027.

Editorial Structure

We would suggest that the next editorial team is ideally composed of two editors of alternate gender.

Remuneration

No remuneration provided.

Editorial Duties and Goals

SISE requires that QOE/IJES editors pursue the following goals:

Production
  • Enable the publication of at least two high-quality, peer-reviewed issues per year.
  • Ensure diversity of articles from across sub-fields and methodological approaches as far as possible.
  • Ensure that all submissions are made and processed through the Firenze University Press platform.
  • Ensure that published research articles have been subject to a double-blind peer review process as a prerequisite to publication.
  • Coordinate with FUP to ensure a smooth review and production process of all the issue sections.
  • In case of special issues, overview and coordinate with guest editors (we advise to publish no more than one special issue every three-four issue).
  • Ensure compliance with the research transparency guidelines.
  • Ensure that data of most research articles can be downloaded, and results (especially figures and tables) can be replicated at the time of publication.
Communication and Dissemination
  • Enable the widest dissemination of articles.
  • Work with FUP on the active promotion of the journal and its content.
  • Facilitate the innovation of the QOE/IJES website managed by FUP.
  • Manage the email and the social network accounts (Facebook and Twitter).
  • Organize events at major political science conferences to raise awareness of journal activities (including but not limited to the meetings of SISP).
  • Announce the award of the Celso Ghini Prize for the best degree and PhD thesis in the field of electoral studies published in the last two years.
Institutional management goals
  • Report annually on the performance of the journal to the SISE Executive Committee.
  • Appoint every four years the Editorial Board and the International Advisory Board, and work with the board members to ensure the success of the journal.
  • Manage relations with Italian public authorities including, but not limited to, the National Agency on the Evaluation of University Research (ANVUR).

The editors will also be expected to work towards the following longer-term goals for QOE/IJES:

  • Increase the proportion of non-Italian scholars submitting and publishing articles.
  • Raise the number of citations in upper-tier journals with a view to qualifying for inclusion in the Social Science Citation Index and in Scopus.
  • Improve the journal’s social media profile to appeal to a global audience.
Proposal

Prospective teams of editors should submit by 15th November 2023 a document outlining:

  • The profiles of the team members.
  • The organizational and institutional support for the editorial team.
  • A brief assessment of developments in political science journal publication practices.
  • The editorial strategy, possibly outlining new initiatives concerning production, research transparency and dissemination.
Deadline

Please send your proposal to: Luigi Ceccarini, President, Società Italiana di Studi Elettorali (Email: luigi.ceccarini@uniurb.it) and segreteria@studielettorali.it by 15th November 2023.

 

Luigi Ceccarini

President, Società Italiana di Studi Elettorali