Spring Edition

The Georgetown Public Policy Review, the flagship academic journal of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, is now accepting submissions for its 2025-26 Spring Edition!

For 30 years, the Georgetown Public Policy Review has served as a space for emerging policy leaders to contribute to the field. We are excited to embark on another year of impact, and we hope you will support this mission with your scholarship!

Scholars not affiliated with Georgetown University are welcome to apply.

Please submit articles to the link below by January 15, 2026. If you have any questions, reach out to Senior Editors, Caitlin Rowley Gallamore and Demi Tomasides at seniorspringeditor@gppreview.com.

Submission Link

Accepted Submission Types:

Research Article Submissions:

4,000-6,000 words

Research articles represent long-form academic pieces advancing sound conceptual frameworks using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Original empirical analysis is preferred but not required for long-form submissions.

Policy Essay Submissions:

1,500-3,000 words

Policy essay submissions are academic pieces which are shorter than research articles and less dependent on original research but which are still firmly grounded in empirical evidence and which still make an original contribution to the literature.

Book/Article Reviews:

1,000-2,000 words

Book/article reviews should respond to an existing piece of academic writing in GPPR or in another publication in the spirit of informed discussion and civil debate. Recent publications are preferred. Should include the title, author, publisher/journal, year, and ISBN (if applicable).

For those seeking to publish shorter articles (of about 1,200 words), we recommend you submit them to GPPR’s Online Edition (info here).

 

The Georgetown Public Policy Review is now accepting submissions for the 2026 Spring Edition! Articles must be sent to seniorspringeditor@gppreview.com by January 15, 2026.

Call for Papers: Annual Spring Edition 2026

The Georgetown Public Policy Review (GPPR) is the McCourt School of Public Policy’s academic journal, offering analysis and critical insight into pressing policy challenges since 1995. The Spring Edition, GPPR’s annual flagship academic publication, publishes manuscripts presenting innovative and quality research. GPPR’s Spring Edition also accepts shorter letters and essays about emerging issues in need of scholarly attention.

We encourage policy practitioners and analysts, undergraduate and graduate students, Ph.D. candidates, and university faculty to submit original work that presents fresh insights relevant to one or more public policy fields. Past submissions have examined issues related to education, health, environmental, economic, social, national security, immigration, criminal justice, and international development policy.

SUBMISSIONS

Authors should submit manuscripts to seniorspringeditor@gppreview.com by January 15, 2026. Before submitting papers, please read the submission guidelines below.

All submissions must contain:

  1. One copy of the article with all personal identification information redacted.
  2. One copy of the article that includes personal identification information, including institutional affiliation.
  3. One brief abstract (250-word maximum) summarizing the piece.
  4. A cover letter indicating whether the article is published, or is being considered for publication, elsewhere.

Please send any questions to the Senior Spring Editors at seniorspringeditor@gppreview.com.

Spring Edition Submission Guidelines and Policies

GPPR accepts submissions of manuscript-length journal articles advancing sound conceptual frameworks using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods (maximum of 18,000 words). GPPR also accepts submissions of letters or short essays that address important research questions that spark scholarly debate about an understudied field (maximum length of 4,000 words).  The review process can take up to three months after the submission deadline, and authors should expect to make some revisions to their original submissions. Submissions that do not follow our requested format will be sent back to authors, thereby delaying the review process.

Double-Blind Review

Articles will be considered under a double-blind review process that involves assessment of the article’s quality and fit by McCourt School of Public Policy faculty reviewers. Sometimes, authors are invited to join as reviewers after their work is published in GPPR. Reviewers are assigned to articles based on subject matter expertise and/or methodology.

General Formatting Guidelines

Maximum word count: 18,000 for manuscripts, 4,000 for letters and short essays.

  • Word count excludes the maximum 250-word abstract.
  • Word count includes all text, footnotes, references, and appendices. Tables, figures, charts, etc. are not included in the word count.

Text and Reference Formatting

  • Use the AP Style (link accessible to Georgetown students) for text and Chicago Manual of Style, Author-Date format for in-text citations and the reference page.
  • Use 12-point font for all text, double-spaced (excluding text in figures, tables, and footnotes) with one-inch margins.
  • Include page numbers.
  • Use footnotes, not endnotes.
  • Do not use your word processing program’s auto-reference or auto-footnote placement features.

Figures and tables

  • Place figures and tables where they should be in the manuscript or indicate placement with the placeholder [Table/Figure 1 here].
  • Place and number figures and tables consecutively.
  • Describe all variables that appear in tables or figures in appropriate detail in the text.
  • Submit figures in grayscale only. GPPRwill later colorize figures for publication.

Policies

GPPR only accepts work not published elsewhere. Authors must notify the senior spring editors if the article has been published anywhere else in a different form (i.e., prior forms of the publication that may employ different methods, variables, etc.).

For reproduction and quality control, authors may be asked to submit STATA/R files as well as datasets. Every article must acknowledge the sources of funding, if any. GPPR reserves the right to require certification of institutional review.

Submissions may not include more than five unique in-text citations of the author’s own published work, meaning that only a maximum of five of the author’s past publications should appear in the reference section of manuscripts. There is no limit for short essays or letters. Authors must redact their names from their own self-citations in the blinded copy.

Manuscripts should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx), or in a format compatible with other widely accepted word processing programs (such as Google Docs). Do not submit manuscripts in PDF form.