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Peace and Conflict Studies


Peace and Conflict Studies (ISSN 1082-7307) is committed to interdisciplinary explorations on conflict resolution, peace building, humanitarian assistance, and other alternative mechanisms that seek to prevent, control and transform violence. PCSJ is also interested in articles focusing on social change and nonviolence: sustainable development, ecological balance, community revitalization, reflective practice, action research, social justice, human rights, peace education, gender equality, intercultural relations, grassroots movements and organizational transformations. Manuscripts may address various human experiences, social issues, and policy agendas that are connected to the research literature, practice, and experiential learning in the fields.

As a semiannual academic journal, PCSJ is available in online format at (https://nsuworks.nova.edu/pcs). PCSJ is indexed and/or abstracted in Peace Research Abstracts Journal, Public Affairs Information Service, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, Psychological Abstracts, PsycINFO, Political Science Manuscripts, International Political Science Abstracts and Worldviews. The online version contains author names and their paper abstracts. Views expressed in articles and other contributions that appear in PCSJ may not necessarily reflect endorsement by the Editorial Board or Staff. PCSJ provides opportunities and forums for dialogs over various ideas, assessments, recommendations, and critiques. The text should be directed to a multidisciplinary audience and be as readable and practical as possible. Illustrate theoretical ideas with specific examples, explain technical terms in non-technical language, and keep the style clear and consistent.

Review Process

At PCS, we use a two-stage, double-blind review process. Submissions receive an internal preliminary review to ensure they meet the journal's submission requirements and editorial standards. If they do not, they may be desk-rejected. This process typically takes 2-4 weeks. Then, as appropriate, papers are sent out for double-blind external peer review, which usually is completed within 2-4 months. On occasion, if we have asked for major revisions, a revised manuscript may be sent back to one of our external peer reviewers for a re-review, as internal review deems necessary.

Submissions must be fully original work, not in any stage whatsoever of consideration at another Journal. We can only accept submissions in English. PCSJ only publishes works in two main categories: academic research articles within our scope of publishing, and book reviews. Book reviews receive only an internal editorial review, and are about 1000 to 1500 words.

No manuscript should contain any material that is fraudulent, defamatory, illegal or libelous. Authors may be subject to action if any such material is discovered. PCSJ reserves the right to screen to for any kind of content that is not the prospective author’s original work, including the inappropriate use of Artificial Intelligence. Prospective authors must disclose the use of any LLM or other AI technologies, to maintain academic integrity and trust between scholar and reader. If the inappropriate use of another’s material, or of LLMs or AI, are discovered at any point in the review or publication process, the manuscript will not be published.

If applicable, please disclose any conflicts of interest or funding sources in a brief sentence at the end of the manuscript, but before the beginning of the Works Cited.

Document Preparation

Manuscripts should be approximately thirty double-spaced pages of text (or 7,500-10,000 words).

Submissions should include front matter, such as manuscript title, author name(s) and contact information, author bios, an optional cover letter, and an abstract of the article (no more than 200 words). This information must be entered into our NSUWorks system, but not included in the manuscript itself when it is uploaded into the system. (The system provides easy-to-follow steps for uploading the front matter and manuscript. We have also provided a checklist for your convenience, found in the left menu bar.) To ensure confidential peer review, submissions must be "blinded", that is, without the author(s) name(s) appearing anywhere in the manuscript itself.

Finally, all submissions should be prepared according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Edition, American Psychological Association). In addition, we have the following journal-specific guidelines:

  • Footnotes/Endnotes: Please do not use footnotes or endnotes; please incorporate all relevant information into the body of the article.
  • Figures, Tables, and Exhibits: Do not include graphs or statistical tables unless necessary for clarity. Tables, figures, and exhibits should comply with APA formatting. All figures, tables, and exhibits should have short, descriptive titles and must be called out in the text.

We cannot guarantee external review of submissions that are not in compliance with the above.

Publication Process

When a submitted manuscript, after peer review, is accepted for publication, authors have agreed to granting PCSJ the right to copyedit and publish. Manuscripts under review for possible publication in PCSJ should not be submitted for review elsewhere or have been previously published elsewhere. Questions regarding editorial matters should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief, .