Instructions for Reviewers
Thank you for agreeing to evaluate a review essay for The International Studies Association Compendium Project. We request that you submit your report via the project website within one month of receipt. Please include with your substantive report one of the following recommendations:
- acceptance in its current form with no revisions;
- acceptance contingent on some revisions;
- rejection with an invitation to revise and resubmit;
- rejection with no invitation to resubmit.
Reviewers will be asked to complete two forms. The first form provides feedback to the author on the essay. The second form provides an evaluation of the review essay for the section editor only.
Your recommendation should be based on an analysis of the essay that includes whatever comments or suggestions you believe would be helpful to the author. In most cases the report will be sent to the author. Accordingly, please specify any remarks that should not be sent along. In crafting your review please take note of our directions for authors:
Each review essay should provide an immediate sense of the topic’s intellectual and social context. Literature reviews should begin with the earliest treatments, and include as comprehensive a consideration of the topic as possible. We are looking to provide the widest possible coverage, and not simply the historical roots of the most recent literature. Current and future generations need to know what kinds of questions have been addressed, where to access that material, what questions might have been abandoned, and not just what kinds of questions are currently in our sights. This project was conceived to provide exactly that sort of coverage.
Review essays will also cover the most recent literature. How are we currently approaching this issue? What do the major epistemological, methodological and substantive considerations look like? Reviews might also undertake to ask about possible future directions, or critical gaps in current coverage.
Begin the entry with a clear definition of the concept or introduction to the topic. The reader should be able to assess the significance and importance of the entry within the first two sentences. Each entry must include:
1. major intellectual and social dimensions of the topic
2. a comprehensive review of classical and older literatures
3. changes over time in the topic, and its current treatment
4. sufficient bibliographic material and links to important sources
Entries might also include:
5. an assessment of future directions in research, theory, and methodology
6. a critical consideration of important elements that remain unconsidered
Do not conclude with a summary. Entries do not require formal conclusions.
