Policy Manual

For for advisory board members, editors, reviewers and authors

PROFILE

Overview

The Journal of Internal Displacement (hereafter The JID), established July 2009, is a scholarly and inter-disciplinary platform for raising the profile of displaced populations through discussions, critical dialogue, emerging themes, reflections and explorations on a wide range of topics and regions around the globe. The JID promotes free and open access.

Mission

To raise the agenda and prioritize displaced populations concerns through scholastic exchange of research and praxis.

History

The idea of The JID was born during the period Veronica Fynn Bruey was doing her Master of Laws degree back in 2009. She realized that even though millions are displaced every year, there were no academic platforms with centralized focus on internal displacement globally. Finding resources on the issue was not only very scattered but limited to refugee and migration resources which somehow diluted comprehensive dissection of the area. Thus, the first ever Journal of Internal Displacement was created, fully funded by EV Research Inc. Thanks to the generous voluntary contribution from the advisory board and editorial team, The JID has been a success since.

The Essence of The JID

The complex and diverse nature of internal displacement has created serious controversies and ideologies around who, when, and how to protect internally displaced persons (IDPs). At present, the United Nations (UN) has no specific designated unit to address global IDPs concerns except for an ad hoc discretionary position - the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons - which is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council. The absence of a UN office solely dedicated to IDPs seemingly underpins the persistent lack of unified legally binding instruments, except for the most recent African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), 2009. Consequently, the protection and assistance of IDPs have been criticized for being disorganized and problematic. It is for this very reason that the first free open access online Journal of Internal Displacement was born on July 2009.

Registration and Structure

Date of Establishment: July 2009
Main Business Focus: academic articles publication
ISSN: 1920-5805 (print), 1920-5813 (electronic)
Accessibility: The JID promotes free/open access
Submission Fee: Zero
International Editorial Team Members

Scope and Focus

The JID aims to raise the profile of IDPs by creating a platform whereby leading scholars, representative of this group, and others, can disseminate and exchange ideas on contemporary issues as well as mentor young scholars in the field. The JID is an inter-disciplinary platform for discussions, critical dialogue, emerging themes, reflections and explorations on a wide range of topics and regions related to displaced populations around the globe.

To accomplish its aim, The JID has four major objectives:

  • to raise the profile of displaced populations through academic scholarship;
  • to provide a platform for young scholars from internally displaced communities to be heard;
  • to contribute to law and policy reforms related to IDPs; and
  • to create an inclusive academic space where leading and “budding” scholars from resource poor communities can engage in critical debate about displaced populations.

Central thematic volumes on various topics related to displaced populations characterize JID publications. In particular, The JID develops special themes targeted at leading scholars and experts with experience in internal displacement, cross-border conflict, war and terrorism, security and territoriality, and international relations (to name but a few). Special thematic volumes include original research, analyses, case reports, perspectives, commentaries, book reviews, symposia pieces, profiles, and debates on diverse topics in theory and practice covering areas such as development-induced-displacement, environmental/climate change displacement, economic-driven displacement, war and conflict displacement, political displacement, homelessness and more.

Language

The primary language of The JID is English. However, submissions are accepted and published in French and Spanish.

Trademark

The JID is the trademark of the Journal of Internal Displacement and reserves the exclusive right to brand the material contained within the site with this trademark.

Publication Cycle

The JID is published bi-annually in January and July.

Subscription and Membership

The JID supports free and open online access. As such, full PDFs contents are available online with free membership subscription. Print copies of The JID are available for a fee, based on subscription type – for more information email: admin@journalofinternaldisplacement.org

Office Location

Seattle, Washington, USA

Major Clients

Libraries, students, international development agencies, government (public) institutions, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academic institutions, researchers, legal institutions, and individuals

GENERAL POLICY

Peer Review Process The JID is a peer-review Journal as such submissions are double-blinded and subject to an internal and external review process. The peer-review process ensures that articles submitted represent the best scholarship currently available. When an article is submitted to The JID, the Editor-in-Chief or Assistant Editor sends it out to a minimum of two other scholars in the same field (the author's peers) to get their opinion on the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, and whether its critical analysis is rigorous enough to warrant acceptance for publication. Based on reviewers’ recommendations, a manuscript is either: 1) accepted in its current form; 2) accepted subject to minor changes; 3) accepted after significant changes; or 4) rejected. After all pre-publication conditions have been met, submissions are forwarded to the relevant Editorial Board members for final comments, recommendations and approval based on the evidence gathered.

Anonymity

The JID reviews all manuscripts anonymously. As such, we request that authors remove all identifying information (including your name, affiliation and acknowledgments) from the manuscript, file name and footnotes. Editors endeavor to remove all identification of authors before circulating the manuscript.

Confidentiality

The JID review process is strictly confidential and should be treated as such by reviewers. Because the author may have chosen to exclude some people from this process, no one directly involved with the manuscript, including colleagues or other experts in the field, should be consulted by the reviewer unless such consultations have first been discussed with the professional editor.

Privacy and Copyright

The names and email addresses entered on The JID website or other documents are used exclusively for the stated purposes of The JID and are not to be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant The JID the right of first publication with the work six (6) weeks after publication. Simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and publication The JID.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after publication with The JID as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
  4. Although authors (or their institutions) retain copyright of their work, they are required to complete and sign a License to Publish that clearly specifies the rights required by The JID and those rights that are retained by authors or their institutions. View the License to Publish.
  5. Authors submitting material to The JID for publication must clear all third-party intellectual property rights and obtain formal permission from their respective institutions, where necessary. Authors must also warrant that their work:
    • has not been published before;
    • is not presently being considered for publication elsewhere;
    • does not violate any intellectual property rights of any person or entity;
    • does not contain any subject matter that contravenes any laws (including defamatory material and misleading and deceptive material); and
    • meets ethical research standards.

A scanned copy of the License to Publish should be emailed to admin@journalofinternaldisplacement.org with the final manuscript or returned.

Right to Authorship

The JID fully understands that sometimes right to authorship (senior or first) can be difficult to resolve. It is always a good idea to discuss authorship early in your working relationship. In the event of a dispute about who is entitled to be credited as a first author, co-author, and/or in what order the author credits should appear, consult the guidelines below:

Co-Authorship

The fact that a co-worker is not named as an investigator in a grant or contract under which the work was performed should not prevent him or her from receiving credit as a co-author. However, a prerequisite of co-authorship is work that involves an original contribution, as defined by that discipline. The right to co-authorship may be lost if a co-worker leaves the project or does not contribute substantially to the work. Although acknowledgment may be appropriate in such circumstances, co-authorship rights cannot be assumed.

In a regular academic/research institution, the supervisor, in consultation with his or her co-authors, will make the decision as to when or whether a co-authored manuscript should be submitted for publication and to which journal. A student considering publication of his or her own paper also has a responsibility to consider the intellectual property and co-authorship rights of any others who may have been involved in the research. You should not be added as an author on a paper without your permission. Similarly, you should obtain permission from others before acknowledging them as co-authors of a work.

Joint Authorship or Inventorship

The criteria defining joint authorship vary among disciplines. The narrowest definition comes from copyright law and applies to collaborations in literary and artistic works in some of the humanities. Under general Copyright Law a joint author is someone who has collaborated on a work in which the contributions of the various authors are not distinct from one another. In this model, only contributors to the form or expression of the work qualify; those supplying ideas normally do not.

If each person’s contribution is distinct (e.g. contributors of entries to an encyclopedia), the work is a “collective work” and each author has copyright in his or her individual contribution. However, in the physical and life sciences, and increasingly in the social sciences and humanities, collaboration and teamwork are common, and an individual’s research may be guided by a team or committee. Contributors to the original ideas in a project are typically given the right of joint authorship of publications that report on the results of the research.

As a general guideline, co-authorship should be recognized only where the individuals have participated in a significant way in at least two of the following aspects of the research:

  • conception of idea and design of research or scholarly inquiry;
  • actual collection of data collection, experiment or hands-on laboratory work; and
  • analysis and interpretation of data and/or actual writing of the manuscript.

Ownership of Data

You, your supervisor (if applicable), and your collaborators should have unrestricted access to all data collected through your collaborative research. Entitlement to ownership of primary data, software, and other products of research can vary according to the circumstances under which research is conducted.

A shared understanding about ownership should be reached among the individuals involved, especially between you and your supervisor, before research starts.

Research data are usually jointly owned by the researcher(s) and the university or institution, which means that both have the right to use the data. If the funding for the research project comes from a sponsor who has been given rights to the data (for example, when the funding is in the form of a research contract), then the sponsor must also be taken into consideration.

The original physical material on which the data and results are recorded is usually the property of your university/institution depending on the nature of your affiliation. You are entitled to retain and use copies of data that you have collected. This depends somewhat on the conventions of your particular department.

Competing Interest and Conflict of Interest

As far as possible we respect requests by authors to exclude reviewers whom they consider to be unsuitable. We also, as much as possible, try to rule out those reviewers who may have an obvious competing interest, such as those who may have been collaborators on other projects with the authors of the manuscript under review, those who may be direct competitors, those who may have a known history of antipathy with the author(s), or those who might profit financially from the work. Because it is not possible for all such competing interests to be known by a particular editor, we request that reviewers who recognize a potential competing interest inform the editors or journal staff and recuse themselves if they feel they are, or may be perceived to be, unable to offer an impartial review.

Authors and reviewers are required to indicate whether or not they have any competing interests when finalizing a manuscript for publication or completing a review, respectively. On occasion, reviewers may be asked to offer their opinion on a manuscript that they may have reviewed for another journal. This is not in itself a competing interest. That two journals have identified the same person as especially well qualified to judge the manuscript under consideration does not in any way decrease the validity of that opinion and may perhaps even enhance it.

Plagiarism

As defined by COPE, plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others published and unpublished ideas, including research grant applications to submission under “new” author- ship of a complete paper, sometimes in a different language. It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing, or publication: it applies to print and electronic versions. As part of the JID editorial process, all the submitted manuscripts are examined for originality, reliability of contained information and correct use of citations. Plagiarism is unethical and unacceptable, therefore, the JID has set-up this policy and actions to be taken if plagiarism is identified in a manuscript submitted for publication in the JID.

Authors should ensure that they submit only entirely original works. If they have used the work and/or statements of others, this must be appropriately cited or referenced. Plagiarism in any forms, including quotations or paraphrasing of substantial parts of another’s article (without attribution), “passing off” another’s article as the author’s own or claiming results from research conducted by others, constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Manuscripts that are a compilation of previously published materials of other authors (without their own creative and authoring interpretation) are not accepted for publication.

Types of Plagiarism

The JID identifies the following types of plagiarism:
Full Plagiarism: this is the presentation of a previously published content as one’s own without any changes being made to the original text, idea and grammar.
Partial Plagiarism: is mixing and rephrasing contents from multiple sources.
Self-Plagiarism: is reusing complete or portions of one’s own pre-published research. Complete self-plagiarism is republishing one’s own previously published work in a different journal.

Other forms of plagiarism include copying or downloading figures, photographs, figures, or diagrams without acknowledging your sources. In essence, plagiarism is considered a violation of academic integrity.

Policy Actions

The JID respects intellectual property and aims to protect and promote the original work of its authors. Manuscripts containing plagiarised material are against the standards of quality, research, and innovation. Therefore, authors submitting articles to the JID are expected to abide by ethical standards and refrain from plagiarising in any form. The following actions will be taken for manuscripts deemed as plagiarised:

  • 10 - 25 per cent plagiarism:The manuscript will be returned to the author for content revision. The revised manuscript will then ben resubmitting for consideration by the JID.
  • >25-40 per cent plagiarism:The manuscript will be rejected without review. The authors will be encouraged to revise the manuscript and resubmit for consideration by the JID.

Ethics Clearance/Approval of Research

All articles published in The JID aims to follow morally acceptable standards set forth in the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). To achieve this, The JID promotes research integrity by accepting and publishing manuscripts that include intellectual honesty, accuracy, fairness, intellectual property, and protection of human and animal subjects involved in the conduct of research.  Responsibilities for research integrity are shared by individual researchers and institutions.

All proposed research with human participants should consider ethical clearance at both the application and implementation stages.  Ethical clearance for involvement of human subjects in your research should be sought prior to any research work being undertaken, including pilot studies, focus groups or other. Collaborative research projects involving other researching institutions will often require the ethical approval of all participating institutions and can be quite time consuming.

The JID aims to ensure that all articles published in The JID report on work that is morally acceptable, and expects authors to follow the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki. To achieve this, we aim to appraise the ethical aspects of any submitted work that involves human participants, whatever descriptive label is given to that work, including research, audit, and sometimes debate. This policy also applies on the very rare occasions that we publish work done with animal participants.

Many people consider that studies referred to as audit do not need any consideration of ethics, yet all research must be approved by a formally constituted research ethics committee or, in the USA and elsewhere, an institutional review board. But the distinction between audit and research is unclear, and the assumption that audit or analysing previously collected data is never unethical may not be justified. Furthermore, review by an ethics committee cannot necessarily guarantee that work is morally sound.

For these reasons, journals have a duty to consider the ethical aspects of both submitted and published work. The JID’s policy on these issues has been developed with the help and advice of The JID’s Advisory Board and its key elements are explained here. However, editorial appraisal of a study’s ethics is not always easy because the standard format for presenting original papers does not emphasise the reporting of ethical aspects of research.

We require every research article submitted to The JID to include a statement that the study obtained ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before taking part.

In addition, we welcome detailed explanations of how investigators and authors have considered and justified the ethical and moral basis of their work. If such detail does not easily fit into the manuscript, please provide it in the covering letter or upload it as a supplementary file when submitting the article. We will also be pleased to see anonymized copies of explanatory information given to participants. Even if we do not include such detailed information in a final published version, we may make it available to peer reviewers and editorial committees. We also ask peer reviewers to consider and comment on the ethics of submitted work.

Editorial appraisal of ethical issues goes beyond simply deciding whether participants in a study gave informed consent, although this is, of course, one very important issue to consider. Editors should judge whether the overall design and conduct of each piece of work is morally justifiable, as summed up by the following questions:

  • How much does this deviate from current normal (accepted, local) research practice?
  • What is the (additional) burden imposed on the research participants (or others)?
  • What (additional) risks are posed to the research participants (or others)?
  • What benefit might accrue to the research participants (or others)?
  • What are the potential benefits to society (future research participants)?

Even when a study has been approved by a research ethics committee or institutional review board, editors may be worried about the ethics of the work. Editors may then ask authors for more detailed information and ask them how they justified the ethical and moral basis of the work. Editors may also ask authors to provide the contact details of the research ethics committee that reviewed the work, so that The JID can request further information and justification from that committee. For studies that have not been reviewed by research ethics committees or institutional review boards, editors may ask authors to explain what ethical issues they considered and how they justified their work.

Editors may ask other editorial colleagues to evaluate the ethical aspects of an article, the authors’ comments, and the response of the relevant research ethics committee to The JID’s queries about ethics approval. This consultation may be informal, between The JID’s editors, or more formal, through seeking the advice of The JID’s Advisory Board or the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Problems referred to COPE or The JID’s Advisory Board will be considered as anonymized summaries of the relevant articles, written by the editors concerned.

What happens when The JID considers a study to be unethical? We believe that editors have a duty to take on issues of unethical audit or research, not to seek punishment for the authors, but to prevent unethical practice and to protect participants. If The JID, with or without the advice of its ethics committee and/or COPE, considers the work in a submitted article to be ethically unsound, the editor may seek further advice or recommend investigation or action. The fact that the article would have been rejected anyway for other scientific or editorial reasons would not prevent the editor from taking such further action on serious ethical problems.

In the first instance, the editor would usually contact the head of the department where the work was done to explain The JID’s concerns and recommend a local investigation. Secondly, the editor might write to the professional registration body of the paper’s guarantor or principal investigator.

The JID reserves the right to at any time rejects any manuscript on the basis of actual or perceived violation of ethical principles. In rare instances, The JID might publish an article despite ethics problems in the work it reported. The usual reason would be that work done in one setting might not reach the ethical standard of work done in another setting, because of differing local resources and standards for research with human participants. In deciding to publish such an article, we would consider carefully the context of the study and aim to balance the overall benefit to society against the possible harm to the research participants.

Timely Review

The JID believes that an efficient editorial process that results in timely publication provides a valuable service both to authors and to the community at large. We therefore request that reviewers respond promptly, usually within 14-21 days of receipt of a manuscript. If reviewers need more time, we request that they contact us promptly so that we can keep the authors informed and, if necessary, assign alternate reviewers.

Empirical Data Replication

Empirical data is produced by experiment or observation. If authors are submitting material needed for replication including data sets and other programs, they should be submitted in one of the following formats: electronic, CD-ROM, and/or web link.

Manuscript Word Limit

Authors are required to submit a full, complete and original article that is no more than 7,000 words long (24 pages or 35,000 characters), single spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font size, 1-inch margins around. In rare cases, manuscripts shorter than 7,000 words or longer than 35,000 characters might be accepted for publication.

How to Submit

All submissions to The JID are done electronically. As a general practice, The JID does not accept unsolicited submissions. All manuscripts should be emailed to admin@journalofinternaldisplacement.org.

Handling Complaints

If The JID receives a complaint that any contribution to The JID infringes copyright or other intellectual property rights or contains material inaccuracies, libelous materials or otherwise unlawful materials, The JID will investigate the complaint. Investigation may include a request that the parties involved substantiate their claims. The JID will make a good faith determination whether to remove the allegedly wrongful material. A decision not to remove material should represent The JID's belief that the complaint is without sufficient foundation, or if well‐founded, that a legal defense or exemption may apply, such as fair use in the case of copyright infringement or truthfulness of a statement in the case of libel. Investigation and decision will be documented and filed by The JID for future reference.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Why Publish in The JID?

We understand that it is a difficult process to choose where to publish your work. Before you consider navigating away from The JID, here are 11 solid reasons why it is worthwhile to publish with The JID:

  1. The JID is the ONLY academic journal fully dedicated to any and all displaced populations globally.
  2. The JID is a free open access online journal. As such, our dissemination is vast and wide, including diverse institutions, expertise and disciplines.
  3. Our review process is quick and professional. We typically guarantee review within 6-9 months subject to the availability of subject-matter experts.
  4. When you submit your manuscript, your cover letter and abstract mandate us to respond within 48 hours, letting you know whether your submission fits within the scope of The JID and if the full paper is accepted for review.
  5. Since we are primarily an online publication, we do not wait for space availability to publish your manuscript. Submissions are published twice per year (in July and January).
  6. Unlike other journals, The JID does not just “reject” your paper. We provide rich author-friendly feedback to ALL AUTHORS to help them revise their paper to be included in future publication.
  7. Your research is very important to The JID. As the only journal dedicated to internal displacement, the impact of your research work is invaluable as it has the potential of revealing groundbreaking information in the field of displacement.
  8. Is English not your first language? Well, The JID is sensitive to that. We do accept papers written in French and Spanish.
  9. We respect the privacy of all of our subscribers and members. Apart from sending out Table of Contents every July and January, we DO NOT send out weekly, monthly or yearly newsletter. However, we do receive thousands of hits on a daily basis.
  10. We pay particular attention to and provide support for authors from the Global South.
  11. We DO NOT charge fees for submission.

Reviewers and Authors are vital to the existence and progress of The JID. This section provides general guidelines for authors and reviewers. Before considering submission to The JID, Authors are required to carefully read and acquaint themselves with the manuscript guidelines (below).

Cover Letter

A cover letter in the form of an e-mail or an attachment to the first page of the article should accompany the manuscript and include the following:

  • the title of the article;
  • a 250-word summary of the significance of the findings and how these findings relate to The JID’s mission and scope;
  • certification that the work submitted has not been published elsewhere in any form and is not being submitted simultaneously to another journal;
  • a declaration of any conflicts of interest;
  • a brief biography of each author; and
  • detailed explanations of how investigators and authors have considered and justified the ethical and moral basis of their work (where required).

Title

All manuscripts should have a title (Times New Roman 12 and no more than 50 characters) appearing on the first page. The title should be in boldface and the first letter of each word capitalized except for short articles and prepositions.

Names and Affiliations

Names of authors (Times New Roman 12) should appear under the title in upper and lowercase (space between initials) – in boldface, followed by their institutional affiliations with symbol footnotes (*, †, ‡, §, #, ||, and ¶) and addresses. The e-mail address of the corresponding author should appear directly below the affiliation lines using a numeric footnote.

Abstract/Summary

All manuscripts should include a short abstract (Times New Roman 12 and no more than 250 words) that summarizes the main argument of the submission. Summaries should state the key objectives, materials and methods, results, conclusions, and applications, as concisely as possible. The summary should be intelligible without detailed reference to the manuscript.

Body of the Paper

Use four classes of headings in Times New Roman 12 within the text of the manuscript.

  1. Major Headings are left aligned and boldface. The first letter of all-important words (or proper nouns) is capitalized. Major headings include: Abstract, Introduction, Design and Methods, Results/Findings, Discussion (or Results and Discussion), Conclusions (heading optional, but statement of conclusions is mandatory), Acknowledgements (optional), References, and Appendix (optional).
  2. First Subheadings are left aligned and boldface. The first letter of all-important words (or proper nouns) is capitalized.
  3. Second subheadings are left aligned and italicized. The first letter of all-important words (or proper nouns) is not capitalized. Only the first letter of the first word is capitalized.
  4. Third subheadings: begin the first line of a paragraph. They are italicized and followed by a semi colon. Only the first letter of the first word is capitalized.

Page Layout and Punctuation

  • Paper size: standard, 8.5 x 11 inches (US) or 21 cm x 29.7 cm (A4).
  • Margins: top 2.54 cm (or 1 inch) around.
  • Justification: full.
  • Line spacing: single.
  • First line of paragraph: indented 5 spaces.
  • Leave only one letter space after a full stop at the end of a sentence.
  • Avoid overuse of commas.
  • Do not hyphenate compound nouns when the sense is clear, e.g. troubleshoot.
  • Punctuate lists in the same way as sentences, unless entries are very short. When entries are more complex, use initial lower-case letters and end each with a semi-colon, except for the final entry which ends with a full stop.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

  • These should always be defined in full the first time they are used, e.g. development induced displacement (DID).
  • Note that acronyms should not have full stops, e.g. DID not D.I.D.
  • Do not abbreviate the names of countries within the text, e.g. Republic of South Africa not RSA.

Numbers and Units

  • Numbers from one to ten inclusive are always written in the text as words, and numbers 11 and upwards are written as numerals. Exceptions to this are: (a) where a number begins a sentence, and (b) where a number accompanies a unit, e.g. 5 kg.
  • Use spaces, not full stops or commas, to denote thousands, millions etc., e.g. 10 000. Note US$5 000.
  • Write fractions in words rather than numbers, e.g. one-third.
  • Use Système Internationale (SI) units (metres, kilograms, tonnes, hectares etc.).
  • Do not use punctuation or letter spacing in such measurements as cm or mm. However, there should always be a space between the number and the unit, e.g. 3 cm.
  • Use percent not per cent. The use of % is acceptable in tables and graphs with no space between the number and the symbol.

Figures

  • Figures should be pasted into the Microsoft Word document as Microsoft Excel chart objects. Do not repeat material already included in Design and Methods or in tables. However, ensure that each figure is independently comprehensible without reference to the text, to other figures or to tables. Figure format and style should be consistent across figures.

Tables

  • Tables may prove to be the most effective way to organize and present extensive data. Tables should be prepared using the Table function in Microsoft Word. Tables should be self-explanatory.
  • Place table number and title on the same line above the table. Note that the table title (unless a complete sentence) does not end with a period.
  • Do not use vertical lines and only few horizontal lines within the table. Do not use boldface or italics in the table body.
  • Footnotes to tables should be numerals. Superscript letters should be used for statistical analyses within the body of the table. Each footnote should begin a new line. Probability may be indicated thus: p < 0.10; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

References

  • Authors are strongly encouraged to use APA, MLA, Harvard or Chicago for in-text citation.
  • List only pertinent references. No more than three references should be needed to support a specific concept, theory, or argument.
  • References should be listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author.
  • All references must include, the name of author(s), year of publication, title, place of publication and publisher (for books), journal title, volume and pages (for articles).
  • Where there are more than three authors in the reference list, abbreviate to et al. in the text (but not in the bibliography), i.e. the names of all authors of a work should be given in the bibliography.
  • When an author has written more than one work in the same year, use a, b, etc. to differentiate, e.g. 2000a, 2000b.
  • Entries by the same author/s should be listed in ascending chronological order.
  • In the case of a corporate author (e.g. UN, WHO, IDMC, UNHCR), it is not necessary to repeat the name of the organization as publisher. However, if the corporate author is not well known or defined in the text, the full name may be given after the place of publication.
  • Titles of books, journals and periodicals are italicized (do not use inverted commas). Titles of articles and chapters within these are not italicized.
  • Do not abbreviate the titles of journals.

TYPES OF MANUSCRIPT

The JID welcomes the following types of publications:

Original Research

This is a manuscript based on the collection and analysis of primary or secondary data. Original research articles adopt a scientific/academic approach to research and writing. These manuscripts should present well-rounded studies reporting innovative advances that further knowledge about a topic of importance to the fields relevant to The JID. The conclusions of the Original Research Article should clearly be supported by the results. These can be submitted as either a full-length article (no more than 7,000 words) or a brief communication (no more than 4,000 words, excluding abstract, tables, figures and references). Standard articles may contain the following sections with variations, depending on the discipline or field of study:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • Conceptual/Theoretical Framework
  • Review of the Literature
  • Design and Methods
  • Results/Findings
  • Discussion/Analysis
  • Conclusion/Recommendation(s)

Case Reports

Case reports describe an unusual or unique study or situation. Case reports should include relevant positive and negative findings from history, examination, and investigation and can include photographs. Additionally, the author must make it clear what the case adds to the field of internal displacement and include an up-to-date review of all previous cases in the field. These articles should be no more than 3,000 words with no more than six figures and three tables. Case Reports contain five sections:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • Case Presentation
  • Discussion/Analysis
  • Conclusion/Recommendation(s)

Reviews

Both Narrative and Systematic Reviews are accepted. Unlike Systematic Review, Narrative review discusses and summarizes the literature on a particular topic, without generating any pooled summary figures through meta-analysis, gives a comprehensive overview of a topic, rather than addressing a specific question. Systematic Review, on the other hand, is a synthesis of the research on a particular subject using thorough methods to search for and include all or as much as possible of the research on the topic. Systematic reviews need to conform to the PRISMA Statement or if it's a clinical trial than Consort Statement. Also consider adding displaced populations to The Cochrane Library.

Reviews provide a reasoned survey and examination of a particular subject of research in internal displacement or forced migration. These can be submitted as a mini-review (less than 3,000 words, three figures, and one table) or a long review (no more than 4,000 words, six figures, and three tables). They should include critical assessment of the works cited, explanations of conflicts in the literature, and analysis of the field. The conclusion must discuss in detail the limitations of current knowledge, future directions to be pursued in research, and the overall importance of the topic in forced migration or mass movement. Reviews contain four sections:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • [Appropriate headings and subheadings]
  • Conclusion/Outlook/Recommendation(s)

Perspectives

Perspectives provide a personal view on internal displacement or forced migration topics in a clear narrative voice. Articles can relate to personal experiences, a historical perspective, or a profile on people or topics important to internal displacement. These articles should be no more than 3,000 words. Perspectives contain four sections:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • [Appropriate headings and subheadings]
  • Conclusion/Outlook/Recommendation(s)

Analyses

Analyses provide an in-depth prospective and informed analysis of a policy, major advance, or historical description of a topic related to a cultural, sociological or anthropological migration pattern. These articles should be no more than 3,000 words with no more than three figures and one table. Analyses contain four sections:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • [Appropriate headings and subheadings]
  • Conclusions/Outlook/Recommendation(s)

Symposium Pieces

Symposium pieces describe a research symposium or seminar and present the topic covered in the form of a news brief, opinion piece or mini-review. A news brief summarizes a few talks on the same general topic or issues at a given symposium. This can include a summary of the discussion that followed the symposium or the significance of the talks at a large symposium to a particular field. It is important to indicate the main point of the symposium. An opinion piece discusses the personal perspectives after a given symposium, including an analysis of the symposium and how this affected the author. A mini-review can be based on a theme from a given symposium. This may require the author(s) to review articles written by a speaker at that symposium. These articles should be no more than 3,000 words. All symposium pieces should include the following:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • Topics (with appropriate headings and subheadings) [specifically required for a mini-review]
  • Conclusions/Outlook/Recommendation(s)

NB: Authors considering submission of symposium pieces must first submit an abstract and table of contents for review.

Book Reviews

Book reviews cover relevant books important to researchers and practitioners. These articles provide a description of the book being reviewed, the strengths and weaknesses of the book, and the intended audience. The reviews should be 300 – 500 words. All members of The JID community are eligible to write book reviews. Please contact the Editor-in-Chief if you are interested in writing a book review.

Profiles

Profiles describe a notable person in the field of internal displacement and forced migration. These articles should contextualize the individual’s contributions to the field at large, as well as provide some personal and historical background on the person being described. More specifically, this should be done by describing what was known at the time of the individual’s discovery/contribution and how that finding has contributed to the field as it stands today. These pieces should be no more than 3,000 words, with up to six figures and three tables. The articles should include the following:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • [Appropriate headings and subheadings]
  • Conclusion/Recommendation(s)

Interviews

Interviews may be presented as either a transcript of an interview given with questions and answers presented, or as a personal reflection after a given interview. If the latter is submitted, the author must indicate to the readers that the article is based on an interview. These pieces should be no more than 3,000 words. The articles should include:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • Questions and answers clearly indicated by headings and subheadings or topics
  • Conclusion/Recommendation(s)

Other Submissions

Other submissions include articles that do not fall into the above categories, but that the authors feel would be of particular interest to the readers of The JID. Please feel free to contact the Editor-in-Chief com with any inquiries about suitability for The JID and guidance on article formatting.

Focus Topic Articles

The JID regularly publishes sections featuring articles that are of exceptional significance to the fields of internal displacement and forced migration studies. Articles are solicited by the Editors to fulfill the topic chosen for each issue in all the article forms The JID accepts. To be informed of the Focus Topics, please contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Educational Scholarship Articles

Articles submitted to the Educational Scholarship section of The JID should address theoretical or practical aspects of education and training challenges in internal displacement or forced migration studies. Papers will represent the continuum of education from undergraduate education to mass movement and graduate student education to post-graduate education of residents and fellows in internal mass movement, as well as post-doctoral fellows in forced migration studies. The JID will publish case reports, reviews and perspectives in the Educational Scholarship section.

Educational Case Reports

These case reports are modeled after the traditional case report and should describe a unique training or teaching method. The case report should describe the challenge this new method is trying to address, fully describe the teaching method, provide potential analysis of this method to determine whether it met stated goals, and an up-to-date review of other methods of course design that have been used to address this problem in teaching. These articles should be no more than 3,000 words and include no more than 6 figures and 3 tables. Educational Case Reports contain five sections:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background (educational challenge briefly introduced)
  • Teaching Method Presentation (describe new teaching method, how it addresses the challenge outlined in the introduction, and any metrics used to evaluate this new method)
  • Discussion/Analysis (in-depth literature review)
  • Conclusion (suggestions for future follow-up or potential improvements)

Educational Scholarship Reviews

Reviews provide a reasoned survey and examination of a particular subject in educational scholarship. These can be submitted as a mini-review (less than 3,000 words, three figures, and one table) or a long review (no more than 4,500 words, six figures, and three tables). They should include critical assessment of the works cited, explanations of conflicts in the literature, and analysis of the field. The conclusion must discuss in detail the limitations of current knowledge, future directions to be pursued in research and teaching, and the overall importance of the topic to the field. Reviews contain four sections:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • [Appropriate headings and subheadings]
  • Conclusion/Outlook/Recommendation(s)

Educational Scholarship Perspectives

Perspectives provide a personal view on a topic in educational scholarship in internal displacement and forced migration studies in a clear narrative voice. These topics can include policy, teaching methods, or personal experiences as relate to Educational Scholarship. These articles should be no more than 3,000 words. Perspectives contain four sections:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction/Background
  • Topics (with headings and subheadings)
  • Conclusions/Outlook/Recommendation(s)

NB: Authors wishing to submit an unsolicited review should submit a 200-word proposal to the Editor-in-Chief, summarizing the scope, importance, and relevance of the proposed review.

QUALIFICATION, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

General Qualifications

The overall qualifications of members of the editorial team of The JID include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • must be passionate about internal displacement issues;
  • must have published previously;
  • must be willing to review at least one article per publishing cycle (i.e., January and July of each year); and
  • may be affiliated with an academic institution or working with organizations in the field of forced migration/displacement.

Advisory Board

Advisory Board Member of The JID are required to:

  • review submitted manuscripts,
  • advise on journal policy and scope,
  • identify topics for special issues and guest editors for such special topics,
  • attract new authors and submissions,
  • promote and advance The JID to your, colleagues, peers and network,
  • assist the editors in decision making over issues such as, ethics approval, plagiarism claims and submissions where reviewers are not able to agree on a decision.

Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief of The JID have the following responsibilities:

  • Managing the editorial team,
  • Providing clear policy and guidelines for authors, editors and other users
  • Providing a clear statement of the Journal’s policies on authorship criteria
  • Ensuring that all authors are treated fairness with courtesy, objectivity, honesty, transparency and respect,
  • Establishing and defining policies on conflicts of interest and ethical concerns,
  • Protecting the confidentiality of every author’s work,
  • Establishing a system for effective and rapid peer review, and
  • Promoting the overall quality and standard of The JID.

Assistant Editor

The Assistant Editor of The JID have the following responsibilities:

  • maintain the highest standards of ethics and competence,
  • achieve and maintain the highest standards in publication of cutting-edge research and state-of-the-art review articles,
  • conduct preliminary review of all submissions to The JID,
  • play active part in the entire peer-review process,
  • assist the Editor-in-Chief to ensure that accepted articles are peer-reviewed, copy-edited and published by mid-January and mid-July,
  • supervise editing of the special issue manuscripts,
  • supervise all copy-editors and reviewers in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief
  • recommend papers of originality, quality with highest standards,
  • ensure to share call for papers with your colleagues, acquaintances, research scholars, and students etc.,
  • Help review other non-special issue manuscripts or recommend referees to The JID, and
  • Promote The JID at appropriate platforms such as conferences of national and international importance, seminars, symposia, workshops, and other public events.

Associate Editor

The Associate Editor – Reviews of The JID have the following responsibilities:

  • Search for new scholarly publications on displacement,
  • Request for complimentary copies,
  • Identify potential authors to write reviews for publication in The JID,
  • Assist with selecting, assessing, reviewing and/or copy-editing articles as and when requested by the Editor-in-Chief,
  • when appropriate, assist with promoting The JID by advertising and seeking sponsorship, and
  • participate in other scholarly activities including, but not limited to, being a guest editor for special issues, generating essay competition ideas and topics, contributing to editorials, commentaries and book reviews, and providing policy advice.

Copy-editor

The Copy-editor of The JID have the following responsibilities:

  • ensure that articles are written in accordance with The JID style guide,
  • Work closely with authors, suggesting changes to enhance articles' readability, conciseness and style,
  • Assist authors with research topics, and
  • Assist authors with locating and contacting sources during the review process of articles.

Reviewer

The role of a reviewer of The JID is to review and/or copyedit articles as and when requested by the Editor-in-Chief or the Assistant Editor. A reviewer of The JID must possess the following:

  • have published articles in peer-reviewed journals;
  • be a regular reader of The JID; and
  • be prepared to commit 1-4 hours to critically review and evaluate manuscripts thoroughly.

Generally, reviewers of The JID help advice editors on making the final decision about the publication. A reviewer signed report is passed on to author(s), which provide clear direction in determining the outcome of a submitted manuscript, i.e., whether it should be accepted and published or not. Reviewers are encouraged to provide respectful and constructive comments that might help the author to improve their work. When reviewing an article, all reviewer must follow The JID policy and guidelines as set out in this document.

Benefits

As an editor, reviewer and board member, not only will you network and interact with scholars from around the globe, but you will also have the opportunity to learn about the fascinating diverse perspectives of internal displacement. In the long term, you will contribute to making a difference to the lives of many vulnerable people that are not able to improve their situation because they are on the move in search for survival.

How to become a Reviewer

In order to be accepted as a reviewer for The JID, you will need to register on The JID website.

Term of Office

Editorial Team members serve a three-year term, automatically renewable each August unless otherwise indicated. NB: All Editor/Reviewer/Advisory Board Member positions are voluntary.