JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies

1. What do we publish?
   1. Aims & Scope
   2. Accepted Articles 
   3. Article Types
   4. Writing your paper
2. Editorial Policies
   1. Peer Review Policy
   2. Authorship
   3. Author Name Change Policy
   4. Acknowledgements
   5. Declaration of conflicting interests
   6. Data
3. Publishing Policies
   1. Publication ethics
   2. Contributor’s publishing agreement
   3. Open access and author archiving
   4. Open Research
4. Preparing your manuscript
   1. Formatting
   2. Artwork, figures and other graphics
   3. Supplementary material
   4. Reference style
   5. English language editing services
   6. Generative AI General Guidance & Best Practice
5. Writing Book Reviews
6. Submitting your manuscript
   1. ORCID
7. On acceptance
   1. Wiley Production
   2. Access to your published article
   3. Promoting your article
8. Further Information

 

1. What do we publish?

 

1.1. Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to JCMS, please ensure you read the Aims & Scope.

 

1.2. Accepted Articles 

The journal offers Wiley’s Accepted Articles service for all manuscripts. This service ensures that accepted ‘in press’ manuscripts are published online very soon after acceptance, prior to copy-editing or typesetting. Accepted Articles are published online a few days after final acceptance, appear in PDF format only, are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows them to be cited and tracked. After publication of the final version article (the article of record), the DOI remains valid and can continue to be used to cite and access the article.

The editors accept original articles in that are between 6500 and 8500 words long. This word limit includes figures/tables/charts, notes and appendices included in the text of the article. It however excludes the abstract, acknowledgements, biography and the reference list.

 

1.3. Article Types

Occasionally, the editors consider research note/agenda articles between 3500 and 5000 words (inclusive of footnotes, appendices included in the text of the research note and figures, tables or charts, but excluding the reference list) that seek to advance new ideas, research programmes or methodological approaches or explore the implications of new datasets within the boundaries the journal’s remit. These types of articles will normally offer an original perspective on a contemporary issue.

The journal will also accept Policy Commentaries, which are shorter manuscripts (between 2000-3000 words, inclusive of footnotes, appendices included in the text of the commentary and figures, tables or charts,  but excluding the reference list) that link original research findings to current policy debates within the journal's remit. They can include policy recommendations where relevant. Such articles combine analytical rigour with crisp and incisive writing aimed at an audience of academics and practitioners. We especially welcome contributions that involve co-production of knowledge between academics and practitioners. Such pieces would be subject to peer review in the same way as all other submissions. 

Annually, JCMS has an open competition for special issue proposals. Occasionally, the editors also consider proposals for special sections or symposiums. If interested in proposing a special section please send a proposal to the editorial team at [email protected] for initial consideration.

 

For special issue proposals the following is essential:

1. The names and affiliations of guest editors including short bios (no more than 250 words)

 

A long abstract of the introductory article by the Guest Editor[s] (1000 – 1500 words)

 

2a. Long abstracts of no more than 500 words of proposed papers, including the paper’s title; author name[s]/affiliation[s]; a short bio of each author (150 words max); and expected date of submission of the complete set of papers.

 

A timeline in tabular form outlining the: expected completion date of each paper; deadlines for receipt by the Guest Editor(s) of authors’ revised text; and expected date of submission of the complete set of papers

 

Identify the proposed names of peer reviewers to ensuring there is no conflict of interest

 

Given the journal’s commitments to gender, multidiciplinarity and regional diversity, we’d expect special issue proposals to reflect the same. We also welcome Special Issue proposals that include contributions co-written between scholars and policy practitioners. 

 

Only in very rare cases will JCMS publish responses to articles unless they make a substantive and original contribution or important clarification.

 

1.4. Article Preparation Support

Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence. Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

 

2. Editorial Policies

2.1. Peer Review Policy

JCMS adheres to double-blind peer reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.

The Editors or members of the editorial board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in JCMS. In these cases, alternative members of the editorial team will manage the peer review process and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

 

General instructions for Peer Reviewers are accessible through the Wiley Author Services here. Specific instructions on reviewing for JCMS are available may be accessed here. 

2.2 Authorship

All persons who have contributed substantively to the submission should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status.

2.3. Author Name Change Policy

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the paper and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Authors should contact the Editorial Office with their name change request.

 

2.4. Acknowledgements

Contributors who do not meet the criteria of author should be listed in an acknowledgements section. For example, a person who provided technical help or general support may be acknowledged.

 

Acknowledgements are supplied separately to the main text to ensure anonymous peer review.

 

2.5. Declaration of conflicting interests

JCMS encourages authors to declare conflicts and recommends the review of Wiley's Best Practice Guidelines on Publishing Ethics.

 

2.6. Data

The availability of research data is integral to research transparency. Wiley acknowledges this as integral to the research and verification process for academic journal articles.

JCMS requests that authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles to be published in the online appendix or provide detailed information within the submitted manuscript on how the data can be obtained. Note that where appropriate the editors can grant exemptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released.

Authors of articles published in JCMS are encouraged to share their research data including, but not limited to: raw data, processed data, software, algorithms, protocols, methods, and materials.  Visit Wiley’s Author Compliance Tool for the policy of your chosen journal and JCMS’ Open Science policy for more information. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Wiley’s ethics guidelines and applicable government regulations.

 

3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Wiley upholds the integrity of the academic record. Authors may refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Wiley resource Publishing Ethics Guidelines.

 

3.1.1 Plagiarism

JCMS and Wiley take copyright infringement, plagiarism and other breaches of best practice in publication seriously. Where there is any reason to suspect plagiarism, we will investigate these cases as a way of protecting authors’ rights. Such malpractice is counter to the values of the journal and publisher. Please be aware that articles submitted to JCMS may be checked with duplication-checking software. If an article is found to have been plagiarised in part or whole, or engaged in any bad practices that breaches our ethical and legal commitments the editors and Wiley reserve the right to take appropriate action, corrective or legal.

 

3.1.2 Prior Publication

Previously published materials (including working papers) are not acceptable for publication in JCMS. Please refer to the (Wiley) for further guidance or consult the Editors if in doubt at [email protected]

 

3.2. Contributor’s publishing agreement

 

3.3. Open access and author archiving

JCMS has an open access publication option through Wiley. For more information, please see the Open Access page.

3.4. Open Research

JCMS is committed to Wiley’s Open Research aspirations. As a journal, we want to facilitate openness, transparency and where applicable the reproducibility of research. JCMS encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in their manuscript by archiving it in an appropriate public repository, for example, the Harvard Dataverse, subject to ethical considerations. Authors may provide a data availability statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published in their paper. Shared data should be cited. All accepted manuscripts may elect to publish a data availability statement to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. As an author, if you have shared data, this statement will describe how the data can be accessed, and include a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI for the data, or an accession number) from the repository where you shared the data. You may use the Standard Templates for Author Use or draft your own. For more information please visit here. The editorial team of JCMS wants research to reach as many people as possible as soon as possible and we do what we can to facilitate this.

 

4. Preparing your manuscript

4.1 Formatting

All manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format. LaTeX files are also accepted for the purpose of review only.

Important: the journal operates a double-blind peer review policy. Please anonymize your manuscript and supply a separate title page file.

JCMS now offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process.

Before you submit, you will need:

• Your manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible. If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.
• An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. (Why is this important? Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.)
• The title page of the manuscript, including:
  • Your co-author details, including affiliation and email address.
  • Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies as relevant, which may include any of the following:
    • data availability statement
    • funding statement
    • conflict of interest disclosure
    • ethics approval statement
    • patient consent statement
    • permission to reproduce material from other sources
    • clinical trial registration

 

4.2. Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Wiley’s Author Services.

 

4.3. Supplementary material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) primarily in the form of an online appendix.

 

4.4. Reference style

JCMS uses the Harvard referencing system; as the journal offers Free Format submission, however, this is for information only and you do not need to format the references in your article at the submission stage. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript.

 

4.5 English language editing services

Authors that need assistance with English language editing, translation or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications may consider using Wiley’s Editing Services. Please note, however, that all services are to be arranged and paid for by authors. Use of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

 

4.6 Generative AI General Guidance & Best Practice

Authors may wish to use artificial intelligence tools or technologies (“AI Technology”) when preparing a manuscript for submission to Journal of Common Market Studies. We welcome the thoughtful use of AI tools. When used responsibly, authors can maintain high editorial standards, safeguard intellectual property and other rights, and foster transparency with readers. However authors remain fully accountable for their submission, published articles, and any tools or sources they use in their creation. A more complete set of guidelines can be found here, but below is a summary of the salient points:

Authors must disclose use of AI Technologies upon submission to a Wiley journal. If not provided, this may be requested during the submission and peer review process, or after publication. Transparency is essential to our commitment to ethical publishing and integrity.

If an author has used AI Technology to develop any portion of a manuscript, its use must be described, transparently and in detail, in the Methods section (or via a disclosure or within the Acknowledgements section, as applicable). The author is fully responsible for the accuracy of any information provided by the tool and for correctly referencing any supporting work on which that information depends. GenAI tools must not be used to create, alter, or manipulate original research data and results, and authors should maintain documentation of all AI Technology used, including its purpose, whether it impacted key arguments or conclusions, and how they personally reviewed and verified AI-generated content.

Tools that are used to improve spelling, grammar, and general editing are not included in the scope of these disclosure guidelines for the paper, but you may be asked about this during the peer review process. Authors may only use AI Technology as a companion to their writing process, not a replacement.

The final decision about whether use of a GenAI tool is appropriate or permissible in the circumstances of a submitted manuscript or a published article lies with the journal’s editor or other party responsible for the publication’s editorial policy.

Authors must use AI Technology in a manner that aligns with privacy, confidentiality, and compliance obligations. This includes respecting data protection laws, avoiding the use of AI to replicate unique styles or voices of others, and fact-checking AI-generated content for accuracy and neutrality.

Authors should be aware of potential biases in AI outputs and take steps to mitigate stereotypes or misinformation.

These guidelines will evolve as technology and author needs advance. For reference, please also see the STM general guidance for all stakeholders in scholarly publishing regarding the role of generative AI technologies.

 

5. Writing Book Reviews

Each issue of JCMS includes a book review section. The review section aims to provide readers with an up-to-date critical assessment of new publications in European and regional integration and European Studies, and across disciplines.

Book reviews give robust account of recent publications for the research and teaching community, as well as for practitioners. As such, there is a descriptive, a critical, and where relevant a practical dimension.

 

The book review editors are: Dario Čepo / Simona Guerra.

They may be reached at: [email protected]

 

Further details of Review editorial team and information for prospective reviewers can be found here.

 

6. Submitting your manuscript

New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/JCMS. You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission.wiley.com and clicking the “My Submissions” button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected]

 

Please ensure that you do not have a previous account before registering for a new. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal previously, it is likely that you already have an account. 

Main Text File 

Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. The main manuscript file can be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or LaTeX (.tex) format. 

LaTeX Guidelines for Submission: 

For authors requiring a LaTeX template, we strongly recommend reviewing Wiley’s New Journal Design (NJD) LaTeX Authoring Template.

If submitting your manuscript file in LaTeX format via Research Exchange, select the file designation “Main Document – LaTeX .tex File” on upload. When submitting a LaTeX Main Document, you must also provide a PDF version of the manuscript for Peer Review. Please upload this file as “Main Document - LaTeX PDF.” All supporting files that are referred to in the LaTeX Main Document should be uploaded as a “LaTeX Supplementary File.” 

LaTeX Guidelines for Post-Acceptance: 

Please check that you have supplied the following files for typesetting post-acceptance:  

• PDF of the finalized source manuscript files compiled without any errors. 
• The LaTeX source code files (text, figure captions, and tables, preferably in a single file), BibTeX files (if used), any associated packages/files along with all other files needed for compiling without any errors. This is particularly important if authors have used any LaTeX style or class files, bibliography files (.bbl, .bst. .blg) or packages apart from those used in the NJD LaTeX Template class file.  
• Electronic graphics files for the illustrations in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), PDF or TIFF format. Authors are requested not to create figures using LaTeX codes.

 

6.1. ORCID

As a part of our commitment to ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Wiley is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognised. Including your ORCID iD with your article submission improves the discoverability of your work and creates more opportunity for recognition.

Collecting ORCID iDs from our authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts – it does not take long at all. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that colleagues reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

 

6.2. Information required for completing your submission

 

Submitting authors are asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on the manuscript. Authors must also ensure that all declarations are clarified and additional uploaded.

 

6.3. Copyright and Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS).

 

7. On acceptance

7.1. Wiley Production

Online production tracking is now available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell’s Author Services. Author Services enables authors to track their article – following acceptance – through the production process to publication online and in print.

 

Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production. The author will receive an e-mail with a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete e-mail address is provided when submitting the manuscript.

 

Visit here for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

 

Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. Please note that if there are any changes to the author list at this stage all authors will be required to complete and sign a form authorising the change.

 

7.2. Access to your published article

Wiley provides authors with online access to their final article

 

7.3. Promoting your article

Congratulations on your new publication; but this is not the end of the paper. You can help to ensure that your article is as widely read and cited as possible.

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

In addition, Wiley has partners with Kudos a free service that allows authors to explain, enrich, share and measure the impact of their article. Find out how to maximize your article’s impact with Kudos.

 

8. Further Information

Comments, queries or request for additional information should be addressed to the JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies email address: [email protected]

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