Editorial and peer review

Every title published by Institutional Public Policy Press is read by an independent panel before publication.

Who reads

Panels are made up of subject specialists external to the press, drawn from academic economics, public finance and public administration. No panel member holds an editorial position at the press. A panel is constituted for a single title and dissolved afterwards.

How it works

The panel receives the complete manuscript and reports in writing. The report is indexed to the manuscript by section, states a verdict, and gives its reservations in the order the panel considers them serious. A verdict may be acceptance, acceptance subject to revision, or rejection.

What follows

Where a report requires revision, the revisions are made and the manuscript is rebuilt before publication. Reports are not published. What a report required, and what was done in response, is recorded in the catalogue entry for the title, so that a reader can follow the manuscript's history without taking the press's word for it.

Anonymity

Review is anonymous in one direction. Panels know the author. Authors do not learn who read their manuscript.

What review does not establish

Review establishes that a manuscript has been read seriously by people competent to judge it, and that their objections have been answered or conceded in print. It does not establish that the argument is correct. Readers should treat a reviewed title as contestable, and are invited to contest it.