Urbana: Urban Affairs & Public Policy welcomes manuscripts covering a variety of issues pertaining to urbanization and city life, including but not limited to, urban planning, urban history, literary views of cities, the political economy of urban areas, metropolitan development, cities and international relations, city politics and local governments. Book reviews on the same subjects are also accepted. Urbana editorial policies are based on responsible scholarship; they are inclusive in terms of theoretical approaches and methodologies. The editors welcome contributions from authors worldwide and accept submissions in English and Spanish.
If you have questions about your manuscript before you submit it, or need further information about the submission process please contact Ivani Vassoler at ivani.vassoler@gmail.com
Please submit your manuscript to the editor of the current issue Ivani Vassoler at ivani.vassoler@gmail.com as a Word attachment. The guidelines for the manuscript are presented below.
Note: In this section, Urbana: Urban Affairs & Public Policy will herein be referred to as Urbana.
1. All manuscripts must contain original material. However, they may be later published in other venues (i.e., chapters in books) with permission from the journal editors. Manuscripts that are accepted for online publication are the sole purview of Urbana and can be republished as chapters in books or other venues (digitally or in print) at the discretion of the editors of Urbana without the permission of the authors. Authors will be informed of this republication and awarded appropriate royalties as legally designated by the selected publishing house if published in print and online by a third party.
2. The word restriction for submitted manuscripts is between 4,000 to 10,000 words, excluding tables, graphs and illustrations.
3. If revision is necessary for manuscripts, please clearly indicate how you have changed the paper. In your cover letter to the referees, you should note how you responded to the suggested changes, using page numbers if necessary.
4. Manuscripts should be typed in double-space in Times Roman 12 point font with margins of at one inch or the equivalent in centimeters. Times Roman 10 point font can be used in illustrations and
graphs as appropriate.
5. As our refereeing process is Double Blind it is crucial that submitted manuscripts do not include the authors’ details or any indications that might indicate an author’s identity.
6. Explanatory footnotes. They should be numbered consecutively.
7. An abstract not exceeding 150 words should be submitted.
8. Any permission to reproduce quoted material or illustrations published elsewhere is the
responsibility of the author(s).
9. In-text citations should be according to the most recent APA Manual of Style. Within the text, references are expected to be in parenthetical form. Footnotes for references are not allowed. You may use the free citation generator at http://www.citefast.com/ or any other electronic option of your preference to create citations and have at hand examples from the APA style guide.
10. We recommend all authors check for grammar before submitting their manuscript. There are several options, e.g., asking a colleague proficient in English for proofreading and/or using free online resources, such as https://www.aje.com/grammar-check/ or https://www.grammarcheck.net/
11. Illustrations should be referred to as Figure X and should be numbered consecutively (i.e., Figure 1, Figure 2 etc.). All graphics should be in 12 or 10 point font. Illustrations are allowed in both black & white and color. Photographs are permitted in black & white and color. The resolution for all graphics should be suitable for publishing on the Internet. Individual graphics should not exceed 100 Kb. All graphics should be embedded in the Word document and not submitted separately.
12. The file for the manuscript should not exceed 1 Mb.
Book Reviews
1. A book review should be between 1000 and 1500 words.
2. Reviews should be double spacing in Times New Roman 12 point font. References should be according to the latest APA Manual of Style.
3. The heading should include the title, author, origin, publisher, date, number of pages and price and referenced according to the most recent APA Manual of Style.
4. There will be no payment made for reviews.
Editorial Review Process
Urbana works with a multilevel review process, as follows:
Initial Stage. Once submitted, papers are evaluated by a couple of senior editors to assess the quality of the material and its suitability for Urbana. If there are no objections, then the submission climbs to the external review level. This initial step takes 2 weeks or less.
The Review Process. The senior editors send the submission, anonymously, to two external referees, requesting their evaluation of the paper submitted. The external reviewers are required to answer questions about the paper’s argument, its analysis and evidence presented. Within 4 to 6 weeks, the external reviewers send their complete evaluations and recommendations to the senior editors.
Outcomes of the Review Process. If a paper is accepted for publication with revisions, the senior editors communicate with the author about the changes to be introduced in the paper. The author receives a 2 to 3 week deadline for introducing revisions.
Once the revisions are complete, the author resubmits the paper, which is assessed again by members of the editorial board. If there are no impediments, the article is prepared for publication within 2 weeks or less.
Because the atypical academic workload increases in Christmas and Summer time, the evaluation period may be extended one month more if the manuscript is submitted in November or July.
If the paper is not accepted for publication, the senior editors communicate with the author providing a list of comments from the reviewers; the author is encouraged to re-write the paper (in accordance to the review) and invited to submit again in the future.