Across the Caucasus Blog

Guidelines for the Authors

Dear authors,

We appreciate your interest in writing for the Across the Caucasus Blog. In the following you will find a more detailed list of the topics for our online publication platform, as well as the guidelines and editorial process. Please familiarize yourself with our guidelines and requirements before you submit your work.

Extended list of topics

1. Foreign and security policy

• Foreign policies of the Caucasus countries and republics
• Regional security (North and South Caucasus, Eastern Partnership countries, post-Soviet space, Black Sea region, Caspian Sea region)
• Role of regional and global actors (China, EU, Iran, Turkey, USA, Russia)
• Energy security
• Territorial conflicts, crises and wars
• Unconventional warfare, cyber warfare, hybrid warfare

2. Democracy and societal change

• Democracy, autocracy, political contestations and norms in the Caucasus
• Europeanization processes in the Caucasus
• Civil society, social groups, religious communities, trade unions, non-governmental sphere
• Transitional justice, truth-seeking and reconciliation

3. Political economy

• Economic policies and economic development models
• Inequality, poverty, welfare state, social justice
• Climate change, environmental risks, pandemics
• Labour, solidarity economics and alternative economic practices

4. Languages and cultures

• Indigenous and non-indigenous languages of the Caucasus
• Anthropological and ethnographic accounts
• Literature and the arts
• History and archeology
• Diasporas, homelands and translocality relevant to the broader region

Editorial process

An editorial review process will be used for all submissions. Submitted posts will first be reviewed by the Managing Editor in order to ensure its suitability to the blog. Follow-up communication with the author may be necessary to clarify or potentially enhance the submission’s alignment with the blog as well as its readability. After this initial step is concluded, your post will be sent to for peer review. The editorial team’s aim is to enhance the readability of each submitted post for the blog’s wider audience. The review and revision process can take several weeks. Once the content- and copy-editing process is complete, you will receive the final version with the opportunity to make final edits.

Managing Editor
Tiffany Williams
jenacauc@uni-jena.de 

Guidelines

Before you send your post to us, please make sure to pay attention to the following guidelines:

• Send it in Word format with your full name and institutional affiliation at the top to our editorial team (jenacauc@uni-jena.de). Make sure to add ‘Across the Caucasus blog’ in the subject line of your E-Mail.
• Your post should be between 700 and 1200 words.
• Your post can include maps, images, or visual and auditory sources that substantiate your article, and make it accessible and concrete. Please include Excel or PowerPoint files for figures and charts separately in order to simplify copy-editing, and note in the Word document where you would like each figure or chart to be inserted. For copyrighted visual and auditory materials, please confirm use with owners and verify permission with the blog editorial team.
• Each blog post will have a cover photo. Feel free to suggest photos from public domain or open sources (e.g. www.unsplash.com, Getty images).
• It is strongly encouraged to use hyperlinks rather than citations for references. Please use as few endnotes as possible to complement the online format. Links should direct readers to more detailed reports or other pieces of research, news items, or other blog posts.
• Tip: The easiest way to insert a hyperlink in Microsoft Word is to copy the address of the website, highlight the phrase you’d like to appear as a link in the text and press “ctrl” and “k”. This will bring up an option menu that allows you to paste in the web address.
• Use open access sources and avoid those behind paywalls.
• You are encouraged to point to further reading for those interested in learning more, such as the journal article or conference paper where your arguments are further substantiated. However, please note that a blog post is a stand-alone piece.
• Your post should be accessible not only to an academic audience but also to broader, non-specialist readership as well. Please choose a clear and unequivocal style.
• Please additionally submit a short author biography that includes your research interests, research background, and institutional affiliation. The author biography will come after each blog post.
•  Submissions will be peer reviewed by expert scholars selected according to their expertise relevant to the specific submission they will be asked to review. Along with the Managing Editor and editorial team, peer reviewers will pay attention to content, language, and style in order to ensure the posts fit with the blog and to enhance readability.
• For more writing-style tips or inspiration, please feel free to consult: "How to Write for an Academic Blog" by Anthony Salamone: https://www.uaces.org/resources/how-to-write-for-an-academic-blogExternal link 

We look forward to your contribution!