brycewang-stanford Submission Preflight (wp-submission)
The last check before pressing submit on ScholarOne (mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wp). World Politics
is triple-blind, so the most common avoidable failure is an under-anonymized manuscript. Verify
volatile specifics on the official page before relying on them.
When to trigger
- "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
- Unsure which files/metadata ScholarOne expects
- Confirming the word limit, abstract, and anonymization are met
Process facts (verify volatile items on the official page)
- Sponsor / publisher: PIIRS, Princeton University / Johns Hopkins University Press (publisher from Vol. 75 / 2023; Cambridge through Vol. 74 / 2022).
- Portal: ScholarOne (
mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wp). - Review model: triple-blind — anonymize the manuscript; author anonymity is preserved through the editorial decision.
- Article types: research article and review article (review articles usually commissioned; confirm before submitting an unsolicited one — 待核实).
- Length: ≤ 12,500 words including notes and references; tables, figures, and appendixes need not be counted. Online supplementary material ≤ 15 pages.
- Abstract: ≤ 150 words.
- Manuscript: double spaced; word count indicated; house World Politics Style Sheet (author-date).
- Ethics: affirm APSA Principles and Guidance for Human Subjects Research (2020) if research engages human participants; ScholarOne prompts IRB/ethics questions.
Preflight checklist
Type & length
- Article type chosen (research / review; commissioning confirmed for review articles)
- ≤ 12,500 words including notes and references (tables/figures/appendixes excluded)
- Word count indicated; manuscript double spaced
- Online supplement ≤ 15 pages, used judiciously for material central to the argument
- Abstract ≤ 150 words, stating question + approach + findings
Anonymity (triple-blind)
- No bylines or information that could easily identify the author(s)
- Self-citations removed where possible; no "as we showed in…"
- Identifying file metadata stripped (document properties, comments)
Format & compliance
- World Politics Style Sheet formatting; consistent author-date citations
- Figures/tables self-contained, accessible (see
wp-tables-figures) - APSA human-subjects affirmation ready; ethical issues discussed in text/appendix if relevant
- Prior-publication rules cleared: not published, concurrently submitted, or already slated elsewhere (a print working paper or an author's own-site paper is generally OK)
- Quantitative data: replication package planned for the World Politics Dataverse at acceptance
(see
wp-transparency-and-data-policy)
Anti-patterns
- Leaving author identifiers in the text or file metadata (breaks triple-blind)
- Forgetting that notes and references count toward the 12,500 words
- An online supplement over 15 pages, or used as an overflow dump
- Submitting an unsolicited review article without checking the commissioning norm
- Dual-submitting or submitting previously published material (firm policy)
Avoidable-rejection map (what trips submissions)
The most common avoidable failures at a triple-blind comparative-and-IR venue are anonymity and length, not the science. Sort the risk before upload.
| Trip-wire | Why it bites at World Politics | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Author identifiers in text or file metadata | Defeats triple-blind, the venue's core process | Strip bylines, self-cites, document properties |
| Notes + references pushed over the count | They count toward the 12,500 words | Tighten apparatus; move detail to the ≤15-page supplement |
| Supplement used as overflow dump | Capped at 15 pages | Keep only material central to the argument |
| Unsolicited review article | Review articles are usually commissioned | Confirm commissioning before drafting |
Worked micro-example (illustrative)
A hypothetical comparative paper on institutional design and post-conflict stability runs the preflight:
Type: research article (not a review → no commissioning check needed)
Length: 12,480 words incl. notes + references — under 12,500 by a thin margin
Abstract: 148 words — under 150
Anonymity: removed 3 self-citations + stripped Word author metadata
Supplement: 14 pages (balance tables + full specs) — within the 15-page cap
Ethics: no human subjects → APSA affirmation N/A
Repro: Dataverse package staged for deposit at acceptance
The thin word-count margin is the live risk; trim notes first. (Length, abstract, and supplement limits are volatile — verify each against the official submission page before relying on them.)
Output format
【Type】research / review (commissioning confirmed? Y/N)
【Length】≤ 12,500 incl. notes + refs? supplement ≤ 15 pp? [Y/N]
【Anonymized】bylines + self-cites + file metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Abstract】word count (≤150)
【Double spaced + word count indicated + house style】[Y/N]
【Ethics + prior-publication】APSA affirmation + originality cleared? [Y/N]
【Repro package】planned for World Politics Dataverse? [Y/N/NA]
【Next】await decision → wp-rebuttal on R&R
Supplementary resources
../../resources/external_tools.md— reference managers, anonymization, repro tooling../../resources/official-source-map.md— official World Politics URLs behind every fact in this pack