Focus and Scope

Aims and scope of the academic journal Public Policy and Administration:

• to encourage scientific research aimed at finding new theoretical and practical solutions for the formation and implementation of public policy;
• to analyze current trends in public administration and suggest new alternatives for decision making and implementation for public administration practice;
• to pay special attention to the analysis and critical evaluation of the processes of public administration in Eastern and Central Europe;
• to contribute to the improvement of the research methodology in the field of public policy;
• to ensure effective dissemination of scientific knowledge by publishing relevant up-to-date studies and conference reviews.

The journal includes articles analyzing theoretical and practical issues in the areas of public policy and administration in Central and Eastern Europe. Priority is given to articles analyzing transformational processes and reform management in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, good practices of these countries, current issues in the formation and implementation of public policy in Lithuania and, among them, the developments in the public administration reform and the implementation of European Union standards. Of particular interest are institutional and functional issues in EU governance, regional development of knowledge society, managerial competencies of public servants and ethical problems. The journal also reviews conferences, books, and events of interest to the fields of public policy and administration.

Most journals in the field focus on either public policy or public administration, while the defining feature of our journal is that it publishes analyses on both of these dimensions of public governance.

The quarterly journal Public Policy and Administration is international and multidisciplinary. It includes theoretical articles by internationally renowned scholars as well as studies of the practical aspects of public governance. Pieces of research published in this journal are based on the application of various methods from diverse fields, such as management, economics, philosophy, history and law.

Peer Review Process

All articles are reviewed by at least two active scholars appointed by the board of editors; at least one of the reviewers should not be a member of the board of editors. The reviewers are appointed blindly.

Publication Frequency

All articles to Public policy and administration are posted online immediately as they are ready for publication. All articles will be assigned a DOI number (Digital Object Identifier) whereby they become searchable and citeable without delay. Articles will also be collated into issues which are printed quarterly.

Open Access Policy

MRU research journals are Open Access (OA). All responsible users are free to read, download, copy, print and search within the articles of the journals without requesting permission from the publisher or the author.

Sharing scientific knowledge through Open Access paradigm gives meaning to the research work carried out by MRU scholars, makes research available to society, makes its content more visible and more cited both nationally and globally.

Open Access principles are made public in four founding documents: the Declaration of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the ECHO Charter and the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003).

As of 1 March 2013 MRU is a party to Berlin Declaration. All Open Access contributions must satisfy two conditions:(1) the author(s) and right holder(s) of such contributions grant(s) to all users a free access to their research publications with proper authorship attribution;(2) a complete version of the work is deposited (and thus published) in at least one online repository using suitable technical standards.

Open Access products are made available either by the “gold road” publications accessible to the public in line with Open Access requirements in one of the OA respositories (e.g. DOAJ, PloS, Biomed Central) or the “green road”, the secondary electronic publishing of primary journal or book publications.

Open Access journals usually publish peer-reviewed postprint articles.

Publication Fee

Starting from the year 2021 the publication fee (700 EU) will be requested from the foreign authors.

Ethical Guidelines

Research journal International Public Policy and Administration (PPAJ) strives to ensure the high quality of published articles and strictly maintain the requirements of academic integrity. Editorial board of PPAJ constantly develops the journal and is always ready to improve it by publishing corrections, clarifications and apologies when needed.

PPAJ ensures that:

• Every published article is original and was not published before.
• Every article, the preparation of which was funded by any projects or organizations, should include a remark informing the audience about it and briefly describing the role of the funders. It is the author’s duty to inform the editors about the funding and its source.
• PPAJ publishes original research articles. Under the decision of the Editorial Board, the issue may contain other sections as presentation at the conferences, review articles, letters to the Editor, book reviews etc.
• Editors maintain the quality of the material they publish by applying a set of different measures including, but not limited to, pre-evaluation of the paper originality, quality of the research and topicality before the review process, checking the text of the manuscripts using antiplagiarism tools, as much as possible ensuring the scrupulous and conscientious review procedures.
• Articles are accepted or rejected applying clear criteria, such as article’s topicality, originality, quality, relevance to the scope and aims of the journal, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, ethnic origin, citizenship, religious belief, political philosophy, institutional affiliation or other status.
• Peer review is organized strictly according to the description of this process. Articles should be reviewed by at least two active scholars confidentially appointed by the editors. Papers submitted to PPAJ are subject to peer review to maintain the standards of the journal, promote rigorous research within the field of learning technology, and to offer authors constructive feedback on their submissions. Manuscripts are sent out for review electronically, and all correspondence takes place via e-mail. Although the peer review process is accelerated by the use of electronic communication, traditional, high-quality peer-review standards are applied to all manuscripts submitted to the journal. PPAJ has a 'double blind' review process: identity of reviewer is not disclosed to the author and vice versa. Peer reviewers are asked to give their opinion on several issues pertinent to the quality and suitability of a paper, and to evaluate papers on the grounds of originality and importance. Reviewers are instructed to provide constructive and formative feedback to authors. Manuscripts as well may be returned to the authors by the editors prior to review, if they are out of scope, out of the limits of the word length guidance or not sufficiently prepared for publication. The author(s) must correct an accepted article in accordance with the remarks of the reviewers and editors, or provide a substantiated explanation, why they have not been incorporated. The corrected version of the article in electronic format should be provided to the editors at a mutually agreed time.
• Any invited reviewer who feels unqualified to review the manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors.
• Any invited reviewer who has conflicts of interests resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript should immediately notify the editors to declare their conflicts of interest.
• In case authors disagree with the decision of PPAJ editors, they are highly encouraged to appeal it, addressing their complaints to the Editor-in-Chief. Editor-in-Chief is obliged to investigate the issue promptly and to inform in writing his/her final decision on the matter.
• PPAJ requirements for the articles are published in the section ‘Author Guidelines’ and are regularly updated.
• Already accepted articles cannot be rejected unless serious problems of academic integrity emerge.
• The changes of editors should not affect the validity of decisions, which were already made by previous editors.
• PPAJ editors protect the confidentiality of personal data of authors and reviewers, as well as other information, which by the author or reviewer was defined as confidential and a submitted manuscript itself.
• In case editors suspect misconduct, they are obliged to take action. After the rejection of the article, which raises concerns about the misconduct, editor has a duty to ask the author for written explanation and after the investigation Editor-in-Chief may take a decision to inform the affiliation institution and other appropriate bodies (regulatory bodies, funders of the research, etc.) about the case and ask to investigate it. Editor-in-Chief and editors have a duty to take all reasonable efforts to encourage proper investigation of the case.
• If any significant inaccuracy or misleading statement is already published, editors must promptly make all necessary corrections. If an appropriate investigation of competent institutions proves the article to be fraudulent, editors should promptly retract it and clearly for the audience and indexing system identify the reasons of the retraction.
• Editors work fully independently from the publisher and owner of the journal.
• Seeking to avoid the conflicts of interests, Editor-in-Chief and associate editors of PPAJ (while they are on duty) are not allowed to publish their articles in PPAJ. However, Members of Editorial Board are allowed to submit their articles for publishing in PPAJ.

PPAJ is always open for any suggestions in the field of development of the journal and improvements of existing policies and practices. 

Sources of Support

Leidinys nebus prenumeruojamas iki 2014 m. birželio mėnesio, įgyvendinant LMT Projektą „Periodinių mokslo leidinių leidyba“ projekto kodas VP1-3.2-ŠMM-02-V-02-002 (veiksmų programa – VP1 Žmogiškųjų išteklių plėtros veiksmų programa; prioritetas – VP1-3 Tyrėjų gebėjimo stiprinimas; uždavinys – VP1-3.2 Padėti didinti tyrėjų skaičių ir mažinti jų amžiaus vidurkį Lietuvoje; priemonė VP1-3.2-ŠMM-02-V Žinių apie mokslą ir technologijas gilinimas ir sklaida tarp mokinių ir jaunimo bei lyčių lygybės moksle skatinimas; kvietimo teikti paraiškas arba patvirtinto sąrašo numeris – 02).