About the Journal

About the Journal

The International Journal for Peace and Justice (IJPJ) ISSN 3110-9403 is a peer-reviewed open-access scholarly journal dedicated to the advancement of research, theory, practice, and understanding of peace and justice. As a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary journal, it aims to mobilize collaborations and conversations across disciplinary boundaries and among scholars, practitioners, scholar-practitioners and the interested public. We welcome scholarly manuscripts (empirical, theoretical, reflective articles, book reviews) from scholars and practitioners who are dedicated to researching, educating, and promoting peace and justice.  

As a semi-annual academic and praxis journal, IJPJ is available in online-format. The online version contains author names and their paper abstracts. Views expressed in articles and other contributions that appear in IJPJ may not necessarily reflect endorsement by the Editorial Board or Staff. IJPJ provides opportunities and forums for dialogues over various ideas, assessments, recommendations, and critiques.   

Aims and Scope 

IJPJ aims to provide a platform for scholars, academics, scholar-practitioners, and practitioners across academic disciplines to research, promote, share, and discuss various aspects of peace and justice. International in scope, IJPJ welcomes submissions from scholars and practitioners in anthropology, humanities, peace and conflict studies, political science, psychology, leadership studies, sociology, religion, and kindred disciplines throughout the world. Above all, IJPJ intends to be a brave space that encourages thoughtful learning, critical inquiry, principled conversations, and deliberate calls for action. 

All submissions must be prepared in English and according to APA (7th Edition) formatting requirements. Submissions and will be subject to a rigorous and anonymous peer-review.

Ethos

The International Journal for Peace and Justice is firmly committed to maintaining the highest level of integrity in the content that we publish. We achieve this by adhering to the Core Practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We expect all editors, reviewers, and authors to comply with COPE’s guidelines on ethical behavior, which represent the best practices in scholarly publishing.

Publication Frequency 

IJPJ is a semi- annual (Fall & Winter) Special Issues publication . 

Special Issues (SI): will be initiated and led by subject matter experts who will take on the role of Guest Editor.  IJPJ Guest Editors will post their call for submissions twice a year, March and August. IJPJ aims to publish original research papers (empirical, theoretical, reflective) and book reviews on topics that include but are not limited to:

  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Conflict Analysis and Resolution
  • Conflict Transformation
  • Critical and Emancipatory Peacebuilding
  • Genocide
  • Economic Equity
  • Forced Migration/Displaced People
  • Health and the Promotion of Well Being
  • Human Rights
  • Indigenous Peacebuilding
  • Justice and Basic Needs
  • Nonviolent Change                            
  • Peace Education
  • Peace: An Ecological View
  • Peace and Environmental Justice
  • Peace Leadership
  • Peace Leadership through the Arts (Dance, Music, Poetry, Storytelling, Songs, etc.)
  • Peacebuilding
  • Peace Dwelling
  • Restorative Justice
  • Self Determination
  • Social Justice and Change
  • Women and Peacebuilding
  • Youth and Peace Building

Contributions to IJPJ

The International Journal for Peace and Justice publishes works that fit into four broadly distinct yet related categories:

Research Articles: (8,000 –10,000 words; APA 7th Edition, formatted)

  • Original, previously-unpublished, and fully-referenced research contributions that significantly extend knowledge in the peace and justice issues and concerns along substantive, theoretical or methodological lines, and which are likely to be of interest to researchers and practitioners. Research Articles are double-blind and peer reviewed.

Reflective Essays (6,000-8,000 words; APA 7th Edition, formatted)

  • Thoughtful and critical reflection on literature, theoretical tradition, and experiences relating to peace and justice. Rather than being a card-carrying platform, reflective essays are meant to invite conversation and dialogue. Reflective Essays are double-blind and peer-reviewed.

Conference Proceedings (7,000 – 9,000 words; APA 7th Edition, formatted)

  • Collections of papers that have been presented at academic conferences. Can be in the form of full-length research articles, as well as summary papers.

Book reviews (1 – 2,000 words)

  • Reviews of important theoretical, political and research works relating to peace and social justice issues. Book reviews are vetted by the book review editor but are not subject to peer review.

Open Access

IJPJ provides a Diamond Open Access to all its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Such access is associated with increased readership and citation levels. The International Journal for Peace and Justice uses Open Journal Systems (OJS)  software supported by the Public Knowledge Project, to help make open access economically viable, as well as to improve the scholarly and public quality of research. The Editor and the Editorial Board aspires to incorporate and work towards meeting the DIAMIS standards.

Letters to the Editor

A letter to the editor provides a means of communication between the Editor, submission authors, and other readers. Letters provide new insight, make corrections, offer alternate theories, or request clarification about content printed in the journal. By providing additional information, the evidence may be strengthened. The editors will consider brief letters under 500 words.

Review Process

At IJPJ we use a double-blind review process which typically takes 2-4 months. On occasion, if we have asked for major revisions, a revised manuscript may be sent back to one of our external peer reviewers for a re-review, as internal review deems necessary.

Submissions must be fully original work, not in any stage whatsoever of consideration at another Journal. We can only accept submissions in English. IJPJ only publishes works in four main categories: academic research articles within our scope of publishing, reflective papers, conference proceedings and book reviews. 

No manuscript should contain any material that is fraudulent, defamatory, illegal or libelous. Authors may be subject to action if any such material is discovered. IJPJ reserves the right to screen for any kind of content that is not the prospective author’s original work, including the inappropriate use of Artificial Intelligence. Prospective authors must disclose the use of any LLM or other AI technologies, to maintain academic integrity and trust between scholar and reader. If the inappropriate use of another’s material, or of LLMs or AI, are discovered at any point in the review or publication process, the manuscript will not be published. 

Use of Gen AI-Assisted Technologies

Attribution of authorship carries with it, accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.   

Resnik and Hosseini’s (205) Disclosing artificial intelligence use in scientific research and publication: When should disclosure be mandatory, optional, or unnecessary? is an excellent resource to guide authors in their disclosure of the use of AI tools.  In all cases, there must be human accountability for the final version of the text and agreement from the authors that the edits reflect their original work.

Generative AI images

The fast-moving area of generative AI image creation has resulted in novel legal copyright and research integrity issues. As publishers, we strictly follow existing copyright law and best practices regarding publication ethics. While legal issues relating to AI-generated images and videos remain broadly unresolved, IJPJ will not permit its use for publication. 

Exceptions:

  • Images/art obtained from agencies that we have contractual relationships with that have created images in a legally acceptable manner.
  • Images and videos that are directly referenced in a piece that is specifically about AI and such cases will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
  • The use of generative AI tools developed with specific sets of underlying scientific data that can be attributed, checked and verified for accuracy, provided that ethics, copyright and terms of use restrictions are adhered to.

As we expect things to develop rapidly in this field in the near future, we will review this policy regularly and adapt it if necessary.

Please note: Not all AI tools are generative. The use of non-generative machine learning tools to manipulate, combine or enhance existing images or figures should be disclosed in the relevant caption upon submission to allow a case-by-case review.

Correction, Retraction, and Removal of Articles

Correction

  • Despite everyone’s best efforts, errors occur, and [the Journal] considers it a mark of responsibility that errors are corrected where possible. Corrections, retractions and requests for withdrawals should be communicated to the Editors of the Journal. Corrections that do not change substantive content of the Article, including typos, name changes, and small errors that do not affect the scholarly record, will not include a statement or update. Substantive corrections that impact the reader’s understanding of the article, such as addition or removal of meaningful sentences/ paragraphs, updates for accuracy/ clarification, and changes to data, will include be included in the original with a concise statement explaining the correction.

Retraction

  • Retraction/withdrawal will be considered for ethical violations, not for unpopular opinions. The International Journal for Peace and Justice reserves the right to retract items, which is intended as a public disavowal (not simply a removal). Retractions will occur if the editors and editorial board find that the work is unreliable due to either a major error or has been subject to falsification. Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as inaccurate claims of authorship/ misrepresentation, plagiarism, copyright infringement, and/or fraudulent or unethical use of data will also result in retraction of the work.
  • A submission may be withdrawn at the request of an author, or if the work may be defamatory or libelous. Editors will communicate retractions/withdrawals to the author(s) before implementing.
  • COPE Retraction Guidelines https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines
  • JLSC Policies (Examples) https://iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/site/editorial-policies/#correct

Removal

  • Some circumstances may necessitate removal of a submission from IJPJ. This will occur when the article is judged by the editors and editorial board to be defamatory, if it infringes on legal rights, or if there is a reasonable expectation that it will be subject to a court order. The bibliographic information about the work will be retained online, but the work will no longer be available through IJPJ. A note will be added to indicate that the item was removed for legal reasons.

Plagiarism

The International Journal for Peace and Justice considers plagiarism to be a serious breach of responsibility, and does not accept materials plagiarized from other sources, whether intentionally or accidentally.

Authors must sufficiently attribute and cite ideas and words when they come from others. In order to avoid self-plagiarism, provide proper attribution for any of your writing or data that has been previously published elsewhere. As long as proper attribution is made, translations, publication of theses or dissertations, and previously presented papers are not considered plagiarism by IJPJ.

after publication COPE Guidance on Plagiarism in a Published Article will be followed, transparent corrections may be included with the article, and IJPJ reserves the right to issue a retraction.