Editorial policy

The EIoP is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary E-journal in the field of European integration research. "European integration research" is to be understood in a broad sense. Scholarly contributions from all relevant disciplines are welcome, e.g. from legal studies, political science, economics, sociology, and history. The language of papers is English, but both a German and English abstract is available for each. The EIoP also accepts submissions for special issues.

The EIoP is an E-journal whose authors retain the copyright of their papers under the special conditions set out below.

The aim of the EIoP is to distribute as quickly and simply as possible the latest research results. Consequently

• the parallel (or previous) publication in traditional working paper series and
• the simultaneous submission as well as
• the later publication of articles first published in the EIoP in traditional print journals or edited volumes
• the previous pre-print exposure on a personal website or in a repository

is not in contrast with the editorial policy. Later online publication in whatever form is, however, not allowed. Papers already accepted by a traditional journal are not publishable in the EIoP. Note that, from June 2002 onwards, it will no longer be possible to remove the full text of papers from the EIoP archives in case of later publication elsewhere.

The authors agree that the papers published in the EIoP are simultaneously submitted to abstracting, indexing and archiving services, such as, for instance, SSRN, ERPA, RePEc, RDB etc.

Authors are allowed to "self-archive" their papers in digital form at their personal homepages or their institutions' archives (pre-print as well as the final, post-refereeing PDF version) provided that they link back to the original URL of publication in the EIoP.

EIoP Special Issues

The EIoP Editorial Board welcomes suggestions for special issues. As the EIoP is an E-journal with no paper-bound issues, an "EIoP Special Issue" is a slightly different concept: Similar to the "Current Issue", there will be a page for special issues, linked from the current issue page. Such a special issue will consist of three or more interrelated articles under a common heading, with a guest editor, and his/her introduction to the theme of the special issue. A special issue will be published as soon as three papers are ready for simultaneous publication. Later additions to a special issue will be possible.

Special issue quality policy: The guest editors will be responsible for the quality of all papers part of the special issue, including formal requirements (abstracts, keywords, author information, bibliography). As a minimum requirement, both the guest editor and at least one further scholar have to referee each paper in advance of publication. All referee reports have to be delivered to each author in written form. The written referees' reports and a brief statement on how they were incorporated in the texts must be submitted to the EIoP at the same time as the articles. The EIoP Editorial Board reserves the right to ask for additional referees.

Note: The guest editor of the special issue is not allowed to be at the same time author of several articles in the special issue. If s/he wants to contribute with an own article, the standard refereeing procedure as with individually submitted articles is applicable..

Please contact the EIoP editor M. Nentwich (eiopeiop.or.at) in case you intend to submit a proposal for a special issue. Please include in the proposal the intended number, authors and titles of the papers forming the special issue. Please indicate the time horizon for the realisation of the proposed issue.

Formal procedure

• Submissions only via E-mail to the address of the editor (eiopeiop.or.at).
• The authors have to follow the formal guidelines given in the document "style sheet".
• Each article will be reviewed by two anonymous referees (double-blind system). Their decision, with respect to the eligibility for publication, will be acknowledged by the editors. Proposals for improvements will be forwarded to the authors. The usual strict standards as in print journals apply (see these refereeing guidelines).
• It is understood that each author agrees to be eligible as a referee at least twice in the future.
  ->List of referees to date
• The "publication" (i.e. the entry of the paper on the page "current issue" of the EIoP homepage) will be put into effect as soon as possible, i.e. usually within a month.
• The editor of the EIoP will inform the author of the article publication. New publications will be announced in the Internet community via a special distribution list .

Some remarks as regards "European integration research"

The European Integration online Papers is seeking to publish papers in all disciplines and all areas of European integration research. This is to be understood in a broad sense. The following hints are intended to circumscribe what we mean by "European integration research":

• legislative and political processes of the EU and its institutions;
• subjects dealing with the growing together of the European states and peoples;
• comparisons between policies, societies or legal systems between at least two European states;
• effects of European integration on the member states;
• policies and activities of other European international institutions (Council of Europe, OECD, etc.);
• common policies of the European states vis-à-vis third countries or other supranational/international institutions.

A simple test could help discerning whether a manuscript falls within this area of European integration research: try to find at least three fitting keywords from the standardised ERPA keywords list!