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Instructions to Authors

Submission Requirements

  • Length: 10,000–12,000 words (about 30–35 double-spaced pages)

  • Abstract of about 150–200 words

  • Microsoft Word electronic file submitted to Emmanuel Jimenez
    and copied to Jean Ponchamni

Content

Exposition is a priority for WBRO. The article should be intelligible and, if possible, interesting, for someone without much economics experience. The target audience (see masthead) is "anyone interested in development"—for instance, a project officer, or a student, or an economist wanting to keep up with areas outside his/her specialty.

To this end:

  • No equations, or if they have to be used, they should be comprehensible at about the seventh grade level.

  • Few and uncomplicated figures and tables—only include if they really illustrate and simplify the argument, or inform clearly.

  • Organization should be transparent.

  • Gloss any concepts that would be unfamiliar to the noneconomist reader.

  • Minimize Bankese, jargon, abstract nouns and passive constructions.

Structure of Manuscript

Abstract: About 200 words. It fronts the published article and summarizes the principal issue(s), objectives, methodology, and findings. It should at the same time provide the "hook" that encourages the reader to read on—spotlighting principal conclusions, cruces of the argument, controversial issues, or other points of interest.

Introduction: No heading. Answer the "so what"? question (i.e. relevance to policy/developing countries/applications). Brief roadmap.

Endnotes: Keep footnotes (which appear as endnotes at the end of the article) to a minimum—delete or incorporate in text where possible.

Affiliations: Unnumbered endnote heading list of endnotes.

Funding information: Details of all funding sources for the work in question should be given in a separate section entitled 'Funding'. This should appear before the 'Acknowledgements' section.

The following rules should be followed:

  • The sentence should begin: ‘This work was supported by …’
  • The full official funding agency name should be given, i.e. ‘National Institutes of Health’, not ‘NIH’ (full RIN-approved list of UK funding agencies) Grant numbers should be given in brackets as follows: ‘[grant number xxxx]’
  • Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma as follows: ‘[grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]’
  • Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (plus ‘and’ before the last funding agency)
  • Where individuals need to be specified for certain sources of funding the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number 'to [author initials]'.

An example is given here: ‘This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [AA123456 to C.S., BB765432 to M.H.]; and the Alcohol & Education Research Council [hfygr667789].

LANGUAGE EDITING

Particularly if English is not your first language, before submitting your manuscript you may wish to have it edited for language. This is not a mandatory step, but may help to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers. Language editing does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. If you would like information about one such service please click here. There are other specialist language editing companies that offer similar services and you can also use any of these. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.

References: Only those cited in the text are listed in the reference list at the end of the article. For style, see published journal.

Figures and tables: Fully identify all components, including column heads, row stubs, and graph lines or bars, and add complete sources.

PERMISSIONS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS AND FIGURES

Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS, and similar licensing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section. Information on permissions contacts for a number of main galleries and museums can also be provided. Should you require copies of this, please contact the editorial office of the journal in question or the Oxford Journals Rights department.

PRE-PUBLICATION POLICY

The World Bank Research Observer does not accept papers that have been previously published elsewhere with the exception of working papers series. The Journal’s policy regarding working paper series is:

  • Pre-publication in working paper series is allowed where submission to the working paper series is prior to acceptance by the Journal.
  • The working paper version may remain online after publication in the Journal.
  • The working paper version should NOT be updated after acceptance by the Journal.
  • Authors are requested to append the appropriate citation to the working paper version on acceptance by the Journal (if the working paper series allows this).

AUTHOR SELF-ARCHIVING/PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY

For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving policy page.