About the Journal

Journal scope and aims

The IJPS was created to provide an open-access platform for sharing peer-reviewed research conducted by and for an international community of policing, law enforcement, and security students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The journal publishes research addressing all aspects of police science and security studies while promoting a culture of excellence, innovation, creativity, quality of police practices, community relationships, and policing research and development.

The IJPS publishes research articles, review articles, rapid communications, case studies, and book reviews that address policing, law enforcement, and security issues, as well as relevant topics in legal, social, anthropological, and other fields related to the security perspective.

  • Research articles (primary source): Present original empirical research (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods).
  • Review articles (secondary source): Provide a critical analysis of previously published literature to examine a contemporary topic, assess a body of research, or answer a specific research question.
  • Rapid communications (brief reports): Communicate data—from primary research—that is time sensitive or of immediate interest to other researchers.
  • Case studies: Address a specific contemporary issue, policy, program, best practice, incident, or phenomenon that is of interest and importance to policing, law enforcement, and security students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
  • Book reviews: Examine books that address relevant and contemporary topics in today’s policing, law enforcement, and security environments.

The IJPS employs the Public Knowledge Project’s (PKP) Open Journal Systems (OJS) open-source journal management system and PKP Publishing Services (PKP|PS), and is happy to be part of a community “freely sharing research for the benefit of all.” (Public Knowledge Project, https://pkp.sfu.ca/)

Aims:

  • Provide IJPS readers—students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers—with sound, relevant, and valuable research.
  • Provide IJPS authors with a trusted platform for sharing their research and expertise.
  • Foster scholarly research and writing skills and opportunities for nonacademic practitioners.
  • Continuously improve journal management processes to ensure a positive experience for readers, authors, and peer reviewers.
  • Maintain the highest standards for objective, ethical, and transparent editing and publishing practices.

Publication schedule

The IJPS uses a continuous publication model (rolling publication schedule). Submissions are published online as soon as they are finalized, and all submissions published during a calendar year (January–December) are included in an annual issue. The continuous publication enables authors to have their submissions published more quickly and gives readers faster access to important research.

Open access policy

All materials published by the IJPS are available without charge, immediately upon publication, with no registration requirement.

Author charges

Authors are not charged any fees to have their submissions published by the IJPS.

IJPS editing services (Starting Price: $750)

IJPS offers editing services before publication, though it is not required. Using an academic editing service, you will have your manuscript reviewed by a native English speaker and the language polished before publication. Editing services take place after a manuscript has already been accepted for publication. We offer a range of services to help you get your publication ready for the public:

Editing:
· Our full premium English language editing service will correct any grammatical issues and improve the readability of your manuscript.
· Unlimited re-editing at no additional charge as you move through the proofing stage to publication.

Formatting
· Formatting to meet the journal's needs, including transforming references to the correct format.

Similarity Checker
·  A free similarity review report to identify language that could be flagged as accidental plagiarism. This also allows us to ensure proper citation, including individual work(s).

License

The IJPS is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Any reproduction or distribution of the journal or its contents must conform with CC BY-NC 4.0 requirements (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/4.0/).

Copyright terms for author submissions

Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal right of first publication. Authors are permitted to deposit all versions of their manuscripts in institutional or subject repositories.

Copyright terms for website

The International Police Science Association (IPSA) holds the copyright for all IJPS website content.

Backup and archiving

The IJPS website is backed up daily. Material published by the IJPS is digitally preserved by the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) using the LOCKSS program.

Accessibility policy

The IJPS strives to ensure its website navigation, website content, and published materials are in a format that is accessible to all readers.

Privacy policy

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Publisher

The IJPS is published by the International Police Science Association (IPSA), a registered academic organization of the United Nations (https://whatson.unodc.org/whatson/data/databases/academic/public/i/international_police_science_association.html). In October 2013, IPSA registered as a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific association. The association’s branches include the United States of America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. IPSA works to achieve quality and excellence in policing worldwide through five main initiatives:

  • Evaluating and improving the performance of police work through the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) and Global Police and Security Index (GPSI).
  • Encouraging creativity and innovation in police work by awarding the “Police Thought Prize.” This prize has three categories: Police Practices and Community Relations; Police Research and Development; and Creativity and Police Innovation.
  • Enhancing security knowledge management by supporting scientific efforts to establish and develop police sciences. This initiative also aims to facilitate the exchange of experience through conferences, symposiums, continual police training, and providing consultation in various policing, law enforcement, and security fields.
  • Providing accreditation for law enforcement agencies through IPSA programs for quality and excellence in policing, and through ISO certification for distinguished security agencies according to professional standards for police.
  • Publishing the International Journal of Police Science (IJPS), a peer-reviewed, open access, scholarly journal that publishes research for an international community of policing, law enforcement, and security students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

Publisher contact information

     International Police Science Association (IPSA)
     28343 Little Hollow Court
     Katy, Texas 77494 United States
     www.IPSA-Police.org
     Info@IPSA-Police.org

Sources of funding

The IJPS is funded entirely by the International Police Science Association (IPSA).

Indexing

The IJPS is currently indexed through International Scientific Indexing (ISI).

Corrections and retractions

Materials published by the IJPS and subsequently corrected or retracted will be identified as such—on both the item’s website response page and PDF version—by either a correction notice that highlights the changes made and reasons for those changes, or by a retraction notice that provides the reasons and basis for the retraction.

Commenting on published materials

Readers who wish to comment on material published by the IJPS—whether to share a compliment, criticism, or question—may send a letter to the editor at Info@IJPS-Journal.com. Letters to the editor will remain confidential unless a letter’s author grants permission to publish the letter on the IJPS website.

Reporting complaints or allegations of misconduct

Complaints against or allegations of misconduct by authors, editors, reviewers, board members, staff, or the publisher should be reported to the managing editor at Info@IJPS-Journal.com. For incidents that present a conflict of interest, the managing editor will be recused from investigating or addressing the reported incident. All reports and reporters of complaints or alleged misconduct will remain confidential.

Ethical conduct

IJPS editors will abide by the following:

  • Treat all readers, authors, and peer reviewers with respect and professionalism.
  • Consider all submissions objectively and without bias.
  • Review, edit, and publish submissions correctly and expeditiously.
  • Refrain from having any involvement with a submission when there is a potential conflict of interest or when working on a research project or publication that is similar to the submission.
  • Refrain from using any information obtained from a submission for one’s benefit or the detriment of others.
  • Maintain the confidence of authors and their work.
  • Take swift and appropriate actions to investigate credible allegations of misconduct by authors or peer reviewers and to correct or retract published materials that are found to have substantive or ethical flaws.
  • Be familiar with and informed by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/).

Peer review process

For information about the IJPS peer review process, please see the Peer Review page at https://ijps-journal.org/index.php/ijps/peerreview.