About this journal
Aims and scope
Development in Practice publishes research from around the world that promotes critical inquiry and reflection, is a resource for research and teaching, and offers a contribution to global development knowledge and practice, concerning the Global South and Indigenous/First Nations people everywhere.
Development in Practice is edited by the Development Studies Association of Australia (DSAA). The DSAA seeks to facilitate collaborations and engagement within and beyond the academy, encouraging contributions from both scholars and practitioners.
DiP particularly welcomes contributions under the following themes:
• Gender, social identities and intersectionality – this includes gender identities, race, caste, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age (youth and older people)
• Indigenous development issues in the Global South and North
• Environment, including resources and biodiversity; climate justice, including adaptation and resilience
• Social protection and vulnerability
• Agriculture, including subsistence agriculture and food systems
• Livelihoods, urbanisation, work
• Development in theory and practice – including development actors, participatory approaches, alternative development approaches, and sustainable development
• Development and migration – forced migration, labour migration, displacement, resettlement, remittances
• Critical approaches to household finance for development and their social impacts, including, remittances and microcredit and savings schemes
• Conflict and peacebuilding
• Communication for development.
Contributions can be made in one of the following forms:
Articles (maximum 6,000-7,000 words inclusive of the abstract and references)
Articles present and discuss findings from a piece of original research. Information about what you must include with your submission can be found on the Instructions for Authors page. Please consult our advice on writing your paper for guidance on how to structure your article and what elements to include, and see our advice on search engine optimisation and using keywords to make your article more discoverable.
Articles are encouraged to consider social relations in their particular research focus, such as gender, disability, socio-economic differences, class, caste, ethnicities, and how intersectionality plays a role in affecting the impacts and experiences.
Viewpoints (3,000 words)
A viewpoint article presents an author’s personal views, supported by evidence, which provide contemporary insights relevant to development practices and processes. Viewpoints include commentaries, interviews, field insights, event analyses, and reviews of recent development books that are written by practitioners, social movement activists, or researchers. Viewpoint articles can map out new directions for research, practice, or policy; they can be propositional, providing new thinking on development topics that is not directly based on the outputs of research projects. All viewpoints are reviewed by the editorial team and are not subject to external review by independent, anonymous referees.
Practice Notes (3,000 words)
The practice note seeks to bridge academia and practice. It aims to provide a space for both applied researchers and practitioner insights to contribute to development practice related issues. There should be several key insights and recommendations. All practice notes are reviewed by the editorial team and are not subject to external review by independent, anonymous referees.
Peer Review Policy: All articles undergo rigorous peer review based on initial screening, usually with suggestions for improvement, by the editorial team and, if found suitable for further consideration, undergo double-anonymous peer review by two independent, expert referees. This process is about quality assurance and ensuring the author/s have an improved chance for publication success and reducing the workload of peer reviewers.
Journal metrics
Usage
- 258K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
- 1.0 (2023) Impact Factor
- 1.4 (2023) 5 year IF
- 2.5 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
- Q2 CiteScore Best Quartile
- 0.645 (2023) SNIP
- 0.351 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
- 3 days avg. from submission to first decision
- 104 days avg. from submission to first post-review decision
- 19 days avg. from acceptance to online publication
- 12% acceptance rate
Understanding and using journal metrics
Journal metrics can be a useful tool for readers, as well as for authors who are deciding where to submit their next manuscript for publication. However, any one metric only tells a part of the story of a journal’s quality and impact. Each metric has its limitations which means that it should never be considered in isolation, and metrics should be used to support and not replace qualitative review.
We strongly recommend that you always use a number of metrics, alongside other qualitative factors such as a journal’s aims & scope, its readership, and a review of past content published in the journal. In addition, a single article should always be assessed on its own merits and never based on the metrics of the journal it was published in.
For more details, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
Journal metrics in brief
Usage and acceptance rate data above are for the last full calendar year and are updated annually in February. Speed data is updated every six months, based on the prior six months. Citation metrics are updated annually mid-year. Please note that some journals do not display all of the following metrics (find out why).
- Usage: the total number of times articles in the journal were viewed by users of Taylor & Francis Online in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest thousand.
Citation Metrics
- Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles published in the journal within a two-year window. Only journals in the Clarivate Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) have an Impact Factor.
- Impact Factor Best Quartile*: the journal’s highest subject category ranking in the Journal Citation Reports. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest Impact Factors.
- 5 Year Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal within a five-year window.
- CiteScore (Scopus)†: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal over a four-year period.
- CiteScore Best Quartile†: the journal’s highest CiteScore ranking in a Scopus subject category. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest CiteScores.
- SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper): the number of citations per paper in the journal, divided by citation potential in the field.
- SJR (Scimago Journal Rank): Average number of (weighted) citations in one year, divided by the number of articles published in the journal in the previous three years.
Speed/acceptance
- From submission to first decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision. Based on manuscripts receiving a first decision in the last six months.
- From submission to first post-review decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision if it is sent out for peer review. Based on manuscripts receiving a post-review first decision in the last six months.
- From acceptance to online publication: the average (median) number of days from acceptance of a manuscript to online publication of the Version of Record. Based on articles published in the last six months.
- Acceptance rate: articles accepted for publication by the journal in the previous calendar year as percentage of all papers receiving a final decision.
For more details on the data above, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
*Copyright: Journal Citation Reports®, Clarivate Analytics
†Copyright: CiteScore™, Scopus
Editorial board
Editor-in-Chief:
Patrick Kilby - Australian National University, Australia Deputy Editors:
Rochelle Spencer - Murdoch University, Australia
Joyce Wu - University of New South Wales, Australia
Managing Editor:
Emily Finlay - Monash University, Australia
Thematic Editors:
Valentina Baú - Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia
James Boafo - Murdoch University, Australia
Annabel Dulhunty - Australian National University, Australia
Nichole Georgeou - School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, Australia
Matthew Mabefam - School of Social and Politics Sciences, Melbourne University, Australia
Jonathan Makuwira - Malawi University of Science and Technology, Thyolo, Malawi
Thomas McNamara - Department of Social inquiry, La Trobe University, Australia
Susanne Schmeidl - University of New South Wales, Australia & Swisspeace, Switzerland
Asima Yanty Siahaan - Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia
Anthony Ware - School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, Australia
Editorial Advisers:
Simplice Asongu -The African Governance and Development Institute, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Joseph K Assan -The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, USA
Joseph G Bock -Bethlehem University Foundation, USA
Charles Buxton - INTRAC, Kyrgyzstan
James Copestake - Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, UK
Andrea Cornwall - SOAS University of London, UK
Anabel Cruz - Director, Instituto de Comunicación y Desarrollo (ICD), Uruguay
Sarah Cummings - Knowledge Ecologists, The Netherlands
Robyn Eversole - Swinburne Business School, Australia
Jonathan Fox - School of International Service, American University, Washington DC, USA
Alan Fowler- University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Irene Guijt - Oxfam Great Britain
John Hailey - City University, London, UK
Suzanne Hammad - Centre for Humanities and Social Studies, Qatar University
Jon Hellin - International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), The Philippines
Jackie Leach Scully - University of New South Wales, Australia
Carl Middleton - Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Gordon Nanau - University of South Pacific, Fiji
Momin Rahman- Trent University, Canada
Muhammad Ahsan Rana - Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
Mark Sidel - University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Rajesh Tandon - PRIA, India
Josephine Uwamariya - Country Director of ActionAid International, Rwanda
Previous Editors-in-Chief
1991-1992 Brian Pratt (Founding Editor) - Oxfam
1992-2010 Deborah Eade - Oxfam
2010-2020 Brian Pratt - INTRAC
Abstracting and indexing
Development in Practice is currently noted in the following abstract services: Bowker-Saur; CAB International; Cambridge Scientific Abstracts - Illumina, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) and Sociological Abstracts; Current Bibliography on Africa; Development Initiatives; Dialogues pour le Progrès de l’umanité; EBSCO Publishing; Elsevier Geo Abstracts: International Development Abstracts; Hispanic American Periodicals Index; IBSS Online; International Political Science Abstracts; KIT TROPAG/RURAL ODI Index to Development Literature; Multicultural Education Abstracts; Public Affairs Information Service; Women’ Resources International; Zeller Verlag (IBZ / IBR), Scopus; and Index Islamicus.
Open access
Development in Practice is a hybrid open access journal that is part of our Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research.
Why choose open access?
- Increase the discoverability and readership of your article
- Make an impact and reach new readers, not just those with easy access to a research library
- Freely share your work with anyone, anywhere
- Comply with funding mandates and meet the requirements of your institution, employer or funder
- Rigorous peer review for every open access article
Article Publishing Charges (APC)
If you choose to publish open access in this journal you may be asked to pay an Article Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to publish your article at no cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if your institution or research funder has an open access agreement or membership with Taylor & Francis.
Use our APC finder to calculate your article publishing charge
News, offers and calls for papers
News and offers
- Development in Practice Practitioner and Early Career Researcher Prizes
- HDR Prize in Development Studies
- Check out our submission webinar - module 1: submission and evaluation
- Check out our submission webinar - module 2: article types
- Check out our submission webinar - module 3: research article structure
- Check out our submission webinar - module 4: the peer review process
8 issues per year
Development in Practice
Guidelines for Special Issue Guest Editors
These guidelines explain the role of Guest Editors of Special Issues to be published by Development in Practice and provide information about the ways in which the DiP Editorial Team works with Guest Editors.
In general, the Guest Editor(s) will be responsible for developing the Special Issue and managing the peer review process with assistance from the Editorial Team, who will act as ghost editors for the issue. While Guest Editors have control over who is invited to contribute to the issue and can recommend papers for publication, the final decision to publish rests with the journal’s Editor in Chief.
Special Issue Process
Development in Practice publishes academic articles (which are double-masked peer reviewed and roughly 6,000 to 7,000 words long, or 10,000 words for feature articles). However, we also publish viewpoints and practice notes, which are not subject to external peer review. These are reviewed internally and provide a space for opinion pieces, 'mini-studies', or observations on practice that do not fit the criteria for academic articles. More information about these forms can be found here.
Standard issues are 11 articles long (usually roughly eight or nine academic articles and a couple of viewpoints/practice notes), but we have the capacity to be flexible with length and can also accommodate bumper or double issues. DiP has a standardised and automated submission process, which makes the task of handling and processing submissions easier. We offer ongoing editorial support throughout the development and production of the issue and we can be flexible with deadlines as needed. Special issues are usually published on a first-come, first-served basis, so your issue can be published as soon as it is ready, without being subject to inflexible deadlines. Articles are also published individually, once accepted, before the issue comes out (with a doi and tagged as part of the forthcoming special issue, which is collated and published as a whole once all articles have been accepted).
To propose a special issue, please contact the Editor on [email protected].
Guest Editor Responsibilities and Ethics
Peer Review: Peer review must be double-masked, which means that the author must remain anonymous to the reviewers at all times in the review process (if authors do cite themselves they should just put ‘author’ and omit their article[s] from the reference list). Reviewers with a conflict of interest are unable to participate in the review process. For this reason, we ask that the Guest Editors avoid inviting reviewers from within their, or the authors’, organisation or institution. Should Guest Editors have difficulty locating impartial reviewers, the Editorial Team will be happy to assist.
Editorial Conflict of Interest: All potential conflicts of interest between the Guest Editors and the submitting authors must be declared, even should the Guest Editor may assume that they are minimal and unlikely to affect the review process. Where a conflict of interest arises, a member of the DiP Editorial Team will act as the handling editor for the manuscript in question.
Competing Interests: Similarly, all potentially competing interests that may affect the publication of the Special Issue should be declared to the DiP Editorial Team before the commencement of the review process.
Citation: The Guest Editor must not ask authors to include references to their own work, their associate’s work, or to journals or other publications that they may be affiliated with for the purpose of increasing citations.
Originality: All submissions will be run through Taylor & Francis’ Similarity Checker, a version of Turnitin, to ensure that material is original before it is sent for review.
Quality Control: All submissions are subject to an initial screening by the Editorial Team (as “ghost editors”) before being sent for review. On consultation with the Guest Editors, the Editorial Team may request preliminary changes, usually to do with structure, before agreeing to send an article for review.
AI Use: Development in Practice does not accept submissions for which AI tools are listed as an author. Authors must, however, acknowledge all sources and contributors included in their work. Where AI tools are used, such use must be acknowledged and documented appropriately. For more information, see Taylor & Francis’ statement on AI use.
As a Taylor & Francis publication, Development in Practice adheres to the guidelines provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). You can read more about Ethics for Journal Editors here.
Guest Editor Duties
• To develop the issue theme, title, abstract, and keywords to introduce the issue to authors and readers.
• To create a list of potential contributors (this can be done either by commission or by creating a call for papers, with which the DiP Editorial Team can assist).
• To act as handling editor (or “Deputy Editor” on ScholarOne) for the review process. This involves locating and inviting reviewers and ensuring that each manuscript has at least two masked reviewers within the agreed timeframe.
• Chasing late submissions and reviews.
• Keeping records of how many submissions have been received, sent for review, returned, published, etc., and liaising with DiP’s Editorial Manager about the progress of the issue. This may be done using a shared spreadsheet.
• Recommending publication (or otherwise) as appropriate post-review.
• Promoting the Special Issue at conferences, to relevant networks, and on social media.
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