Submission Checklist | Global Governance Systems Review

Before submitting a manuscript to Global Governance Systems Review (GGSR), authors should confirm that the submission satisfies the requirements below. Completion of this checklist does not guarantee external peer review or acceptance, but helps ensure that the manuscript is ready for editorial and technical assessment.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the submitted manuscript, authorship information, declarations, and supporting files.

1. Journal Scope and Article Type

☐ The manuscript falls within the Aims & Scope of Global Governance Systems Review.
☐ Governance systems, public institutions, public administration, public policy, institutional change, or a closely related governance question forms a substantive part of the manuscript.
☐ The manuscript makes an identifiable scholarly contribution rather than providing only a descriptive account of a country, institution, policy, or administrative practice.
☐ For a single-country, single-jurisdiction, or single-institution study, the manuscript explains its broader theoretical, comparative, institutional, methodological, or policy significance.
☐ The most appropriate GGSR Article Type has been selected.
☐ The manuscript length is broadly consistent with the guidance for the selected article type, or a reasonable scholarly justification exists for a substantially different length.

2. Originality and Submission Status

☐ The manuscript represents original scholarly work.
☐ The manuscript is not currently under consideration by another journal.
☐ The manuscript has not previously been published in substantially the same form, except for forms of prior dissemination permitted by GGSR policy.
☐ Any relevant preprint, working paper, conference paper, thesis, dissertation, institutional report, or previous version has been disclosed where applicable.
☐ Material derived from the authors' previous publications has been appropriately cited and has not been reproduced in a manner that constitutes inappropriate redundant publication or text recycling.
☐ All sources, ideas, data, figures, tables, and text originating from other works have been appropriately acknowledged.

3. Author Approval and Authorship

☐ All listed authors have made contributions sufficient to justify authorship.
☐ All authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript submitted to GGSR.
☐ All authors have agreed to the authorship order.
☐ All authors are aware that the manuscript has been submitted to GGSR.
☐ No individual who qualifies for authorship has been omitted.
☐ No honorary, guest, or inappropriate author has been included.
☐ The corresponding author has authority to communicate with the journal on behalf of all authors concerning the submission.
☐ An Author Contributions statement has been prepared where applicable, preferably using the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy.

4. Author Information and Metadata

☐ The full names of all authors have been entered accurately in the submission system.
☐ Author order in the submission system matches the intended publication order.
☐ Institutional affiliations are complete and accurate.
☐ Department, school, faculty, institute, or other organizational units have been provided where appropriate.
☐ City and country or region information has been provided accurately for each affiliation.
☐ A corresponding author has been clearly identified.
☐ The corresponding author's email address is current and monitored regularly.
☐ ORCID iDs have been supplied where available and belong to the correct authors.
☐ The title, abstract, keywords, author information, and other metadata entered into OJS correspond to the manuscript and supporting files.

5. Double-Anonymous Peer Review

☐ The main manuscript has been prepared for double-anonymous peer review.
☐ Author names have been removed from the review manuscript.
☐ Institutional affiliations have been removed from the review manuscript.
☐ Email addresses and ORCID identifiers have been removed from the review manuscript.
☐ Author biographies and other directly identifying information have been removed.
☐ Identifying acknowledgements have been removed temporarily where necessary.
☐ File names do not contain author names or other unnecessary identifying information.
☐ Document properties and metadata have been checked and identifying author information removed where practical.
☐ Self-citations are written neutrally and in the third person rather than unnecessarily identifying the authors.
☐ Any temporarily anonymized information can be restored if the manuscript is accepted.

6. Manuscript File

☐ The main manuscript has been submitted in an editable file format, preferably .doc or .docx.
☐ The manuscript is complete and not missing sections, tables, figures, references, appendices, or required declarations.
☐ The document uses a clear and readable academic format.
☐ Page numbering is included.
☐ Heading levels are used consistently.
☐ Paragraph, terminology, capitalization, abbreviations, and spelling conventions are internally consistent.
☐ Either British or American English is used consistently throughout the manuscript.
☐ Track Changes, comments, hidden text, unresolved editing notes, and internal author communications have been removed unless specifically required for a revision.

7. Title, Abstract, and Keywords

☐ The article title is concise, informative, and accurately reflects the research.
☐ The title avoids unsupported claims, unnecessary abbreviations, promotional language, and exaggerated statements of novelty.
☐ An abstract of approximately 150–250 words has been provided for article types requiring an abstract.
☐ The abstract identifies the research problem or objective.
☐ The abstract briefly identifies the methodological or analytical approach where applicable.
☐ The abstract summarizes the principal findings, argument, or conclusions.
☐ The abstract explains the main scholarly contribution or implications.
☐ The abstract does not contain unsupported claims or unnecessary references.
☐ Approximately 4–8 keywords have been supplied.
☐ Keywords accurately describe the principal concepts, methods, governance contexts, or areas of research.

8. Research Design and Methods

☐ The research question, objective, or central argument is clearly identifiable.
☐ The manuscript engages appropriately with relevant scholarly literature.
☐ The theoretical or conceptual framework is explained where applicable.
☐ The research design is appropriate to the question being investigated.
☐ Data sources, sampling, case selection, measurement, analytical procedures, or other methodological choices are described with sufficient transparency.
☐ Limitations relevant to interpretation of the findings are acknowledged.
☐ Causal claims, where made, are supported by an appropriate research design.
☐ Conclusions do not exceed what can reasonably be supported by the evidence.

9. Quantitative and Computational Research

If applicable:

☐ Sample sizes and relevant descriptive information are reported.
☐ Variable definitions and operationalization are sufficiently explained.
☐ Model specifications and analytical procedures are described clearly.
☐ Appropriate effect estimates, uncertainty measures, confidence intervals, statistical tests, or equivalent information are reported.
☐ Statistical significance is not used as a substitute for substantive interpretation.
☐ Software, packages, algorithms, or computational environments important to the analysis are identified where appropriate.
☐ Robustness, sensitivity, diagnostic, or validation procedures are reported where relevant.

10. Qualitative and Comparative Research

If applicable:

☐ Case, participant, document, interview, or source selection is explained.
☐ Data collection procedures are described sufficiently.
☐ Coding, interpretation, thematic analysis, process tracing, comparative analysis, or other analytical procedures are explained.
☐ The manuscript provides sufficient evidence to support its interpretations.
☐ Comparative studies explain why the selected cases or jurisdictions are suitable for comparison.
☐ Comparative manuscripts go beyond parallel description and generate meaningful analytical or theoretical insight.

11. Tables and Figures

☐ All tables and figures are numbered consecutively.
☐ Every table and figure is cited in the main text.
☐ Every table has an informative title.
☐ Every figure has an informative caption.
☐ Abbreviations, statistical notation, symbols, and sources are explained where necessary.
☐ Tables are editable where practical rather than supplied only as images.
☐ Figures are legible and of sufficient resolution for scholarly evaluation.
☐ Tables and figures do not unnecessarily duplicate information already presented in the text.
☐ Visual material remains understandable without depending exclusively on colour where practical.
☐ Third-party figures, tables, maps, photographs, or other visual materials have appropriate attribution and permissions where required.

12. Citations and References

☐ Citations and references conform substantially to APA Style, 7th edition.
☐ Every work cited in the text appears in the reference list.
☐ Every work appearing in the reference list is cited in the manuscript.
☐ Author names, titles, dates, journal titles, volumes, issues, page ranges, article numbers, and other bibliographic information have been checked for accuracy.
☐ DOI information has been included where available.
☐ DOIs are presented in the standard https://doi.org/... format.
☐ References have been verified against reliable or original sources rather than accepted solely from reference-management software or AI-generated output.
☐ The reference list does not contain fabricated or unverifiable sources.
☐ Citations are relevant to the manuscript and have not been added primarily to increase citation counts for particular authors, journals, editors, institutions, or publishers.
☐ Self-citation is proportionate and academically relevant.

13. Research Ethics

If the research involved human participants, personal data, surveys, interviews, experiments, sensitive information, or other activities requiring ethical oversight:

☐ Applicable institutional and legal ethical requirements have been followed.
☐ Ethical approval has been obtained where required.
☐ The approving ethics committee, institutional review board, or equivalent body is identified where appropriate.
☐ The approval or protocol number is provided where applicable.
☐ Any exemption from formal ethical review can be justified if requested by the journal.
☐ Informed consent was obtained where required.
☐ Additional consent for publication of identifiable information was obtained where necessary.
☐ Confidentiality and anonymization measures are appropriate to the research.

14. Data Availability

For empirical research:

☐ A Data Availability Statement has been included.
☐ The statement accurately describes whether supporting data are openly available, available upon reasonable request, restricted, proprietary, confidential, ethically protected, or otherwise unavailable.
☐ Repository names, identifiers, accession numbers, or persistent links are provided where relevant.
☐ Data have not been made publicly available where doing so would violate privacy, informed consent, confidentiality, legal requirements, contractual restrictions, or legitimate third-party rights.
☐ Supporting code, documentation, or other research materials have been provided or described where appropriate and legally permissible.

15. Funding

☐ All relevant sources of financial support have been disclosed.
☐ Funder names are stated accurately.
☐ Grant or project numbers have been provided where applicable.
☐ The role of the funder in research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or submission has been disclosed where relevant.
☐ If no external funding was received, an appropriate statement has been provided where required.

16. Competing Interests

☐ All financial, professional, academic, institutional, personal, or other interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research have been disclosed.
☐ A Competing Interests statement has been included.
☐ If no competing interests exist, this has been stated explicitly.

A suitable statement where no relevant interests exist is:

The authors declare no competing interests.

17. Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Technologies

☐ No artificial intelligence system, chatbot, large language model, or other automated tool has been listed as an author.
☐ The authors accept full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, analysis, references, conclusions, and integrity of the manuscript.
☐ Material use of generative AI or AI-assisted technology has been disclosed where required by GGSR policy.
☐ Any AI-assisted drafting, translation, coding, analysis, literature synthesis, image generation, or data processing has been independently checked by the authors.
☐ References and factual claims generated or suggested by AI systems have been independently verified against reliable sources.
☐ Confidential, personal, restricted, or unpublished research information has not been improperly disclosed to external AI services.

18. Copyright, Permissions, and Third-Party Material

☐ The authors have the right to submit all material contained in the manuscript.
☐ Permission has been obtained where required for copyrighted third-party material.
☐ Permissions cover publication under the intended publishing and licensing conditions where necessary.
☐ Material excluded from the article's Creative Commons licence is clearly identified where applicable.
☐ Proprietary questionnaires, scales, assessment instruments, datasets, figures, maps, photographs, or other materials have been used in accordance with applicable rights and permissions.

19. Open Access and Licensing

☐ The authors have reviewed the journal's Open Access policy.
☐ The authors understand that GGSR publishes scholarly articles under the applicable open-access licence.
☐ Unless otherwise expressly stated, the applicable licence is the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).
☐ The authors have reviewed the journal's Copyright & Licensing policy and understand the rights and responsibilities associated with open-access publication.

20. Article Processing Charges

☐ The corresponding author has reviewed the current Article Processing Charges policy before submission.
☐ The authors understand any applicable APC, waiver, discount, or other author-facing charge.
☐ The authors understand that payment does not guarantee peer review, acceptance, favourable treatment, or publication.
☐ The authors understand that editorial decisions are independent of their ability to pay any applicable publication charge.

21. Preprints and Previous Dissemination

If applicable:

☐ Relevant preprints or previous manuscript versions have been disclosed.
☐ The preprint or previous version is compatible with GGSR's prior-dissemination policy.
☐ Persistent identifiers or links have been supplied where appropriate.
☐ The submitted manuscript is not an undisclosed duplicate of previously published material.

22. Supplementary Materials

If supplementary files are included:

☐ Supplementary materials are directly relevant to the manuscript.
☐ Supplementary files are clearly named and identified.
☐ Supplementary materials are cited or described in the main manuscript where appropriate.
☐ Files have been checked for confidential, personal, copyrighted, or identifying information.
☐ Supplementary material has been anonymized where necessary for double-anonymous peer review.
☐ The authors possess the necessary rights to publish or share the supplementary material.

23. Special Issue Submissions

If the manuscript is intended for a Special Issue or Thematic Collection:

☐ The submission falls within both the scope of GGSR and the specific theme of the collection.
☐ The appropriate Special Issue or collection has been identified during submission where required.
☐ The manuscript satisfies the same scholarly, ethical, authorship, and research-integrity requirements applicable to regular GGSR submissions.
☐ Any relevant relationship with a Guest Editor has been disclosed as a potential competing interest where necessary.

24. Final File Check

Before completing the submission, the corresponding author should open every uploaded file and verify that:

☐ the correct and most recent manuscript version has been uploaded;
☐ no file is corrupted or incomplete;
☐ the anonymous manuscript contains no unnecessary author identification;
☐ the title page or author-information file is uploaded separately where required;
☐ all supplementary files are present;
☐ tables and figures display correctly;
☐ no internal comments, tracked changes, editing notes, or confidential correspondence remain in the manuscript;
☐ file names are clear and appropriate; and
☐ no duplicate or obsolete files have been uploaded unintentionally.

25. Final Submission-System Check

Before selecting the final submission command in OJS, the corresponding author should verify that:

☐ the correct article type has been selected;
☐ the manuscript title is accurate;
☐ the abstract is complete;
☐ keywords have been entered;
☐ all authors have been added;
☐ author order is correct;
☐ affiliations are correct;
☐ the corresponding author is correctly identified;
☐ ORCID information is correct where supplied;
☐ funding information has been entered where requested;
☐ relevant declarations have been provided;
☐ all required files have been uploaded; and
☐ all authors have approved submission of the manuscript to GGSR.

26. Author Confirmation

By submitting a manuscript to Global Governance Systems Review, the corresponding author confirms, on behalf of all authors where applicable, that:

the submission is made in good faith;
the authorship information is accurate;
the manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere;
the authors have disclosed relevant ethical, financial, and competing-interest information;
the authors have complied with applicable copyright and permissions requirements;
all authors accept responsibility for the integrity of the work; and
the submission is subject to the editorial policies and procedures of GGSR.

Incomplete submissions or submissions that do not satisfy essential technical, ethical, or editorial requirements may be returned to the authors for correction before substantive editorial assessment.

27. Need Assistance?

Authors who are uncertain about a technical submission requirement may contact the Global Governance Systems Review Editorial Office through the journal's official contact channels.

For an active submission, authors should include the manuscript identification number in correspondence wherever available.