Instructions for authors
- SUITABILITY OF MANUSCRIPTS FOR PUBLICATION
Strategos publishes manuscripts that fall within the conceptual scope of the journal and meet the criteria required for publication. The final decision on suitability rests with the Editor-in-Chief, acting upon the recommendation of the Editorial Board. Manuscripts that have been previously published or are currently under review by another journal will not be considered for publication.
Manuscripts are accepted in standard Croatian and British English. Manuscripts written in Croatian must also include an abstract in English. Likewise, manuscripts written in English must include an abstract in Croatian as well.
1.1. Peer Review Procedure
All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial assessment. Manuscripts considered suitable by the Editorial Board — that is, those meeting the basic criteria for an original scientific paper, preliminary communication, review scientific paper, or professional paper — will be subject to a double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers.
Other contributions, such as book reviews, essays, commentaries and conference reports, are subject only to editorial review.
Authors will be informed of the outcome of the review process within eight weeks.
1.2. Clarity and Readability
Strategos is an interdisciplinary journal. Manuscripts should therefore be written clearly and be comprehensible to readers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Any specialised terminology should be explained concisely.
- FORMATTING, REFERENCING AND SUBMISSION
2.1. Text Formatting
Submitted manuscripts — including abstracts, notes, references, tables, and figures — must not exceed 20 author’s sheets (36,000 characters including spaces). Exceptionally, longer manuscripts may be accepted at the discretion of the Editorial Board.
Manuscripts should be prepared in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 1.5-line spacing. All graphical elements included in the manuscript must also be submitted as separate files. The resolution of all graphical materials must be at least 300 dpi.
The header of the manuscript must include the author’s details (full name, academic title, institutional affiliation, department or chair, full institutional address, and e-mail address). Beneath the header, the manuscript must present the title and abstract in the language of the manuscript, followed by up to six keywords. At the end of the manuscript, a translated title, abstract, and keywords must be provided in the other language.
All scientific articles must include the title, abstract, and keywords in both English and Croatian. For other categories of contributions, a translated title in the second language must be provided at the end of the manuscript.
Footnotes should be used sparingly and only for supplementary explanations of the main text; they must not be used for referencing.
2.2 Referencing and Bibliography
In-text citations must be consistent and comply with the following rules:
- Cited sources should appear in abbreviated form within the text, for example: (Davutoğlu, 2001).
- In the case of two authors: (Pavić and Beriša, 2025).
- In the case of three or more authors: (Tatalović et al., 2008).
A full list of references must be provided at the end of the manuscript in alphabetical order, in accordance with the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines.
Examples:
Book:
Perica, V. (2002). Balkan idols: Religion and nationalism in Yugoslav states. Oxford University Press.
Journal article:
Kubicek, P. (2013). Energy politics and geopolitical competition in the Caspian Basin. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 4(2), 171-180.
Chapter in an edited volume:
Brix, E. (2016). The state of Austrian foreign and security policy in times of geopolitical change. In G. Bischof & F. Karlhofer (Eds.), Austrian studies today (239-247). University of New Orleans Press.
Online source:
Decker, A. (2024). Ukraine’s cheap sensors are helping troops fight off waves of Russian drones. Defense One. https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2024/07/ukraines-cheap-sensors-are-helping-troops-fight-waves-russian-drones/398204/
Manuscripts that significantly deviate from these citation guidelines will be returned to the author for revision before being sent for peer review. Authors are responsible for the technical accuracy, orthography, and stylistic quality of their manuscripts.
2.3. Submission of Manuscripts
Manuscripts must be submitted in .doc or .docx format to the Editor-in-Chief or the Executive Editor of Strategos, via the e-mail addresses provided on the journal’s official website.
- CODE OF ETHICS
The opinions and views expressed in published articles are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the official positions of any institution.
The Editorial Board will take appropriate measures to identify and prevent the publication of manuscripts in which breaches of professional standards or research misconduct have occurred, including, but not limited to, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, citation manipulation, and the presentation of inaccurate or falsified data. Should the Editorial Board become aware of any allegations of professional misconduct or research malpractice concerning a published article, it will act in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).[1]
Members of the Editorial Board and reviewers of Strategos are obliged to treat all submitted manuscripts as confidential.
- OPEN ACCESS POLICY
Strategos is committed to genuine and immediate open access to academic research. All published articles are freely accessible upon publication. Authors are not charged any publication fees, and readers may access, download, and use articles for personal scholarly purposes at no cost.
To support this model, Strategos relies on the financial framework of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia, the voluntary engagement of the Editorial and Advisory Boards, and the continued support of its network of reviewers.
[1] Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Code of Conduct. Retrieved from https://publicationethics.org/membership/code-of-conduct