Tips for Creating Articles
Our Purpose
The Public Manager is a unique, independent, and nonpartisan quarterly
journal about federal government leadership that works. Produced in print and electronic
format with related podcasts, blogs, and events, it communicates best practices,
innovations and techniques for learning at all levels of government.
Every issue of The Public Manager discusses pivotal concerns of federal
senior executives and middle managers. In addition to offering information,
The Public Manager seeks to foster community so that current, former and
future managers can share their innovative ideas, practical applications
for new technologies, and management successes. Regular topics include performance
management, collaboration, accounting and budgeting, human capital management,
financial, talent and knowledge management, learning, citizen engagement and
transparency, strategic planning and other critical areas of public service.
The Public Manager is affiliated with good government groups such as the
Partnership for Public Service, GovLoop and Young Government Leaders, the Graduate School,
the American Society for Public Administration, and others. It is published by The
Bureaucrat Inc., a not-for-profit organization owned by ASTD that is chartered and devoted
to furthering knowledge and best practice in government. The Bureaucrat, Inc. maintains
its own corporate officer and Board of Director structure.
Our Audience
The Public Manager’s contributors write for a largely federal audience but they seek to
foster community and collaboration at all levels of government. The journal also seeks
to empower current and future managers―including researchers and contractors―to do the
job of serving the nation.
Additionally The Public Manager seeks articles that focus on the practical, rather than
the theoretical, and on a writer’s experiences or observations. Welcome are articles on
new ideas, new books, and innovations, but not reviews of current academic literature.
Articles should discuss applications, solutions, and tested tools—not simply challenges,
problems, and the public sector’s failure to accomplish much on the matter.
Readers should finish each issue with one or more takeaways—new perspectives and
techniques for better job performance, a better understanding of issues facing
the public management community, and a leg up on how these issues can and are
being addressed successfully by pioneers in the field. Currently, we reach more
than 40,000 subscribers worldwide.
Article Submission Accessories
Summary
Please prepare a summary of approximately 50 to 100 words, suitable for posting on The
Public Manager website. We reserve the right to change this, but it will help define each
article’s main idea, and we might put it in our editorial calendar or other promotional
material before the article is published.
Bio
Authors should provide a biography with a two-sentence synopsis, including current
position/title and an email address. Websites or twitter IDs are welcome in
addition to the email address.
Sources
Please use comments in the margins with track changes to supply sources of key
factual information supporting your assertions. URLs to your favorite resources are welcome
as the e-dition has hyperlinks.
Illustrations
Authors are encouraged to send high resolution graphics (at least 300 dpi)
and photo-art in jpg, tiff, or gif formats in separate files. Please also send
data to be presented in a Microsoft Word file. Our creative team will reproduce
submitted art in our palette.
Reprints/Copies
Authors may receive up to two free copies of the journal issue; additional copies are available
at a 50 percent discount to normal prices. Please include a mailing address with the article
submission.
If you have questions or would like to place a reprint order, please contact
Brittany Banasik at
reprints@thepublicmanager.org.
Copyright
Authors are asked to transfer copyrights to The Public Manager but can request from our
publisher the rights to publish their work ontheir employer’s web site. Authors must sign and
return our Copyright Transfer Agreement form electronically or via fax or mail to the publisher.
This form must be received within two weeks after hearing from the Editor that the article has
been approved for publication. Please email the completed form to Jamie Garubba
at jgarubba@astd.org or send it to the following address:
Jamie Garubba
The Public Manager/ASTD
1640 King Street, Box 1443
Alexandria, VA 22313-1443 USA
Download Copyright Form Here
Editorial Criteria
Our review process is based on the following points:
Original Perspective―Is the angle new and related to current concerns, but grounded in experience,
offering information and best practices not widely known? Are the ideas supported and brought
together into a readable, cohesive body of work?
Audience appeal―Will the article capture and retain readers’ interest even if the topic is outside
their professional expertise? Does it provide information useful to our audience of largely federal
public managers? Does it provide implementation guidance or increase the reader’s business acumen?
Every quarter, the entire journal is published on the website and accessible to our subscribers in
electronic format. We publish the entire text of select articles on the website. The Editor may choose
to electronically publish articles that are timely or related to a topic presented in a recent issue
if they do not fit into an upcoming print issue due to previous commitments to other author. The Editor
will advise authors of the journal’s decision regarding an article’s disposition, but if an author has
a publication timing preference due to an expected clearance arrangement, event, or book publication,
the Editor will take that into consideration. Additionally authors or experts may have the opportunity
to be selected for podcast interviews by phone or in person with our Editor or Editor-at-large.
Length
We can publish different length stories depending upon the topic and author experience. Column-length
articles of roughly 1,500 words are preferred for the People,
Budgets, Technology and Learning journal departments. We will entertain proposals for commentary (1,500 words) and
book reviews (1,200 words) as well. Additionally, we welcome suggestions for the
quarterly Visionaries page featuring leading, award-winning federal government
employees and the journal's Exchange interview guest.
The ideal length for a single feature article is 2,500 words, including two graphics or two 300 word
sidebars or a combination of both. The editor may arrange exceptions (shorter or longer) where warranted.
Three featured articles are promoted on the magazine cover.arrange exceptions (shorter or longer) where warranted.
Three featured articles are promoted on the magazine cover.
Some multi-part issues forums may include articles of a shorter length such as 1,100 words including a
featured quote. On occasion, much longer articles are divided into a two-part series and published in
separate issues or a part of an article may be made into a blog post of 300 to 500 words.
Style
Articles should be crisp, clear, and plain-speaking. We do not publish dissertations, press releases,
technology promotions or internal reports. We use the Chicago Manual of Style. Please keep abbreviation
use to a minimum and avoid the passive voice when possible. Suggested titles should be six words or less.
We incorporate first- and second-level headings with at least one per article page. We do not use
footnotes; instead, we include up to five end note references including websites that we may liSourced tables, graphs, etc., must be included in conventional electronic form. We edit accepted
submissions and may make non-substantive changes―often to improve readability―before sending to the
printer. Where necessary, the Editor will discuss proposed substantive changes with the author or
forum/series Editor (as time allows). It is also possible that a fact-checking Editor may contact the
author with questions.
Peer Review
For those requiring formal peer review of an article (solicited or unsolicited)—particularly from the
academic community—the Editor at Large can arrange a double blind review by members of the journal’s
Board of Editors or others with related expertise on the topic. Please notify the
Editor of this
requirement when the article is submitted to allow sufficient lead time for the review. Also, the
Editor may pass along comments by reviewers back to the author in an attempt to add clarification
prior to publishing the article. This process may also delay the publication date.
Unsolicited Articles
While the Editors solicit most articles, we welcome unsolicited stories, reports, profiles, or
manuscripts that meet our guidelines. Delays in publication of unsolicited articles are sometimes
unavoidable due to previous commitments to other authors. If you are interested in submitting an
article, please contact the Editor via the link below or use the Submission form.
Submission Deadlines
| Issue |
|
Submission to Editor |
|
|
| Spring |
|
January 2 |
|
|
| Summer |
|
March 25 |
|
|
| Fall |
|
June 22 |
|
|
| Winter
| |
September 6 |
|
|
Submission of Manuscript
For submissions and questions about editorial policy, please contact Ilyse Veron, Editor. She can be reached at
iveron@astd.org or 703-683-9212.
Other Guidelines
Click here for Network Case Study guidelines.
Click here for Whitepaper guidelines.