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The Review

The Georgetown Security Studies Review, or simply “the Review,” is a bi-annual publication of formal academic papers edited by a peer-review process. The mission of the Review is to contribute to foreign policy debate by exposing readers to a wide array of perspectives on both current and historical international affairs issues.

All articles in the Review are peer-reviewed and edited by members of the GSSR Editorial Board and staff. In addition to full-length peer-reviewed articles, each issue of the Review can include literature reviews, letters to and from the editors, and op-ed pieces. Articles must not simply be extended class essays. Submissions that do not adhere to the below guidelines will not be considered for peer review.

Submission Guidelines

• Grounded in existing literature, articles must outline a testable thesis and/or a precise methodology to justify their claims.
• Article submissions should be between 3,000 and 10,000 words. Book and article reviews should range from 1,000 to 3,000 words and contain a concise summary of the book or article examined and an analysis of the work’s strengths and/or weaknesses.
• Articles must use Chicago-style endnotes. Please find an overview of sample citations according to the Chicago Manual of Style here. We strongly encourage the use of citation software such as Zotero to ensure compliance with the Chicago Manual of Style. When using online citation generators, please verify the formatting.
• Articles must include an abstract of less than 500 words.
• Articles must be original, unpublished work and cannot be in consideration by any other publication.
• The use of Artificial Intelligence for articles is not permitted. Articles may be removed from the publication process if the use of AI is detected, even if they had previously been approved for publication.

Publication Schedule

The GSSR accepts submissions to the Review on a rolling basis. However, all submissions must be received by the deadline to be considered for the next volume; the Editor-in-Chief announces the deadlines for Review submissions each semester via email to SSP students and publicly on the GSSR website and associated social media.

All submissions selected for publication will be anonymously peer-reviewed by several independent peer-reviewers, edited, and subsequently approved by author(s) before final publication. The GSSR uses a blind editing and peer-review process where only the Editor-in-Chief and their Deputy will know the author’s name until publication.

Authors should expect to receive notification about whether their submission has been accepted roughly three to four weeks after the submission deadline. The editing process may take several weeks, with various drafts sent back and forth between the author and the editor.

Forum Submissions

Authors may pitch ad-hoc submissions to the Forum. This opportunity is open to current and former students of the Security Studies Program, other graduate programs at Georgetown University, as well as faculty. Under special circumstances, GSSR may publish work by authors not associated with Georgetown University. We strongly encourage graduate students, especially in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, to submit their work.

Submissions to the Forum should be columns between 1.200 and 2.000 words and contain a clearly discernable thesis or argument, supported with evidence, not only a mere summary of events. GSSR strives for in-depth analysis, which should be reflected in ad-hoc submissions. The submission should pertain to issue areas covered by GSSR; the geographic and topical sub-categories may serve as guideposts for suitable topics. The editorial staff strongly recommends using previously published columns as reference.