Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Submission Guidelines

International Security

To submit a manuscript to International Security (IS), log on to Editorial Manager, an online submission management system used by more than 6,000 journals. You can access the site at http://www.editorialmanager.com/isec.

New users will need to register for an account. Log in as an Author and click Submit New Manuscript. The submission process allows you to select an article type, upload your files, and enter other information associated with your manuscript. If you have any questions or encounter problems, please let us know by clicking “Contact Us” in the main navigation bar.

Guidelines

  • A length of 8,000 to 15,000 words (including footnotes) is appropriate, but the journal will consider and publish longer manuscripts. Authors of manuscripts with more than 16,000 words should consult the journal’s editors before submission.
  • Delete your name or any references that might identify you from the manuscript. IS does not release authors’ names to outside reviewers and, likewise, does not release reviewers’ names to authors.
  • Include a cover letter.
  • For readability, please double-space the text of your submission and use a 12 pt. serif font. Also, please add page numbers.
  • Include a summary of 150 to 200 words.

What Is Appropriate for IS?

IS welcomes submissions on all aspects of security affairs. For perspectives on the scope and research agenda of the field, see Joseph S. Nye and Sean M. Lynn-Jones, “International Security Studies: A Report on a Conference on the State of the Field,” International Security, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Spring 1988), pp. 5-27; and Steven E. Miller, “International Security at Twenty-five: From One World to Another,” International Security, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Summer 2001), pp. 5-39. For additional information on what kinds of manuscripts that International Security is looking for, see Teresa Johnson, “Writing for International Security: A Contributor’s Guide,” International Security, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Fall 1991), pp. 171-180. Authors should not, however, limit themselves to the issues and approaches suggested in these articles.

Before submitting a manuscript to IS or any other journal, look at recent issues to get a sense of the general type of article that the journal publishes. Whenever editors gather to discuss why they reject manuscripts, they agree that the number one reason is that many submissions are inappropriate for their journals.

IS is not looking for short, undocumented papers that consist primarily of opinion and advocacy. Every year we turn away many submissions that fall into this category. We also rarely consider highly technical articles that are unlikely to be accessible to a broad audience.

We are interested in serious analyses of contemporary security policy issues, theoretical and conceptual issues in security studies, and historical questions related to war and peace. We define “security” broadly to include issues related to the causes, conduct, and consequences of wars. The editors rarely decide to seek articles on a particular topic, although from time to time we may look for articles on topics that have not been addressed in recent issues of the journal.

IS publishes articles that fall into four broad categories.

Policy. Analyses of contemporary security policy issues.

Theory. Articles that propose, test, refine, or apply theories of international relations that are relevant to the use, threat, and control of force.

History. Articles that offer new information on or interpretations of historical events.

Technology. Analyses of the scientific and technological dimensions of international security.

Of course, these categories overlap to some extent, but we try to strike a balance among them in selecting articles for publication.

In general, manuscripts are more likely to receive serious consideration if they offer one or more of the following:

Originality. We strongly prefer articles that reach new and interesting conclusions or that offer new information or evidence.

Challenges to the conventional wisdom. Articles that reiterate well known and popular views are less likely to be published than those that challenge the conventional academic or policy wisdom. As one member of the journal's editorial board put it: “If nobody is going to disagree with an article, there’s no reason to publish it.”

Coverage of important topics. In general, we prefer articles that address broad topics of major interest. For example, we are more likely to publish an article on the future of U.S.-European relations or the prospects for peace in the twenty-first century than one on civil-military relations in a small country.

Long shelf life. We prefer articles that are not likely to be overtaken by current events and that will be read with interest for perhaps a decade or more.

Accessibility to a wide audience. IS aims to publish articles that can be read by intelligent nonspecialists as well as by academic experts in a particular field.

Of course, not every article in IS meets these criteria, but those that do are more likely to receive positive external reviews and favorable consideration by the editors.

Publication Timeline

IS is published quarterly. Normally, the process of review and publication takes at least eight months; thus, a manuscript submitted in March would ordinarily not appear before the winter issue. Decisions on manuscripts ordinarily take no more than three to four months; the editing and publication process takes between five and six. When authors are asked to revise, the process may take longer.

How Does the Review Process Work?

One or more editors read each manuscript that IS receives. If the manuscript appears suitable for the journal, it is sent to two or three external reviewers.

The review process is doubly blind: the author should remove all identifying references from the manuscript before submission, and we provide anonymous comments to the author when the review is returned. Reviews are only sent to authors when they offer useful and constructive comments.

Manuscripts that receive positive external reviews are circulated to all of the journal’s editors (Steven Miller, Jacqueline Hazelton, Amanda Pearson, and Monica Achen), who then select those that will be published from this short list of leading contenders. We repeat this process for each issue; few articles are accepted and then held over as part of a backlog for publication in a future issue. This policy ensures that we accept only the very best of each group of leading contenders and that we have flexibility to publish articles rapidly.

In some cases, we ask an author to revise and resubmit an article without making a commitment to publish it. We often accept such revised manuscripts, but several are rejected each year. On a case-by-case basis, we decide whether to circulate revised submissions to the external reviewers or only to the journal’s editors.

Policy on Simultaneous Submissions

IS does not object to simultaneous submission of manuscripts to other publications, but we do ask to be informed if a manuscript is under consideration at another journal. We have adopted this policy because we realize that authors often are under pressure to publish quickly and we often take several months to reach a decision.

Policy on Previous Publication

If a manuscript has been published previously or will appear elsewhere soon, its chances of acceptance by IS will probably be reduced. Such issues, however, are handled on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the importance of the topic, the quality of the work, and the attention that it will receive in another publication.

How Often May Authors Publish in IS?

IS has a policy of not publishing any author more than once a year. We occasionally may make exceptions for coauthored articles. This rule does not apply to correspondence submissions.

Simultaneous Submissions to IS

IS generally prefers only one submission per author at any given time. The editors will occasionally consider simultaneous submissions, but if two or more articles by the same author are accepted, publication of the additional article(s) will be deferred for at least a year.

Correspondence

International Security welcomes correspondence on articles published in the journal. We cannot publish every letter we receive, but we believe that exchanges between article authors and their critics can be interesting and informative. The journal’s policy is to offer article authors the opportunity to respond to each letter in the issue in which the letter is published. Letters should be no more than 1,000 words long. The journal attempts to publish letters within a year of the publication of the article to which they respond. Letters should be submitted as soon as possible after publication of an article.

Book Review Essays

We solicit most of the book review essays in IS. If you want to write a book review essay, please contact us and we will let you know if we are interested. We sometimes receive unsolicited book review essays, and they pass through the normal review process.

How to Propose an Article

If you have a manuscript that you would like to submit to IS but you are unsure whether it is “right” for the journal, email us to ask whether we are interested. Please send a summary of the paper and a description of its length, methods, etc.

Please bear in mind that it is impossible to evaluate manuscripts that we have not seen, but we can tell you whether, for example, we have just accepted another article on the same topic. We can also assess whether the topic and approach are suitable for IS and whether the editors might have a particular interest in considering your paper.

Using Editorial Manager

Item Type Definitions

A cover letter and manuscript file are required. Items will display in the system-built PDF in the order listed.

Cover Letter: Comments intended for the editor only. This file will not be available to the reviewers.

Manuscript (no author ID information): The manuscript should be fully anonymized. Page numbers should be included.

Supplemental Files (online-only): Content such as a dataset or additional methodology that is not part of the main text and is intended to appear as an online-only appendix through Harvard’s Dataverse. Any files uploaded as supplemental material must be fully anonymized. If any of the files are Word documents, save duplicate versions and then remove any hidden data and personal information. This can be done in Word 2016 by clicking on File > Check for Issues > Inspect Document. Select all checkboxes in the following window and click Inspect. When the results display, click Remove All, and save the file.

Figure: Figures uploaded in source file format, if separate from manuscript.

Table: Tables uploaded in source file format, if separate from manuscript.

Response to Reviewer Comments: Point-by-point replies to the individual reviewer and editor comments. This file is available to reviewers and editors and should be fully anonymized.

Additional Material for Reviewers: Any material for the benefit of reviewers that is not intended to be considered for publication. In the case of revision, you may upload a version of your manuscript highlighting changes from the previous version with this item type.

Uploading a Revision

To submit a revision for an existing manuscript record, authors should click on the Submissions Needing Revision queue and use the Revise Submission action link. Do not include the original cover letter and manuscript in the revised submission. Upload your revised files and proceed through the submission steps.

Avoiding Spam Filters

To ensure that you receive messages sent through Editorial Manager, we recommend that you add em@editorialmanager.com to the safe/secure senders list in your email client. Entering a second e-mail address (such as a personal account not associated with your university, institution or organization) also decreases the chance that spam filters will trap e-mails sent to you from online systems. In Outlook 2016, you can add a safe sender by clicking on the Home tab > Junk > Junk Email Options… > Safe Senders. 

Volunteering as a Reviewer

If you wish to submit your name as a possible reviewer for an International Security manuscript, you may do so at any time by going to https://www.editorialmanager.com/isec and clicking the Register Now link in the login area. You may select up to five Personal Classifications that will help you be more easily discovered in the database. If you feel that a valuable classification is missing, we would welcome your suggestion. Please also write a short self-introduction to IS@hks.harvard.edu.

International Security Style Guide

The journal’s style conventions, described below, should be observed if a manuscript is accepted.  Notes must also follow the format described on the following pages. 

The author is responsible for providing images of print-appropriate resolution and appropriate permissions for figures and graphs. Tables need only be legible; they will be typeset.

In general, limit number of citations to three or four of the most important; keep discursive/tangential to an absolute minimum; avoid quotations in notes. If a quote is germane it belongs in the text. Otherwise, cut.

Once a manuscript has been accepted by the journal, the process of editing and publishing is characterized by intense cooperative effort to make each piece the best it can possibly be, despite difficult deadlines. The editors’ suggestions, however energetically argued, are just that (except on matters of basic style and format as noted in this style sheet). An article remains the author’s work, not the journal’s; accordingly, the author has final responsibility for content and presentation.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of facts and citations. The editors will raise questions and supply information to the best of our ability. The journal does not, however, have the staff to check the accuracy of all quotations, citations, numbers, and facts; this must remain the responsibility of the author.

General Instructions

Summary Introductions

The journal’s goal is to publish cumulative scholarship and to foster debate about the substance of its contents, not about the authors’ intentions. In service of these goals, authors are encouraged to begin articles with a summary introduction that lays out for readers the question being addressed, what the argument is, how it builds on or takes issue with preceding scholarship, what is new about the research or argument, and why it matters. This may be the most important part of your article and the hardest to write. Readers want to know: What questions do you address? Why and how have these questions arisen? What answers will you offer? Do you consult new sources? Do you settle outstanding questions? Mandate rethinking basic issues? Suggest certain policy choices or areas for further research? For examples, see Karl Lautenschläger, “The Submarine in Naval Warfare, 1901–2001,” International Security, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Winter 1986/87), pp. 94–95, https://doi.org/10.2307/2538886; and John J. Mearsheimer, “A Strategic Misstep: The Maritime Strategy and Deterrence in Europe,” International Security, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Fall 1986), pp. 3–5, https://doi.org/10.2307/2538957.

Notes

Early in the piece, direct the reader to important previous work. Place your article in context by providing a note or notes that comprise a bibliography of the relevant literature. For examples, see Robert D. Blackwill, “Conceptual Problems of Conventional Arms Control,” International Security, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Spring 1988), p. 40n33, https://doi.org/10.2307/2538993; and Barry R. Posen and Stephen Van Evera, “Defense Policy and the Reagan Administration: Departure from Containment,” International Security, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Summer 1983), pp. 6n7, 9n13, https://doi.org/10.2307/2538484. Feel free to include argument as well as sources in your notes.

See below for a detailed style guide on references.

Ours and Theirs 

The journal is an international publication, so references to "us" and "them" should be avoided in favor of specific reference to "U.S. allies," "the Japanese economy," "NATO budgets," and the like.

American Spelling

However international in content, the journal uses only American spellings (defense, mobilization, armor). British spellings should be retained only in quoted material, titles, and names; otherwise all British spellings (defence, mobilisation, armour) should be converted by the author. For preferred spellings, see Webster’s Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary. 

Headings

The use of headings and subheadings (to the third level) is encouraged, particularly in longer articles, to help the reader follow your argument. Format headings as follows:

  • Level 1 title case, italics, no bold face.
  • Level 2 normal font (no bold face, no italic, no underline), all caps.
  • Level 3 paragraph indent, normal font (no bold face, no italic, no underline), all caps, ends with a period, run in first sentence.

Explanation of Terms

Especially at the outset, it is crucial to be precise in defining key terms, particularly those that will be integral to the discussion throughout. Frequent use of fuzzy concept words should be avoided.

The best IS articles, even those that focus on current issues, will be read for many years. Acronyms, colloquialisms, and terms of art may not be as well known in a decade; please provide explanations accordingly. 

Acknowledgments

Journal policy is to mention the anonymous reviewers if you found the comments helpful, but don’t thank the editorial staff, because we are just doing our jobs. Also, do not mention the number of reviewers.

Supplementary Material

Authors may include an online-only appendix with their article. Materials can be uploaded to the International Security Dataverse (https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/isec) data repository hosted by Harvard University. The appendix will be assigned a DOI and linked to in the published article. Introduce with “see the online appendix at [insert DOI].” Subsequent citations do not need to include the DOI. 

The journal will contact authors during production with instructions for uploading material

Style Preferences

Consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, on usage, format, punctuation, and other questions not covered herein.

Abbreviations

Spell out common abbreviations in running text, including “note,” “paragraph,” “i.e.,” and “e.g.” Use abbreviations in parentheses or in a simple citation.

Acronyms

Spell out acronyms where they first appear, including all university names (e.g., Massachusetts Institute of Technology). 

Capitalization

Professional titles should be capitalized when preceding a person’s name and used as part of the name, and lowercased when mentioned after a person’s name or in prose. Military and religious titles follow the same rule. Examples:

  • the president; George Washington, first president of the United States; President Washington; 
  • King Abdullah II; the king of Jordan
  • the chairman; Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Admiral Mullen
  • the ayatollah; Ayatollah Khomeini

Exception, named professorships should always be capitalized:

  • Erica Chenoweth, Ph.D. is the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard Kennedy School

Emphasis Added

An author wishing to call particular attention to a word or phrase in quoted material may italicize it but must tell readers what has been done, by means of such formulas as “italics mine,” “italics added,” “emphasis added,” or “emphasis mine.” Occasionally it may be important to point out that italics in a quotation were indeed in the original. Here the usual phrase is “italics in the original” or, for example, “De Quincey’s italics.” This information appears either in parentheses following the quotation or in a source note to the quotation. If there are italics in the original of the passage quoted, the information is best enclosed in brackets and placed directly after the added italics.

Lists

No bulleted lists. Numbered lists in running text are fine but not indented numbered lists. Style: (1), (2), (3).

New Terms

Set new terms in quotations, not italics. 

Numbers

Do not insert a comma in page numbers (e.g., 1000), but do for other numbers in text.

Geographical References

The preferred use is U.S. (adj.) United States (noun) not American/America; Soviet Union, not USSR, but Russia after 1991.

Replace capitals (e.g., Moscow, Washington, Berlin, Paris) with states (Russia/Soviet Union, United States, Germany, Paris) or adj.+ “officials” (e.g., Russian/Soviet officials, U.S. government). After making the change, check to ensure that the subject/verb agreement in the sentence is accurate. (For example, London is nervous = British officials are nervous.)

Notes and References

These examples demonstrate the basic International Security note format; when in doubt, check the Chicago Manual of Style and provide all bibliographic information in a format that most closely resembles the following.

General Rules for Notes

  • Avoid quotations, extracts, tables, and paragraphing in notes. Do not use “op. cit.” For a note that repeats the citation in the previous note, use “ibid.” followed by the page number. Example: Ibid., 72. Do not use “ibid.” if the preceding note contains more than the one reference.
  • Use two-letter USPS style (CA, MA). State or country should follow if place of publication is ambiguous. Major cities, such as Los Angeles and Baltimore, need no state abbreviation. When the publisher’s name includes the state name, the abbreviation is not needed (e.g., Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1994).
  • Anglicize foreign place names and retain the standard English version of publisher’s name. Example: Moscow: Gospoltizdat, 1949.
  • Foreign titles should use sentence-style capitalization, followed by translated titles in the same format, enclosed in brackets. Short citations should use the original title, not the translation.
  • “Zhongguo bu shi yi nu jiu shitai de xiangbalao” [China isn’t a bumpkin who in a fit of anger loses control], Huanqiu shibao [Global times], September 16, 2010.
  • Henryk Wereszycki, Koniec sojuszu trzech cesarzy [The end of the Three Emperors’ League] (Warsaw: PWN, 1977).
  • Separate notes in a note string with a semicolon. 
  • Shortened citations should include author’s last name, title of the work cited (usually shortened if more than four words), and page numbers. Example: Morley, Poverty and Inequality, p. 43; and Schwartz, “Nationals and Nationalism,” p. 138.
  • Provide full page number range, that is, pp. 163–167, and use an en dash instead of a hyphen. 
  • Spell out ampersands in book titles and publisher names, but leave in journal titles. 
  • Do not edit quotes for style or grammatical accuracy. 
  • Acronyms of institutional publishers may be used when introduced in an earlier note [e.g., GPO, FRUS, IISS, National Security Council (NSC)].
    • Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Annual Report to the Congress, Fiscal Year 1984 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office [GPO], 1984), p. 127.
    • Excerpts from Leahy to Hull, May 16, 1944, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1945: Conference of Berlin, Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1960), p. 265. 
    • Excerpts from Leahy to Hull, May 16, 1944, FRUS, 1945: Conference of Berlin, Vol. 1, p. 262. 
    • International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance, 1987–88 (London: IISS, 1987).

Books

Include author’s middle initial, if available. If single note cites multiple works by the same author, spell out author’s full name each time.

  • John J. Mearsheimer, Conventional Deterrence (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983), pp. 163–164. 
  • Kathryn Parker Boudett, Elizabeth A. City, and Richard J. Murnane, eds., Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning, rev. ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2013).

Remove the words “The,” “Group,” “Co.,” “Company,” “Publishers,” and “Publishing,” from the names of publishers. 

  • Houghton Mifflin not Houghton Mifflin Co.
  • W. W. Norton not W. W. Norton & Company
  • But: Harvard University Press
Reprint, Revised, and Enlarged Editions

Bernard Brodie and Fawn M. Brodie, From Crossbow to H-Bomb, rev. and enl. ed. (New York: Dell, 1962; Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973).

Chapter in a Book
  • Edward N. Luttwak, “The Operational Level of War,” in Steven E. Miller, ed., Conventional Forces and American Defense Policy: An International Security Reader (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp. 211–229.
Volume in a Series

Use Arabic numerals for volumes even if roman in original. Use chap. (chapter) where appropriate.

  • Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower, Vol. 2, The President (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985), chap. 7.
  • The Complete Tales of Henry James, ed. Leon Edel, Vol. 5, 1883–1884 (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1963), pp. 32–33.

Periodicals

Remove “the” from the title of newspapers, magazines, and journals, even if it’s part of the official title, except for non-English titles (e.g., Der Spiegel).

Journal Articles

Include a digital object identifier (DOI) for all applicable articles. If a DOI isn’t available, use a permalink (also known as a stable URL or persistent URL). Use a slash for a year or month range (e.g.: Fall 2006/07 and April/May 2007).  

  • Michael Beckley, “The Power of Nations: Measuring What Matters,” International Security, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Fall 2018), p. 74, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00328.
  • Camilla T.N. Sørensen, “That Is Not Intervention; That Is Interference with Chinese Characteristics: New Concepts, Distinctions, and Approaches Developing in the Chinese Debate and Foreign and Security Policy Practice,” China Quarterly, published ahead of print, March 4, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741018001728.
Magazines, Newspapers, Press Releases

Titles of magazine and newspaper articles are placed in quotes like titles of journal articles, but articles are usually cited by date only, even if publication is numbered by volume and issue. Include either page numbers or a URL.

  • Gerard C. Smith, “Time is Running Out,” Newsweek, January 31, 1983, p. 8.
  • Steven Lee Meyers, Ellen Barry, and Max Fisher, “How India and China Have Come to the Brink over a Remote Mountain Pass,” New York Times, July 26, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/world/asia/dolam-plateau-china-india-bhutan.html.
  • Office of the Press Secretary, “Remarks by President Obama and President Xi of the People’s Republic of China in Joint Press Conference” (Washington, D.C.: White House, September 25, 2015).

Cite web-only press releases as you would a website (see below).

Paper and Reports

Reports

Reports, policy briefs, fact sheets, and the like that are published under the imprimatur of an organization should be treated essentially as books.

  • Andrew Chubb, Exploring China’s "Maritime Consciousness": Public Opinion on the South and East China Sea Disputes (Perth, Australia: Perth USAsia Center, 2014).
  • United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNMA), Afghanistan Annual Report 2011: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (Kabul: UNMA, February 2012).
  • Stephen T. Hosmer, Operations against Enemy Leaders (Santa Monica, CA.: RAND, 2001).
  • National Security Strategy of the United States of America (Washington, D.C.: White House, December 2017).
  • European External Action Service, A Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy (Brussels: European Union, June 2016), p. 8.
Papers in a Series

If the series title is included, it is capitalized headline-style, but it is neither italicized nor put in quotation marks or parentheses. Some series are numbered; many are not. The number (if any) follows the series title with no intervening comma unless vol. or no. is used.

  • Desmond Ball, Targeting for Strategic Deterrence, Adelphi Paper 185 (London: IISS, Summer 1983), p. 1.
  • Omar McDoom, Who Kills? Social Influence, Spatial Opportunity, and Participation in Intergroup Violence, Political Science and Political Economy Working Paper Series (London: London School of Economics, 2011).
Dissertations and Theses
  • Stephen W. Van Evera, “Causes of War” (PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1984), p. 1.
  • Laura McNamara, “Ways of Knowing about Weapons: The Cold War’s End at the Los Alamos National Laboratory” (PhD diss. University of New Mexico, 2001).
Papers Presented at Meetings
  • Benjamin Sims, “The Uninvention of the Nuclear Weapons Complex? A Transactional View of Tacit Knowledge” (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science, Montreal, Canada, October 11–13, 2007), http://www.sonline.org/ProgramSynopsis060907.pdf.
  • Alexander L. George, “Case Studies and Theory Development” (paper presented at the Second Annual Symposium on Information Processing in Organizations, Carnegie Mellon University, October 15–16, 1982), p. 2.
Unpublished Manuscripts

M. Taylor Fravel, “China’s Military Rise: Assessing Military Capabilities and Political Influence” (unpublished manuscript, 2011). 

Legal and Public Documents

Consult The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation published by the Harvard Law Review Association for more extensive examples of citations for legal works. 

Laws and Statutes

“Public laws,” or statutes, are first published as separately as slip bills, then collected in annual volumes of the United States Statutes At Large (abbreviated as “Stat.”) as session laws. Later they are incorporated into the United States Code (U.S.C.).

  • Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (2012).
Bills and Resolutions

Congressional bills (proposed laws) and resolutions are published in pamphlet form (slip bills). In citations, bills or resolutions originating in the House of Representatives are abbreviated “H.R.” or “H.R. Res.,” and those originating in the Senate, “S.” or “S. Res.” The title of the bill (if there is one) is followed by the bill number, the number of the Congress, a section number (if relevant), and the year of publication in parentheses.

Congressional Reports and Testimonies
  • Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The Mutual Security Act of 1956, 84th Cong., 2d sess., 1956, S. Rept. 2273, 20.
  • Hearing on H.R. 5005, The Homeland Security Act of 2002, Day 3, before the Select Comm. on Homeland Security, 107th Cong., 2nd sess., July 17, 2002 (statement of David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States), p. 203.

Websites, Blogs, and Social Media

Websites

Include as much of the following as can be determined: title or description of the specific page, title or description of the site as a whole, and owner or sponsor of site. Also include a publication date or date of revision or modification. If no such date can be determined, include an access date. If a site ceases to exist before publication or if the information cited has been modified or deleted, this context should be included in the text or note.

Blogs

Include “blog” if not in formal title of the publication.

Social Media

Datasets

Any third-party data used in an article should be cited, the same as other sources. Include the dataset author(s), dataset name, version number (if any), place of publication, data repository or institution, and a persistent identifier (such as a DOI).

  • Joakim Kreutz, “How and When Armed Conflicts End: Introducing the UCDP Conflict Termination Dataset,” Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 47, No. 2 (2010), pp. 243–250, doi.org/10.1177/0022343309353108.
  • Elizabeth Boschee et al., Integrated Crisis Early Warning System Weekly Event Data, V348, 2018, Harvard Dataverse, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QI2T9A. 
  • Monty G. Marshall, Ted Robert Gurr, and Keith Jagger, Polity IV Project, Center for Systemic Peace, 2014, http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscrdata.html.
  • Eliza Gheorghe, appendix for “Proliferation and the Logic of the Nuclear Market,” V1, March 5, 2019, Harvard Dataverse, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/70TJHT. 

Podcasts and YouTube Videos

Interviews and Speeches

Unpublished Interviews

When there are two or more authors, specify which author did the interview. For interviews conducted remotely, add “phone” before “interview” or use “email correspondence” in place of interview. Location is not needed. For short citations, include the date only if interview is with the same person but on different dates.

  • Author interview with Max G. Manwaring, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, March 11, 2010.
  • Author interview with former Fort Detrick pilot plant shift supervisor, Frederick, Maryland, March 22, 2008.
Published Interviews
  • Robert Gates, “Russian and Chinese Assertiveness Poses New Foreign Policy Challenges,” interview by Fareed Zakaria (Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations, May 21, 2014), http://www.cfr.org/defense-and-security/russian-chinese-assertiveness-p….
  • Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, interview by John Mueller, Berkeley, California, April 9, 2011.
  • Short citation: Keller interview. 

(For short citations, include the date only if the citations include other interviews of the same people but on different dates.)

Speeches

Citations of speeches should include the author, location, date, and information on where the speech can be read or viewed, if available.

  • Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speech at Resistance Culture Conference in Beirut, Al-Manar, May 23, 2006.
  • Ira L. Baldwin, speech given at Fort Detrick Silver Anniversary Luncheon, New York City, New York, May 2, 1967, file 13-II AT, folder 69, American Society for Microbiology Archives, 1–22.
  • The Grugq, “A Short Course in Cyber Warfare,” keynote at Black Hat Asia 2018 conference,
  • A published speech should include a title and the publication where it appears. A video of a speech (e.g., on YouTube) should be cited like other video recordings, including a URL.
  • Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, YouTube, April 10, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?vgvS4efEakpY.

Manuscript Collections and Archives

  • For archival material, give the title and the date, followed by all other bibliographical and locating information, in order from most to least specific.  Use the same sequence consistently throughout the work. 
  • For collections consulted online, include a URL or database name.
  • Use quotation marks for specific titles, but not for generic names such as report or minutes.
  • Capitalize generic names if part of a formal heading on a manuscript, and lowercase if merely descriptive.
  • A citation of a letter starts with the name of the letter writer, followed by to, followed by the name of the recipient.
  • Given names may be omitted if identities are clear from context.
  • The word letter can be omitted, but other forms of communication (telegram, memorandum) should be specified.
  • Letters and the like in private collections can be cited like other archival material. Items owned by the author or a private collection can be listed as “in author’s possession” or “private collection,” respectively, and a location can be omitted. 
  • For archives and/or collections cited repeatedly, introduce an abbreviation on first mention and use it thereafter (see first and third examples below).
    • FDR-Ickes, June 23, 1941, folder “Interior-Ickes, Harold L., 1941,” box 55, President’s Secretary’s File, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York (henceforth PSF FDRL).
    • Leven C. Allen to Joint Chiefs of Staff, May 26, 1950, and memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, n.d., CCS 383.21 Korea (3-19-45), sec. 21, Records of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Record Group 218, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
    • John F. Kennedy, “Appeasement at Munich,” honors thesis, 1940, box 2, Personal Papers (PP), John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library (JFKL), Boston, Massachusetts.
    • Presidential Directive/NSC-59, “Nuclear Weapons Employment Policy,” July 25, 1980, National Security Archive, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb390/docs/7-25-80%20PD%2059.pdf.

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