All the MPP participants are encouraged to actively contribute to Lokniti. The contributions can be made in the form of a research article, an essay, a report, case studies etc. Writings that are previously published or sent for publishing elsewhere, even in part, should be sent only after due consultations with the original publisher and copyright owner.

All submissions should be sent via email to lokniti@nls.ac.in with the subject line: “Article submission:”, attached in the form of a word file (.doc or .docx) complying with the following style sheet. Submissions not complying with the Lokniti Style Sheet may be sent back for necessary modifications.

LOKNITI STYLE SHEET

• Word Limit
  1. Articles, Essays, Policy Briefs, Book Reviews etc. must meet the word limit of 750-1200 words. Word limit exception exists for Academic research papers which shall not exceed a maximum of 3000 words.
• Format
  1. All text submissions must be in Word format. Submissions in PDF or any other formats would not be considered for review.
  2. The text of the essay must be in Times New Roman, 12 point font with 1.5 line spacing and justified alignment.
  3. The title of the essay must be in Times New Roman, 14 font, bold. All subtitles must be in Times New Roman 12 point font, bold and numbered. The titles and subtitles should not be underlined.
  4. Endnotes are preferred over footnotes. The endnotes must be Times New Roman, 10 font, single line spacing.
  5. References must follow APA style.
• Use of Language
  1. Sentence: Please write in simple short sentences. Use conjunctions only if the ideas are connected.
     Example:
     Pranab Mukherjee became the Union Finance Minister and he presented the budget (wrong usage)
     Pranab Mukherjee became the Union Finance Minister. He presented the budget. (correct usage)
  2. Paragraph: Ideally a paragraph contains elaboration of a single major idea. Please write as many paragraphs based on the ideas your essay contains. We prefer short paragraphs.
  3. Capitalization: Use capitalization at the beginning of a sentence and wherever a proper noun (name of person, place, institution or a post) is mentioned. Do not use capitalization to denote any word in the middle of a sentence unless it falls in the above-said category.
     Example:
     The great French Luminary Montesquieu elucidated the Doctrine of Separation of Powers (wrong usage)
     The great French luminary Montesquieu elucidated the doctrine of separation of powers. (correct usage)
  4. Emphasis: We do not prefer emphasising a word or an idea by using quotes or italics. However, if a new terminology is introduced, you may use single quotes to describe the term within a sentence.
     Example:
     Capabilities approach helped in the understanding of a deprivation aspect of poverty. (wrong usage)
     Amartya Sen used ‘capabilities’ and ‘functioning’ to explain his concept of development. (correct usage)
  5. Numbers: To write a figure below ten, use the English alphabets. For numbers above ten, use figures. However, use figures for all fractions and decimals.
     To write a date, use the format month date, year.
     Example: The Union budget was presented on February 28, 2015.
     There were seven proposals that were examined by the Supreme Court.
     The direct tax to GDP ratio grew at 5.6 per cent in 2010.
  6. The figure of speech: We do not prefer metaphors unless it is in a quoted direct speech central to the idea of the essay.
  7. End notes: Endnotes can be used to refer a quote in a direct speech in the text. It can also be used to elaborate a term or an idea in detail, that is mentioned in the text.
  8. References: All ideas or direct quotes from elsewhere (including your own work done earlier) must be acknowledged and referenced.
  9. Characters: Use characters to a minimum.
     Do not use a dot after initials in a name.
     Example: P Chidambaram and not P. Chidambaram
     Do not use hyphenated words. Use single quotes to refer to a new term and double quotes to refer to a direct speech. If an entire paragraph is being quoted, indent the paragraph and reference it.
     Example: inter- state goods can be rewritten as interstate goods.
     Do not use etcetera to end a sentence. In the case of two or three major ideas, name all of them in the sentence. In the case of innumerable ideas, use ‘and many other points/items’.
     Example: ‘Goods like tobacco, liquor etc was in the exempted list’ can be rewritten as ‘goods like tobacco, liquor and five other items were in the exempted list’.
  10. Abbreviations: If a compound term is repeatedly used in the essay, it can be abbreviated from the second time onwards. In this case, please give the abbreviation along with the full expansion the first time and use the abbreviations alone in all usages henceforth.
      Example: The 122nd Constitutional Amendment Bill (CAB) that has been tabled on December 19, 2014, dealt with Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India.

• After Submission

After your submission, we typically take two weeks to get back to you on the status of your manuscript. Once your essay is accepted for publication, we may get back to you for reworking and editing based on the review. Every essay undergoes two editorial reviews independently.

Essays found wanting in plagiarism check would be summarily rejected.

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