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The Gettysburg Journal for Public Policy

Aims & Scope

The Public Policy Department at Gettysburg College is multidisciplinary in nature, which allows for a wealth of research to be conducted in vastly different interest areas. The Gettysburg Journal for Public Policy consists of qualitative and quantitative research from a wide range of interests that include a public policy dimension and build upon pre-existing literature. The publications of these students will sit in The Cupola, Gettysburg College's open access institutional repository, which is accessible to anyone around the world. This will enable students to feature their work on a global platform and contribute to topics of academic discussion on a broader scale than a traditional institution. The contents of this journal will remain in The Cupola upon students’ graduation and remain there in posterity.

As an added benefit, this journal gives undergraduate students the experience of undergoing the professional editing and peer-review process. Once accepted and published, students will be able to note this achievement on their resumes and graduate school applications.

Accepted Articles

This journal currently accepts four article types related to public policy: ‘research articles’, ‘whitepapers’, ‘book reviews’, and ‘research notes.’

Research Articles are original research using a clear methodology in line with traditional academic research journal articles. The format of research is defined by the typical research journal format:

  1. Introduction: an overview of the issue and preview of the existing research on the topic
  2. Literature Review: A comprehensive, substantive review of the literature and relevant research
  3. Methods: a thorough description of the methods
  4. Results: a clear reporting of results
  5. Discussion/Conclusion: a discussion of the results of the research in light of previous literature. In other words, what has the author contributed to the field?

White Papers are authoritative reports that concisely describe a policy and at least one issue or point of contention related to that policy. Often, white papers employ a construct for analysis, such as “three E,” DIME, or SWOT analysis (or any others as appropriate to the topic). White papers conclude with recommendations for future policy. The format is consistent with a governmental or nonprofit white paper and includes:

  1. Introduction: an overview of the policy issue/problem and precise definition of what the white paper addresses
  2. Discussion: using an analytic construct, analysis of the issue/problem from all significant, relevant perspectives, with citation to key research and statistics
  3. Recommendations: discussion of future policy recommendations, including the author’s evidence-based opinions

Book Reviews are scholarly analyses of books relevant to public policy from any number of domains. These articles serve as a vital resource for future researchers as they begin to collect literature for their projects or professors who are evaluating texts they are considering adding to their course.

Research Notes are not full academic papers, but rather discussions of new ideas, theoretical perspectives, or analysis of emerging policy approaches.