Articlo
Check my manuscript free

Taylor & Francis

Prepare your manuscript for Critical Review.

Review the checklist, choose your article type, and turn your draft into a cleaner submission package.

Checked 2026-08-01
Check readiness freePrepare this manuscript

Article types

Review
Book Review
Editorial
Clinical Trial
Protocol
Systematic Review
Letter
Lectio

Readiness requirements

Review the key details below, or download the complete checklist with every stored source-backed requirement.

Abstract length

  • Review: Abstract: A 100-word-maximum double-spaced abstract should appear at the beginning of all articles, including review essays.
  • Unsolicited manuscripts that do not include a substantive abstract will not be considered for publication.
Show 1 more
  • They should include the essential terms in the article title and abstract as well as other key terms.

Keywords

  • Keywords should be chosen to maximize online search hits.
  • Key authors should also be included among your keywords.

Reference style

  • Articlo formats your supplied references in Harvard style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
  • References should read like this: Weber, Max. [1904] 1949. "'Objectivity' in Social Science and Social Policy." In The Methodology of the Social Sciences, ed. Edward A.
Show 8 more
  • Page citations should be written in the shortest form that you could comfortably speak them aloud, as in these examples: "10-12," "101-2," "213-14," "252-53." Do not use the abbreviation "p." or "pp.".
  • Format: Manuscripts should be in Times Roman, paginated and double-spaced throughout, including the notes and references.
  • Citations should follow the "author-date" or "social-science" system described in the American Political Science Assn.
  • However, publications issued by organizations (such as the IMF or the GAO) count as authored sources, which should appear in the Reference list.
  • Readers should be able to interpret the table without reference to the text.
  • This means that there should be no end notes (or footnotes) that are for citation purposes; citation is by means of in-text parenthetical references (Tversky 1990, 27), each of which refers to an item in a Reference list at the very end of the paper--following the end notes, which should be expository only.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Confirmation the authors take full responsibility for the integrity of the whole content, including accuracy of references.
  • Please do not electronically link parenthetical page citations to the corresponding references in the bibliography at the end of the paper (which makes it difficult or impossible to edit either for style purposes).

Figure and table rules

  • Keep every figure and table numbered, captioned, and cited in the manuscript.
  • Figures should be high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for color, at the correct size).
Show 3 more
  • Tables and figures never speak for themselves and should be explained in the text of any paper.
  • Figures should be saved in one of our preferred file formats: PS, JPEG, GIF, or Microsoft Word (DOC or DOCX).
  • Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text.

Funding statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Funding statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • You should declare only the acquired funds and grants that are directly relevant to the work reported in your article; for example, This work was supported by the [Funding Agency #1] under Grant [number xxxx]; [Funding Agency #2] under Grant [number xxxx]; and [Funding Agency #3] under Grant [number xxxx].

Competing interests

  • Include or confirm the competing interests required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Ethics statement

  • Include or confirm the ethics statement required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Blinded manuscript

  • Include or confirm the blinded manuscript required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Cover letter

  • Using third-party material in your paper You must obtain the necessary permission to reuse third-party material in your article.
  • Review: The use of short extracts of text and some other types of material is usually permitted, on a limited basis, for the purposes of criticism and review without securing formal permission.
Show 1 more
  • If you wish to include any material in your paper for which you do not hold copyright, and which is not covered by this informal agreement, you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to submission.

Author contributions

  • Submitting authors should be prepared to submit CRediT roles for themselves and their co-authors (where applicable) as part of the submission process.

Title page and author information

  • All authors of a manuscript should include their full name and affiliation on the cover page of the manuscript.
  • Include in the form of a sentence with a verb your name; academic affiliation; mailing address; email address; the titles, publishers, and years of any recent books; and any acknowledgments, like so: "Name, email address, academic mailing address, the author of recent book Z (publisher, year), thanks A, B, and C for comments on earlier drafts.".
Show 1 more
  • One author will need to be identified as the corresponding author, with their email address normally displayed in the article PDF (depending on the journal) and the online article.

Article structure and word limits

  • Article length: 4000 words (@ 20 double-spaced pages in a 12-point font) is usually the minimum required to explore a topic in appropriate depth.
  • Review: These instructions will ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly.
Show 26 more
  • Therefore, at both the literary and the substantive level, authors should be forewarned of the severity of the tests to which their manuscripts will be put.
  • Your research funder or your institution may require you to publish your article open access.
  • Use our APC finder to view the APC for this journal.
  • Review: Please note that all articles in Critical Review should avoid policy advocacy, policy recommendations, and criticism of proposed policies.
  • Please leave it to our readers to infer what policies or reforms they should favor, based on your analysis of their past effects.
  • Therefore, they should not contain indications of your identity in the text or notes.
  • A book's ideas and arguments, not its organization, style, literary elegance, or physical appearance, should be the reviewer's main concerns.
  • Review: In review essays, the first mention of a book should include parenthetically: (city: publisher, year).
  • Only very long articles should use numbered subheadings; please use Roman numerals for such enumeration.
  • In that case, you should cite the work as "Aristotle N.E.
  • Queries Should you have any queries, please visit our Author Services website or contact us here.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Originality and accuracy of content has been confirmed by the authors.
  • Authors must provide full methodological details and adhere to relevant reporting guidelines where applicable.
  • Authors must retain the original and revised versions which must be shared upon request.
  • The PLSP guidelines for authors must be followed at all times.
  • That is, authors discussing public policy should confine themselves to the causes and consequences of past conditions and policies, not directly to what should be done in the future.
  • Controversial normative assumptions about the desirability of capitalism, liberalism, democracy, or freedom, or the equivalence of capitalism or liberalism or democracy with freedom, should be avoided.
  • All submissions must include abstracts.
  • Please do not include live electronic links to online sources. “Dead” URLs, too, should be minimized: use only when there is no article or blog post title to identify your source through an online search.
  • Submit manuscripts in Word only.
  • Please use SI units (non-italicized).
  • Book Review: We do not publish "opinion pieces" or short book reviews.
  • Do not abbreviate authors' names with initials (e.g., J).
  • Please do not right-justify your margins; leave them ragged.
  • If you do not hear from us within three months, please feel free to inquire!
  • Image descriptions are typically used by systems such as pronouncing screen readers to make images accessible to people that cannot read or see the object due to a visual disability.

Reporting guidelines

  • Include or confirm the reporting guidelines required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Preprints and prior publication

  • If you have shared an earlier version of your Author’s Original Manuscript on a preprint server, please be aware that anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

Artificial intelligence disclosure

  • Add or confirm the author-written Artificial intelligence statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Please include a statement disclosing whether and how generative AI has been used in the research and manuscript preparation process.
Show 6 more
  • Use of AI tools as part of ethical research studies is permitted.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: The name and version number of the AI tool used.
  • Systematic Review: Use of AI tools as part of ethically conducted literature reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analysis and bibliometrics studies is permitted.
  • Use of AI tool assisted plain language summaries (PLS) of authors own work is permitted.
  • Please read our guidance on using AI tools in your research and manuscript preparation to understand scenarios where their use may be permissible, and the required information that must be disclosed.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Confirmation the authors have checked terms of use for the specific AI tool used, and therefore confirm suitability for publication.

Language and text style

  • Double quotation marks should surround quotations, with commas and periods enclosed.
  • Single quotation marks should surround quotations within quotations.
Show 2 more
  • Please use italics for emphasis; no bold or underlined type.
  • While we publish research papers, technical jargon, mathematics, topics of interest only to experts, econometric analyses, and visual displays that merely re-express ideas presented verbally should be avoided.

Manuscript structure

  • It should directly state the substance of your thesis, rather than describing the topic, the issues involved, or the methods used to investigate them.
  • Authors must retain full records of the methods undertaken, including full descriptions and records of the prompts used, which must be shared with the journal upon request.

Study reporting guidelines

  • Authors must provide full methodological details and adhere to relevant reporting guidelines where applicable (e.g. CONSORT-AI, STARD-AI, GAMER, TRIPOD-AI, etc).
Save journal and get updates Download complete checklist

What your package checks

Paper: 4,000 words
References: Harvard
Declarations: Funding, Artificial intelligence
Format: 12 pt, double spacing

Source transparency

This preparation guide uses published journal-specific author requirements. Journal instructions can change, so authors should complete a final review before submission.

Open official guideline source