Background Paper Submission Guidelines

ORF America welcomes submissions to its Background Paper series from all authors, regardless of background and experience, as long as they meet the criteria and standards outlined below. Please refer to ORF America's Style Guide, available here.

Previously published Background Papers can be found here.

Before submission:

1.     Purpose: The purpose of ORF America’s Background Paper series is to explain key policy issues to policymakers and an interested general audience. The papers should be written with a non-specialist reader in mind. All acronyms should be detailed and any technical jargon should be explained.

2.     Scope: Topics for submissions must fall broadly within one of the four areas of focus of ORF America’s research, namely: (i) foreign policy and security, (ii) technology policy, (iii) energy and climate, and (iv) economic development. The topic should be of importance or relevance to the United States, India, and/or their partners (e.g. in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, or the Middle East).

3.     Originality: The paper should be a product of original research, ideally based on primary sources or original analysis of data, but it should adopt a descriptive and explanatory approach. The key argument should be apparent in the introduction. All submissions should be original writing.

4.     Length: Submissions should ideally be between 2,000 and 3,000 words, offering more detail than an op-ed article, but with enough concision to be of use to policymakers.

5.     Citations and Style: All quotes and data should be appropriately cited with both footnotes (for print) and hyperlinks (for online publication). Reference The Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary for style and usage guidance when preparing drafts for submission.

6.     Submission: Authors should submit their drafts for review in .doc or .docx file format by email to orfamerica@orfamerica.org with SUBMISSION in the subject line.

After submission:

7.     Review: If ORF America selects the submission for publication, the author should anticipate the paper undergoing: a single peer review by a subject matter expert, edits for content and clarity, and a plagiarism check.

8.     Publication: Publications will be printed and posted online at www.orfamerica.org.  

9.     Copyright: ORF America will hold copyright on any published Background Papers. Reprinting or reposting ORF America publications requires permission, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis.