IJSPL is a double-blind peer reviewed online journal published by the Rashtram School of Public Leadership, Rishihood University.
IJSPL is a refereed biannual journal published by the Rashtram School of Public Leadership, Delhi NCR, India.
Public policies are inextricably linked with public leaders, i.e., those who ideate, drive, and implement them on the ground. The power of ideation (jñāna śakti), the will to propel new or bold ideas (icchā śakti), and the expertise required to implement them (kṛyā śakti) define public leadership in the areas of, respectively, thought leadership, social/political leadership, and leadership in various professional sectors.
If we think of public policy as consisting of four broad areas viz., public health, public education, public infrastructure, and public security, then the lion’s share of debates and knowledge concerning individual and collective prosperity can be brought under the purview of public policy research. This formulation enables stakeholders from various fields to gain clarity about their respective roles and contributions in the broader field of public policy. Decisive leadership, therefore, can emerge with the dawning of such clarity from even the bottom of existing socio-political structures; it not only democratises public policy research and the policy discourse by making them participatory but also ensures that they do not get reduced to elite domains of only a select few.
However, in both planned and free-market economies, the operationalization of the four broad areas of leadership delineated above has been governed by the paradigm of “services,” which is defined variously as “a system supplying a public need, such as transport, communications, or utilities such as electricity and water” (with an emphasis on the method(s) or the satisfaction of such needs) or “a government system or private organization that is responsible for a particular type of activity, or for providing a particular thing that people need” (with a stress on accountability, i.e., who/which body would be responsible for satisfying the needs).
In view of the above, we may proceed to ask: what are the assumptions that gave rise to the concept of services? What are the cultural moorings of those assumptions? Are they universal, or are they specific to particular cultures, nations, and/or civilisations? Are there alternative paradigm(s) to the concept of services, derivable from indigenous knowledge systems of ancient cultures and civilisations such as India and those around the world? [SK1] What is the place of the leader in the system(s) governing public policy vis-à-vis “service” and how have different cultures conceptualised the leader’s position and relationship with respect to the followers/participants? Are such conceptualisations and practices implementable today within specific contexts? What is the role of historiography and social/cultural critique, offered from various ideological and disciplinary perspectives, in shaping our understanding of the concept of “service?” Do policymaking and implementation consist in superciliously “giving” or “dispensing” various kinds of ideas and/or services, or is it about maintaining the wealth/wellbeing of a system, such as an organisation or a polity? Above all, can the word “service” – reduced to a trivialised catchword in political rhetoric—be given a fresh impetus?
With these central questions, Vol II, Issue 2 of IJSPL will set off on an enquiry of past and contemporary public policy and leadership interventions, hoping to gain fresh insights for the future.
IJSPL is multidisciplinary in its range, by virtue of the multidisciplinary character of leadership studies itself. The journal encourages submissions on leadership studies research, pedagogy, and practices from a wide array of theoretical and methodological approaches. Thus, leaders and researchers from across the world and from diverse fields such as academia, public service, social sector, business, and traditional institutions of learning and knowledge systems, are welcome to submit their research articles. Potential authors may focus on the central theme of how public leadership, across local, regional, state, national and international levels, from all nations and world regions, has drawn on the wisdom of specific civilisations from the distant past and up to our times. The authors may look for instances of civilisationally grounded public leadership among leaders and participants in the government and public services, in cross-sector organisations, in non-governmental organizations, or among thought leaders functioning within such spheres as academia, media and the arts, and activism. Research articles are also invited on the varied spheres and dimensions of public leadership, including but not limited to:
Research articles published in IJSPL are double blind peer-reviewed.
IJSPL offers value to all stakeholders in leadership, and to those who study, conduct research and explore the varied aspects and complexities of leadership. It is a valuable source of information for:
Submission Guidelines:
In the preparation of their research articles, authors are asked to strictly abide by the standard IJSPL author guidelines as detailed below.
Style Sheet
The Manuscript should follow the format specified by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020). It has to be submitted in MS-Word, Times New Roman, font size 12. The headings should be in bold, and italics may be used to add emphasis and for book titles. It is recommended that the submissions be within the range of 4000-7000 words for research articles.
Contact IJSPL at ijspl.manager@rashtram.org to avail a Sample Annotated Professional Paper in APA style.
The Manuscript title page should include:
In addition to this, the author must submit, in a separate MS Word file, a duly signed declaration of originality of the work, clearly stating that it has not been published nor is it being considered for publication elsewhere.
References Style:
Format: APA 7th Edition
Journal: Berk, R. A. (2012). Top 20 strategies to increase the online response rates of student rating scales. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 8(2), 98–107.
Book: Buller, J. L. (2012). Best practices in faculty evaluation: A practical guide for academic leaders. Jossey-Bass.
Contact IJSPL at ijspl.manager@rashtram.org to avail a Sample Annotated Professional Paper in APA style
Ethical Guidelines
Originality
The manuscript submitted to IJSPL should be an original work of the author, not published anywhere else in any form. It should not be submitted to any other journal simultaneously.
Plagiarism
It is the author’s responsibility to ensure accurate presentation of their study. All the quotations, supporting data and references have to be duly acknowledged. The manuscript may be screened for plagiarism.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
The authors should disclose the research grants, financial support received for attending conferences and educational programmes or other forms of substantial relationships that might have influenced the research in a significant manner.
Submission Procedure:
Please send in your submissions
Declarations:
Neither the editors nor the members of the Editorial/Advisory Board of IJSPL will be in any way responsible for the opinions of the contributors as expressed in their articles.
The decision of the reviewers regarding acceptance/rejection of any submitted article would be final and any grievance in this regard will not be entertained.
If any article is found to be plagiarized after publication in the journal, the article in question would be immediately removed and the author blacklisted.
We do not accept any fee in the name of submission, processing, publication, etc., nor do we pay authors for their contribution.