CASID / ACÉDI

Interested in reviewing a book for the CJDS? You can now sign up to review books identified by the CJDS editors right from the CASID website.  All you need to do is follow the instructions below.  Note: you must have a user account on CASID's website to sign up to review a book.

Finding a book

CJDS editors provide CASID with a listing of books they would like to have reviewed.  The list of books needing review can be found in various places.  The CJDS Main Page contains a short list of recently posted books needing review , but you can also access the complete list here as well. These lists contain all the recently posted items that have not yet been signed up for by a reviewer. 

Signing Up

If you find a book that you would like to review, follow the book title link to its own page.  You will see a more complete listing of its bibliographic information.  Just above the title should be a "Workflow" button.  Clicking on this button will take you to the books Workflow page, which allows you to change its status from "Listed" to "Under Review".  Doing so will automatically send an email to CJDS staff notifying them of the change, as well as who has made the change.  Once the status has changed, the item will no longer show up in the list of Books Needing Review.  

Writing a Review

The CJDS, like most major peer-reviewed journals, has guidelines on how to write a book review.  You can download the complete guidelines here.  In brief, however, you should note the following:

General Guidelines

Reviews should:

• Be mindful of the audience, which is interdisciplinary and international. Avoid technical jargon and overly specialised language which may be unfamiliar to a wider audience.
• Be no longer than 1,000 words in length, except in the case of review essays covering two or more works, which can be up to 2,000 words. Submissions exceeding these limits will be returned for revision.
• Provide a balanced, critical analysis of the work in a thought-provoking and engaging style.

Particular Considerations

• The focus of the review should be on the contribution of the work(s) to scholarship in the field and/or its significance to policy or practice.
• If the work is an edited volume or includes chapters by different authors, the review should address the overall theme and content. Reviewers can focus on chapters that they find particularly significant, explaining the significance in the context of the work or topic.
• Comment on the intended audience and who would find the work(s) useful, and provide a brief background of the author(s)/editor(s).
• Outline the main thesis and major objectives, and how effectively they are achieved. Highlight particularly original content.
• Place the work(s) within the current thinking, scholarship and policy context as appropriate, providing a comparison with other works. Readers are particularly interested in how the work adds to the knowledge base or breaks new ground.
• Analyse the soundness of methods (if appropriate).
• The review should conclude with implications for research, policy or practice as appropriate.

Formatting

• Reviews should be double-spaced and set in Times New Roman font, 12-point type, with 1-inch (2.5 cm) margins.
• The header of the review should include: First and last name of the author(s) or editor(s) (indicate if it is an edited volume); book or document title(s); year of publication; place of publication; publisher; number of pages (note also the number of front-matter pages in roman numerals); ISBN; and whether the copy you reviewed was paperback or hardback edition. If the work is an electronic document, provide permanent URL and retrieval date.
• Style and reference guidelines are the same as for article manuscripts. The in-text citations and reference list should follow the Harvard system. Please consult the two documents on the publisher’s webpage with Instructions for authors called Harvard Referencing and Additional Sample References for CJDS.

Deadline and Submission Procedure

Reviews are expected within six weeks of receipt of the book/document by reviewers. Earlier receipt of reviews will permit faster publication in upcoming issues. Manuscripts should be submitted online at the Canadian Journal of Development Studies ScholarOne Manuscripts website. The link is provided to authors in the email confirmation from CJDS of the book review assignment. Authors will need to create a user account first if they are not already registered. After logging in, click on the Author Centre. Detailed instructions and guidelines are available online throughout the submission process.

Queries

In the first instance, address general queries to cjds@sfu.ca, with a copy to the Review Editor, Dr. Prachi Srivastava, at University of Ottawa, email: prachi.srivastava@uottawa.ca.