The standard length for articles is between 6,000 and 8,000 words, although longer articles may sometimes be accepted. Each article should be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 150 words. Submission of shorter research notes and comments of up to 3,000 words is also encouraged. All articles should be typed or printed on A4/Letter paper, on one side only, double-spaced and with ample margins. All pages, including those with figures, tables, references or notes, should be numbered consecutively.

Essential notes should be kept to a minimum, and should be indicated with superscript numbers running consecutively through the text. The notes themselves should be double spaced and collected on a separate page(s) at the end of the text.

Beginning with Volume 27, Number 1, published in January 2004, West European Politics has adopted a 'Harvard-style' referencing system. This has become the normal style for most political science books and journals, and we think that it will make life easier for our contributors. Harvard-style referencing also facilitates citation analysis.

For papers published from 2004 onwards, references or citations should therefore be indicated within the text, with a full listing of all cited references collected at the end of the article. Citation inflation should be avoided, and precise page references should be given when appropriate. For example: Daalder (1990: 63--4), Page and Wright (1992: 27--30; 1995: 56--87). Use 'et al.' when citing a work by more than two authors, e.g., Daalder et al. (1991: 20), but then use all authors' names in the listing of cited works at the end of the paper. The letters a, b, c, etc. , should be used to distinguish citations of different works by the same author in the same year, e.g., Wright (1995a: 15--20; 1995b). All references cited in the text should be listed alphabetically and presented in full after the notes, using the following style:

ARTICLES IN JOURNALS: D'Alimonte, Roberto, and Stefano Bartolini (1998). "How to Lose a Majority: The Competition in Single-Member Districts", European Journal of Political Research, 34:1, 63--106.

BOOKS: Sartori, Giovanni (1976). Parties and Party Systems: a Framework for Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

EDITED BOOKS: Neunreither, Karlheinz, and Antje Wiener, eds. (2000). European Integration After Amsterdam: Institutional Dynamics and Prospects for Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

CHAPTERS IN EDITED BOOKS: Dahl, Robert A. (1966). "Patterns of Opposition", in Robert A. Dahl (ed.), Political Oppositions in Western Democracies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 332--47.

UNPUBLISHED WORKS OR CONFERENCE PAPERS: Radaelli, Claudio (2000). "Whither Europeanization?", unpublished paper, University of Bradford.

Pennings, Paul, and Hans Keman (2002). "Fortuyn versus the Establishment". NOB/NIG Congress, Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

The corresponding author on co-authored articles will receive the allocation of offprints and a copy of the journal.

Professor Dr Klaus H. Goetz
Universität Potsdam, Lehrstuhl Innenpolitik, August-Bebel-Straße 89, D-14482 Potsdam, Germany, Email: wep@eui.eu

Free article access: Corresponding authors will receive free online access to their article through our website (www.informaworld.com) and a complimentary copy of the issue containing their article. Reprints of articles published in this journal can be purchased through Rightslink® when proofs are received. If you have any queries, please contact our reprints department at reprints@tandf.co.uk