Transport Policy

The official journal of the World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS)

Transport Policy is an international refereed journal aimed at improving quality of transport policy and strategy analysis, designing and sharing innovative policy and management practices, and application bridging the gap between theory and practice in transport. Its subject areas reflect the concerns of policymakers in government, management strategists in industry, and the public at large, providing independent, original and rigorous analysis to understand how policy and strategy decisions have been made, monitor their effects, and suggest how they may be improved.

The journal covers the entire transport sector including all modes: air, maritime, urban, intercity, domestic and international transport economics, policy and strategy issues, etc. Policy and strategy concerns in transport are wide and cover safety, efficiency, economic development, infrastructure, environment, energy, land-use, equity and access.
Papers are expected to have clear policy and strategy relevance, to analyze/evaluate transport policies and strategies using up-to-date research methods (both quantitative and qualitative). Papers are also welcomed which focus on understanding the nature and influences affecting policy and strategy change, including technical, attitudinal, institutional, structural and political constraints, including those which provide a comparative analysis. Papers focusing only on methodological development without clear policy focus and relevance will NOT be considered. However, we welcome qualitative policy papers that build on the body of literature, and show clear contributions over and above what exist in the literature, and/or widely applicable to other jurisdictions. (Qualitative papers will NOT be considered if the author(s) advocate certain policy positions without presenting a rigorous framework of analysis.) Papers that focus entirely on individual case studies are more appropriate for our sister journal Case Studies in Transport Policy.

Types of Paper:

Full articles: Articles should normally be no longer that 8000 words. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all manuscripts (whether original or revised) are accurate before final submission. Manuscripts must be submitted on-line through Editorial Manager. Initial submissions may be submitted through the "My Paper My Way" approach, but final acceptances will require completion to the Elsevier standard.

Shorter Items: Shorter items of between 1500 and 2500 words are also welcomed. These can take the form of a Topical Issues paper, which allows for the expression of reasoned opinion that may stimulate debate. Such articles should clearly signal how the debate relates to the literature and why it is topical for a significant part of the global readership. This section also welcomes reports on noteworthy developments from conferences and seminars. The editors may invite responses to such papers from other commentators. The shorter form article is not well suited to describing research projects.

Special Issues: Proposals for Special Issues are welcome. Proposals should contain a clear set of objectives, and indication of the number of papers and likely authors. All papers in Special Issues are refereed to the same standard as normal submitted papers.

AUDIENCE: Local, national and international government agencies and their advisers, responsible for transport policy implementation; academics and researchers involved in teaching and analysis; managers and analysts in the transport industries responsible for strategy formulation and evaluation; activists in the voluntary sector, charities and campaigning groups; students of transport studies, economics, business studies, engineering, geography, planning, sociology and environmental studies