IGC blog guidelines
Word limit: 800-1000 words (not counting references, footnotes, or tables).
General:
• The primary objective of an IGC blog is making economic debates and research accessible to
non-technical audiences. This means translating complex issues, econometrics, or theory in a
manner that preserves the original idea while still clearly conveying the key findings and policy
implications of the research.
• The blog should be more rigorous than a newspaper opinion piece but much more accessible
than an academic journal article.
• All articles should be informed by credible research. Any opinions or arguments made
for/against a particular policy should be backed by reliable evidence.
• If based on a specific research paper, the contribution should read like a research-based
contribution to the broad policy debate on some issue – by first setting out the research context
and literature, describing the basics of the methodology, discussing the results in an accessible
manner (including with relevant figures), and concluding with carefully considered policy
implications.
• If based on descriptive data, the contribution should read like an opinion piece, making clear
arguments and crediting reliable resources underpinning them.
Content:
• Set the context by mentioning the study’s relevancy to a current policy debate or concern.
• Structure the article to follow a clear flow of arguments and be accessible to non-technical
readers, making strong use of clear and descriptive subheadings.
• Short sentences (maximum 35 words) and paragraphs (maximum 5 lines) are recommended.
Try to use only one idea per paragraph and avoid technical jargon.
• Blogs should be divided into sections with descriptive subheadings. This will help the writer
highlight the main arguments, while also enabling the readers to absorb them better.
• No regression tables or equations in the text; they are too much detail for most readers and
not enough for the specialists. Please give the results in graphics, charts, or words, and direct
readers to the underlying research for details.
• Simple infographics, bar charts, and diagrams are encouraged!
• Be sure to include the list of authors at the top of the blog.
• Since our audience is international and IGC is headquartered in the UK, we consistently use
British spellings across our publications.
• Include citations as embedded hyperlinks in the text or where not possible, as endnotes.
Examples:
• https://www.theigc.org/blog/barriers-faced-by-women-in-labour-market-participation-evidence-
from-pakistan/
• https://www.theigc.org/blog/the-resilience-of-informal-labour-markets-insights-from-uganda/
Submission:
Please submit the blog as a Word file. Send figures separately in Excel file (preferred) or as high-
resolution images (JPG, PDF, PNG).
Publication:
The IGC’s editorial team selects blogs for publication based on the quality of the content and its
relevancy to IGC’s core audiences. Not all IGC blogs submitted as project outputs will be published.
This editorial decision will not affect the status of your project payments/milestones.
IGC policy brief guidelines
An IGC policy brief draws from your research to provide guidance or recommendations for
policymakers in addressing a particular policy problem, either within a specific country/region or
globally.
Page limit: 3-5 pages
General:
The policy brief should be written for a policy audience, i.e. brief, bulleted or sectioned, attractively
presented, and non-technical. Write concisely and for a general audience – the briefs should be
accessible to someone without an economics background.
A typical policy brief should include the following sections:
• bulleted summary of the brief’s key messages on the cover page,
• description and significance of the policy issue/problem that your research addresses,
• description of your research and how it addresses the problem,
• non-technical summary of your key research findings,
• recommendations for policy, and
• implementation issues/challenges for policy recommendations (i.e., political, economic,
environmental, etc)
Content:
• Make strong use of clear and descriptive subheadings to highlight your main
findings/recommendations and increase readability of your brief.
• No regression tables or equations in the text; they are too much detail for most readers and
not enough for the specialists. Please give the results in graphics, charts, or words, and direct
readers to the underlying research for details.
• Simple infographics, bar charts, and diagrams are encouraged!
• Be sure to include the list of authors at the top of the brief.
• Since our audience is international and IGC is headquartered in the UK, we consistently use
British spellings across our publications.
• Include citations as references at the end of your brief. IGC uses Chicago style citations.
Examples:
• https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Deserrano-et-al-November-2021-Policy-
brief.pdf
• https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Willingness-to-vaccinate-policy-brief-July-
2021.pdf
Submission:
Please submit the policy brief as a Word file. If possible, send figures separately in Excel file
(preferred) or as high-resolution images (JPG, PDF, PNG). A formatted IGC Word template for policy
briefs is available for authors to use (these will be quality checked by IGC before publication).
Alternatively, you can send a plain Word document, and it will be formatted by IGC.
Publication:
While IGC endeavours to publish all project policy briefs, we reserve the right to not publish policy
briefs that do not meet our editorial quality standards. This editorial decision will not affect the status of
your project payments/milestones.
