About Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration

Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration

The Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration is an international peer-reviewed journal of public governance, policy, administration and management, based in Hong Kong and published by Routledge, part of Taylor & Francis, on behalf of the Department of Politics and Public Administration of the University of Hong Kong. Routledge has published the journal since January 2014. Its archive runs back to volume 1 through its former titles, the Hong Kong Journal of Public Administration and the Asian Journal of Public Administration, with the first of those titles dating to 1979. The journal publishes English-language research on public administration in and beyond Asia and the Pacific, with a longstanding commitment to research on China and Southeast Asia.

Overview and identity

The journal describes itself as a scholarly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting the study, research and enhancement of public governance, policy, administration and management in and beyond Asia and the Pacific. It welcomes contributions that address theory and practice from country, comparative and thematic perspectives. Its target audience comprises scholars, policy-makers and managers, including those engaged in education and research in the expanding Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) communities. Taylor & Francis lists the title under journal code rapa20, and the journal publishes four issues a year according to journal directory listings.

History through three titles

The journal's lineage begins with the Hong Kong Journal of Public Administration, whose first issue appeared in 1979. It continued as the Asian Journal of Public Administration before taking its current name, Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration. When Routledge took over publication in 2014, it made the full back archive available seamlessly on the Taylor & Francis Online platform from volume 1, explicitly including the content published under the two former titles. That continuous archive means the current journal carries more than four decades of scholarship on Hong Kong, Chinese and regional public administration under a single title, and researchers citing the older titles are citing earlier volumes of the same journal lineage.

The Routledge partnership from 2014

In an announcement hosted by the University of Hong Kong's Department of Politics and Public Administration, the department recorded that, from January 2014, the journal entered a new publication partnership with Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, which publishes it on the department's behalf. The announcement noted that Routledge was the largest social science publisher by number of journals ranked in the Journal Citation Reports (Social Sciences Citation Index), and that the partnership would enhance discoverability of the journal's online content and maximise dissemination of published articles, facilitating greater engagement with a worldwide audience. Improvements introduced with Routledge included seamless online availability of past issues via Taylor & Francis Online from volume 1, HTML articles, forward citation linking, and article-level metrics including downloads and citations. The journal has grown beyond its initial regional emphasis while continuing to aim to represent the best research from the Asia Pacific region.

Aims and scope

The journal is dedicated to public governance, policy, administration and management, in and beyond Asia and the Pacific. Its scope covers the study of how governments and public organisations are run, how public policy is made and implemented, and how public services are managed, examined from country, comparative and thematic perspectives. Research areas visible across its published record include public administration and government, corporate governance, political economy, accountability and public service motivation, alongside the interplay between governance and the cultural dimensions of administrative practice. Recent thematic emphases in the field covered by the journal include digital transformation and e-governance and the implications of artificial intelligence for public services. The journal's own description stresses both theory and practice, addressing readers in universities and in government.

Regional focus: Asia, the Pacific and China

As its title states, the journal's home region is Asia and the Pacific, and it has a longstanding commitment to research on China and Southeast Asia within that wider frame. Analyses of its most cited papers show China, legitimacy, political economy and accountability recurring in its governance research, and its article record includes work on Hong Kong itself, such as a widely cited study of the first ten years of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the coming of age of its civil society. At the same time, the journal's stated ambition reaches beyond the region: it publishes on public administration in and beyond Asia and the Pacific and seeks engagement with a worldwide audience, positioning regional research in a global scholarly conversation.

Article types and author guidance

The journal publishes manuscripts in English only. According to its Taylor & Francis author instructions, it accepts free-standing articles of 7,000 to 9,000 words, articles in proposed or commissioned special issues or symposia of 5,000 to 9,000 words, and guest editorials about new and timely developments of 1,500 to 3,000 words. There are no submission fees, publication fees or page charges for the journal, although charges apply for colour figures in print. Authors have the option to publish open access through the publisher's Open Select programme. Submissions are managed through Routledge's Submission Portal, and the journal uses Crossref Similarity Check screening for unoriginal material. Special issues and symposia, proposed or commissioned, form a regular part of its programme alongside unsolicited free-standing articles.

Peer review and the Best Article Prize

The journal is a peer-reviewed title; United Nations Public Administration Network's directory of public administration journals describes it as a scholarly double-blind peer-reviewed journal, and Taylor & Francis describes it as a scholarly blind peer-reviewed journal. All articles published in the journal are eligible for its annual Best Article Prize, with the decision based on a vote of editorial board members, and the publisher maintains a collection of prize-winning articles on its site. The prize gives the journal a mechanism for signalling the work its board judges most significant each year across its governance, policy and administration coverage.

University of Hong Kong base

The journal is published on behalf of the Department of Politics and Public Administration of the University of Hong Kong, one of Asia's leading universities for the study of government and public policy. That departmental base in Hong Kong anchors the journal in the region it studies: Hong Kong has been a significant site for research on public administration, civil service and governance in Greater China, and the journal's own history began there with the Hong Kong Journal of Public Administration in 1979. The Routledge imprint and Taylor & Francis Online platform provide its international production and distribution, while editorial identity remains tied to the Hong Kong department named in the publishing arrangement.

Readership and standing

The journal addresses scholars, policy-makers and managers, including the MPA and DPA communities. Directory and metrics listings record the title in Scopus, with coverage listed from 2004, and classify it in the field of public administration within the social sciences. For researchers in comparative and regional public administration — particularly those working on China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and the wider Asia Pacific — it is one of the established English-language journals dedicated specifically to the region's governance and administration, with an archive stretching back to 1979 under its former titles.

Access and submissions

Readers access the journal through Taylor & Francis Online, where the archive from volume 1, including the former-title content, is available with HTML articles and article-level metrics. Authors submit through Routledge's Submission Portal and should follow the instructions for authors for journal code rapa20, noting the English-only policy, the word lengths for each article type, the absence of submission and page charges, and the Open Select open-access option. Guest editorials and special issue proposals follow the length and commissioning routes described in the same instructions.