Joining the Global Informality Project
Become an author
The Encyclopaedia is based on authored entries of approximately 1,000-1,500 words including bibliography. We are looking for contributors who have done primary, if not pioneering research of aspects of informality.
Guidelines for Entries
Each entry should focus on a single practice (preferably named in colloquial way) and analyse at least some of the following aspects:
- Local name of the informal practice;
- Definition, etymology and its translation into other languages;
- How widely is it used?;
- In which countries/regions/sectors is it spread?;
- Identify analogous practices, named differently in different countries (if possible);
- How does it relate to other informal practices (discuss similarities and differences if possible);
- What are the implications of the chosen practice for politics/economy/ society?;
- Which method was or can be used for researching this practice?;
- Give examples of the practice;
- How can the practice be measured?
- Please cross-reference and recommend readings.
Style
Entries should be aimed at a non-specialist audience, including non-academics. Entries should be written in British English in encyclopaedic style. Please use simple and straightforward language and avoid the use of the first person pronoun.
Entry header
- Please list the name and location of the practice, author’s name and institution at the top of the document, in the exact format you wish it to appear, e.g.:
- Blat
- Russia
- Alena V. Ledeneva
- School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London
- Please include with your submission an email address where you will be most easily contacted throughout the duration of the project.
- Include between 5 and 10 keywords that best describe the practice.
- Include a short, one-sentence definition of the practice.
Illustrations
- If applicable, please attach up to two images illustrating the practice. We prefer images that are your own work or not subject to copyright.
- Please attach photographs or other media as a separate file and do not insert them in the text document.
- Provide captions for all the pictures as well as the source of the material (author, website address, literature citation) and the name of the copyright holder (e.g. 'Exchanging favours in Russia. Source: Photo by author. © Alena Ledeneva.').
Formatting
- Use single inverted commas and quotation marks, do not use double quotes, e.g. ‘informal’, NOT “informal”.
- Write percentages out in full, e.g. 6 per cent, NOT 6% or 6 percent.
- Write centuries out in full, e.g. nineteenth century NOT 19th century. Decades can be written numerically, e.g. ‘during the 1920s’.
- Non-English words, including the name of the practice, should appear in italics.
- Do not use headings or footnotes.
Referencing format
- In-text referencing should appear in parentheses, in the form (Surname Year: page number), e.g. (Smith 2014: 31-5). Please do not put a comma between the author and the year.
- The list of references should only contain items included in the text.
Books
- Rupp, K. 2004. Gift Giving in Japan: Cash, Connections, Cosmologies. Stanford: Stanford University Press
- Blundo, G. and Le Meur, P. Y. (eds.) 2009. The Governance of Daily Life in Africa: Ethnographic Explorations of Public and Collective Services. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers
- Padgett, J., Bonacich, P., Skvoretz, J. and Scott, J. 2000. Social Network Analysis. London: Sage
Chapters from edited collections
- Bourdieu, P. 1986. ‘The forms of capital’, in J. G. Richardson (ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood Press: 241-58
Journal Articles
- Lebra, T. S. 1975. ‘An Alternative Approach to Reciprocity’, American Anthropologist, 77: 550-6
News articles
- Kuzmin, V. 2011. ‘By October 1, government officials will leave the boards of state-run companies’, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, 4 April: 3
- Novaya gazeta. 2010. ‘A bil li uchreditel’?’, No. 74, 12 July: 6
- RIA Novosti. 2010. ‘Nothing can make nation drink less, say quarter of Russians’, 17 March
Internet-based sources
- Petrov, T. 2012. ‘The secret of the wine cellar’, Rumafia.com, 4 May, rumafia.com/material.php?id=496
- Newsbsm.com. 2011. ‘Vladimir Putin speaks out against sharp rise in prices on alcohol in Russia’, 1 April, www.newsbcm.com/doc/725
- UNDP. 2004. Practice Code: Anti-corruption, www.undp.org/governance/docs/AC_PN_English.pdf
Forum posts
- Maziek. 2017. ‘Pytam:’ [Discussion post]. Stanisław Lem Forum, 9th June, https://forum.lem.pl/index.php?topic=1107.1005
Films
- Joost, H. and Schulman, A. (directors). 2010. Catfish [film]. USA: Relatively Media
Multiple works from the same author and year
Please differentiate by adding a letter after the year of publication, starting with “a”. For example:
- Ballard, R. 2005a. ‘Coalitions of reciprocity and the maintenance of financial integrity within informal value transmission systems: The operational dynamics of contemporary hawala networks’, Journal of Banking Regulation, 6 (4): 319–352
- Ballard, R. 2005b. ‘Remittances and economic development in India and Pakistan’, in S.
Maimbo and D. Ratha (eds.), Remittances: Development Impact and Future Prospects. Washington, D.C.: World Bank
Non-English language sources
There is no need to provide translations of the titles of non-English sources. Please transliterate any non-Latin scripts into Latin letters, e.g.:
- Korzhikhina, T. P. 1992. Administrativno-komandnaya sistema upravleniia. Moscow: RGGU
- Kulikov, V. 2005. ‘Telefonnoe pravo podsudno’, Rossiiskaya gazeta, 6 September, www.rg.ru/2005/09/06/telefonnoe-pravo.html
How to quote your entry after publication
You can use the following formula:
Surname, N. Year. "Name of the entry". In Ledeneva, A. et al. (eds.) The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality: Understanding Social and Cultural Complexity, Volume X. London: UCL Press. DOI: the corresponding DOI.
or
Surname, N. Year. "Name of the entry". In The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality Online. Available online: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/browse-books/global-encyclopaedia-of-informality-ii
The second option will be preferred in case there is not yet a hard copy of your entry.
Contact us
The Global Informality Project
University College London
School of Slavonic and East European Studies
Editor-in-chief
- Professor Alena V. Ledeneva
- a.ledeneva@ucl.ac.uk
Project Manager
- Gian Marco Moisé
Senior Editor
- Dr Petra Matijevic
- informality2014@gmail.com