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