About the Journal

Aims and Scope

Local Administration Journal (LAJ) has been the flagship open-access journal of the College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University, Thailand since 2008. LAJ serves as a forum for scholars, researchers, public administrators, students, and the general public, both domestic and international, to disseminate their latest scholarly and empirical work on local governance. The Journal will be published in English beginning in the first quarter of 2020.

 LAJ’s mission is to provide, on a regular and sustainable basis, a high-quality scholarly journal for reporting empirical and comparative study findings, topical issues, theoretical concerns, and reviews on local governance and its related fields of study. LAJ also publishes high-quality reviews and research articles in the fields of public administration, political science, economics, management, social sciences, and other disciplines related to local governance. Critical reviews and book reviews on local governance literature are also welcome. In addition, LAJ seeks to play a mentorship role to encourage young scholars and professionals including graduate students to submit their research findings for peer review for publication. The geographical scope of the Journal is Asia but it welcomes contributions from other regions.

LAJ has been published four times a year and is indexed by the Thai-Journal Citation Index Centre (TCI) in group 1. (2021-2024)

Editorial Policy

Authors will be informed of the decision on their manuscript within four weeks after submission. Papers will be published approximately four months after acceptance. Following acceptance, a paper will normally be published in the next issue. Because the LAJ is also desirous of fulfilling a mentoring role, submission by junior scholars and hitherto unpublished authors is encouraged.

 Supplementary or thematic editions of the Journal may be produced from time to time. The Editorial Board of the LAJ makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information contained in its publications. However, the Editorial Board of the LAJ makes no representations or warranties, whatsoever, as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purposes of the content and disclaims all such representations and warranties, whether expressed or implied, to the maximum extent permitted by law. Any reviews expressed in this publication are the views of the authors and are not necessarily the views of the editorial staff or the College of Local Administration. Contributions are referred to specialist readers for consideration, but the Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final selection of the contents of the Journal.

Ethical Policy

LAJ follows the standard for Ethics and Publication Malpractice based on existing Elsevier policies and the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (available at https://publicationethics.org/). The Journal is therefore committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles. Read our Publication Ethics here.

Peer Review Process

To ensure the highest quality of the journal, all research, review, and academic articles will undergo a double-blind peer-review process in which the authors and reviewers do not know each other's identities. Before 2022 at least two reviewers were be assigned to review an article. Since 2023 at least three reviewers are assigned to review an article.

Publication Frequency

LAJ is published quarterly: January, April, July, and October.

Keywords

local government, public participation, transparency, good governance, public policy, management, administration

Abstracting and Indexing Information

  • Thai-Journal Citation Index

  • Google Scholar

Open Access Policy

LAJ provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.