Standard Procedures for DHQ

(under development)

Incoming Submissions

Incoming submissions are typically received at submissions@digitalhumanities.org, which is read by the Managing Editor. Article submissions are handled directly by the Managing Editor; reviews, IM submissions, and editorials are forwarded to the appropriate editors. (See below). Submissions that are in a format we cannot read or do not accept should be returned to the author with a request for submission in a different format. Submissions are accepted in plain text, XML (DHQML, TEI, XHTML by preference) , RTF, and other open formats. We grudgingly accept Word documents but not PDF.

The Managing Editor enters each incoming submission into the submissions database. A regular export from the database provides a view of the current set of submissions on the web (this will be replaced with a more direct process once the work flow is moved into OpenCMS? ).

Incoming submissions are currently stored on the Brown server (so that the Managing Editor can have easy access to them) both in their original form and in PDF to facilitate reviewing. Revised versions are also stored here.

Reviews

Reviews are managed by the Reviews editor, who is responsible for soliciting them, assessing their quality and approving them for publication. The Reviews editor will solicit reviews from regular reviewers or from people he/she identifies as appropriate. Reviews may be on relevant books, software, web resources and other digital publications; they may be individual reviews or review essays on a specific theme or genre.

The Reviews editor should interact with the author and request any changes necessary to bring the review to the necessary quality for publication. Once the review is in final form, it should be returned to the Managing Editor to be encoded in DHQML and copyedited. At this point it joins the regular DHQ production work flow.

Editorials

Editorials are managed by the editor of Issues in Humanities Computing, who is responsible for soliciting them, assessing their quality and approving them for publication. The IHC editor will solicit editorials from people he/she identifies as appropriate.

The IHC editor should interact with the author and request any changes necessary to bring the editorial to the necessary quality for publication. Once the piece is in final form, it should be returned to the Managing Editor to be encoded in DHQML and copyedited. At this point it joins the regular DHQ production work flow.

Review Process

The Managing Editor assigns each incoming article submission to at least two reviewers as soon as it is received, and follows up to ensure that reviews are completed promptly. If a reviewer fails to submit a review, the Managing Editor will assign a replacement reviewer as soon as possible. In addition to the formal review process, the DHQ editors will also (time permitting) read as many of the incoming submissions as possible, and may provide comments to authors on accepted articles.

Reviews should be completed comparatively quickly; the Managing Editor will typically request that a review be completed within three or four weeks. If the two reviewers initially assigned agree on the outcome (accept, revise, decline), no further review is necessary. If there is disagreement, an additional reviewer may be assigned, or the Articles editors may review the article to reach a final decision. Very few articles will be accepted without changes. Most articles will be given an opportunity to revise, but if the revisions needed to make the article acceptable are very significant, the author will be asked to resubmit for a second review process.

Responding to Authors

When the reviews are completed, if the article is accepted the Managing Editor sends the reviewers' comments to the author, together with her own advice and any other advice that may be offered by other editors. She negotiates with the author a date for completing any revisions, and follows up to ensure that revisions are completed promptly.

Revision

Revised versions of articles should be read by the Articles editors to be sure that the final version is of acceptable quality.

Publication Process

Once the material (of any sort) is received in final form from the author, the Managing Editor has the work encoded and then copyedited. If the work was submitted in XML, it is transformed into DHQML. Once the article has been corrected and encoded, it is posted (probably in OpenCMS? ) for a final authorial review. This review is simply a checking process to make sure that all images and formatting are as expected and no errors have been introduced in the encoding process. The author is sent the URL and has a limited window during which he/she can review the article and report any problems that need fixing. Once these have been addressed, the article is moved into the preview space for the upcoming issue and is considered published.

Guidelines for special issues of DHQ

General guidelines

DHQ will consider proposals for special issues that focus on topics germane to DHQ's subject areas. A special issue might arise from a conference or other event, or might be a thematic collection on a particular topic or research problem. Special issues may include articles, interactive multimedia materials, editorials, and even guest bloggers. Each special issue will have a guest editor, who will work with a designated DHQ editor to ensure the quality and coherence of the issue. A special issue may take the place of a regular issue of DHQ, or may be a subsection of a regular issue, or may be an additional (fifth) issue. No more than two special issues will be published in any given year. Arrangements for peer review will be made between DHQ and the guest editor; DHQ reserves the right to decline any submitted material that is inappropriate or of insufficiently high quality.

Proposals

To propose a special issue, please send the following information to submissions@digitalhumanities.org:

• A brief summary of the rationale and topic for the special issue
• The anticipated submission date for articles
• The name(s) of the guest editor(s)
• A table of contents listing the authors and tentative titles or brief descriptions of the articles
• The nature of materials to be submitted (e.g. articles, editorials, IM submissions, etc.)
• Any constraints that would make publication on or by a certain date essential

Submission, review, and revision process

The proposal will be reviewed by the three general editors and the articles editors, who will decide whether to accept it and will determine when and how the issue is to appear and how peer review is to be handled. If the proposal is accepted, a member of the DHQ editorial board will be assigned to work with the guest editor, and to settle details of the submission date for articles.

The guest editor will coordinate the submission of the materials for the special issue. Once the peer review process is complete, the DHQ editor assigned to the issue will advise the guest editor on any revisions that are necessary, and the guest editor will coordinate the revision and resubmission process.

Once the final revised versions of materials are received, they will be passed into the DHQ production workflow, including copyediting, proofreading, encoding, authorial preview, and publication.

-- JuliaFlanders - 14 Oct 2006