_ELECTRONIC JOURNAL ON VIRTUAL CULTURE_ ISSN 1068-5723 THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS: GENERAL POLICY AND PLAN FOR ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION This document states the general policy and plan for the organization and operation of the peer review process of the _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ (EJVC). The primary functions and tasks are delineated in the following sections: 1.0 General Overview 2.0 Functions of the Editorial Board 2.1 Editor-in-Chief/Co-Editor 2.2 Consulting Editors 2.3 Section Editors 3.0 Functions of the Editorial Staff 3.1 Associate Editors 3.2 Extern/Intern Editors 4.0 Functions of Guest/Special Issue Editors 5.0 General Information 5.1 Publication Schedule 5.2 Submissions 5.3 Archives 5.4 Subscription 5,5 Development 5.8 Copyright 5.7 Publisher 1.0 General Overview _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ (EJVC) is a refereed electronic journal. The purpose of the refereed journal is to foster, encourage, advance, and communicate scholarly thought on virtual culture. Original manuscripts on virtual culture are invited from scholars and practitioners in multiple arenas, disciplines, professions, and cultures. The focus of a manuscript may be on substantive topics, such as electronic forums, electronic journals, and computer networking. Topics may be presented from different perspectives and alternative paradigms within and across multiple disciplines, with emphases such as description, explanation, analysis, evaluation, or research. 1. The _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture is a refereed scholarly journal, with a rigorous peer-review process. 2. EJVC observes the canons of quality scholarship, optimal flexibility, functional standardization, and minimal hyperstandardization. 3. The EJVC shall issue articles as units and in sets, with volume numbers, issue numbers, supplement numbers and thread/theme/serial codes where applicable, and networked archival access and retrieval procedures. 4. Information published in every issue shall include publisher, editorial board and staff, editorial guidelines, disclaimer, copyright statement, submission, subscription, and archival access and retrieval procedures. 5. The EJVC shall seek quality manuscripts with substantial ideas from beginning authors as well as well as established authors. 6. Each issue of the EJVC shall be less than 400,000 bytes (200 typewritten pages). 7. The official language of the EJVC shall be English, but a non-English version of an article may be published in the same volume of the EJVC. Translations into other languages for limited issues may be approved by special arrangement. 8. The collaboration of organized groups and professional organizations shall be encouraged. 9. The EJVC is an electronic journal and shall not be issued in a print version, but it may be made available in various media, such as microfiche and print, by libraries and other institutions as a public service. 10. No subscription fee for the EJVC is contemplated, and no one is authorized to sell it under any circumstances. 2.0 Editorial Board The functions, tasks, role responsibilities, and schedules in the editorial process must be unambiguous, with minimal uncertainty, about any activity/task, relative to what, when, where, and by whom. The Editorial Board consists of an Editor-in-Chief, Co-Editor, section editors, and consulting editors. 2.1 Editor-in-Chief/Co-Editor The EIC/CE shall jointly provide the general leadership for the EJVC, the creation and development of the character and dynamics of the culture of the EJVC. 1. Communication with authors: a. Issue calls for articles. b. Articles shall be less than 100,000 bytes (50 pages) in a recognized form and style modified for ASCII format. The preferred form and style shall be the _APA Publication Manual_, but other forms and styles shall be acceptable. EJVC shall use multiple forms and styles, flexible among articles but consistent within any given article. Each contribution shall conform to the minimal form of the current EJVC "Authors` Guidelines." Numbered paragraphs and pages and internal/in-text citation are preferred. Manuscripts shall be prepared and submitted by the author(s) in "camera ready form," not requiring major editorial modification for publication. c. Send acknowledgment to authors that a submission has been received for peer review. A copy of the current policy and plan on the peer review process shall be appended to the notice for the author(s)' information. d. Reject manuscripts not clearly about virtual culture. e. Notify author(s) within 30 days after receiving any manuscript of the disposition of the manuscript. . Provide author(s) with copies of review comments, with instructions about further development and appropriate contacts. If revision is recommended, the author(s) shall be asked to expeditiously complete any revision based on reviewers' comments with ten days after receiving them. . Author(s) shall forward the revised draft to the EIC, CE, or Section Editor as instructed. . The cycle of revision/resubmission may be repeated twice to nurture promising articles to acceptance. Otherwise, manuscripts shall be rejected if promising or satisfactory progress is not evident, based on lack of responsiveness or adequacy of revision. 2. Editorial recruitment, appointment, collaboration, and coordination. a. Recruit and call for editors: . Issue calls for editors. . Establish editors' specialization/expertise/interests. b. Appointment of editors: . Review applications for editorship, . Refuse appointments based on criteria in application, . Recommend appointments to the Editorial Board, and . Notify applicants of appointments or refusals c. Collaboration and coordination: . Oversee the peer review process and guarantee the integrity of the process with regard to substantive quality and editorial standards in collaboration with the editorial board and the editorial staff. . Manage and coordinate the flow of work and communication of editors: Consulting, Section, Associate, Externs, Interns, and Guest/Special Issue Editors. . Notify editors of submissions. . Disseminate abstracts to ALL editors, with reference to theme/strand, including the provision of instructions for the retrieval of manuscripts. . Receive notice of intention to review articles from editors. . Coordination to protect the anonymity of authors and reviewers. . At least three affirmative reviews by qualified reviewers, including *qualified* external reviewers (who shall be solicited for manuscripts on selected issues and topics and be expected to meet the same criteria of appointment as associate editors of the EJVC) shall be required for publication. . Coordinate peer review/referee recycling drafts of manuscripts. 2. Create and maintain archives in globally networked computer information systems to facilitate worldwide access, retrieval, and distribution of the EJVC. Archive articles, reviews of articles, revised drafts, sections, and total issues of the EJVC, and post archival announcements to editors. 3. Authorization for publication: a. Authorize publication of any article. b. Authorize publication of any issue. 2.2 Consulting Editors Consulting editors shall provide to the EIC, CE, and Section Editors consultation and advice on substantive issues on virtual culture and/or technical issues and the resolution of conflicts of editorial opinion as need arises on the basis of being a scholar-writer on virtual culture. 2.3 Section Editors The EJVC may have several sections and each section shall be coordinated by an Section Editor, who may elect to form a team of associate editors--colleagues with individual responsibilities for different components in the section. A Section Editor shall provide leadership and expertise in the preparation of a section of the EJVC for each quarterly issue, in collaboration with the EIC and CE. The section editor shall formulate of a Plan of Operation for conducting the editorial process relative to the specific section, consistent with the General Plan of Operation (this document), in collaboration with a section team of associate editors. The Plan of Operation should provide for: 1. Integration of the section into the EJVC, including full collaboration and cooperation with the EIC or EC. 2. Procurement of contributions and information pertinent to the edited section, with the cooperation of contributing editors. 3. Editorial coordination of the section: a. Identification and description of subsections b. Formation of a collegial team of associate editors to produce the section: . Assign role responsibilities to associate editors for subsections. . Secure reviewers to referee articles, if the section is to be peer reviewed, and assure conformity with the EJVC "Authors' Guidelines." . Receive peer reviews, contributions, and content for any unrefereed subsections. . Provide peer reviews to authors. . Submit peer reviews to the Editor-in-Chief. 4. Communicate with authors, associate editors, guest editors of special issues, and the EIC or EC to facilitate the peer-review process including the revision of manuscripts to reflect editorial opinions in an expeditious manner. 5. Timely submission of sections in "archive-ready form" for publication in an issue of the EJVC three days before scheduled dates of publication. The Plan of Operation for the section shall be filed with the EIC or EC, who shall append it to the General Plan of Operation and place it in the archives for retrieval via anonymous ftp. 3.0 Editorial Staff 3.1 Associate Editors Associate editors shall be jurors/referees/readers for sections of the EJVC. An associate editor shall: 1. Receive notice of the submitted manuscripts, including abstracts and retrieval instructions. 2. Elect to review submissions and read submitted papers. 3. Review submitted manuscript (two weeks for review, one week for reviewers to consult). 4. Guarantee quality and conformity with minimal requirements of the EJVC "Author's Guidelines," using highly selective and demanding standards of judgment. 5. Edit papers submitted for blind review; critique submissions, giving specific analysis of strengths and weaknesses. 6. Judge the overall quality of papers submitted for blind review. 7. Communicate to the Section Editor, if the manuscript is allocated to one, or the EIC or CE otherwise, an editorial opinion, including: a. Appropriateness of the manuscript for publication in the EJVC, b. Critique of strengths and weaknesses, c. Recommendations for improvement of the manuscript, d. Overall judgment of the worthiness of the manuscript, and e. Recommendation to publish or not to publish the manuscript as an article in the EJVC. 3.2 Extern/Intern Editors Intern/Extern Editors may participate in the peer review process and other aspects of the EJVC under the general direction of the EIC or CE with the special supervision of cooperating editors of the EJVC. Such participation shall be delineated in a Personal Plan for an Externship or Internship which shall be formulated by the extern/intern in cooperation with an institutional/organizational mentor, the EIC or EC, and cooperating editors of the EJVC. 4.0 Guest/Special Issue Editors Special issue editors shall provide leadership for special or supplementary issues of the journal devoted to a particular theme or idea. The guest editor shall formulate a plan of operations for the special issue that is consistent with the policy and plan of operations of the EJVC, in general, and any relevant section, in particular. The plan for the special issue shall be drafted in cooperation with appropriate section editors and the EIC or CE. 5.0 General Information 5.1 Publication Schedule Regular Publication Schedule and Deadlines Issue Deadline January 20 December 10 March 20 February 15 May 20 April 15 July 20 June 15 September 20 August 15 November 20 October 15 5.2 Submissions Manuscripts may be submitted any time but the standing deadline for the submission of manuscripts shall be the first of the month preceding the month of the next issue. Only submissions via electronic mail or file transfer are acceptable. Send submissions to: Diane Kovacs BITNET: DKOVACS@KENTVM Interbet: DKOVACS@KENTVM.KENT.EDU 5.3 Archives Private listserv and anonymous FTP archives of the EJVC shall be maintained, and full retrieval instructions shall be included in all periodical announcements of issues of the EJVC. Related information is currently available via anonymous ftp, using chosen commands in the retrieval procedure. 1. The journal shall be archived and distributed in collaboration with EJVC-L, and other archival systems [e.g.; LISTSERV, multiple FTP sites gophers, WAIS, Usenet, and the World-Wide-Web]. 2. The table of contents (TOC) of each issue of the EJVC shall be distributed worldwide via computer networked forums and journals. Instructions for the retrieval of each EJVC document, file, and object, including a cumulative table of contents by authors/titles, abstracts, full text of articles, and sets of articles, shall be systematically disseminated via systematic postings and announcements. 3. The EJVC as such shall be distributed as a public service, free-of-charge via networked archives over world-wide computer networks if that service is, in turn, freely available. Commercial distribution for profit is prohibited. Retrieval Procedure: ftp byrd.mu.wvnet.edu login anonymous password: your electronic address cd /pub/ejvc get EJVC.ARCHIVES (complete information on all EJVC archives) get EJVC.information get EJVC.contents.current get EJVC.editors.call get EJVC.articles.call get EJVCV#N#.PACKAGE (where # is the number of the volume/issue) quit Instructions for the retrieval of specific articles and issues shall be provided in the EJVC.ARCHIVES. 5.4 Subscription To subscribe to the EJVC send email to listserv@kentvm or listserv@kentvm.kent.edu with the one line of text: subscribe EJVC-L YourFullName Example: subscribe EJVC-L Albert Gore Announcements of the availability of issues of the EJVC shall be posted to various network forums on a regular basis. 5.5 Development Several current developmental issues include: 1. Promotional vendors, 2. Alternatives to ASCII, such as postscript and/or SGML, 3. Multicontinental distribution of EJVC via FAX, anonymous ftp, WAIS, gopher, and WWW, 4. Indexing and abstracting, 5. The endorsement, sponsorship, and collaboration of organized groups and professional organizations, and 6. Arrangements technical clerical support. 5.6 Copyright Each article published in the _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ (EJVC) is the intellectual property of the author(s). The author(s) retain the copyright to any and all published articles. Authors, therefore, are free to republish or otherwise distribute their own such articles. However, an author assigns rights to the EJVC to: 1. Archive and distribute the article. 2. Be credited as first publisher in any republication or distribution of the article within five years after publication, with proper bibliographic citation giving author attribution, affiliation, date, article title, full name of the EJVC, and electronic retrieval instructions, 3. Convey rights to third parties to archive, distribute, index, and/or abstract the article in conjenction with the EJVC.