ALPSP

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'Learned Publishing gets my work expeditiously into print with class, courtesy and style …. I am full of appreciation. It is also a beautiful publication.' 
David Gordon Wilson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

'My article arose out of an invitation from the editor … members of the editorial staff were responsible for the initiation of this project, and they provided very helpful constructive criticisms of early drafts (… much more helpful than many of the comments that I've received from conventional peer reviewers in the past!).'
Jim Till, University of Toronto

The Editors of Learned Publishing welcome research reports, case studies, other articles, short opinion pieces and letters on all aspects of academic publishing and scholarly communication.

Please read the following guidelines before submitting your work.  These notes should answer the questions that authors most often ask, and alert authors to what will be required of them.  Your attention to these details is greatly appreciated; care in preparation can help to speed up processing times.

Submissions
To expedite processing of your article, please use our online submission and review system, supplied by eJournal Press (www.ejpress.com).  If you have any questions concerning online submission please contact the Editor, Alan Singleton (editor@alpsp.org), or the North American Editor, Janet Fisher (us-editor@alpsp.org).
Please submit your manuscripts at http://lp.msubmit.net/

Readership
The readership we try to keep in mind is middle managers in publishing who want to know about the wider aspects of the business in which their careers are being made, but who may not be able to attend all the conferences and seminars of importance to them.  Most of our readers are currently in either the USA or the UK.  Obviously, this does not describe all readers, but we think they are a good target for reaching the widest audience.  Please avoid - or explain - jargon and spell out all except the most well-known acronyms when they first appear.  Wherever possible give DOIs (or URLs if no DOI is available) for references, so that readers can find them as easily as possible.

Types of Article

Research Articles
Learned Publishing is a peer-reviewed journal;  that is to say, all articles describing original research are submitted to at least two external reviewers in the normal way. If you wish to suggest reviewers, please feel free to do so;  the editors will bear your suggestions in mind, but may involve other reviewers instead or as well, at their discretion.

Research articles should focus on studies of interest and relevance to people working in publishing, and the relevance to our readership should be drawn out in the conclusions.  Most of our readers are not themselves research experts, so explanations (or links to explanations) of statistical tests, etc., will be helpful.

A good example of a research article is:
Regazzi, J. and Aytac, S.  2008. Author perceptions of journal quality.  Learned Publishing 21: 225-34.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/095315108X288938

Research articles may be between 2,000 and 6,000 words long.  They should include an abstract of not more than 150 words, summarizing the actual findings of the study, and not merely outlining its coverage.

Tables, figures and photographs which help to elucidate the text are always helpful - it may be possible to print these in colour, where the colour is important for clarity, if the placing of colour advertising permits this.

References should not be excessive in number.  Please provide DOIs (or URLs if DOIs are not available) for all references which are available online.  Details of our reference style are given below.

Extensive supplementary material (such as lengthy survey questionnaires, or even data) can be hosted online.

Case Studies
Readers of Learned Publishing are particularly interested in objective, practical case studies describing the real-life experience of other publishers (or, indeed, of other players in the information chain);  what they are looking for is real information which they can apply to their own working situation.   Case studies should emphatically not be publicity 'puffs' for the company whose experience is being described.  Good examples of objectively described case studies are:
Anderson, K. and Nugent, J.  2007.  A medical journal's beta site:  experimentation at NEJM.  Learned Publishing 20: 187-90.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/095315107X204058
Peters, P.  2007.  Going all the way:  how Hindawi became an open access publisher.  Learned Publishing 20:  191-5.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/095315107X204049

Case studies would normally be between 2,000 and 4,000 words long;  they should have an abstract of 100-150 words, describing the actual findings (and not just what the article covers).  References are welcomed - please provide DOIs (or URLs if DOIs are not available) for all references which are available online.  Details of our reference style are given below.

Other articles
Our readers also welcome articles which are neither research-based nor case studies, but which describe ideas or developments of relevance to their working environment.

Such articles would normally be between 2,000 and 4,000 words, and should have an abstract of 100-150 words (describing the actual content of the article, and not merely outlining its coverage).  References and illustrative material, where appropriate, are welcomed;  details of our reference style are given below.

A good example of such an article is:
Morgan, C.  2008.  Journal article nomenclature:  the NISO/ALPSP recommendations.  Learned Publishing 21: 272-6.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/095315108X356699
 
Points of View
'Points of View' pieces are an opportunity for the author to sound off in a personal way about something related to publishing and scholarly communication, which is particularly important to him or her.   They are usually between 1,000 and 2,000 words;  rather than an abstract, we require a one-sentence summary (max 30 words) of what the piece is about.  References, and tables, figures or other illustrations, are optional.  

A good example of a 'Points of View' piece is:
Tananbaum, G.  2008.  Adventures in open data.  Learned Publishing 21: 154-6.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/095315108X254485

Letters to the Editor
Letters may be in response to a previously published article (or even another letter), or a more general comment on a matter of interest to the readership;  they would generally be no longer than 500 words.  No abstract is required.  

Letters to the editor are always made freely available online immediately upon publication.

Reviews
We welcome reviews of print and online books, reports and other publications of relevance to publishing and scholarly communication, and indeed of other items (such as software) which are of interest to our readers.  If you would like to suggest a publication for review (or even to offer to review it), please contact the Reviews Editors (Pippa Smart, reviews-editor@alpsp.org) in case one has already been commissioned.
Reviews are usually 500-1,000 words long, unless they are covering more than one item.  Detailed guidance is available from Pippa Smart, the Reviews Editor (reviews-editor@alpsp.org).

Reviews are always made freely available online immediately upon publication.

Obituaries
Learned Publishing includes obituaries of notable figures in the world of academic publishing or scholarly communication.  If you would like to propose such an obituary, please contact the editors (Alan Singleton, Editor, editor@alpsp.org or Janet Fisher, North American Editor, us-editor@alpsp.org) in case one has already been commissioned.

Obituaries are usually 500-1,000 words long, and ideally are accompanied by a photograph of the subject.  No abstract is required.

Obituaries are always made freely available online immediately upon publication.

Copyright & Licence to Publish
We do not require authors to transfer copyright.  Instead, they will be asked to sign a Licence to Publish once the article has been accepted;  the version used will depend whether or not they take the Open Access Option (see 'ALPSP Author Choice' below).

Licence to Publish: non-OA version (pdf)
Licence to Publish: ALPSP Author Choice OA version (pdf)

Please complete and sign the form.  Please scan the completed form and send it by email to editor@alpsp.org or mail the completed form to Alan Singleton, Editor, Learned Publishing, The Clock Tower, Horton Hill, Horton BS37 6QN, UK.

The licence to publish is generally viewed as being very reasonable and widely applicable, but there may be special circumstances that require it to be amended.  Please discuss any such issues with  Alan Singleton , Editor (editor@alpsp.org).

We rely on you to clear copyright permission for any third-party material (text or illustrations) that you wish to include;  please provide evidence of permission, and wording for a clear attribution to the original copyright owner.

Open Access
Editorials, Reviews, Obituaries and Letters to the Editor are automatically made freely available immediately on publication, without any author-side payment.  In addition, all issues are made freely available 12 months after publication (sometimes known as 'Delayed Open Access').

For all other types of articles, once your article has been accepted, you will be offered the option to participate in the 'ALPSP Author Choice' scheme.  If you choose this option, your article will be made freely available online immediately upon publication, in return for payment of a publication fee.  (Details)

Timing
Learned Publishing is published four times a year - at the beginning of January, April, July and October.  The closing date for an issue is effectively six weeks before publication of the previous issue, although this does vary slightly from issue to issue, to take account of holiday dates etc.  Thus, papers for the July issue must be fully reviewed and found acceptable by mid-February; scripts are therefore needed by the beginning of February at the latest (earlier in the case of research articles, to allow for peer review).  That doesn't guarantee that every article will be published in the next issue.  Timing generally depends on how much material has been accepted and the order in which it was received.  If there is a reason why appearing in a specific issue is important to you, please discuss it with the Editors as early as possible, so that we can determine if space can be reserved for your article.

January:  1 August
April:  1 November
July:  1 February
October:  1 May

Presentation of material

Text
Type material using MS Word;  the typescript should be double-spaced, leaving wide margins. Type section headings on separate lines, full left, in bold (not capitals);  subheadings should be in bold italic. Do not format or right-justify text. If you are not able to submit the article to the online submission system (lp.msubmit.net), send copy as an email attachment to the Editor (editor@alpsp.org) or to the North American Editor (us-editor@alpsp.org).   If you have problems with attachments, send the text in the body of the email.

If you do not have access to email, send two paper copies, typed as described above, to the Editor,  Alan Singleton, The Clock Tower, Horton Hill, HORTON, BS37 6QN, UK or to the North American Editor, Janet Fisher, Publishers Communication Group, 875 Massachusetts Avenue, 7th floor, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.

Titles
Article titles should be short, explicit and eye-catching - a subtitle (following a colon) may be included if necessary for clarification.  In general, titles of more than 12 words (including subtitle) will not fit at the top of the page in the running head.

Affiliation, Addresses and other Contact Details
Include your affiliation as you wish it to appear below your name at the head of the article. In addition, please include full details of your postal, phone, fax and e-mail addresses;  these will appear at the end of the article.  You may also include a brief descriptive paragraph about yourself/your organisation if you wish.

We generally include authors' contact details at the end of each article, so that readers may follow up anything that has particularly interested them.  The inclusion of such information is not obligatory, but we think it is helpful to readers to provide some way of communicating with you directly;  so please insert appropriate information to enable readers to contact you in whatever way will be most convenient to you. 

Section headings
Please include appropriate headings (and, if appropriate, subheadings) to help readers find their way around the article.

Illustrations
Black and white illustrations (graphs, charts, line diagrams or photographs) are welcome. Occasionally, it is also possible to include colour illustrations, but only if they contribute significantly to the information.  Please provide concise, informative captions for each illustration.

Figures should preferably be supplied in TIFF or Postscript format at a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Charts should be accompanied by a file containing the original data, to help with redrawing if this should prove necessary.  If necessary, hard-copy artwork and photographs may be sent, unfolded, in a stiff envelope, and identified by writing on a sticky label and attaching it to the back of the artwork. Provide captions and the name of the photographer, where applicable.

Author Photos
We like to illustrate research articles, case studies, and other articles with photos of the authors.  Unless you have an objection to that, please send a suitable black and white head-and-shoulders photograph (of at least 300 dpi resolution) when you submit your script.  Obviously we are happy to receive such photos electronically or, alternatively, we can download a picture from a website if you tell us where to go.

Points of View, Reviews and Letters to the Editor do not include author photos.

Authorship
Please provide the names, addresses and email contact details of all authors who have been involved in the work; do not include anyone who has not made an active contribution. Authors are normally listed in alphabetical order of family name, unless there is a particular reason to do otherwise.  The corresponding author should be identified (the online system will prompt you to do so). 

If a 'ghost author' has been involved in helping to prepare the final version, he or she should be credited in the following form:

Acknowledgement
The author(s) would like to acknowledge the assistance of [name] at [organization] in preparing the final version of this article.

House style

Bibliographic references
Do not use initial capitals for article or book titles; italicize (or underline) references to book, journal and report titles in both text and references.

Indicate bibliographic references in the text by superior numerals in consecutive order;  type each corresponding reference number at the end of the article followed by the relevant bibliographical information ('Vancouver style' - see International Committee for Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals:  writing and editing for a biomedical publication.  Philadelphia PA, ICMJE, 2007.  Available at http://www.icmje.org/).   If the item is available online, include the DOI (or URL, if no DOI is ascertainable either from http://www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/ or from examining the original).  References should contain enough information to enable readers easily to access the quoted source. This is especially important when citing research reports, newsletters, articles, etc.

Do not repeat a reference - instead, provide a cross-reference in the text to the reference number of its first occurrence;  this saves space.

A reference to a journal article should begin with the author's surname, followed by initial(s), the year, the title of the article, and the name of the periodical (italic) followed by the volume number (but not the issue number) and inclusive page numbers (using minimum numerals) - for example:

Journals:  Doyle, M. 2,000.  Pragmatic citing and linking in electronic scholarly publishing. Learned Publishing 13: 5-14.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/09531510050145506

Books:   Documentation:  the list of works cited. In MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd edition).  New York, Modern Language Association, 2008, pp. 163-239.  Available at  [insert URL if available online].

Reports:  Baldwin, C.  What do societies do with their publishing surpluses?  Worthing, Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, 2004.  Available at http://www.alpsp.org/ForceDownload.asp?id=78 (accessed 22 August 2008).

Conference presentations:  Harrington, J.  Enriching online journal articles
with supplementary material:  opportunities and challenges.  Presentation at SSP Annual Meeting, May 2008.  Available at http://sspnet.org/documents/294_Harrington.ppt (accessed 22 August 2008).

References (other than DOIs or other permanent links) to documents on the Web should be followed by the date (in parentheses) on which the document was last accessed.

Footnotes
We do not usually include footnotes separately from references.  If a point of clarification is intended, which cannot easily be included within the list of references, use lower-case roman numerals.

Abbreviations
Points after abbreviations should be the minimum necessary to avoid ambiguity and achieve readability - note that it is not usual to include a point if the last letter of the abbreviation is the last letter of the full word. Acronyms should normally be spelled out at their first appearance in an article.

Dates
Months should not be abbreviated (except, where necessary, in tables and figures).  Otherwise, use the minimum number of characters. For example: 3 January 1997 or 1995-7.

Numerals
Separate thousands with a comma (e.g. 6,000), other than in dates; spell out numerals up to and including ten, except when they precede units of measurement (e.g. 6 cm., seven scientists).

Lists
These should be ranged flush left, using Arabic numerals followed by a full point (no parenthesis). If there is a subsidiary sequence within the numbering, use lower-case letters in parentheses, indented. Use bullet points if there is no significance in the order.

Quotations
Use single quotation marks; double quotation marks only when included within a phrase in single quotes. Longer quoted material should be indented, without quotation marks, and should always be credited to the original source.

Spelling
Learned Publishing is an international journal:  authors may follow US or UK spelling conventions as they prefer, but please be consistent.  If in doubt, follow the Oxford English Dictionary for UK spelling (we prefer verbs to end in -ize rather than -ise when OED gives the spelling as optional).