Journal Information & Policies

Section Policies

Guest Articles

Each issue the Forum editors invite an established scholar to contribute a guest article related to the issue theme. This brings work by postgraduates into conversation with more established scholars and creates a framework for reflecting further on or introducing the issue theme. Guest contributors are generally invited by the editors of each issue, but if you are interested in contributing a guest article for a particular issue please do email the editors to discuss this.

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Articles

Our objective is to create and foster a network for the exchange and circulation of ideas within the wider postgraduate community. For each themed issue we seek submissions that take innovative approaches and challenge the boundaries of conventional disciplines.

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Reviews

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Addendum

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Afterword

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

Each eligible article submitted will be double-blind peer reviewed prior to publication by between two and three postgraduate reviewers carefully selected from those based at the University of Edinburgh. The final decision lies with the co-editors. Authors submitting to the journal can expect to receive the results of the review process within two months of the submission deadline for the relevant issue (please see the relevant cfps for dates). All eligible submissions will receive feedback from reviewers. Reviewers are asked to comment on submissions with particular regard to the following criteria:

  • Thematic suitability
  • Engaging, interesting topic
  • Consistent, logical argument
  • Coherent structure
  • Interaction with the field
  • Theoretical framework
  • Style and language
  • Presentation
  • Accordance with MLA style

Peer reviewers must attend peer review workshops before being assigned articles within their field to review. The aim is thus to provide professional development and a forum for learning new academic skills for postgraduates involved in all levels of the process.

The advantages of this system for both reviewers and authors were recently highlighted in an article by William Christopher Brown, a contributor to Issue 1 of FORUM. Brown writes:

"Of all of the CFPs for journals that I found, I kept coming back to a then-new peer-reviewed online journal called Forum: The University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts.  Their CFP on Origins and Originality closely matched the last essay I wrote for the last class of my coursework.  Recognizing a connection between my own research interests at the time and the interests of my peers at another institution allowed me to push beyond the psychological blockages.  Instead of focusing on myself and my own apprehensiveness at the idea of publishing, I began to think in terms of communicating with peers I had never met.  I no longer viewed my writing as a part of the classroom or as a potential line on a curriculum vitae.  Instead, I viewed my writing as an opportunity to connect with others."

William Christopher Brown. "Developing Professionally through Graduate Student Publications." In Progress 2 (2012). <http://inprogressjournal.net/current-issue/developing-professionally-through-graduate-student-publications/> 

Publication Frequency

FORUM is published biannually and each edition focuses on a selected theme. Special issues are occaisionally published in addition; these are linked to FORUM conferences. To keep up to date with current CFPs and announcements of new issue publications register as a reader on this website, like us on facebook or follow us on twitter.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content under a CC BY licence, on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Copyright Notice


Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

d. Authors are required to make sure submitted content does not infringe third-party copyright. Authors must obtain permission to reproduce any third-party material for online – and print, if applicable – publication in perpetuity. It is also the authors’ responsibility to include any acknowledgements requested by copyright holders, and to mark clearly third-party material used with permission, material that has separate licensing terms, and material used under exceptions or limitations to copyright.

More information is available from the UK's Intellectual Property Office and Creative Commons.

Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse articles published in this journal, provided that reuse is in line with the article’s Creative Commons licence and attribution to the author(s) and the published article is maintained. Please note that these terms do not extend to any material that has separate licensing terms specified or any material that is identified as being the copyright of a third party. Permission to reproduce third-party material must be obtained directly from the copyright holders concerned.

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...

Take Down Policy

What Edinburgh University Library will do if you believe content on this hosting platform infringes any person's rights, or applicable UK laws.

Journals on the Library’s platform are strongly encouraged to make every effort to ensure that published content does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws.

Should you discover content in this journal that you believe to be illegal, or infringes any of your statutory rights, you may contact the Library who will review the complaint.

On receipt of your complaint, the Scholarly Communications Team will:

  1. Make an initial assessment of its validity
  2. Acknowledge receipt of the complaint by email
  3. For all but spurious complaints, cease access to the item that is subject to complaint
  4. Refer the complaint to the University's Legal Advisor for comment and advice
  5. Seek to verify your identity and authority as complainant.

When the Service Manager has verified the authenticity of your complaint and has been advised that it is ostensibly legitimate, the article will be removed from public access, leaving behind the article abstract.

If the Legal Advisor confirms that it does not breach any law then the item will be reinstated.

Please contact:

Scholarly Communications Team, Edinburgh University Library
Floor F East, Argyle House
3 Lady Lawson Street
Edinburgh
EH3 9DR

Email: edinburgh.diamond@ed.ac.uk

Please note the Library is staffed 9-5pm Monday-Friday

Getting Involved with FORUM

FORUM is proud to be run by postgraduate students from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh.

If you are not already involved and would like to be then here is how to become a member of the FORUM Journal team!

Sign up now by emailing us at editors@forumjournal.org - once you've confirmed your email address, you'll be added to our reviewers mailing list and receive information about future meetings, socials and editorial opportunities. You can also keep up to date with meetings, socials, training sessions and other Edinburgh-based FORUM events on our facebook page.

We'll be delighted to answer your questions and are happy to hear from anyone interested in working on FORUM. 

Peer Review Workshop 2012 with Dr Frauke Matthes

Why join FORUM?

FORUM is a well respected peer-reviewed on-line journal. We take a multi-disciplinary approach to the realm of arts and culture and consider contributions from across the spectrum of the humanities. Published biannually, each edition focuses on a selected theme, provoking discussion and debate whilst maintaining an overall coherency. FORUM provides a platform for the exchange of intellectual ideas, encouraging postgraduate participation in contemporary critical debates.

What's involved?

Initially, you can become a Reviewer and provide feedback on submitted articles; this is the crucial peer-review element of the journal. You can also go further than this and serve as an Article Editor. This involves liaising with the author in order to advise on changes that may be needed to make their paper publishable.

If you are particularly keen, you may wish to act as an Issue Co-Editor. Co-Editors write the call for papers, publicise FORUM, contact senior scholars specialising in the issue theme for guest articles, and organise the process of reviewing and creating the journal. 

FORUM has also recently set up the new roles of Social Media Manager and Treasurer.

If you are interested in any of these roles please do get in touch with the co-editors for further information. 

All these roles impart quality experience of academic publishing and look good on your CV. But more than that, FORUM makes you part of a team, bringing a social side to research life. 

Processing Charges

This journal does not charge for application processing or submissions.

Journal History

FORUM was founded in 2005 by a group of postgraduate students in the School of Language Literature and Culture at the University of Edinburgh. The founding members consisted of Lisa Otty, Claire Altree, Joseph Hughes, Frauke Matthes, Matthew McGuire, Beth Schroeder and Keith Hennessey Brown (website creator and manager). The primary motivations for these founders to create a postgraduate journal was the desire for learning and developing new or existing academic skills as well as for developing and fostering a sense of community and exchange primarily within the Edinburgh LLC postgraduate community but also further afield. Whilst FORUM has grown and adapted over the years, it also stays true to the original values of the founding members who founded  FORUM in the spirit of learning, inclusiveness, openness and fun!

The intertwining of learning aspects with social or community aspects has been a crucial and enduring tenet for FORUM. FORUM was conceptualised as space in which to help postgrads develop and gain confidence in their academic skills within a congenial and supportive atmosphere. Indeed, FORUM has not only developed a reputation for publishing articles of high academic standards but it has also earned a reputation for being a warm and welcoming place to send in your first ever academic article for publication. FORUM also aims to enhance links and exchange between postgraduate journals. 

William Christopher Brown, a lecturer at the University of Minnesota and previous contributor to FORUM, recently drew attention to the importance of postgraduate journals and the positive effect which FORUM in particular had on his experience of publishing his research in his article ‘Developing Professionally through Graduate Student Publications’:

‘Of all of the CFPs for journals that I found, I kept coming back to a then-new peer-reviewed online journal called Forum: The University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts. [...] Recognizing a connection between my own research interests at the time and the interests of my peers at another institution allowed me to push beyond the psychological blockages. Instead of focusing on myself and my own apprehensiveness at the idea of publishing, I began to think in terms of communicating with peers I had never met. I no longer viewed my writing as a part of the classroom or as a potential line on a curriculum vitae. Instead, I viewed my writing as an opportunity to connect with others.’

For more see William Christopher Brown , ‘Developing Professionally through Graduate Student Publications’, In Progress, 2 (2012) <http://inprogressjournal.net/inprogressjournal.net/Developing_Professionally.html>.

FORUM has also been a wholly online and open-access journal since its inception in 2005. 

Previous Editors

Yanbing Er, Jessica Legacy, Victoria Anker, Laura Chapot, Lizzie Stewart, James Leveque, Barbara Vrachnas, Dorothy Butchard, Elysse Meredith, Siobhan Fitzgerald, Ally Crockford, Lena Wanggren, Silvia Villa, Jack David Burton, Jana Funke, Kim Treharne Richmond, Ana Salzberg, Claire Altree, Clare Bielby, Keith H Brown, Sally P Henderson, Joseph Hughes, Matthew McGuire, Frauke Matthes, Lisa Otty, Beth Schroeder, Hanna Sommerseth, Emma Sullivan, Matthew Tibble, Anahit Behrooz. 

Journal Sponsorship

Publisher

FORUM journal was founded by and continues to be run by postgraduate students of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, the University of Edinburgh.

School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, University of Edinburgh

Sources of Support

FORUM was first set up with funding from the University of Edinburgh. Today, FORUM is funded by the Student-Led Initiative Grant awarded by the university's LLC School. Grateful thanks go to Linda Greive (& the LLC Grad Office) and Angela Laurins (& the team at journals.ed.ac.uk) for their help and support.

Privacy and Consent Policy

The data collected from registered and non-registered users of this journal falls within the scope of the standard functioning of peer-reviewed journals. It includes information that makes communication possible for the editorial process; it is used to inform readers about the authorship and editing of content; it enables collecting aggregated data on readership behaviours, as well as tracking geopolitical and social elements of scholarly communication.

This journal’s editorial team uses this data to guide its work in publishing and improving this journal. Data that will assist in developing this journal platform (Open Journal Systems – OJS) may be shared with its developer Public Knowledge Project (PKP) in an anonymized and aggregated form, with appropriate exceptions such as article metrics. The data will not be sold by this journal or PKP nor will it be used for purposes other than those stated here.

Registered users

Users who register with this journal, including authors and peer reviewers where applicable, consent to having the personal information being stored in the University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) and processed by the platform and journal editorial teams.

Authors

Authors who make a submission to this journal consent to the personal information they supply as part of the submission being stored in the University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) and processed by the platform and journal editorial teams. Authors who make a submission have the responsibility to ensure that all contributors have read this Privacy and Consent policy and consent to having their personal information that is supplied as part of the submission process being stored in the University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) and processed by the platform and journal editorial teams. Authors published in this journal are also responsible for the human subject data that figures in the research reported in the journal.

Website visitors

The University’s journal hosting platform (OJS) collects anonymised usage log data, including IP addresses, pages visited, date visited, browser information, and geographical data. This information is not used to identify visitors personally and it is not used for any purpose other what is described here. The platform also uses cookies to manage session history and provide a better user experience – more details can be found on the Cookies information page.

Rights of the Individual

Those involved in editing this journal seek to be compliant with industry standards for data privacy, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provision for “data subject rights” that include (a) breach notification; (b) right of access; (c) the right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design. The GDPR also allows for the recognition of “the public interest in the availability of the data,” which has a particular saliency for those involved in maintaining, with the greatest integrity possible, the public record of scholarly publishing.

All users whose details are stored in the University’s OJS installation can exercise their rights of the individual, as they are detailed in the GDPR.

If you have a user account and wish to have it deleted, please email Edinburgh University Library at edinburgh.diamond@ed.ac.uk.