Worksheet for Providing a Review of a Peer-Reviewed Journal
Use this form
to provide a review of a peer-reviewed journal
for Prof. Wendy Laura Belcher's free website,
*Reviews of Peer-Reviewed Journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences* at
https://journalreviews.princeton.edu/journals-reviewed/
The purpose of this website: "We give you the scuttlebutt on academic journals—aiding you in selecting the right journal for publication—in reviews that are sometimes snarky, sometimes lengthy, always helpful."
*****Instructions****
1. To get a sense for the genre, go to the website and read the reviews for Camera Obscura, boundary 2, and Journal of the American Academy of Religion.
2. Identify a journal you would like to review. Make sure that a review of it does not already appear on the website. If the review there is extremely short, you can go ahead and review it again.
3. Either online, or by looking at print issues, gain access to the last five years of issues. All reviews must be produced by deeply reading the journal and getting a sense for broad trends, specific arguments, and forms of structure.
4. Read the table of contents for the last five years. You can identify trends from reading nothing but the titles, such as a journal turning from one general interest to another (e.g., from ecocriticism to minor language literature). Write down what you see.
5. Read abstracts for all the articles over the past five years (or, if there are many, at least thirty) and modify or expand your list of trends accordingly.
6. Read at least fifteen introductions. How do they work? How long are they? What do they start with? Where does the argument appear and do the arguments have any commonalities? How many citations does each have? Are certain theorists consistently named? What are their claims for significance and where do they appear? What methods are used?
7. Skim ten other articles that interest you. How long are they? How are they structured? How many citations do they have? What kind of structure does they have? How do they present evidence?
8. Pick three to five articles and read them carefully. Do they confirm what you have already noticed? Review the questions above.
9. Pick one article you really like and outline it so that you understand how it is structured at a deep level.
10. Read what the journal says about itself on the website, especially its submission guidelines and any editor's articles about the journal itself. Collect the information needed below about methods of submission, page lengths, etc.
11. Use this form to write up your findings. Only those reviews that are careful, thorough, and thoughtful will be posted on the website.
* Required
Email address
*
Your email
Your Name (which will not appear with the review, as all are anonymous to protect the reviewers and ensure honest reviews)
*
Your answer
Your Institution
*
Your answer
Your Status
*
Graduate Student
Faculty
Independent
Undergraduate
Other:
If Writing This for a Course, at What Institution and What Is the Instructor's Name?
Your answer
Name of the Journal You Are Reviewing
*
Your answer
WEBSITE
The following information should be collected at the journal's website:
What Is the Journal's Author Guidelines or Submission Guidelines Web Address?
*
Your answer
How Many Issues Does the Journal Publish Each Year?
*
One issue per year
Two
Three
Four
Twelve
Other:
What Is the Journal's Current Volume Number and Year (e.g., Vol. 33 2019)?
*
Your answer
Is the Journal Peer-Reviewed?
I can't tell
Journal website says that it is peer reviewed
Journal website says that it uses double-blind or anonymous peer review
Journal website says that it uses single-blind or anonymous peer review (reviewers know the authors)
Journal website says that articles are reviewed entirely by the editorial board
Journal website says that all submitted articles be anonymized (therefore, it is peer reviewed)
Other:
Clear selection
Does the Journal State Any Word Limits for Articles?
No
1,000 words or less
3,000 words or less
5,000 words or less
6,000 words or less
7,000 words or less
8,000 words or less
9,000 words or less
10,000 words or less
Other:
Clear selection
Does the Journal State Any Page Limits for Articles?
No
10 double-spaced manuscript pages or less
15 double-spaced manuscript pages or less
20 double-spaced manuscript pages or less
25 double-spaced manuscript pages or less
30 double-spaced manuscript pages or less
35 double-spaced manuscript pages or less
40 double-spaced manuscript pages or less
Other:
Clear selection
What Citation or Documentation Style Does the Journal Use?
*
APA (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) style
Chicago Manual of Style 17th ed author-date style
Chicago Manual of Style 17th ed note and bib style
MLA (Modern Language Association of America) style
AMA (American Medical Association Manual) Style
Vancouver (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) style
Other:
Does the Journal Require Abstracts and, If So, Does It Require They Be a Certain Word Length?
*
No abstract required
Abstract required, but no guidelines on length
Yes, 50 words or less
Yes, 75 words or less
Yes, 100 words or less
Yes, 125 words or less
Yes, 150 words or less
Yes, 200 words or less
Other:
Who Publishes the Journal?
*
Springer
Elsevier
Wiley-Blackwell
Taylor and Francis
Oxford University Press
Cambridge University Press
Routledge
SAGE
Duke University Press
Other:
By What Method Should Articles Be Submitted to the Journal?
*
At a website
By email
By post
Other:
What Is the Journal's Scope?
Disciplinary journal (for an entire discipline, such as political science, with articles from dozens of fields)
Field journal (for a field, such as conflict resolution, within a discipline)
Interdisciplinary journal (for two or more disciplines, such as literature and medicine)
Other:
Clear selection
What Is the Journal's Discipline and Field (check all that apply)?
*
Humanities journal
Social Sciences journal
Discipline: Anthropology
Discipline: Art History
Discipline: Classics
Discipline: History
Discipline: Law
Discipline: Literature
Discipline: Music
Discipline: Political Science
Discipline: Religion
Discipline: Sociology
African American Studies
Discipline: Medicine
Discipline: Philosophy
African Studies
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Ethnic Studies
Race Studies
French Studies
Spanish Studies
Public Health
Discipline: Geography
Discipline: Economics
Discipline: Education
Discipline: Library Science
Discipline: Linguistics
Other:
Required
Does the Journal Require You to be a Registered Member of Their Association to Submit to or Publish in It?
*
Yes, you must be a member to submit an article there and also to publish there
Yes, you must be a member to publish an article in the journal
No, it does not require membership in its association.
No, because it is not published by an association
Other:
Does the Journal Require that You Pay a Fee to Submit to It or Publish in It?
Yes, it requires a fee to publish in its pages.
Yes, it requires a fee to submit to it.
No, it requires no fees.
Other:
Clear selection
Does the Journal Offer Prizes for the Best Graduate Student Articles Published in Its Pages?
Yes
No
I don't know
Clear selection
Is the Journal Open Access?
*
Yes
No
Other:
Is the Journal Online?
*
The journal appears only in print
The journal appears only online
The journal appears both online and in print
Other:
Who Is (Are) the Main Editor(s) of the Journal (not the editorial board)?
Your answer
What is the Journal's JCR Impact Factor (if it has one)?
.5 or under
.5 to 1
Over 1
Other:
Clear selection
What Is the Journal's SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)(if it has one)?
Your answer
What Is the Journal's GSM (Google Scholar Metrics)(if it has one)?
Your answer
Does the Journal Have Any Upcoming Special Issues? What Are the Topics?
Your answer
What Is the Journal Acceptance Rate? (This is often very tough to find, so it not essential)
Unknown by me
95 percent or higher
90 percent or higher
85 percent or higher
80 percent or higher
75 percent or higher
70 percent or higher
65 percent or higher
60 percent or higher
Other:
Clear selection
Is There Any Other Information that the Journal Provides or Asks for?
Your answer
ARTICLES
The following information can only be collected by carefully studying the articles in the journal.
How Many Research Articles Does the Journal Publish Each Year (do not count book reviews or editors' columns)?
*
6 or less
7 to 12
13-19
20-26
27-33
33-40
Other:
How Many Citations Do Research Articles in the Journal Tend to Have?
10 or less
15 or less
20 or less
30 or less
40 or less
50 or less
Other:
Clear selection
Do the Research Articles in the Journal Have Notes?
*
Yes, articles have footnotes.
Yes, articles have endnotes
No, the articles have no notes.
Other:
If the Research Articles Have Notes, about How Many Do They Have?
10 or less
20 or less
30 or less
Other:
Clear selection
Do Articles in the Journal Have Subheadings?
*
Yes
No
Other:
What Is the Actual Average Word Count of Articles in the Journal (i.e, average of articles in one or two recent issues)?
Your answer
What Content Trends Do You Notice in the Research Articles Published in the Journal in the Past Five Years (e.g., switch in focus)?
Your answer
What Did You Notice about the Introductions to the Journal's Research Articles (e.g., how long are they)?
Your answer
What Did You Notice about the Arguments of the Journal's Research Articles (e.g., how early did the arguments appear)?
Your answer
What Did You Notice about the Claims to Significance of the Journal's Research Articles?
Your answer
What Did You Notice about the Methods of the Journal's Research Articles (e.g., mostly quantitative or theoretical)?
Your answer
What Articles in the Journal Particularly Shaped This Review? (name three or more)
Your answer
Who Are the Authors of Articles in the Journal?
Mostly full professors
Mostly junior faculty
Mostly graduate students
Mostly undergraduates
A mix of faculty and students
Other:
Clear selection
EXPERIENCE
Only answer the following questions if you have submitted an article to the journal.
If You Yourself Have Submitted an Article to the Journal, What Was the Time to Publication? (i.e., the time between you receiving a decision and the article coming out in print)
1 month or less
3 months or less
6 months or less
9 months or less
1 year or less
1.5 years or less
2 years or less
Other:
Clear selection
If You Yourself Have Submitted an Article to the Journal, What Was the Turn Around Time? (i.e., the time between submission and decision)
3 weeks or less
1 month or less
2 months or less
3 months or less
4 to 6 months
6 to 9 months
10 to 12 months
Other:
Clear selection
One sentence review of the journal (which must start "For those interested in publishing articles that...")
*
Your answer
Longer review of the journal (200 to 800 words; put all material directly from the publisher’s website in quotation marks; you can repeat from answers above if you want)
*
Your answer
Is There Any Other Information that You Have about the Journal?
Your answer
Comments or Questions for Prof. Belcher? (These will not be posted online at the review site).
Your answer
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