Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Museum & Society is an interdisciplinary journal with a wide ranging interest in all issues associated with museums and other places of public culture concerned with collecting, exhibiting and display. The journal is a successor to the series New Research in Museum Studies which was published by Athlone Press from 1990 to 1997.

Museum & Society appears three times a year (March, July, November) and is open access and free to all individuals and institutions. However, we request that users who wish to take advantage of the free access facility register with us first. Those wishing to receive e-mail updates on forthcoming volumes, events and associated publications may also wish to register.

Museum & Society will publish articles covering a wide range of social science, humanities and practitioner research including:

  • Museums in society
  • Museum practice, funding and management
  • Conservation
  • Collecting and collections
  • Museums, identity and difference
  • Museums and social inclusion
  • Audience research
  • Access provision and practice
  • Museums and education
  • Politics and display
  • Heritage studies
  • History of museums/collections
  • Government policy and museums
  • Reviews of temporary exhibitions
  • Book reviews

We welcome submissions of articles and reviews in these and related areas of museum research. All articles submitted to the journal are peer reviewed before being considered for publication.

 

 

Section Policies

Introduction

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Guest Editorial

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Aga Khan Workshop Overview

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Object Biographies

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Feature

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Review Article

Editors
  • Anna Tulliach
Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Supplement

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Exhibition Reviews

Editors
  • Sarah Plumb
  • Anna Tulliach
Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Book Reviews

Editors
  • Sarah Plumb
  • Anna Tulliach
Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Viewpoint

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Potentialities of restitutions in Africa and the Pacific

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Provenance research in German institutions

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Mineralogy

Special issue

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Interview

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

Museum & Society follows a double anonymised peer-review policy.
Double-anonymised peer review has previously been referred to as double-blind peer review. The use of the word ‘blind’ in this context, as well as being easy to misinterpret, is ableist in origin, i.e. arises from and reinforces stereotypical understandings of disability which impact negatively on blind and low vision people. Therefore, the taxonomy put forwards by the STM Association, a global trade association for academic and professional publishers, recommends that the term ‘double-blind’ is replaced by ‘double-anonymised’. We are making this change throughout the Journal.

Each submission is assigned by the Production Editor to a member of the Editorial Board. That editor is responsible for locating three appropriate peer reviewers for each submission, based on the latter’s experience and the subject of the submission In extraordinary cases, authors may ask to exclude ONE possible reviewer. This request may be made in the notes accompanying submissions. No reasons need to or should be given.

Once the editor handling a submission has received all three reviews, that editor will make a decision based on reviewers’ recommendations. This decision about publication will be conveyed to the author, together with comments from the reviewers. Authors may be asked to amend or re-write sections of the submission. The time allowed for minor amendments is 1 month. For major rewrites or a revision of the whole submission, the editor may allow 6 months in the first instance. At the discretion of the editor a longer period may be allowed if there are extenuating circumstances.

If authors do not agree, or do not adhere to, the timetable, the submission will be regarded as an entirely new submission, assigned to a new editor and a new peer-review process will begin.

Authors may request additional time to complete amendments or rewrites and the editor may agree based on an assessment of the author’s commitment to completing the process within an agreed schedule.

When submitting revised articles, authors are strongly encouraged to include a summary of changes, with an explanation of what was done (or not done). Revised articles may be sent out for additional review based on the recommendations of the original reviewers and the scope of the revisions; in cases where only minimal changes are necessary, a revision will not go out for another round of reviews.

Requests for revision and rejections are part of the scholarly review process. Authors should understand that pieces may not be accepted for a variety of reasons, some of which have little to do with the quality of their work, as when a piece does not fall within the scope of our journal. Appeals of the review process should only be made after serious reflection. In such cases, authors should write the chair of the editorial board a brief letter explaining why they are appealing the decision, and specifying the ways in which the reviews failed to recognize the merits of the article.


Appeal procedure

Our appeal procedure provides authors with the opportunity to respond to the editorial decision on their manuscript. Authors have the right to appeal to the editor against any decision taken on their manuscript at any stage; an appeal will be considered at the discretion of the editors

How do I appeal?

  • Step 1: Send a rebuttal letter to the editor via the journal email. Your letter should explain clearly why you disagree with the decision on your submission, and should include a detailed response to any reviewers’ comments
  • Step 2: The editor will consider your appeal. All appeal requests are handled on a case by case basis and the editor's decision is final.

If your appeal is granted

  • Step 3: Your manuscript will undergo further assessment by an independent reviewer.
  • Step 4: The editor will make a final decision on your manuscript.

 

Publication Frequency

Museum and Society is normally published three times a year, in March, July and November. There may also be extra Special Issues.

 

Open Access Policy

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

There are no article processing charges (APCs) or submission fees.

Unless otherwise stated, all articles published in the journal can be re-used under the following CC license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.

Copyright remains with the author, unless otherwise stated.

If your article acknowledges funding from UKRI (or sub-councils AHRC, ESRC etc.) then we can accommodate your requirement to publish under a CC-BY licence. Please let the editors know if you have such a requirement well in advance of publication.

 

Archiving

This journal utilizes the PKP Private LOCKSS network (PLN) 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...

 

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