JAR takes the issue of publication ethics very seriously. For artistic reasons and on a case-by-case basis, JAR may divert from general norms of academic publishing, such as those outlined in the CODE Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.

Should you feel the need to discuss your work, please contact a JAR managing editor using this web form and explain your case.

JAR is published by the Society for Artistic Research (SAR), a non-profit association under Swiss Law ensuring JAR’s editorial independency. (See Article 2.a of the SAR By-Laws here.) With the Research Catalogue (RC), SAR provides the JAR submission, review and production framework. The RC Terms of Use must be adhered to at all times, in particular because they govern the use of media and their copyright.

The aim of this document is to give advice to authors, reviewers and editors as well as to transparently maintain the integrity of the journal. It is expected that all parties are aware of JAR’s publication ethics and act accordingly.

If you have any questions about this document, please contact a JAR managing editor using this web form.

Authorship

Authors must have registered for a full RC user account and with it accepted the RC Terms of Use. All questions regarding the RC including its terms and technical issues must be addressed to the RC user support.

The author making the submission to JAR through the RC is considered the first and corresponding author. The first author needs to make sure that additional authors are also in possession of a full RC account and are assigned to the submission as ‘co-authors.’ The list of authors of a submission cannot be changed after it is published. Additional artists and researchers as well as institutions deserving credit for the submission should be fairly acknowledged inside the submission. All authors must have significantly contributed to the research. Potential conflicts of interest must be declared to a managing editor at the point when a submission is made.

All authors should provide a profile on their RC account, and keep this updated. This can be extensive or rudimentary but should contain at least their contact email address, affiliation and a short bio.

Exposition submission

JAR only accepts complete submissions received through the RC. Please refer to the JAR submission guidelines for more information. Embedded content is not permitted.

Authors must ensure that the research that is submitted to JAR is original and fully referenced including its media files. JAR considers submissions original, when the main points have not been previously published elsewhere, and are not under consideration by a different publisher. This definition includes the distinct possibility that materials already published elsewhere are exposed as research substantially differently in a submission to JAR. When a submission is made, the JAR managing editor must be informed of cases where already published materials are used; inspection copies or web links must be provided on request in order to determine the originality of a submission.

JAR’s core working language is English. However, it supplements this by additional languages, in which submissions may also me made. Currently, accepted languages are: English, Spanish, Portuguese and German. JAR, however, reserves the right to stop supporting any of its supplementary languages; this will not affect non-English submissions that are in review at that point in time. See JAR’s language policy here.

Editorial process

Editors are appointed based on their knowledge, experience and standing in the field. JAR endeavors to support the diversity of artistic research also in terms of the members of its editorial team. Editors protect JAR’s reputation by strictly acting according to this document and by only supporting submissions of the highest quality and relevance.

Editors evaluate submissions confidentially, independently and fairly, declare any potential conflicts of interest to a managing editor and refrain from commenting in any way on such submissions during the editorial process.

JAR always respects its authors and their practice, and communicates with them accordingly. A JAR managing editor provides advice and gives reasonable explanation and updates to authors during the submissions process.

The managing editor and editorial board check the quality and suitability to JAR of each submission. Submissions may be desk-rejected in this process; a short rationale but no peer-review will be provided in this instance. Submissions may also conditionally be accepted for peer-review. In this case, a JAR managing editor communicates and approves the required improvements before entering it into the peer review process. Note that the advice given during this pre-review process is given according to the JAR editorial board’s standards and is in no way preempting peer-reviewers’ recommendations, which may be different.

The JAR editorial board independently evaluates the advice given by the peer reviewers of a submission taking into account the peer reviewers’ declared area of expertise, their grading as well as textual assessment. JAR accepts that in the field of artistic research ‘objective’ judgments are allusive. When there is disagreement, JAR gives as much responsibility as possible to an author to decide how to interpret the advice given by the peer reviewers.

All authors of submissions that are reviewed receive a letter that includes all relevant sections of the anonymized peer review reports. The editorial board reserve the right to ignore and withhold peer review reports if their content is deemed to lack the appropriate respect. It may disregard reviews that are not substantial or where conflicts of interest are not declared.

If a submission is accepted for publication, JAR expects revisions to be made in a timely fashion explaining choices taken in a separate document. If a submission is rejected, in addition to the relevant sections of the peer review reports a short rationale explaining the decision will be provided. Rejected and revised research may be resubmitted once only, in which case JAR will endeavor to employ the same peer reviewers, which it, however, cannot guarantee.

The production of the final publication is conceived as a positive and productive dialogue between managing editor, copy editor and editor-in-chief in particular with regard to the language, design and layout of the submission within the technical possibilities of the RC. All parties should strive for the best possible published submission.

Peer review

Peer review in JAR takes place ‘single-blind’, that is, peer reviewers know the identity of the author(s) while remaining anonymous to them.

At least three peer-reviewers act as referee to a submission, one of which may be chosen from a list of names supplied by the author. Peer reviewers are selected and approached by the JAR peer review editor on the basis of their knowledge and experience. JAR endeavors to appoint a combination of reviewers that bring together experience of JAR and the RC, knowledge of the relevant disciplines, as well as artists whose work is related. Prospective reviewers are invited to review using a submission’s title, keywords and abstract only, and only upon agreement receive access to the complete submission.

Peer reviewers should only accept invitations to review submissions that are relevant to their own expertise. They should declare conflicts of interest and their knowledge of the author(s) at the top of the peer review form as well as assessing their own area of expertise in the context of a submission. Peer reviewers should confidentially review submissions in a professional and timely manner avoiding offensive language in their report. For more details, peer reviewers can consult Appendix A: Some notes on constructive reviewing at the end of the peer review form.

The JAR editorial board internally assesses anonymised peer review reports only, with the exception of the peer review editor and the editor-in-chief who know the reviewers’ identities.

Appeal

Authors can appeal against the rejection of their submission. In order to do so, they must contact the editor-in-chief arguing in detail why advice given by peer reviewers is invalid or why the editorial board’s interpretation of advice or its judgment is contested.

JAR Network pages

Reflections and book reviews on the JAR Network pages are editorially supported but not peer reviewed. When referring to them, the reference suggested at the bottom of a page is to be used including its DOI, which is differently categorized when compared with peer-reviewed JAR publications. Authors of JAR Network texts should be mindful of this distinction.

Anybody can propose to write a reflection for the JAR Network pages including members of the JAR editorial team whose publications may also be reviewed. JAR endeavors to represent opinions that are as diverse as possible, even those that disagree with JAR’s approach to artistic research providing that their style and manner remains respectful and their content relevant to the field. In all cases JAR will provide editorial feedback and copyediting; the responsibility for the shape and content of the final text lies with its author(s).

Contributions to the JAR Network pages may be made in any language including and beyond those currently supported by the journal. More information on JAR Network texts can be found here.

Use, access and hosting of published expositions

For copyright concerns, contact RC user support. Material published on the RC including JAR expositions can only be used according to the RC Terms of Use.

Authors retain copyright of their submissions. Republication is permitted as long as JAR is suitably credited.

SAR sustainably hosts all materials uploaded to the RC including JAR publications indefinitely. Hosting and Backup is provided by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Note that as Internet technology develops the appearance of any materials uploaded to the RC may change in particular between different browsers. SAR and JAR will endeavor to maintain within reason expositions on the RC as close as possible to their original state.

It is not possible to edit expositions after they are published on the RC. However, should major mistakes or copyright infringements be discovered, JAR will supply errata or remove content in consultation with SAR as the owner of the RC. JAR reserves the right to retract articles in severe cases of fraudulent behavior or when materials had to be removed that were essential to the exposition as a whole.