Submissions

Author Guidelines

JAAAS welcomes submissions from new, emerging, and established scholars on various topics related to American culture (history, literature, film, politics, television, visual arts, etc.). Although scholars working in the broad field of American studies are the expected primary authors, anyone conducting research on American culture is encouraged to submit articles to JAAAS.

Work that meets the following prerequisites is likely to be a good fit for JAAAS:

It is original scholarship, neither previously published in English nor under consideration elsewhere, with a compelling argument;
it discusses some aspect of American culture and/or engages critically with current debates in American studies;
its theoretical framework and research base are in tune with current debates in the field; and
it appeals to an international, interdisciplinary audience.

Types of Submissions

Research Articles are research essays that engage in theoretical, practical, pedagogical, and/or historical analysis. The overall article length – including bibliography and footnotes – should be between 6,000 and 9,000 words. Research articles submitted to the open track are double-blind peer-reviewed by at least two experts in the field; research articles submitted to special issues are first reviewed by the issue editor(s) and then double-blind peer-reviewed by at least one expert in the field.

Invited Articles are research articles written by experts in a particular field who were (usually) invited to contribute to special issues. Invited articles are not peer-reviewed.

Short Essays discuss a novel and innovative topic, address new and emergent ideas, engage critically with scholarly controversies, and/or introduce emergent approaches in a concise manner. These pieces test new disciplinary trajectories. The word limit for these pieces is 3,000 words. Short essays submitted to the open track are double-blind peer-reviewed by at least two experts in the field; short essays submitted to special issues (if applicable) are first reviewed by the issue editor(s) and then double-blind peer-reviewed by at least one expert in the field.

A Forum introduces an emerging approach, an issue gaining traction, and/or a topic widely discussed from a variety of perspectives. A forum consists of several interlinked short essays of max. 1,500 words each. Forums are generally guest-edited, and the guest editors recruit authors for their forum. The guest editors may employ outside reviewers; they may, however, also review submissions themselves.

Reviews are critical essays that evaluate academic books. Reviews are 1,000 to 2,500 words, including bibliography and footnotes.

(Re)Use of your Published Piece

JAAAS authors retain copyright of their published work. Authors are welcome (and endorsed) to share their published articles via social media and email and/or upload them to their personal websites, institutional repositories, and/or platforms such as Humanities Commons. Authors may, of course, also upload their JAAAS articles and reviews to ResearchGate and/or Academia.edu, even though we suggest you think twice before supporting (or continuing to support) these money-making machines. Authors may also republish material originally published in JAAAS without asking for permission. In whichever way authors distribute and redistribute their material, they must, however, always acknowledge the original publication in JAAAS, including volume, issue number, year of publication, page numbers, and the DOI. All pre-published versions may be uploaded to repositories as well.

Ready to become a JAAAS contributor? Go to the registration portal to get started with your submission.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

You agree that your submission will be published by JAAAS, pending positive peer review and acceptance by the journal's editorial team. Upon acceptance and publication, you will retain copyright of your submission.
Your submission is in English.
Your submission has not been previously published in English, it is not under review with another journal, and you will not submit it to another publication while it is under review with JAAAS.
Your submission follows the current version of the MLA Style. Please copy your list of works cited into the "references" field during your submission. You may submit material that does not follow MLA but you will be required to adapt the citation style if your submission is accepted.
The text is double-spaced, employs italics (rather than underlining), has placeholders for images at the appropriate points in the text, and uses little to no formatting (no header styles etc.). Please note that images must be at least 1000 pixels on the longer axis (do not upscale an image that is smaller than that) and must be submitted as separate files.
You have reduced ancillary/explanatory footnotes to an absolute minimum. Important information is in the main text. Footnotes are not used for explanations but may only be used for relevant additional information or minimal digressions.
Please make sure you include the DOIs of all of the journal articles you cite in your submission. If you cite open-access books, please include DOIs, as well.
For all authors not hailing from Anglophone countries: Please make sure that the entire document is set to English. The easiest way to make sure that the entire document is in English is: add a comment or a foot-/endnote. If the proofing language is English, you're good.
Your article is a doc or docx file. If you submit illustrations, please do not embed them into the document but upload them as separate files instead.
Revisions should be accompanied by a "revision letter" that outlines how authors have responded to feedback and what comments authors did not take into account (and why).
If you submit an English version of an article previously published in another language, you are required to secure translation/republication rights (or a waiver by the original publisher). Depending on where the article was published, the English version may still need to go through peer review. Please contact us before submitting such a piece.
As an Austrian journal, JAAAS follows Austrian copyright law when it comes to reproduction permissions. Screenshots and other illustrations sourced from audiovisual media may be used provided they do not solely serve illustrative purposes. The same holds true for individual panels and panel sequences from comics (not for covers, however). For photographs, paintings, and other visual artworks, we require authors to obtain reproduction permissions unless the copyright policy of the cultural artefact in question allows for the use without permission. Please note that photographs of artworks in public domain (which, according to US law, are also in public domain) are not automatically in public domain in Austria--the photographers are generally the copyright holders. Every image must have a clear reference in the text as in: (Figure 1). Please also note that mottos/epigraphs require reproduction permissions unless the running text refers to the motto/epigraph. Authors may submit articles prior to obtaining permissions, but if the copyrighted material is required for the coherence of the submission, publication will be contingent upon acquiring reproduction permissions. However, please note that we will not collect permission letters; in other words, if authors confirm that they are allowed to use material we have pointed out as potentially problematic, authors--as copyright holders of articles--are liable for any potential copyright infringement claims.

Articles

Articles are research essays that engage in theoretical, practical, pedagogical, and/or historical analysis. The overall article length—including endnotes and citations—should be between 6,000 and 9,000 words.

This section is peer-reviewed.

Reviews

Reviews are critical essays that evaluate academic books. Reviews are 1,000 to 2,500 words, including endnotes and citations.

Reviews are reviewed by the reviews editor.

Short Essays

This section is peer-reviewed.

Copyright Notice

JAAAS is committed to real open access. Accordingly, all of JAAAS's articles and reviews are free to access immediately from the date of publication. There are no author charges (APCs), and no charges for readers to download articles and reviews. Hence, JAAAS is free to all at any time and as long as it remains in operation. To make this possible, JAAAS depends on the technical and financial support of the University of Innsbruck, the financial support of the Austrian Association for American Studies, the goodwill of its editorial team and advisory board, and the continuing support of its network of peer reviewers.

A Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license applies to all academic content published in JAAAS (creative content may be published under a stricter CC license). While anyone may copy (academic) material published in JAAAS for any purpose if proper credit is given, all materials are published under an open-access license, with authors retaining full and permanent ownership of their work. JAAAS has a perpetual, non-exclusive right to publish the work. Authors are responsible for, and required to ascertain that they are in possession of, image rights for any and all photographs, illustrations, and figures included in their work or to obtain publication or reproduction rights from the copyright holders.

By submitting their work for publication in JAAAS, authors agree to the terms stipulated above. Authors are free and encouraged to store their work elsewhere, for instance in institutional repositories or websites to increase circulation (see The Effects of Open Access). Authors are also able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. JAAAS does not charge any reprint fees, and authors are not required to contact JAAAS for reprint permission, as authors retain their copyright.

Privacy Statement

I. Introductory Remarks

As the journal's media proprietor, the Austrian Association for American Studies (AAAS) is very concerned about the protection of personal data and we treat all processed personal data confidentially and in compliance with the law.

The AAAS is responsible for personal data which are collected, stored, and processed on this website. The AAAS processes personal data only inosfar as this is necessary to ensure the functionality of this website and to provide our content and services.

Our data and privacy policies explain how we process personal data as part of this website and provide information on the nature, scope, purpose, and legal basis of the processing of personal data and the related data subjects.

This website is hosted on servers operated by the University of Innsbruck. Long-term preservation of published content is ensured through both the University of Innsbruck and the PKP Preservation Network.

II. Transmission of Your Personal Data

Your personal data will be processed by the journal's editorial board and the University of Innsbruck (as our host); your data will not be transferred to other parties unless explicitly stated. Some of your personal data (name, institutional affiliation, institutional address, biography, contact email, and any other information you provide) will be published if your submission is accepted for publication.

III. Storage Time

Your personal data will only be stored for as long as it is necessary in view of relevant legal provisions and as long as necessary for the fulfillment of the respective purpose.

IV. Your Rights

You are entitled to request information about the data stored about you, request correction of said data, deletion, restriction, transfer, revocation, and objection. You may assert these rights vis-à-vis the the journal's editor-in-chief, as the representative of JAAAS, and the secretary of the AAAS, as its representative. Deletion requests may also be issued to the University of Innsbruck as our host.

If you believe that the processing of your data violates applicable law or your data protection claims have been violated in any way, you may also file a complaint with the Austrian regulatory authority:

Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde
Barichgasse 40-42
1030 Wien
Austria
+43 1 52 152-0
dsb@dsb.gv.at

V. Contact

Concerning the processing of and/or information about your personal data stored, you may contact the journal's editor-in-chief:

Cornelia Klecker
Department of American Studies
University of Innsbruck

or the current secretary of the AAAS (as the media proprietor)

Angelika Ilg
contact@aaas.at

VI. Using our Website

1. Description and Scope of Data Processing

When accessing our journal's website, the University of Innsbruck's servers temporarily store access data in a log file. The following data are collected and stored until automated deletion occurs:

the IP address of the device accessing our online offers,
date and time of access,
URLs of the websites visited,
amount of data transferred,
information whether retrieval of requested data was successful,
identification data of the browser and operating system used,
website from which user was referred to our websites, and
name of your internet access provider.

2. Purpose of Data Collection

The processing of the data mentioned above is for the purpose of ensuring the proper operation of JAAAS, ensuring system security, and the technical administration of the network infrastructure. In addition, the data allow us to optimize our internet offerings and services. The IP address is only evaluated if attacks on the University of Innsbruck's network infrastructure take place.

3. Legal Foundation

The processing of the data is carried out in accordance with JAAAS's interest to maintain its services and the University of Innsbruck's legitimate interest to secure its internet services (see Art. 6, Abs. 1, lit f DS-GVO).

VII. Contact

1. Description and Scope

If you contact us (via email), we will process any information that you provide in order to process and respond to your request. These data minimally include:

name and
email address.

2. Purpose of Data Processing

The processing of these data is for the purpose of processing and answering your request. The data will be stored up to six months (if there might be follow-up questions/requests) or the period we need to provide the services you ask for.

3. Legal Basis

See VI.3.

VIII. OJS

1. Description and Scope of Data Processing

For the administration and publication of JAAAS, we process the following personal data:

salutation,
first name,
middle name,
last name,
suffix,
user name,
gender,
password (encrypted),
email address,
ORCiD ID,
website,
mailing address,
country,
phone no.,
fax no.,
affiliation,
biography,
registration date,
last login date,
locality,
reviewing interests, and
roles.

Only the user name, first name, last name, email address, and password fields are required. Registration date, last login date, and locality are automatically generated when you register with or log on to our platform.

In addition, our platform tracks workflow information, including

all actions taken on a submission, and by whom;
all notifications sent concerning a submission (including who sent and received the information);
all reviewer recommendations;
all editorial decisions; and
all files uploaded as part of the submission process (which may contain personally identifying information--if users didn't properly delete this information prior to submission).

2. Purpose of Data Processing

The data are processed to publish and administer our journal, including peer review and publication. As is usual, your name, affiliation, and contact email will be published alongside your submission if your submission is accepted for publication.

3. Storage

Your information is stored in a database hosted by the University of Innsbruck. Only the user password is encrypted. Files uploaded as part of the submission process are stored directly on the university's web servers.

4. Availability and Access

The information stored about users (other than the information automatically generated) is accessible through their user profiles. System administrators and journal editors can also access and edit this data (FYI: only administrators may edit data) and may download the data in XML format. Guest editors can access the information of users who submitted material to the issue or thematic cluster they edit.

Concerning submissions, participants in the submission process have different levels of data access; system administrators and journal editors have access to all submission data; issue editors only to submissions to their respective issues/thematic clusters; authors have limited access to their own submissions and may only see data they have supplied or which editorial staff have made available to them.

5. General Visitor Information

Our platform collects general visitor usage data (i.e., information by users not logged onto the platform), including:

cookie information, to manage session history (cookies are required to maintain a login session),
detailed usage log data, including IP address, pages visited, date visited, browser information (in anonymized fashion), and
country, region, and city information.

6. Cookies

Our journal webpage uses cookies to manage user sessions (for which they are required). Our platform does not use cookies if you do not log into a user account and simply visit the site and read content.

7. Legal Basis

See VI.3.

IX. External Indexing Services

1. Description and Scope of Data Processing

JAAAS submits the following data of published pieces to DataCite, ORCiD (for users who have added their ORCiD to their user profiles), and Google Scholar:

authors' first names,
authors' middle names,
authors' last names,
authors' ORCiD IDs,
authors' countries (of residence/work, whichever the authors provided), and
authors' affiliations.

Only the information the user provides in their user profile will be processed. Among the information transferred, only names are required fields to identify authors.

In addition, we submit metadata about your published work to Google Scholar and DataCite, including

submission title,
submission subtitle,
abstract,
keywords,
subjects,
volume published in,
issue published in,
year of publication,
pages,
DOI,
references, and
funding acknowledgments.

Data will only be transferred to ORCiD if a user linked their JAAAS profile to their ORCiD profile.

Finally, we occasionally process submissions through Turnitin. Accordingly, anonymized submissions may be processed by Turnitin, LLC. We do not allow Turnitin to store these submissions-in-progress in their database.

2. Purpose of Data Processing

The data are processed to index the articles published in our journal and thus make the articles and other submissions published more easily discoverable on the internet and through various scholarly indexing services. As such, the transfer of this information is also in the authors' best interest.

3. Availability and Access

The information we submit about published pieces will be stored by the respective systems. Please note that since JAAAS is open access, all of this information is also freely available on the JAAAS platform and may thus be harvested by search engines.

4. Legal Basis

See VI.3.

Last updated on May 3, 2024 (added long-term preservation through PKP Preservation Network).