Selection process for Ranam articles and volumes

Submit an article

Ranam issues an annual call for papers in December of the year preceding publication. Proposals for articles must be submitted by February. The volume coordinators accept or reject these proposals and notify their authors by April. Criteria taken into account are relevance to the theme of the issue, scientific originality and solidity of the theoretical framework.

Completed articles must be submitted by September 1^st at the latest, and will be published at the end of June the following year.

Articles received in September undergo a double-blind evaluation by experts in the field concerned, who may or may not be members of the journal's committees. In addition to certain basic elements (originality, respect for editorial norms, and quality of the language), the criteria taken into consideration are: strength of argument, scientific rigor, definition of a precise theoretical framework, originality of the analysis, quality of the writing.

The journal provides an evaluation grid designed to facilitate the work of the experts, but its use is not compulsory.

Four types of evaluation are left to the experts' appreciation:

• Very positive / Publishable as is

• Positive / Publishable with minor revisions

• Fairly positive / Publishable subject to substantial revisions

• Negative / Not publishable

Two negative reviews automatically lead to rejection of the article submitted.

One negative review and one positive review result in the article being sent to a third expert.

One negative review and a fairly positive review, subject to substantial modifications, result in a request to modify the article. It is no longer considered a priority for the publication. After the article is revised, it is submitted to the experts one more time for a final evaluation.

Two opinions, none of which are negative, but one of which calls for substantial revisions, lead to a request to revise the article. The final version is reviewed by the volume’s coordinator(s).

Two positive or very positive opinions lead to the publication of the article, after revision by the author.

Submit a volume

It is also possible to submit a volume. A complete Ranam volume should include an introduction and between 8 and 15 articles of around 7,500 words each.

Two approaches are possible:

• submit a volume in the final stages of completion (finalized volume), that is after evaluation and including an introduction,

• submit a more or less advanced project for a volume (project).

In both cases, proposals should be sent to the journal's directors. They must include:

• a title, a detailed argument and a list of 5 keywords for the volume

• a bio-bibliography of the coordinators and their contact information

• the current status of the volume (including expert reviews if relevant) and a provisional publication schedule.

Depending on the progress of the work, the project should also include:

• a table of contents

• a list of authors, their university and a short bio-bibliography

• a list of the titles, abstracts and keywords of each article in French and English

• a summary table (in Excel format) of all images per article, with copyright details.

Eventually, the completed project should also contain the double-blind expert reports.

In the case of a project, it is evaluated by the Ranam directors. If the evaluation is positive, the complete volume can then be submitted and will be evaluated as a finalized volume.

When a finalized volume is presented, the directors either approve or reject the publication, with or without modifications. The directors reserve the right to re-evaluate the entire volume, or any article they deem in need of further assessment.

All volumes must comply with the journal’s editorial standards.