About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship / Revue canadienne de bibliothéconomie universitaire (CJAL/Rcbu) is a bilingual, open access journal published by CAPAL/ACBES. Submissions need not have a geographical focus; however, if they do, the focus should be on Canada or have a strong connection to Canada.

The journal publishes articles on topics related to the profession of academic librarianship or the discipline of library and information studies. For CAPAL/ACBES, defining features of academic librarians are that they are members of a profession committed to fostering and upholding the core academic values and principles associated with teaching, learning, and research in higher education, and they play an integral role in supporting the academic missions of post-secondary institutions. 

Nonetheless, CJAL/Rcbu is open to articles by and about any academic library workers. By emphasizing librarianship, we are focusing on the people who are the core of academic libraries, not on the buildings or organizations that come to mind when we hear “academic libraries.” 

We publish articles in two sections, Research and Perspectives. Unsure which section your paper is most suitable for? Please contact the editors if you have questions.

Research Articles

Our editors and reviewers have high standards; at the same time, we aim to support and encourage authors whose work does not initially meet those standards. We recognize that authors may face challenges in conducting research and writing for scholarly publication. We ask reviewers to give specific, constructive feedback. Editorial board members may be available to mentor authors through their revisions on a paper, particularly for papers that get a “revise and resubmit” decision following peer review and therefore need to make substantial changes to their article.

Articles in this section undergo peer-review. These articles are typically 3,000-10,000 words in length.

The journal is open to all research methodologies. We welcome theoretical work that may not be suitable for traditional, empirical-focused LIS journals. We also welcome more typical research studies, with a defined research question, methods, analysis, and discussion. Format, structure, and approach are less important than content---our emphasis is on publishing strong articles that add something new to the literature.

The articles we publish must present substantive analysis of a topic. Why is the article’s topic or finding significant---what is the “so what?” for librarianship? If you are describing a program or service, draw from the broader context (such as theory or other literature) to show that the program or service is relevant and important. If you are presenting findings from a research study, those findings need to be situated in the broader context of theory and literature to show how and why they are significant. If you are writing a theoretical exploration or critique, it needs to have compelling arguments that are grounded in scholarly discourse.

Perspectives

Articles in this section undergo editorial review. They are generally shorter in length, 1,000-3,000 words, and may be more informal in tone. Examples include: limited case studies, reflections on practice, conceptual and/or analytical reflections, interviews with editorial commentary, opinion pieces, and advocacy.

Peer Review Process

Submissions are reviewed first by an editor to confirm that the submission is appropriate for the Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship. This step typically occurs within two weeks of submission. This editorial review considers questions such as:

• Is the submission within the Aims and Scope?
• Is the submission readable and within the desired word count?
• Has the submission been published elsewhere?
• Has the submission document been anonymized?

Editors must declare any conflicts of interest and if necessary disqualify themselves from involvement in the assessment of a manuscript. If the article is published, the declaration and explanations will be clearly indicated on the published paper with links to details (if necessary).

When the editor has determined that the submission is appropriate to be considered for publication, he/she contacts potential reviewers. Editors do not also serve as reviewers. Each submission is normally reviewed by two reviewers. Reviewers are asked to submit their reviews within four weeks and to follow the CJAL Reviewer Guidelines (see below).

Our goal is for reviews to be anonymous, such that neither the author(s) nor reviewers know each other’s identity. In some situations, however, such as submissions originating from CAPAL/ACBES conference papers, double-anonymous review may not be possible to achieve. In that case, the review will be single-anonymous, with the reviewers knowing the author’s identity.

The editor considers the reviewers’ comments and recommendations and replies to the author. This reply includes any requests for revisions as well as a recommendation on inclusion in the journal, based on the reviewers’ input. The author(s) are encouraged to respond to requests for revisions with a revised manuscript, or with clarifications or questions, as appropriate.

The editors make the final decision about publication.

Potential reviewers are invited to contact the editors with a copy of their CV and a brief statement of the areas they are qualified to review. The editors will seek out potential reviewers who have expertise in the area of a particular submission.

Submissions remain active for one year following an editorial decision. If one year has lapsed and CJAL/Rcbu has not received a resubmission of the manuscript, the submission will be withdrawn from consideration unless the author has contacted CJAL/Rcbu to request additional time for resubmission.

Publication Frequency

Articles and book reviews are published on a continuous basis and combined into one volume at the end of each calendar year.

Open Access Policy

This journal is free of charge to all readers. There are no article processing fees or other charges to authors who publish in this journal. Users may read, download, copy, print, search, or use articles for other lawful purposes delineated under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial license (CC BY-NC). Under the same license, authors who publish in this journal retain copyright (for more information, see the Copyright Notice on our submission page).

Name Change Policy

If an author wishes to change their name and/or pronouns following publication, CJAL will update and republish the paper and associated records under our control, including citations to the updated work that appear in other CJAL publications, and deliver the updated metadata to indexing services. We recognize that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion, and so changes are available upon request from the author, with no legal documentation required. To protect the author's privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change.

Authors who wish to update or change their name and/or pronouns should contact Can.J.Acad.Lib@gmail.com. Requests will be treated respectfully and confidentially, and addressed as quickly as possible.

Archiving

Content published in the Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship will be archived with Scholars Portal, which provides permanent preservation.