Journal Policies

Editorial Oversight

C21: Journal of 21st-Century Writings is owned and managed by the British Association for Contemporary Literary Studies (BACLS). The association’s Executive Committee is responsible for appointing an editorial team, managed by an Editor-in-Chief (currently a job-share between 2 academics) with a renewable term of 3 years – via a selective application process including an interview with the BACLS Chair.

The Editor(s)-in-Chief are responsible for appointing the remaining editorial team, which comprises the Deputy Editors, Reviews Editors, and the Editorial Board. Deputy Editors and Reviews Editors apply to join and are shortlisted and interviewed by the Editor(s)-in-Chief. Editorial Board members are invited to join without an application process, since this is effectively the journal’s Steering Committee.

All editorial roles last for 3 years and are renewable, subject to the approval of the BACLS Executive Committee. Editors are responsible for the day-to-day running of the journal (reviewing all submissions, processing desk rejects or sending out to peer review, liaising with authors, copyediting articles, proofreading articles, and managing production). The editorial team members are also responsible for the overall long-term strategy of the journal, which includes encouraging article submissions and special issue applications, presenting talks and leading workshops at relevant conferences to increase the visibility and standing of the journal, and working closely with the Editorial Advisory Board on international outreach and partnerships with cognate journals and scholarly associations.

C21 article submissions are assigned an editor and read through to assess quality. Desk rejections may be processed at this stage if an article does not meet the journal’s standard in terms of appropriateness and length of the article, quality of writing, and use of relevant scholarly sources. C21 editors need the approval of the Editor(s)-in-Chief before a desk rejection can be made. Once an article has passed these standards it undergoes the journal's double-anonymous peer review process.

Guest editors can apply to edit C21 Special Issues by completing an application form. This is reviewed by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and the editorial team. If the proposal is accepted, guest editors receive training from the C21 editorial team and are responsible for: encouraging article submissions via the journal’s platform; managing the peer review process for articles submitted to the Special Issue; making editorial decisions in consultation with the C21 Editor(s)-in-Chief; and liaising with Special Issue authors during the copyediting and proofreading stages. For guest editors of Special Issues, all editorial decisions are made as drafts and are subject to the approval of the Editor(s)-in-Chief. The C21 editorial team oversee the final production and publication process for completed articles.

C21 cultivates an inclusive, diverse and experienced Editorial Advisory Board made up of leading scholars based in the UK, Europe, the US, and Asia. C21 is currently in the process of formalising its Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to improve the diversity of its own editorial team and Editorial Advisory Board, as well as work towards publishing scholarly content committed to decolonising the field of contemporary literary studies.

Peer Review Process

Once an article has been adequately screened by an assigned editor and is deemed suitable for the journal and for the review process, the editor moves the manuscript into review and sources peer reviewers. At least two satisfactory double-anonymous reader reports must be received before an article may be accepted. If the assigned editor has any concerns, the Editor(s)-in-Chief may assist with the editorial decision and refer to the Editorial Board if necessary.

C21 uses double-anonymous peer review to ensure a rigorous and unbiased review process.

The editorial team are leading scholars in the field of contemporary literary studies and use their own professional networks and experience to identify suitable peer reviewers. Where necessary, they may request assistance from the Editorial Advisory Board to approach peer reviewers in wider networks. C21 does not invite authors to suggest or recommend peer reviewers, nor will any suggestions of reviewers offered by submitting authors for their manuscript be considered. Such suggestions, if offered, will be disregarded by the editorial team.

Upon a reviewer's acceptance to undertake peer review, the anonymised article and any supplementary files (usually images, graphs, tables) are supplied to them.

C21 refers peer reviewers to the Open Library of Humanities' (OLH) Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement, which contains detailed guidance on best practice for peer reviewers, under the section ‘Responsibilities of Reviewers’. The journal adheres to the OLH's publisher guidance for rigorous peer review and has no supplementary policies in place regarding peer review.

According to its double-anonymous peer review policy, C21 does not publish peer review reports alongside articles, or the names of the peer reviewers who have undertaken review of the article. Anonymised peer review data is held securely and privately in the journal’s publishing platform for the author to access whenever they choose to.

Organisation and Governance

C21 is owned and managed by the British Association for Contemporary Literary Studies (BACLS), a not-for-profit scholarly association established in 2017 and funded by membership subscriptions. The association’s Executive Committee is responsible for appointing the Editor(s)-in-Chief via a formal application process involving an interview. The Editor(s)-in-Chief in turn appoint Editorial Assistants and Reviews Editors. Members of the Editorial Advisory Board are invited by the Editor(s)-in-Chief. All editorial roles are for 3 years and may be renewed, subject to the approval of the BACLS Executive Committee.

C21 was originally launched in 2012 as a subscription journal with Gylphi Press, an independent arts and humanities publisher specialising in the contemporary period. In 2016, C21 joined the Open Library of Humanities and became a diamond open access journal. All content published since 2016 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Business Practices

Advertising

This journal does not permit any advertising on the journal’s website and will never consider requests of any kind from other parties wishing to advertise in the journal or on its webpages.

Direct Marketing

This journal does not engage in any direct marketing practices.

The publisher, the OLH, employs a Marketing Officer who undertakes general marketing activities for the publisher including the promotion of its journals. The Marketing Officer does not, however, engage in direct marketing for any OLH journals and this does not affect the editorial decisions of OLH journals in any way.

Other Revenue

This journal is funded by the OLH’s Library Partnership Subsidy Model and does not generate any additional streams of revenue.

Special Issues

C21 publishes Special Issues, guest edited by scholars who are not part of the journal’s editorial team. These can include broad thematic Special Issues on topics of relevance to the journal, commissioned articles following an academic conference or symposium, and focussed Special Issues on living writers with author interviews and other non-peer reviewed materials sometimes included, in addition to peer reviewed research articles.

Applications to edit a Special Issue are submitted to the Editor(s)-in-Chief, who review the quality of the proposed Special Issue, its appropriateness for C21, the qualifications and experience of the proposed guest editors, as well as the abstracts for each proposed article submission.

Once formally accepted, guest editors receive training from the C21 editorial team in using OLH’s publishing platform, Janeway. The Editor(s)-in-Chief closely monitor Special Issue submissions and the review process and all editorial decisions undertaken by guest editors are made as drafts subject to approval by the C21 Editor(s)-in-Chief.

Once articles have passed through double-anonymous peer review process, the Editor(s)-in-Chief assist guest editors in completing the journal’s copy-editing and proofreading processes. The Editor(s)-in-Chief liaise with the typesetters and complete the production process themselves.

Preprint Policy

C21 does not publish preprints. C21’s remit is to publish original research that has not been previously published in another journal.

Consent and Ethical Considerations

C21 will carefully consider complaints, appeals and allegations in line with guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This applies both pre- and post-publication. For further information about the processes involved, please visit the OLH’s 'Ethics Policies for our Journals' statement.