Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • Your article contains appropriate endnotes to cite previous work. For publication, all endnotes must be formatted according to the Notes portion of The Chicago Manual of Style Notes and Bibliography system. Other formats are allowed in the review stage, but must be updated as a condition of publication. Where available, URLs or DOIs for the references have been provided and are active links.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.
  • Articles submitted to Core’s journals must be written by human authors. The use of Large Language Models (LLMs), generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), or other AI tools to write an article is not allowed. In cases where such tools are used to support a human author’s writing or research, those uses MUST be acknowledged explicitly in the manuscript, including the specific tool(s) used, the prompts given, and the section(s) of the article that were enhanced in this manner. See the Core Journal Policy on Use of Generative AI by Authors and Reviewers.
  • The submission file(s) are in the English language and are provided as Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF file format. The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URLs); all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end; heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) are used and appropriately nested; and references to illustrations, figures, and tables are made in the text at appropriate places.

Author Guidelines

SUBJECT CONTENT / SCOPE

Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL) publishes original material related to all aspects of information technology in all types of libraries. For consideration, articles must be related to both technology AND libraries.

Topic areas include, but are not limited to, library automation, digital libraries, metadata, identity management, distributed systems and networks, computer security, intellectual property rights, technical standards, geographic information systems, desktop applications, information discovery tools, web-scale library services, cloud computing, digital preservation, data curation, virtualization, search-engine optimization, emerging technologies, social networking, open data, the semantic web, mobile services and applications, usability, universal access to technology, library consortia, vendor relations, and digital humanities.

TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS

ITAL publishes both peer-reviewed content (articles and communications) and non-peer-reviewed content in the form of letters to the editor and contributed columns.

Peer Reviewed

  • Articles are original research or comprehensive and in-depth analyses. Although longer works may be considered, manuscripts of 3,000 to 5,000 words are most common.
  • Communications are original brief research reports, technical findings, and application notes. Generally communications are 1,000 to 3,000 words in length.

Letters to the editor may be submitted to the editor for possible inclusion in the journal.

Contributed columns are not peer reviewed. We publish three different columns (as of 2024), each with its own annual call for proposals.

  • Public Libraries Leading the Way. Invited contributions from library technologists working in a public library setting. Ken Varnum <varnum@umich.edu> is the column editor.
  • ITAL & focuses on ways in which the library's role continues to expand and develop in the information technology landscape. The emphasis will be on emerging ideas and issues, with a particular aim to recruit new-to-the-profession columnists. Shanna Hollich <shollich@gmail.com> is the column editor.
  • From the Field highlights a technology-based project, practice, or innovation from any library in the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) community. Cindi Blyberg <cindi@blyberg.net> is the column editor.

All submissions to the journal must be in the English language.


CITATION STYLE

All references are to be formatted as endnotes using the notes guidelines of The Chicago Manual of Style Notes and Bibliography system of citation. All citations appropriate for a sentence should be combined into one note, with a reference to that endnote appearing at the end of the sentence.

PUBLICATION/REVIEW FEES

There are no fees for submission, or review, or publication.

REVIEW OF MANUSCRIPTS

ITAL is a refereed/peer-reviewed journal. We use a mutually anonymous peer review process, keeping authors and reviewers anonymous from each other. Articles submitted for peer review go through the following steps:

Updated Process (articles submitted on or after 1/1/2025)

1) Desk Review (up to 3 weeks)
The Editor and Assistant Editor read and consider submissions based on how well they fit the journal’s scope (see the “Subject Content / Scope” section above) and to ensure they meet the minimum standards of academic writing in English. Possible outcomes are:

  • The article moves to the next stage in the process, editorial board review
  • The article is returned to its author(s) with specific suggestions for revisions before the article can be reconsidered for peer review
  • The article is declined for further consideration

2) Editorial Board Review (2 weeks)
Members of the Editorial Board read articles to ensure the overall quality of the journal. At the conclusion of the editorial board review, editorial board members share any questions about the articles with the editors. Possible outcomes are:

  • The article moves on to peer review
  • The article is returned to its author(s) with specific suggestions for revisions before the article can be reconsidered for peer review
  • The article is declined for further consideration 

3) Peer Review (6 weeks)
Articles that are in scope and ready for full consideration go through a mutually anonymous peer review process. Reviewers do not know who wrote the article and article authors do not know who performed the review. Reviewers examine the manuscript considering the following questions:

  • Is the article relevant to ITAL's readership?
  • Does the article contribute to the literature?
  • Is it timely, and will it still be so by publication (normally, 6-9 months from acceptance)?
  • Does the article follow the basic conventions of an academic article (e.g., does it have a thesis, evidence, and conclusion; does it follow grammatical conventions; and are spelling and punctuation understandable)?
  • Do the authors provide citations to the work of others where such citations are appropriate and necessary for an academic article?

Reviewers conclude their remarks with a recommendation to the editors as to the suitability of the manuscript for publication in ITAL. Outcomes of peer review include the following:

  • Accept -- the article merits publication.
  • Accept pending minor changes—the article needs a small amount of work but is basically ready for publication with only minor changes not substantially affecting the research process or the conclusions.
  • Revise and resubmit for an additional round of peer review—there are larger questions or concerns about the article that must be addressed before peer reviewers will reconsider it.
  • Reject—the article is not suitable for Information Technology and Libraries.

The journal's editors communicate the results of peer review with the authors.

4) Publication
Once an article has been accepted for publication, it is scheduled into an upcoming quarterly issue. Articles are generally published in the order they are received, usually within six months of acceptance, depending on the volume of articles and the timing of acceptance. ITAL's regular publication schedule is the 3rd Monday of March, June, September, and December.

Copyright Notice

Authors who submit to Information Technology and Libraries agree to the Copyright Notice.

Privacy Statement

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