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.
  • I am a current IASPM member and I have indicated my current IASPM branch in my Profile's Affiliation section. Without this information, the submission is subject to rejection.
  • I have read the Submission Process, which specifies the typical flow of an article submitted to IASPM Journal.
  • If the submission is a Feature Article, I am including a 150-word abstract and up to five key words in English. It must not have been previously published, nor should it be before another journal for consideration (unless an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor, which will be assessed by the Editorial Board).
  • The submission is in either a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or .RTF document file format, with single-spaced, in Optima font text. At this stage, PDF files cannot be accepted for editing purposes.
  • The article conforms to the latest version of the IASPM Journal Style Guide and Template. If the submission fails to meet this requirement, submissions will be returned.
  • If submitting a Feature Article to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed, ensuring any indication of the author's identity, either in the text of in the file properties, has been removed.
  • Word-count is in compliance with the type of submission:
      • Feature articles: depending on the language used, between 5000 to 8000 words in length, keeping the Word-document size to 2 MB.
      • Branch reports: 1100-1500 words
      • Book reviews: 600 to 1100 words
      • PhD summaries: 200-350 words.
  • All sources are acknowledged in Harvard referencing format. I have explicit copyright permission from the relevant copyright owner for any visual or sound illustrations, which I may submit as supplementary files in a separate (.ZIP) archive.

Author Guidelines

We publish research on popular music, regardless of genre, time or place. We are open to a wide range of research methodologies and critical approaches. Since our readership is international and multidisciplinary, please ensure that exclusive jargon is avoided and that specific key concepts are clearly explained.

An article may be submitted in the official language of any of IASPM's branches, ensuring a 150-word abstract in English is included. Although the journal's online system communicates in English, this will not interfere with the content. Bilingual versions may be prompted at the end of the reviewing process, when a submission is accepted for publication. Before submitting, all authors must first carefully read the Submission Process, Author Guidelines, as well as the Submission Checklist, below, and ensure they download and apply the IASPM Journal Style Guide and Template. Inclusive as we are, the editors hold the right to reject submissions. The editors check submissions against basic protocols for section requirements and scholarly work and assess the relevance of the subject area to IASPM, which is further tested through a (blind) peer-review process. Submissions that do not comply with the IASPM Journal Style Guide and Template may be returned to the author.

The flow of a typical peer-reviewed article, from initial submission to publication is as follows:

  1. An author submits an article to the journal.
  2. The editor(s) initiate the (blind) peer review process.
  3. Comments on the article are submitted to the editor(s), who then assign one of four evaluations to the article:  
    1. accept submission;
    2. revisions required;
    3. resubmit for review;
    4. decline submission
  4. The article is copy edited for formatting, style, spelling and grammar. Where possible, a proof copy is provided to the author, for final corrections.
  5. The article is published in the designated issue of IASPM Journal
  6. Our production to publication process is usually 12–18 months.

Articles – Open Section

Research-based articles of up to 8000 words are based on open submissions. Please click here to select a copy of the Open CFP in your preferred language. If a submission is in a language other than English, please provide a 150-word summary in English. In support of your submission, we select a member from the Editorial Board and, where relevant, a member from the International Advisory Board to enable a bespoke editorial process.

Reviews

Book reviews are, normally, between 600-1500 words and in the language of the book under review – if the review is in a language other than English, a 150-word summary in English is expected. Reviews of books that have not been received by the journal are also welcome, as are reviews of documentary DVDs and scholarly websites. Please keep these reviews to 600 words maximum.

IASPM Branch Reports

IASPM branches are invited to submit an update on their branch activities: What research activities took place in the last 2 years, or so? Any stimulating conference or research seminars? Any major research publications? Perhaps a new scholarship scheme in poplar music studies? We like to hear from you.

Pop Music PhD - abstract

Providing an opportunity to announce emerging research, this is a space for open submissions of 350-word thesis abstracts in popular music studies!

Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright, while licensing their work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Privacy Statement

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