For Editors

Guidelines for Editors of AAAV Issues

The Editorial Board and the Project Leader are responsible for the production and quality of the AAAV journal and coordinate its publishing. Every AAAV issue has a specified subject, so the compiling of each specific issue is the responsibility of an editor or group of editors. The Editor may be a member of the Editorial Board, may be invited by the Editorial Board, or may approach the Editorial Board with a proposal for an issue.

The Editor must coordinate the process, from the call for papers (hereinafter, papers refer to all peer-reviewed publications in the journal, including both academic articles and presentations / expositions of artistic research) to the publication of the issue, in a proper and timely manner and adhering to publication ethics. When planning the work, it should be taken into account that the publishing of an issue may take between 1 and 1.5 years from the call for papers to the publication of the journal. In accepting or proposing to edit an issue of the AAAV, the Editor undertakes to communicate with the Project Leader and the Editorial Board via given contacts, to keep them regularly informed of the progress, and to contact them immediately in case of any questions or problems and to resolve them promptly.    

The Editor is obliged to maintain the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal and of communications with authors and reviewers. Except in cases where the reviewers themselves wish to reveal their names, the Editor must not in any way reveal the identity of the reviewers to the authors of the submissions or to third parties.

Major Stages of the Editing Process:

Call for Papers

  • The Editor formulates and confirms with the Editorial Board the subject (working title) of the issue, in line with the scope and direction of the journal.
  • The Editor prepares a call for papers, which should include the title of the forthcoming issue, describe its subject, raise problems and possible research questions or directions, the languages in which submissions are welcome (Lithuanian, English, or both) and the date of the planned publication.
  • In agreement with the Editorial Board, the call shall specify the dates by which paper proposals are invited and by when manuscripts are due. The recommended deadline for paper proposals is 1 month and for full manuscripts 6 months from the date of publication of the call.

Selection of Proposals

  • The Editor selects the proposals received, assessing their quality and suitability for the subject of the issue, and informs the authors of the further proceeding of the issue and its timetable.
  • At least 8 peer-reviewed papers must be published per issue. Considering that 20 to 50% of the manuscripts may be deemed unsuitable for publication by the reviewers, it is recommended that at least 12 proposals are selected. If fewer than 12 eligible proposals are received, it is recommended that the subject of the issue be broadened and an additional call for papers be issued in agreement with the Editorial Board.
  • In addition to peer-reviewed papers, the journal may also publish: sources relevant to the academic field and the subject of the issue, their translations and academic commentaries; reviews of academic publications (monographs, edited volumes, publications of translations or sources with academic commentaries); interviews on academic and scholarly subjects; transcripts of academic discussions. Such texts shall be published in a separate chapter or chapters and together may not exceed 20% of the total publication.

Initial Assessment of Manuscripts

  • The Editor keeps in touch with the authors of the selected proposals, reminding them to send manuscripts and their illustrations in time.
  • The Editor assesses whether the manuscripts received are drafted in accordance with the AAAV guidelines for authors and whether they are eligible for peer-review. If the quality of a manuscript is not sufficient, or if it is not in keeping with the subject of the issue or the scope of the journal, the Editor may reject it without peer-review, or may communicate its deficiencies to the author and ask the author to revise or supplement the manuscript. In the event of a manifest breach of research or publication ethics, the Editor should contact the Editorial Board for further action.
  • Before sending the manuscript to the reviewers, the Editor must ensure that it contains: the names and institutions of all authors; a brief abstract and keywords; the major text; a list of references; a list of illustrations; illustrations and other appendices. A longer summary for translation into a language other than the language of the paper itself and a short biography of the author may be submitted when the manuscript is accepted for publication after peer-review.

Peer-review

  • The Editor must submit the manuscript for peer-review within 1 week from the date of receipt of the manuscript.
  • Each manuscript must be evaluated by at least two reviewers. The Editor of the issue and the authors of other manuscripts submitted for publication in the same issue are not eligible to serve as reviewers. No more than two manuscripts submitted for the same issue may be reviewed by the same reviewer.
  • The Editor selects the reviewers on the basis of their expertise in the field or subject of research. The reviewer of an academic article must have a doctorate in a relevant discipline, the reviewer of an artistic research presentation / exposition must have a doctorate in a relevant discipline or be a recognized artist. The Editorial Board may be contacted by the Editor for assistance in identifying and selecting suitable reviewers.
  • To prevent the dissemination of unpublished manuscripts, the reviewer initially should be sent only the title of the manuscript and the abstract or summary. The author’s name and the full manuscript with all appendices and the AAAV review form are only forwarded to the reviewer when the reviewer commits to review the manuscript.
  • The recommended timeframe for the reviewer to submit their review is between 2 and 4 weeks. Reviews should be written on approved AAAV review forms, which are chosen according to the language of the manuscript (English or Lithuanian) and the type of paper (academic or artistic research).
  • The peer-review of manuscripts submitted to the AAAV is single-blind peer review, i.e. the identity of the authors is known to the reviewers, but the identity of the reviewers is not disclosed to the authors, unless otherwise requested by the reviewers themselves. It is the responsibility of the Editor of the issue to ensure that the identity of the reviewers is not disclosed in any form to the authors of the manuscripts or to any third party.
  • In the event of conflicting reviews (one reviewer recommends to reject the manuscript and the other recommends to accept, to accept after minor revisions, or to reconsider after major revisions), the Editor should seek a third reviewer or ask the Editorial Board to have the manuscript read and evaluated by one of its members. If two of the three reviewers, or one reviewer and the responsible member of the Editorial Board, recommend that the manuscript be rejected, it must be rejected.
  • All reviews will be sent to the author only after both reviewers have evaluated the manuscript, and in the case of contradictory reviews, after the third evaluation.
  • The Editor must make sure that the review and the file title sent to the author do not contain any indication of the reviewer’s identity (name, surname, initials, degree, position, institution) or any reference to the reviewer’s identity in the text of the review itself. Before sending the anonymized review to the author, it should be saved in pdf format, which will not only protect the text from modification but also remove any metadata related to the identity of the author of the file.
  • If the reviewer has commented not only on the review form, but also on the manuscript itself, you will remove the author’s identity from the metadata and comments in the MS Word file as follows:
  • Go to File -> Info -> Inspect Document -> Check for Issues -> Inspect Document. Check the Document Properties and Personal Information checkbox, uncheck all other checkboxes, and click Inspect. Click Remove All and Close. Save the file and close it. When you reopen it, the comments will be visible but will be assigned to the Author.
  • If the author of the comment is still visible, the Modern Comments feature is probably enabled. Go to File -> Options -> General and temporarily change User Name and Initials to Author and A.

Revision of Manuscripts and Final Acceptance

  • If a manuscript is recommended for acceptance after minor revisions, up to 2 weeks may be allowed for revisions. If the manuscript is recommended for reconsideration after major revisions, 4 to 8 weeks may be allowed for revision. In the latter case, the author must submit to the Editor, together with the revised manuscript, a response to the reviewers’ comments and a detailed explanation of how it has been revised and, if not, why.
  • The Editor of the issue must make sure that the manuscripts have been corrected in accordance with the reviewers’ comments, and in case of doubt, refer to the Editorial Board for further decisions. The Editor may ask the author to correct any remaining minor defects within 1–2 weeks.
  • If, after major revisions, the submitted version of the manuscript still contains, in the opinion of the Editor and/or the Editorial Board, substantial deficiencies, the manuscript should be rejected.

Publishing

  • The manuscript prepared for the final publication stage must contain all the necessary elements, including a summary to be translated into a language other than the language of the paper and a short biography of the author. The Editor should check: that the abstract, summary and biography meet the length requirements; that the captions to the illustrations are sufficiently detailed but not excessive; that the citations follow the Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style and other requirements for AAAV authors.
  • The illustrations accompanying the manuscript (no more than 20 per paper) must be directly relevant to the content of the manuscript, informative, and of print quality. The Editor must inform the author if the illustrations submitted do not comply with these requirements, and must request that the inappropriate illustrations be replaced or omitted, as well as adjustments made to the numbering of the illustrations in the text, the captions and the list of illustrations. The author is responsible for obtaining permission to publish the illustrations. The Editor of the issue may ask the author for evidence of permission. If necessary, the Editor may contact the Editorial Board to request mediation in obtaining permission to publish the illustrations. Only in exceptional cases, the illustrations shall be purchased at the expense of the AAAV. As a Lithuania-based publishing house, the VDA Press shall pay the association Latga for the use of those illustrations or reproductions of works whose authors have concluded agreements with Latga.
  • The Editor prepares a 1–2 thousand-word non-reviewable preface for the issue, determines the order in which the papers and other material will be published in the journal, and, if the issue has chapters, chooses the final titles of the chapters and of the issue as a whole.
  • The Editor forwards the illustrations, manuscripts of the articles and their summaries and author biographies in separate files to the Editorial Board, which then takes care of the copy-editing, translation of the summaries and biographies, and layout of the issue.
  • The Editor reviews the layout as a whole, checking for layout errors (e.g. whether all accepted papers and other texts are present in the layout, whether the order of the layout and the chapter titles are correct, etc.), and then the layouts of the individual papers are submitted to the authors and the proofreader for final correction.
  • The Editor reviews the cover designs proposed by the layout designer and selects the most appropriate one, or proposes a cover illustration of suitable quality on their own.
  • After the issue has been published, the reviews with the names of the reviewers and other materials are handed over by the Editor to the archives of the VDA Press, grouped in folders bearing the names of the authors of the published papers and rejected manuscripts.
  • The Editor shall cooperate with the VDA Press in the publicity of the published issue of the journal (e.g. by participating in public presentations and discussions, helping to prepare a press release, etc.).