Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. General information

The journal is published twice per annum. Articles may be published in French or English, with an Abstract in both languages.

The journal is online open access and does not charge fees for submission or publication.

Articles will normally be between 3 000 and 6 000 words in length, including references. Shorter articles may be published as Notes or Comments.

2. Initial checklist for authors

• Does the paper’s content concern the Great Lakes region?

• Does the paper fall within the broad field covered by the journal, as explained under Key concepts on the Home page?

• Does the paper make a contribution to knowledge, as opposed to recycling knowledge which is already known?

• Are the normal components of an academic article included (see the seven points in the next paragraph) and are these handled at adequate depth

• Has the paper already been published or is it under consideration by another journal? If you are in any doubt, please discuss your submission with the Editors

• Have all sources been appropriately acknowledged?

• Has the nature and extent of the use made of AI in producing the paper been acknowledged in detail?

3. A typical article structure

We do not prescribe a structure but a typical article might contain the following:

• An introduction which presents the problem, issue or question which the paper addresses

• An explanation of key concepts, which may include relevant theories

• An overview of previous empirical research relevant to the article

• The overall aim and the specific objectives of the article

• Where relevant, a comprehensive explanation of the data collection and data analysis methods used, including a brief mention of ethical considerations.

• Findings and discussion – which relate to the overall aim and specific objectives.

• Conclusion – which summarises the contribution to knowledge and might include the limitations of the research, sustainability and scaling up where relevant and possibly, suggestions for future research.

4. The review process

The key question we ask when evaluating any submission is whether it makes a contribution to knowledge. Articles may be based on primary data by the author and/or others or it may develop new insights using existing data. It is not likely, therefore, that we will publish a traditional literature review from a dissertation or thesis although a well-conducted scoping review, systematic review and meta-analysis may well find a place.

The journal uses a two-stage review process. First, each submitted paper is read by one of the three Editors who will decide whether it fits the scope of the journal and whether it should proceed for review. At this stage, papers may be tested for plagiarism. The initial submission can be presented in any format and use any referencing system (see Submissions below), provided its use is consistent and complete.

If a paper passes the first stage, it will be sent for review to two expert reviewers who will report back to the Editors who will then make a final decision whether the paper should be:

• Published as it stands

• Published after minor revisions (to be clearly specified) have been carried out

• Published with major revisions (to be clearly specified) have been carried out.

This second stage follows a double-blind review process where the article is anonymised and the names of the author(s) and reviewers are not made known to each other.

We hope to complete the entire review process within six weeks of submission.

Once a paper is fully accepted, the author(s) will be asked to produce a final version using the journal’s style guide which will be sent to them. The referencing system is the APA Referencing System, 7th Edition. 

The list of references will include the DOI for each item, where these are available.

5. Submissions

Please ensure that submissions include the following in 12 point font with single spacing:

• A cover page containing the title of the paper, the authors in the desired order, the affiliation of each author and their email addresses, with the corresponding author identified
• The paper, in French or English, with author names, affiliations and email addresses deleted from the first page, containing the title, an Abstract of around 150 words, up to six key words, the paper itself and, at the end, a list of references
• The Abstract should contain the research problem or question addressed in the paper, what is already known and therefore what is not known, the research methods used and the main findings.