The journal

The Memory Studies journal is an international peer reviewed journal which provides ‘a critical forum for dialogue and debate on the theoretical, empirical, and methodological issues central to a collaborative understanding of memory today’.

Launched in 2008, the journal was initially issued three times a year, but moved to four issues in 2010. Two issues are special issues centred around a specific theme, while the other two issues contain various kinds of articles. The special issues are ideal if you want to publish papers from any conferences or seminars you have organised, but people will also send you proposals. In 2010, the journal also began publishing articles online, through the Online First system. This makes the journal more attractive for potential authors, as it guarantees a quicker publication.

Approaching publishers

If you want to launch a journal, get in touch with the publishing editor for a first, personal meeting. Here you can discuss your ideas and demonstrate that the journal is a viable launch both intellectually and commercially. The publishers will then direct you to the guidelines to help you put your proposal together. This should consist of:

• the aims and scope of the journal
• why the journal is needed
• the envisaged editorial structure
• format/level/approach
• target audience and market potential
  

Amount of issues and number of pages are not fixed, and can be negotiated. Memory Studies started out with some 384 pages per year, moving up to 448 in 2010 and 512 in 2011. It depends very much on the success of the journal and the number of submissions, so publicity is essential!

Publicity and marketing

Sage has its own marketing assistant and there is a programme and budget for launches in terms of publicity and marketing. Still it is essential that you build up networks before you launch a journal, and use those to publicise it.

You need to think about having your journal submitted to citation monitoring services such as Thomson Reuters’ Web of Knowledge or Elsevier’s Scopus. In 2008, Memory Studies was also submitted to the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) evaluation, and more recently to the American EBSCO search engine. The waiting period for new journals to appear in similar search engines and citation databases can amount up to 3 years, though, so make sure your publisher gets on the job quickly.

The editorial board

You will need to supply the publisher with an editorial board consisting of at least 20 experts in the field, evidence of your good networking skills. If you're planning on having a books review section, ensure you get a book reviews editor and assistant: they will take on the task of requesting books from publishers and sending them out to reviewers. An editorial assistant is also very useful if you envisage a very productive publishing process: they will supervise the entire peer review process for you, liase with authors and publishers about copyright and translation issues, gather agreement forms, upload articles to submission systems and answer general questions about the journal.

It is also advised to appoint one or more co-editors for your journal. This will take the weight off your shoulders, particularly if your journal is interdisciplinary. The Memory Studies journal has three additional editors, all of whom are experts in their fields.

Finding the first articles

It takes time to build up a readership and to gather submissions, so your launch issue will rely on your connections and networks. The first three volumes for the Memory Studies journal, for example, contained almost exclusively articles by invited authors.

You also want to make a good first impression, so get some of the big names in those first issues!

What are the benefits?

Setting up a journal is a great addition to your CV. It demonstrates a range of transferable skills, and you really get your name out there. In addition, with some of the bigger publishers there is an annual stipend. However, this is not a huge sum, and if you have co-editors or editorial assistants you may have to share.

You may also be interested in...

• Sage guidelines for new journal proposals
  

Andrea Hajek received her doctorate in Italian with a dissertation on the public memory of an Italian student movement of the late 1970s. She is the senior editorial assistant for the Sage journal of Memory Studies.

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