Editorial Policies
Peer Review Process
Urban Library Journal uses a double blind peer review process. The editor(s) perform an initial review of all submitted manuscripts and may reject papers that are clearly outside the scope of the journal. Manuscripts within the scope will be sent to at least two reviewers. Reviewers will not receive or be able to view any documentation or metadata that includes individually identifiable author information. Authors will be provided with similarly blinded reviewer comments to aid in the revision of their manuscripts.
The ULJ accepts submissions throughout the year on a rolling basis. Please submit your article when it is ready. Articles will also be published on a rolling basis, and collected into issues twice per year. The editors strive to make a decision on submitted pieces within sixty days of submission (which includes the double-blind peer review). Authors may not submit the manuscript to other publications while a review is in progress.
Correction, Retraction and Removal of Articles
Correction. Despite the best of efforts, errors occur and their timely and effective remedy are considered the mark of responsible authors and editors. ULJ will publish a correction if the scholarly record is seriously affected (e.g., if accuracy/intended meaning, scientific reproducibility, author reputation, or journal reputation is judged to be compromised). Corrections that do not affect the contribution in a material way or significantly alter the reader's understanding of the contribution, such as misspellings or grammatical errors, will not be published. When a correction is published, it will link to and from the work. The correction will be added to the original work so that readers will receive the original work and the correction. All corrections will be as concise as possible.
Retraction. ULJ reserves the right to retract items, with a retraction defined as a public disavowal, not an erasure or removal. Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, inaccurate claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data will result in retraction of the work.
Removal. Some circumstances may necessitate removal of a work from ULJ. This will occur when the article is judged by the editors and editorial board to be defamatory, if it infringes on legal rights, or if there is a reasonable expectation that it will be subject to a court order. The bibliographic information about the work will be retained online, but the work will no longer be available through
Originality.Only articles that have not been published previously, that have not been simultaneously submitted elsewhere, and that are not under review for another publication should be submitted to this journal. The journal editors will assume that submission of an article to this journal implies that all the foregoing conditions are applicable.
Grey literature (e.g. conference papers, presentations, white papers, blog posts, and other unpublished work) may be submitted for review and publication in ULJ if all copyrights still reside with the submitting author(s). Preference will be given to works for which publication in ULJwill expand access or add value to the work. As a professional courtesy, authors should indicate if they are submitting such work, and if and where the work currently appears or has appeared. This information should be shared in the author’s cover letter at the time of initial submission.
Plagiarism.
ULJ does not accept articles which contain material plagiarized from other publications. For the purposes of this policy, plagiarism is defined as the copying of a previously published work - including text, images and data - of others or self without proper attribution. Please be aware that you can plagiarize yourself and that you need to provide proper attribution in all cases where previously published material is included in your manuscript.In those cases where plagiarism is detected prior to publication, the manuscript will be rejected.
In those cases where plagiarism is detected after publication, the published article will be amended to state that it contains plagiarized material; in extreme cases of plagiarism, the publication will be removed and a note made on the journal's website as to the reason.
Copyright and Licenses
As a condition of publication in Urban Library Journal, all authors agree to the following terms of licensing/copyright ownership:
- First publication rights to original work accepted for publication is granted to Urban Library Journal but copyright for all work published in the journal is retained by the author(s).
- Works published in Urban Library Journal will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). By granting a CC-BY license in their work, authors retain copyright ownership of the work, but they give explicit permission for others to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy the work, as long as the original source and author(s) are properly cited (i.e. a complete bibliographic citation and link to the ULJ website).
- Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work, with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in Urban Library Journal.
It will be the responsibility of the authors to secure all necessary copyright permissions for the use of 3rd-party materials in their manuscript. Authors will be required to provide written evidence of this permission upon acceptance of their manuscript.