VIS – the submission process

How to submit an exposition

To apply for the open call: create, design and submit an exposition using the database Research Catalogue (RC).


1. Register a full account in RC. Note that this can take 1–2 working days.


2. Once you have an upgraded membership ("full account") in the Research Catalogue, there will be a "Create exposition" button on your profile page. When you click on the button, select "Editor type". Choose between graphical, block or text based. There are three types of editors with different ways to create an exposition. Choosing an editor.


3. Once you have chosen the editor, you will be asked to fill in brief facts about your exposition in step 1 and create the exposition itself in step 2. For details, read ”Checklist for submissions”. Use the help offered in the RC-guide and tutorials.


4. Submit your exposition to the VIS Portal Page in RC (in the menu, choose “submit for review” and then choose the portal “VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research”, confirm by “Submit”). You will receive a confirmation message from RC directly after submitting your exposition. Please check your inbox in RC.


You should consider your “exposition-draft” as only a proposal. You can leave notes within the draft that explain further developments and ideas. If your proposal is chosen by the Editorial Committee, it will be peer-reviewed and you will have about 4-5 months to edit it before publication in VIS Journal.


The Editorial Committee selects seven contributions to each issue of VIS.


Contact us for more info: 
visjournal@uniarts.se

Find a full workflow illustration to the right. (here)

 

1. Call for VIS issue announced

VIS holds an open call twice a year with a theme.

2. Submit draft exposition

The submission process goes through RC.

3. Selecting proposals for further development

The editorial committee reviews all draft expositions submitted in response to the call. Up to seven proposals are selected for further development and consideration. Based on the Editorial Committee review, the selected authors are given feedback for consideration in further development. VIS is unable to provide feedback for those whose submissions are unsuccessful.

 

4. Develop full exposition

Selected authors are granted 2-3 months to develop their proposals into full expositions. These expositions are to be fully developed and ready for peer-reviewing.

 

5. Editorial review and selection of full expositions

The EC reviews the full proposals and identifies relevant reviewers. If the development of a proposal is unsatisfying, the Editorial Board reserves the right to reject the submission at this stage.

 

 

Why do you use RC?

The Research Catalogue was developed to serve as a digital publishing platform for artistic research, exposing practice as research. RC addresses limitations of the traditional paper-based academic publication formats for practice-led fields and makes it possible to include a variety of media, such as images, graphics, sound and video.1

What is the relation between VIS and RC?

VIS is a peer-reviewed Nordic journal for artistic research. When the journal was initiated, it was decided that VIS uses Research Catalogue as a publishing platform.

How can I become a member of RC?

You can register for an account at Research Catalogue by following this link: Register an account

If you are staff or student at an institution that is a Portal Partner, designated staff at your institution can create an account for you.

Please note that the process of registering can take 1-2 working days, so ensure that you register well ahead of the submission deadline.
 
What is an exposition in RC?

In short terms, Expositions are comparable to what 'articles' are in other journal contexts. Placing multi-media data on a RC page allows the creation of visual or textual interconnections through which research can be exposed.2

 

Read more on VIS website: Exposition

What should an exposition proposal consist of?

We invite contributors to expose the artistic research questions, contexts, practices and outcomes, and reflect on their contribution to practice, to research, insights and to knowledge production. The exposition-draft must include the author’s full name, a title and an abstract. Where the exposition uses a language other than English, an English translation of the abstract is required. The exposition-draft should outline the artistic research, how the artistic research will be exposed and how the exposition will make use of the Research Catalogue as a publishing platform. It is recommended that the exposition-draft is developed beyond a text-only abstract to give examples of how and what media will be incorporated. Please, also refer to the Checklist for submissions above.

How long does it take to create an exposition proposal?

If you have never used RC you should give it at least 2 weeks. Easy learners can manage with 1 day if you have the content ready.

What is the difference between a text-based format and a Graphical format?

Research Catalogue has two different options for how an exposition can be presented. The text-based format presents the material in one page only, organised linearly from top to bottom. Images, graphics, sound and video can be inserted alongside text. The graphical format provides much more freedom in terms of how the material is presented. Text, images, graphics, sound and images can be distributed freely across one or more pages and makes it possible to work with backgrounds and overlays.

The text-format is responsive, meaning that it adjusts to screens of different sizes such as mobile devices, while the graphical format is not. here are two examples of contributions to previous issues using the respective formats:

Using Graphical format: William Platz, ‘Spin, Puppet, Spin: Drawing Estrangement‘, VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research, 2 (2019) https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/562761/598359/0/0 [accessed 08/06/2020]

Using Text Format: Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, ‘Listening in/to Exile: Migration and Media Arts‘, VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research, 2 (2019) https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/564694/564695 [accessed 08/06/2020]

Is there any limit to the extent of the exposition?

There is no hard limit for the extent of expositions, this need to be considered relative to the nature of the research exposed. As a rule of thumb, it is recommended that the exposition can be studied within the framework of one hour.

How do I submit a proposal?

Submit your exposition to the VIS Portal Page in RC (in the menu, choose “Submit for publication” and then choose the portal “VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research”, confirm by “Submit”). See screenshot here!

Is it possible to submit a proposal through email?

No, submissions need to be developed and submitted through the Research Catalogue.

I’m based outside the Nordic region, can I submit a proposal?

Yes, VIS is open for international contributions.

I don’t have a PhD, can I submit anyway?

Yes, submissions are considered based on their qualities as artistic research rather than the formal qualifications of the author(s).

What happens if my proposal gets rejected?

It will be sent back to you. You can consider if you want to develop it and publish in directly into Research Catalogue, or submit it for publication to another RC-journal.

Do I get any feedback if my proposal is rejected?

Due to the large number of submissions received in response to the initial call and submission deadline, the Editorial Committee is unfortunately not able to give detailed review feedback to rejected submissions. If a submission is rejected after peer-review, the author will receive the peer reviewer report and possible additional remarks from the editorial committee.

What happens if my proposal gets accepted?

The process of developing an exposition, from submission, through review to publication is outlined above.

How long time do I have to develop an accepted proposal?

The process of developing an exposition, from submission, through review to publication is outlined above. Generally the process of developing and reviewing submissions for an issue takes approximately 9 months from initial submission to final publication.

How does the peer-review-process work?

VIS holds an open call for every issue. A maximum of seven expositions are selected by the Editorial Committee for further peer-review. If your submission is selected for peer-review, you will get initial feedback from the Editorial Committee with a deadline for when the completed exposition is to be submitted for peer-review. Peer-review is done by an external reviewer. The peer-review will take approx. 2 months and the review process is partly dialogue-based. The peer-review intends to help the quality of the final exposition. It also advises the Editorial Committee on whether this submission is recommended for publication. After peer-reviewing, you finalise the exposition, and it is copy-edited before publication.

Will my exposition be copy-edited?

The Editorial Committee expects submitted expositions to be already copy-edited. Still, for quality assurance, an external copy-editing is carried out.

Will my exposition be translated?

Only abstracts will get translated. Expositions can be bilingual, but this is the choice and responsibility of the author(s).


What license can I use for my exposition?

Published expositions in VIS are using the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND. This license is restrictive and only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially. Read more.


Do authors get payed and/or is publication free of charge?

VIS does not pay authors for their work on the expositions. Peer-review and publication are fully covered by VIS, and are free of charge for participating authors.

 

I didn't find a answer to my question

 

Please contact: visjournal@uniarts.se

References

Schwab, Michael. ‘The Research Catalogue: A Model for Dissertations and Theses’. In The SAGE Handbook of Digital Dissertations and Theses, edited by Richard Andrews, Erik Borg, Stephen Boyd Davis, Myrrh Domingo, and Jude England, 339–54. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2012. https://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-work?work=144032.



VIS – the Editorial Process

FAQs

Checklist for submissions

  1. Once you have chosen an editor type in the Research Catalogue, you will be asked to fill in information about your exposition. You need to fill in: Title (title of the exposition), Abstract (summary that briefly explains what your exposition is about, Copyright (your first and last name), Language (exposition language), Affiliation (university/organisation, or the city/country you are studying/working in), Keywords (add keywords describing your research and artistic field). External link is optional, it could be a link to your website/portfolio.
  2. Once in the editing tool, describe the outline of the artistic research, how the artistic research will be exposed and how the exposition will make use of Research Catalogue as a publishing platform. It is recommended that the exposition-draft is developed beyond a text-only abstract to give examples of how and what media will be incorporated. You can add content such as text, images, audio, video, slideshows and pdf’s.
  3. Include a CV with contact details in the exposition.
  4. Your exposition should not have been published previously. If only certain parts of the exposition have been published, this is acceptable. Please describe in a note in the submission how and when partial previous publication has taken place.
  5. Submissions may be made in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and English.
  6. Copyright issues: Ensure that you have addressed copyrights issues pertaining to any material that you add to your exposition. Also refer to the Research Catalogue Terms of Use: :“You will not upload any content which is unlawful or which infringes the rights of others, including copyright and generally accepted codes of research ethics. By making any uploaded content available to the public, you grant SAR a royalty-free licence to make use of the content according to the non-commercial, research objectives of SAR, including a license to produce permanent or temporary copies thereof and by making the content available to other users and the public within the RC context.”
  7. Use of license: Published expositions in VIS are using the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND. This license is restrictive and only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially. Read more


We also strongly recommend you to consider the following:

  • Use Chicago style for references. It is recommended that footnotes are allocated in the vicinity of the text, for instance in the margin or as pop-up-notes. E.G. The Chicago Manual of Style Online
  • Be sure that the links are working; external links should be opened in a new window
  • Please note that when pasting text across from text editors such as Microsoft Word, formatting issues may ensue. We recommend that you prepare text content as unformatted (plain) text, or copy across to RC using "copy and match style". Afterwards, you can add formatting such as bold, italics, etc.
  • Test the exposition in different browsers
  • Hide or avoid scrolling bars (if possible)
  • Don't insert images within text-boxes as it might cause problems with overlapping text and images in some browsers.

6. Peer-review

VIS develops a dialogue-based approach to peer-reviewing. Rather than peer-reviewing being blind and in writing, contact is established between authors) and peer-reviewer. We encourage that peer reviewer and authors(s) come together (e.g. using video conferencing) for a conversation and discussion about the exposition and how it can best be developed. This model is informed by e.g. how supervision and mentoring normally unfolds in the arts.

The peer-review process gives feedback on the research question or topic, context, working methods, and how processes and artistic outcomes are documented and reflected on. Additionally, it considers how the exposition makes use of the opportunities that Research Catalogue offers when presenting artistic research.

Peer-reviewing takes place over approx. two months. Within this period the author needs to ensure sufficient time to finalise the exposition in response to the feedback from the reviewer. The peer-reviewer submits a report and recommendation to the EC.

 

7. Submission of peer-reviewed exposition

The author submits the peer-reviewed exposition.


 

 

 

Are you a potential peer-reviewer?


VIS is interested in exploring new ideas for the process of peer-review in artistic research. Models that combine rigorous scrutiny of work with a collaborative and developmental process are of particular interest to the Committee.

As a peer reviewer for VIS, you will be an expert in your own field and have a solid knowledge of what artistic research means. It is a great advantage if you are experienced with the exposition format in the database Research Catalogue or have peer-reviewed expositions and articles in experimental and unconventional formats.

 

Peer-review is expected to require approx, 8 hours of work, and is compensated.

Do you fit this profile and does the process of collaborative and developmental review appeal to you? If so, please send your expression of interest, accompanied by an up-to-date curriculum vitae, to: visjournal@uniarts.se

The Editorial Committee of VIS considers the following when selecting expositions

  1. How well the exposition proposal relates to the theme of the issue of VIS
  2. The general quality and relevance of the artistic research
  3. Whether the exposition takes place within artistic practices and contributes to further research
  4. Whether the exposition contributes to insight, knowledge and awareness of methods, ethics and context in artistic processes
  5. Whether the exposition proposal is conceived for the benefit both of those within the field and those beyond the sphere of artistic research.

8. Editorial review and selection of full expositions

Based on the final submission and the report from the peer-reviewer the EC makes a final decision on acceptance. The EC might provide final feedback for the author's consideration.

9. Copy-editing

The EC expects submitted expositions to be already copy-edited. Still, for quality assurance, an external copy-editing is carried out.

 

10. Review of copy-editing

The author is provided with a short time window to respond to and integrate suggestions for improvement after copy-editing.

 

11. Final editorial review

The EC does a final assessment of the submission to ensure that there are no outstanding issues before publication.

The editorial process from initial submission to publication takes approx. 9 months.

 

12. VIS issue published