Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship
ISSN: 2369-937X
Website: https://cjal.ca/index.php/capal
Purpose, objective, or mission: Published by the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL), the Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship seeks to publish articles that are relevant to the profession of academic librarianship and the discipline of library and information science.1
Target audience: Academic librarians, both within and outside of Canada.
Publisher: The Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL).2
Peer reviewed? Yes.3
Type: LIS scholarly journal.
Medium: Online.
Content: Articles can be traditional research studies, or more theoretical work that may not be suitable for other empirical LIS journals. “Submissions must present substantive analysis of a topic. Why is the article’s topic or finding significant—what is the ‘so what?’ for librarianship?”4
Check the journal’s calls for papers and reviews for the latest information on special issues.
Frequency of publication: “Articles and book reviews are published on a continuous basis and combined into one volume at the end of each calendar year.”5
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: https://cjal.ca/index.php/capal/about/submissions
Types of contributions accepted: The journal welcomes submissions for book reviews and articles and review essays. Book reviews should be about 1,000 words in length, whereas articles should be 3,000 to 6,000 words, and no more than 10,000.6
Submission and review process: First, create a username and password for the Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship. You can register here.
Once you are ready to submit, be sure to read through the Author Guidelines to make sure you have formatted your work properly and included all necessary information.
“Submissions are reviewed first by an editor to confirm that the submission is appropriate for the Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship. This step typically occurs within two weeks of submission. This editorial review considers questions such as:
- Is the submission within the Aims and Scope?
- Is the submission readable and within the desired word count?
- Has the submission been published elsewhere?
- Has the submission document been anonymized?”
“When the editor has determined that the submission is appropriate to be considered for publication, he/she contacts potential reviewers. Editors do not also serve as reviewers. Each submission is normally reviewed by two reviewers. Reviewers are asked to submit their reviews within four weeks.”
Finally, the editor will consider any recommendations and comments made by the reviewers, and will confer with the author.7
Editorial tone: Professional, scholarly.
Style guide used: The most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.8
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
Keep in mind that publication submissions are not limited to Canadian librarians, but articles relevant to the country’s LIS field are encouraged and welcomed. Recently published articles are on topics such as using social epistemology to understand information behaviors and Indigenous research and librarianship in Canada.
The CJAL could also be a good outlet for reviews on LIS books written in the last three years. Look at the Book Review Guidelines for more information.
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: The journal is open access, so anyone can read current and archived issues.
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: While the website and parts of the journal are displayed in both English and French, typically the journal articles are published in English only.
Reader characteristics: Readers are academic librarians who are members of the Canadian Association of Academic Librarians. Therefore, readers are likely well versed in current LIS topics, especially how they relate to the field of academic librarianship.
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: Strong.
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
Potential authors who are interested in publishing in this journal should look into CAPAL to learn more about the journal’s readership. The association’s About page states that they differ from other library associations in that CAPAL “is an advocacy group focused on the individual and the profession.”9
Readers are librarians who are well versed in LIS topics, particularly as they relate to academic librarianship. If you have a book review or well researched LIS article that is relevant for academic librarians (particularly in Canada), then this may be a good venue for your writing.
Last updated: April 28, 2020
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