Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: College & Research Libraries
ISSN: 0010-0870 (Print) and 2150-6701 (Online)1
Website: http://crl.acrl.org/
Purpose, objective, or mission: “College & Research Libraries (C&RL) is the official, bi-monthly, online-only scholarly research journal of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.”2 Its goal is to publish thoughtful, scholarly research that contributes to the dialogue in academic librarianship.3
Target audience: C&RL is focused on academic and research librarians who are interested in keeping abreast of the latest developments in library science with a strong emphasis on original research.4
Publisher: Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)5
Peer reviewed? Yes6
Type: LIS scholarly7
Medium: Online, open access8
Content: Each issue contains from four to six scholarly articles covering a wide range of LIS-related research topics. The journal periodically highlights these studies through free, live, online panel discussions that include the study authors and additional experts. Along with the feature articles, the journal also carries a few in-depth LIS-related book reviews.9
Frequency of publication: Bimonthly (6 times a year)10
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
Types of contributions accepted: Any scholarly articles that an academic or research librarian would find of interest, including narratives of failed projects. The editor has the final say on whether an article is appropriate for the journal.11
Submission and review process: Articles are submitted through a web-based, automated system (link and details included in guidelines). After an initial review to confirm that manuscripts fall within the scope of the journal, the editor sends prospective articles to least two reviewers, maintaining a double-blind peer review process.12
Editorial tone: Simple prose in the active voice is preferred.13
Style guide used: Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition14
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
C&RL is a respected, peer-reviewed journal that is nevertheless accessible to the author who wants to produce scholarly work. The journal gives research-oriented librarians opportunities to share their work by publishing articles covering a wide variety of LIS topics, everything from relatively technical research on metasearching to more accessible articles on library benchmarking.
The aspiring author who doesn’t have a body of research to write about or a project to dissect might find an opportunity for publication in writing book reviews for C&RL, a relatively easy way to be published in this journal.
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: Exact numbers are not available, but the journal is open access so wide circulation may be assumed.15
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: College & Research Libraries does not focus on any particular region, though it does largely concern itself with libraries in the United States.16 Articles are written in English17 and, due to the style of academic writing, there are not any cultural considerations that need to be addressed that would not automatically be evident in the research, beyond defining any jargon or acronyms that might be of purely local origin. It is safe to assume that the reader will have a general knowledge of librarianship, so basic concepts common throughout the profession do not need to be defined.18
Reader characteristics: The academic and research librarian works in a unique environment where they must meet the needs of three distinct patron groups: faculty scholars, students, and other school staff. It is safe to assume that the majority of readers will share a common professional outlook and an interest in new developments within academic and research librarianship. Most will be in management positions and some will have published their own research.19
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: Because the readers are mostly well-read professionals, they will be familiar with the general jargon and acronyms of the profession. Only jargon of local or specialized usage would need to be defined, and acronyms should always be spelled out on first use.20
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
A potential author for College & Research Libraries must keep in mind that the average reader of this journal will be very knowledgeable on the finer details of the profession and will be looking for thoughtful scholarship written in an accessible style. The C&RL author is writing for professionals, usually published scholars in their own right, with high expectations.
Last updated: May 11, 2020
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