Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: Faculty of Information Quarterly (*Publication currently on hiatus.*)
ISSN: 1925-91071
Website: http://fiq.ischool.utoronto.ca/index.php/fiq/index
Purpose, objective, or mission: “Faculty of Information Quarterly (FIQ) is a student-led, peer reviewed journal and provides immediate open access to its content by publishing online, on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Edited by graduate students at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information, the journal seeks to provide an environment for the voices of emerging and established scholars and practitioners in diverse Information fields, including but not limited to the following: archival science, accessibility studies, book history and print culture, communication theory, critical theory, cultural informatics, health informatics, information studies, information systems and technology, knowledge theory, library science, management science, media theory, museum studies, semiotics, and technology studies.”2
Target audience: University of Toronto LIS students, faculty and global LIS community3
Publisher: University of Toronto, Faculty of Information4
Peer reviewed? Yes5
Type: LIS scholarly6
Medium: Online7
Content: Research articles covering any topic relevant to LIS community. Recent article titles include Research as a Social Process: Considerations for Academic Libraries, Applying Concepts of Bug-Tracking Software to e-Resource Management in Academic Libraries, and The Rare e-Vent: Concepts of Rarity and Scarcity in e-Books.8
Frequency of publication: Quarterly9 *The last edition published was Volume 3, Number 4, in 2011.10
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: http://fiq.ischool.utoronto.ca/index.php/fiq/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
Types of contributions accepted: Research articles from the LIS and related academic communities. Per the publication website, “While there is an emphasis on encouraging student work in FIQ we certainly support submissions from all members of the Information community. Masters and PhD students and faculty of all disciplines, practitioners and Information professionals with an interest in scholarly work, and interested members of the Information community in its broadest sense are all welcome to submit works to this publication.”11 “We encourage students to submit articles they think are of an academic calibre, which can include conference papers, reworked course papers, personal research projects, reflections on the scholarly and practical elements of Information, or other communications of excellent quality.”12
Submission and review process: All work is submitted online through the publication website. Detailed instructions provided for authors including a checklist to ensure all requirements are met. FIQ is peer-reviewed and publication is subject to approval and review by the Editorial Staff.13
Editorial tone: Formal14
Style guide used: For Canadian English spelling, authors should consult the latest edition of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary; for citations and references authors should use the latest edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.15
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
Although FIQ was founded in part to promote publication of student research and writing, all members of the information community are invited to submit manuscripts.16
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: Not available. As an open access, online publication of a leading information school, FIQ is freely accessible to academic and professional members of the information community the world over.17
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: Toronto, Canada.18 While its target audience is the global information community, the publication requires its authors to use Canadian spellings and to ensure the relevance of articles to Canadian culture.19
Reader characteristics: Though FIQ is an open-access publication with an international reach, it is likely, given its editorial bias,20
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: The majority of readers would have an LIS background or education; however, since FIQ strives for a global reach and LIS education varies around the global, writers should consider this when writing.21
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
As a publication run by graduate students and primarily for graduate students and academics in the the LIS community, fellow graduate student authors would seem to have a better chance of publication in FIQ.
Last updated: April 24, 2017