Notice to Authors and Book Reviewers

Thank you for your interest in the MLA Forum, the online journal of the Michigan Library Association. The purpose of this notice is to outline the steps of our peer-review, editing, and publishing processes.

MLA Forum is completely staffed by volunteers from the Michigan library community who participate in all steps of the publishing processes and make this journal possible.

Author Agreement Form.

Authors of articles and book reviews must sign MLA Forum Author Agreement Form in order for their content to be published. This is available at http://www.mlaforum.org/agreement.html. The signed form needs to be forwarded to:

Michael Lorenzen, MLA Forum editor
University Library - Park 225
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859

Articles.

The peer-review, editing, and publishing processes used by MLA Forum parallel what is normally used in academic and scholarly publishing. These are time-consuming processes, yet considerably faster than for traditional journals. The average time from an article's receipt to its publication in MLA Forum is four months. In traditional journals, the average time can range from one to three years. Please see the table, "Timeline and Steps of Complete Publication Process," for steps in the publication processes.

Book Reviews.

Book reviews should be submitted to MLA Forum via e-mail in an MS Word document. Book reviews are generally 300-500 words in length. The Cataloging-In-Publication data, such as title, author, publisher, number of pages, cost, and ISBN, needs to be given at the beginning of the book review. The reviewer's name, title, institution, and e-mail are also to be included the end of his or her book review.

Book reviews do not go through the peer-review process, but the copy editor edits for grammar and language. Unclear reviews or those needing work are returned to the reviewer with suggestions. The reviewer may return a revised copy that may be published after final editing.

Book reviewers must sign MLA Forum Author Agreement Form in order for their review to be published.

All final copies of book reviews and articles are simultaneously e-mailed to the web master for publishing.

News.

To support its role in encouraging dialogue among the library community, MLA Forum invites library organizations to submit information and reports about their special events. This information can be submitted to MLA Forum editors.

Timeline and Steps of Complete Publication Process.

Months 1-2	Announcement of Call for Papers Receipt of proposed articles. Papers are to be submitted to MLA editor via e-mail as an MS Word document. Papers need to use APA format in their citations and works cited page.
Months 2-3	Peer Review Process. All articles are forwarded in blind copy form to two peer reviewers. The author's name and other identifying information are omitted from the article. Peer reviewers are MLA Forum Editorial Board Members. The Board Members are listed at http://www.mlaforum.org/ForumStaff.html. Peer reviewers are requested to return their comments to editors within one month of their receipt.
Month 3	Revision Process. Peer-reviewed articles with suggestions are e-mailed to author. Authors are given two to three weeks for revisions, and then e-mail their revised copy to MLA Forum editor. Author Agreement Form. Authors must sign MLA Forum Author Agreement form in order for their article to be published. This is available at http://www.mlaforum.org/agreement.html. Forward signed Agreement forms to MLA Forum editor.
Month 3-4	Final Editing.

Drafted by Kristy Padron and Lothar Spang September 2003