Submission and Review

Overview of Journal Article Submission and Review Process

Note: Because the learning curve for the Annotum platform can be steep, the staff of Surname DNA Journal are glad to convert text-based formats like MS Word to the platform at no charge to the author. Simple email your manuscript to the Editor for further details.

Submission

You may edit, save, and preview your Surname DNA Journal Article any number of times prior to Submitting it for Review.

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Save and Preview your Work Often

Note that the Annotum tools include a spell checker.  Please use it and make any needed corrections before Submitting your article.

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Once you’re completed and checked your own work, Submit it for Peer Review

Once you Submit your Article, however, you will not be able to make any edits until the first reviews are complete and the Review Comments returned to you for action.

If you haven’t already signed an acknowledgement of the SurnameDNA.com Terms of Use as an author, you will be asked to do so prior to the reviews beginning.

Review Period

Once your review period begins, the Editor at SurnameDNA.com reads your paper and assembles the best available team of Reviewers for your subject area.  These may be scientists, DNA Project leaders, authors, historians, and genealogists — in other words, your peers in the genetic genealogy community.  The identity of the Reviewers may or may not be revealed to you as the Author depending on the wishes of the individual Reviewer and the Editor’s discretion.

Your Article will be peer-reviewed using the Annotum journal workflow tools which include the ability to track and review all prior versions of your paper.  Reviewers may offer suggestions for improvement and constructive criticism.  It is up to the author how to respond and adapt the Article based on the review comments.  The ultimate decision on whether SurnameDNA Journal will publish the manuscript is up to our Editor who will give careful consideration both to the reviewer’s comments and the author’s response to those comments.

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Reasonable Turnaround Time is not too much for an Author to expect.

One of the great things about submitting your work to SurnameDNA.com is that we are committed to providing rapid review and turnaround of your paper — e.g. in a few weeks.  Because we do not hold your work for episodic editions, your publication date does not depend on the production or review schedule of other authors’ papers.  If you’ve ever spent endless months waiting for your work to be published in a ‘Quarterly’ journal that has to assemble a body of articles, you probably recognize that the SurnameDNA.com model is more efficient and productive.

Publication

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Journal Publication is an Accomplishment

Upon publication, your article will be released to search engines and the news media, RSS news feeds from this journal may also make people aware of your work.  Links to your article may also be posted in pertinent newsgroups, email lists, and message boards.  Who knows, you may have to make time for television and newspaper interviews.  In the very least, you will want to share your accomplishment with relatives and members of your personal genealogy community.

Value of The Peer-Review Process

Is the peer-review process more work than just a blog?  Yes, quite a bit more work.  But when you’ve completed it successfully, the quality of your work product is likely to be significantly elevated.  The sense of accomplishment you are likely to have is not only personally fulfilling, but also provides a tile in the mosaic of human knowledge and our understanding of our genetic heritage.

 

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