Author Guidelines

CTRL+ALT+DH publishes once per year. We will begin accepting submissions for the new issue in October 2024 through OJS (more information to come).Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of CTRL+ALT+DH will be reviewed.

1. What Do We Publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to please ensure you have read and understand the scope of the journal. 

CTRL+ALT+DH seeks to:

• Publish high quality, peer-reviewed articles by undergraduate students that bring critical research to the fore and stimulate debate.
• Serve the digital humanities and Culture and Technology Studies community by publishing projects and papers which engage with current scholarship in the digital humanities and further the discipline with thought-provoking, critical explorations of both theoretical and practical approaches to topics in the digital humanities. 

1.2 Article Types

CTRL+ALT+DH publishes a range of content, including:

• Scholarly articles and essays 
• Editorials and provocative, well-documented opinion pieces
• Projects, prototypes, digital experiments, and interactive digital narratives
• Reviews of books, websites, digital art installations, digital humanities systems and tools
• Audio and video projects

Questions about the suitability of submissions may be directed at the editorial collective at ctrlaltdh@gmail.com.

2. Editorial Policies

2.1 Peer Review Policy

Works published in CTRL+ALT+DH will undergo open review. All communication between author and reviewer must be done through the editorial team.

2.2 Authorship

It is important to include as authors all individuals who have made significant contributions to the article or project. Determining the primary author, the order of authorship, and other acknowledgments should reflect the level of input from each individual involved, independent of their position.

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided technical help, a department chair who provided general support, or a classmate that has reviewed the work.

2.4 Funding

CTRL+ALT+DH requires all authors to acknowledge any funding they have received in the completion of their research or projects using the following statement: 

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the (Name of Funder) (grant number)

2.5 Conflicts Of Interest

CTRL+ALT+DH encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests. 

3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication Ethics

CTRL+ALT+DH is committed to upholding academic integrity and research ethics. We encourage authors to refer to the University of Guelph’s Golden Rules for Academic Integrity.

3.1.1 Plagiarism

CTRL+ALT+DH and the University of Guelph take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. 

For example, if a submission is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: 

• Refusing publication.
• Publishing a correction.
• Retracting the article.
• Contacting the head of department or dean and/or relevant academic bodies or societies.
• Appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

During the submission process, all submitters must acknowledge and agree to the terms outlined below:

By submitting their work, contributors are permitting CTRL+ALT+DH to publish their material on the journal’s site if selected. The author maintains full ownership of their work.

CTRL+ALT+DH has chosen to publish all work under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives (CC-BY-ND 4.0) licence. This means that readers are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions:

• Attribution. Readers must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that the author endorses them or their use of the work).
• No Derivative Works. Readers may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. However, terms of fair use apply and CTRL+ALT+DH interprets these terms liberally.

Full detail of this and other licences may be found here.

Authors may request their work be published under a different licence. Requests should be made in writing and included as an appendix to their submission, as per submission guidelines.

All works will be assigned DOIs.

4. Preparing Your Manuscript For Submission

4.1 Quality Assurance

CTRL+ALT+DH seeks to publish the highest quality of work and we expect all submissions to be thoroughly checked for clarity. Work that is not sufficiently polished may be returned for revision without going forward to peer review, or may be held up in the peer review process. When in doubt, we suggest reaching out to someone to help with polishing your work to ensure that it is in the best shape possible.

4.2 Author-Designed Publications/Alternative Media

Due to the technological limitations of our platform, some pieces cannot be fully represented on our CTRL+ALT+DH journal site. Examples include submissions with program code, and specialised formatting or behaviours. CTRL+ALT+DH handles submissions of this kind by providing a durable article “stub” on our site with links to more specialised materials and projects. Please contact us at ctrlaltdh@gmail.com  if you wish to submit this type of project.

4.3 Common Formats

Please use common file formats when submitting, including but not limited to:

This is not a comprehensive list. Please contact our team if you have any questions or are submitting something other than the types mentioned above.

4.4 Reference Style

CTRL+ALT+DH adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style and uses the footnote and bibliography system. Consult the Chicago guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

5. Submitting Your Work

5.1 ORCID

ORCID IDs provide authors with a unique digital identifier that allows them to be identified in the same way DOIs identify articles. It prevents confusion in cases where another researcher has the same name as you, and the ORCID website is able to store all your publication activity on one page.  This is especially useful for students who are interested in going into academia.

Although it is not mandatory to have an ORCID ID to submit for this journal, submitters do have the option of creating and using one. If you do not already have an ORCID ID and would like to have one, please follow this link to create an ID. 

5.2 Information Required For Completing Your Submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the OJS submission system. These details must match what appears on your manuscript (refer to sections 2.2 Authorship and 2.3 Acknowledgments). The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. 

5.3 Permissions

Please ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders and give appropriate credit for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere.

5.4 Submission Checklist:

This is a checklist to help you with your submission and does not replace the full guidelines outlined here:

• My submission has been edited and checked for grammar, spelling, consistency, clarity, and plagiarism.
• My submission is not being considered for publication elsewhere nor is it published elsewhere.
• My submission has the appropriate title, authors, acknowledgments, and credits.
• I have secured permission to reproduce all copyrighted material used within my submission.
• My submission contains the appropriate file type (e.g., .docx for text files, .jpeg for images).
• My submission follows Chicago Format using the footnotes and bibliography system.
• Any supplementary materials are in the accepted file formats.
• I understand that my submission may be returned if it does not adhere to the guidelines outlined on the Submission Guidelines page.

6. On Acceptance And Publication

6.1 Acceptable Works

Submissions may be accepted for certain reasons, which may include but are not limited to:

• Topic originality
• Innovation in execution 
• Choice of current and topical subjects 
• Clarity, flow, and polish of argument(s) 
• Appropriate use and incorporation of secondary materials 
• Sophisticated use of digital tools, including unexpected or creative use of tools in different contexts
• Demonstration of ability to make complex ideas interesting and accessible 
• Ability to engage users

6.2 Production

A member of the CTRL+ALT+DH editing collective will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Feedback will be made available to the corresponding author through OJS, and corrections by the author should be notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

6.3 Promoting Your Article

Promoting  your paper or project will ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. We encourage you to promote your article via social media channels. You maintain full ownership of your work, and may republish it on a personal website or blog. However, we recommend linking to the journal. You may also want to consider a statement that the article has been previously published in CTRL+ALT+DH. 

7. Further Information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the CTRL+ALT+DH editorial office: ctrlaltdh@gmail.com.