iQ Submission Terms and Conditions

REVIEW PROCESS

iQ – The RIMPA Quarterly Magazine - is the learned professional journal of the Records and Information Management Practitioners Australasia (RIMPA Global). Its aim is to communicate records management information and innovation to the widest possible audience of industry stakeholders. 

Although iQ publishes work by many of the most eminent authors in records management in Australasia and overseas, anyone with a piece of original research or a personal example of best practice to communicate is encouraged to submit a paper. Collaborations between academics and practitioners are particularly welcomed, as our particular interest is in work that is both of a scholarly standard and of practical benefit in the field.  

The Editor accepts both unsolicited editorial contributions and commissions work for publication in the journal. All clear and original work on topics of interest to record management professionals will be considered, but the emphasis is on research, case studies, and innovation where the relevance and usefulness to practitioners is clearly highlighted. Papers discussing and disseminating information on industry initiatives are also sought.  

No payment is made for articles, papers, photographs or other material published in iQ, be they unsolicited or commissioned. However, all authors retain copyright in their work. (See below for more on Copyright.) Every effort is made to credit the creators of all written, illustrative and photographic material published in the journal. 

In the case of members of RIMPA, publication of a paper in iQ will be credited toward their official status upgrades. Works by RIMPA members published in iQ also automatically become eligible for the Article of the Year Award, which is awarded at the annual inForum conference.  

Editorial contributions are reviewed by the Editor in the first instance, who may accept them, pass them to appropriate members of the Editorial Board or other expert reviewers for further appraisal, or return them to the author. Returned papers may be accompanied by suggestions for strengthening the paper for resubmission where it is considered reworking is merited.   

Papers which are passed to the Editorial Board will be peer reviewed by an Editorial Board member or, where appropriate, by a specialist with specific expertise to offer to a particular paper. The identity of reviewers is not revealed to authors. The review process can be, if the author requests, double-blind – that is, the identity of the author is not revealed during the process. 

The reviewers will be looking for work with clear appeal and applicability to records management practitioners. The paper will be examined for cogency, originality of thought and robustness of method, research, argument and conclusions.  Where there is an existing body of literature on the subject, clear references to the existing work will be expected, so that interested readers are able to easily investigate topics in greater depth.   

An Author’s Guide 

Reviewers will either accept a paper without any caveats, return it for recommended amendments or reject it. Acceptance of returned papers which are resubmitted is dependent on changes being made which satisfy the recommendations made for amendments.  Authors are entitled to request copies of any comments made on their paper by an external reviewer, whatever the outcome of the review. 

ACCEPTANCE 

When submissions have been accepted, authors must complete, sign and submit to the Editor an iQ Form for Authors, (see below). The author should also submit a brief biography (maximum 100 words) head and shoulders photograph of themselves (minimum 1MEG) together with other appropriate photographs, illustrations, tables, etc, which the author authorises to be published in iQ with the submission, should the Editor choose to use them.  

Articles/papers accepted for publication in iQ will be edited by the Editor with a view to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and journalistic presentation, and may be reduced in length, at the Editor’s discretion, to meet the journal’s production requirements. The Editor may also write an appropriate magazine headline for the article/paper, and add sub headlines if and where appropriate. The Editor also reserves the right to split an article/paper over more than one issue of the magazine where available editorial space is limited. 

COPYRIGHT 

Articles submitted to iQ should be the wholly original work of the named authors. All authors of accepted work must complete and submit an iQ Form for Authors, which must be signed by all authors and/or, where applicable, any employer or agency entitled to hold the copyright of an employee’s output. Please refer to the iQ Copyright Policy Statement for further information. 

SUBMISSION PREPARATION CHECKLIST

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check their submission compliance with all of the following items. Submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.

  • The submission is provided in Microsoft Word format. Submissions will only be considered if provided electronically to:  [email protected] 

  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses).

  • All illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

  • URLs and hyperlinks for all references have been provided. 

  • Feature Articles are between 1500 and 2000 words. 

  • General articles are between 450 - 1500 words.

  • Book Review articles between 500 - 800 words. 

  • Provide a short headline/title.

  • Provide a summary introduction of 40-80 words.

  • Break the article up with short subheadings if possible, particularly if the article is long.

  • Provide relevant photos/illustrations and diagrams. 

  • Photographs and any other illustrative material should be submitted in JPEG format.

  • Where citation notes are used, they must be shown as endnotes and correlated to numbers in the text. 

  • Include a short 50-100-word biography describing yourself plus your qualification/s and current professional status. 

  • Include a clear headshot (between 1-2meg).  ‘Selfies’ are not acceptable. 

When writing a submission, please consider the following:

  • iQ does not publish advertorial or “people profiles”. Please do not mention personalities, products, or commercial services in your work. Talk to our advertising team if this is of interest.

  • Personalise, where you can, by talking to “you” as you would in a conversation. Try to avoid talking about “we”, “us” and “our”.

  • Avoid prosy or lyrical styles of writing.

  • Make the reader an offer. What benefit will they gain by getting beyond the headline and first paragraph? Can they relate?

  • Write what you know about from personal experience or research. If you are making a technical claim or referring to research, please provide full references.

 

THE IQ COPYRIGHT POLICY STATEMENT 

The copyright of articles/papers published in iQ is assigned by the author/s to RIMPA for a once only publication in iQ. The author/s otherwise retain full copyright in their work.   However, RIMPA retains the right to briefly quote from all work previously published in iQ in reviews, promotional copy, etc. 

Further, where the work concerned receives its first publication on the pages of iQ, RIMPA requires as a condition of publication that where the work is later published elsewhere the author includes in the text the notation, ‘This work was first published in the (month and year) issue of iQ - The RIMPA Quarterly Magazine of the Records and Information Management Practitioners Alliance.’  

All proprietary and patent rights associated with the contents of your article are unaffected by the temporary assignment of copyright, and remain with either the author(s) or their employing institution.  

Authors must confirm that their work is original. Permission must be obtained from the appropriate author/s or publisher/s for the use of any lengthy excerpts from other copyrighted material in works submitted to iQ. Those excerpts must be fully acknowledged. Copies of relevant written permissions must accompany the form. Failure to obtain such permissions could lead to litigation. Most authors/publishers do not require permission applications where the excerpt is only brief, or the excerpt is used in a legitimate review, as long as the original author and work is credited. If in doubt, intending authors should contact the appropriate copyright holders before using their material in work submitted for publication in iQ. 
Authors are required to indemnify RIMPA in respect of claims made against it by third parties for copyright infringement relating to publication of the article, or concerning authorship or rights of publication over the article, in the completed Form for Authors.