ITH - Centre for Information Technology
Studies as a Human Science and
Center for Collaborative Innovation at the University College of Borås
Human IT
Policy statement
Human IT is a
multi-disciplinary and scholarly journal with the goal of
bringing forth new research and discussion about digital media
as communicative, aesthetic, and ludic instruments. The
journal is closely aligned with the new field of research
which is alternatively referred to as humanities computing,
social informatics, or informatica umanistica. We welcome
contributions from the humanities, the social, behavioural,
and natural sciences, as well as technology. Human IT aspires
to be a forum for new research which risks falling outside of
the borders of intra-disciplinary channels of publication as a
result of its multi-disciplinary approach or unorthodox choice
of subject. A consequence of this interdisciplinary ambition
is that Human IT is published jointly by the departments of
the University College of Borås. It also works with an
extended editorial board which includes representatives from
many different scholarly disciplines, practices, and
countries.
Human IT contains both
a refereed section and an open section. For both sections, we
accept scholarly texts of different types and on different
levels, including empirically founded research reports and
theoretical discussions, presentations of completed or planned
research projects and studies as well as scholarly essays and
longer literature reviews.
One or two issues per
volume are devoted to a special theme which accords with the
overall topics of the journal, for instance, “Language and
IT”, “Computerization and Narrative Fiction”, “E-democracy”,
or “Artificial intelligence”.
Target group
Our target group is
primarily found within academia, both within and outside of
the Nordic countries, but Human IT also wishes to reach a
broader circle of readers who have an interest in an advanced
and reflective discussion on new media and the conditions for
humans in the network society.
History
Parallel to the start
of the journal in 1997, the Centre for Information Technology
Studies as a Human Science (ITH) was established at the
Swedish School of Library and Information Science at Göteborg
University and the University College of Borås. ITH is part of
the University College’s R&D IT programme. Since 2001, Human
IT is run by an editorial board with representatives from
several of the departments at the University College of Borås
and from other Nordic and international research centres.
Starting with volume 7, the journal moved from both
print-based and electronic publishing to pure e-publishing.
Human IT is indexed in the
following databases
Artikelsök, Nordiskt BDI-index, The Directory of Open
Access Journals (DOAJ), Humanities International Complete
(EBSCO), Computer & Applied Science Complete (EBSCO), Scopus
Publication plan
Beginning with volume 9,
the articles in Human IT will be
published as soon as possible after acceptance. Each issue
will consist of four peer reviewed or open section articles,
and when this size has been reached, the issue will be 'closed'
and provided with an editorial. The size may be different in
issues focusing on a specific theme. The purpose of this
change in publishing pattern is that we wish to take advantage
of the possibility to publish articles as soon as possible
after they have been accepted for Human IT. We view
this as an advantage both for authors and for readers.
Editors
Editors for Human IT are
Mats Dahlström, Swedish School of Library and
Information Science, University College of Borås, phone.+46
33 435 44 21, e-mail mats.dahlstrom@hb.se,
Veronica Johansson, Swedish School of Library and Information Science,
University College of Borås, phone. +46
33 435 58 69, e-mail
veronica.johansson@hb.se,
and
Legally
responsible publisher for Human IT is Mats Dahlström
Editorial Board
Members of the Human IT Editorial Board are:
- Professor Lars Höglund (Dept. of Library and
Information Science,
University College of Borås and Göteborg University)
- Lillemor Adrianson, PhD (School
of Education and Behavioural Sciences, UCB)
- Wolmet Barendregt (IT
University of Göteborg)
- Jonas Carlquist, PhD (Dept. of Comparative Literature and
Scandinavian Languages, Umeå University)
- Rune Dalgaard, PhD (consultant in
international communication activities)
- Martin Engebretsen, PhD (Department of
Nordic and Media Studies, Agder University College)
- Kerstin Grundén, PhD (Dept. of
Economy and Informatics,
West University)
- professor Birger Hjørland (Royal School of
Library and Information Science, Denmark)
- Frans Mäyrä, PhD (Hypermedia Laboratory,
University of Tampere)
- James M. Nyce, PhD (IDA/Linköping; School of Library and
Information Management, Emporia State University)
- Espen S. Ore (National Library, Norway)
- Patrik Svensson, PhD (HUMlab, Umeå
University)
- Professor Johan Svedjedal (Dept. of Literature, Uppsala
University)
- Cecilia Sönströd (School of Business and Informatics,
UCB)
Many people have
contributed to the production of the journal over the years.
Editors:
Peggy A. Lundgren (1997-1998)
Maria Rooth (1998-1999)
Helena Francke (2000-2008)
Mats Dahlström (2002- )
Karen Nowé (2005-2007)
Jonas Söderholm (2008)
Veronica Johansson (2008- )
Type setting &
graphical design:
The first issues of the print journal (1997-1998) were
designed and type set by Peggy A. Lundgren. The print issues
from 1998 onwards were designed by Maria Oijens (http://www.badhusgatan.com/),
and type set by Maria Oijens and Maria Rooth.
The first issues of
the electronic version were designed by Peggy A. Lundgren. The
web site design since 2001 has been made by Helena Francke,
based on Maria Oijen’s graphical design for the print journal.
Funding
The journal is
supported by the University College of Borås R&D board and by
the Nordic board for
periodicals in the humanities and social sciences.
The author(s) retain
copyright to the articles and Human IT the copyright to
all editorial material on the journal’s web site.
Users may print
material from the web site and distribute it both in paper and
electronically, provided correct attributions are made to the
author(s) and Human IT. Re-publication of the material
(which includes making it available on a web site) is not
allowed in any form without the permission of the journal
and/or the author(s). This does not cover the rights to
publishing that are included in the "Licence to publish"
signed by the author(s).
The Publication and review process
Articles submitted to
the Human IT Refereed section are first read by the
journal’s editors, who determine if the topic is in line with
the journal’s focus and if it corresponds to basic quality
criteria. If this is the case, the article is sent to one or
more reviewers. Based on the following criteria, the reviewers
assess if the article may be accepted without revisions, with
minor or major revisions, or if it should be rejected. The
criteria are:
- Clarity of thesis
statement and declaration of purpose;
- Relevance of the
theoretical discussion;
- Relevance and
description of the empirical investigation;
- Well-founded
discussion/analysis;
- Originality of the
work;
- Awareness of
relevant research;
- Well structured and
logically coherent composition; and
- Accessibility to
readers outside of the research community.
It should be noted
that all criteria may not apply to all types of articles.
If the article is
accepted on condition that revisions are made, it is returned
to the author/s along with the reviewers’ comments and
suggestions for improvements as well as the editors’
recommendations and further comments, if any. The editors base
their judgement to a very large extent on the reviewers’
comments, but the responsibility for the final decision is
always with the editors.
Human IT also has an
Open section / öppen avdelning, which is intended for
material which is of a nature that is less suitable for peer
review, either because of genre, of intent, of publication
history, or of ambition. When the article has been submitted
to the Open section, the review is made solely by the editors,
although external specialists may be consulted.
When requested changes
have been made, the author resubmits the revised version of
the article. It is either assessed directly by the editors or
goes back into a new review round. Subsequently, the article
is proof read in collaboration with the author/s, and then
type set. The author is offered the possibility to do a final
proof reading before the article is published.
Concerning the
formal shaping of the article, see the author instructions at
<http://www.hb.se/bhs/ith/forf.htm>.
Guidelines for referees
Human IT strives to
stimulate the dissemination of research and critical
discussion on topics related to digital media as
communicative, aesthetic, and ludic instruments. In order to
do so, we provide in each issue one or more peer reviewed
articles in the Refereed section / Referee-avdelning.
The material published in the Refereed Section is expected to
be original work.
All articles published
in Human IT are reviewed and copy edited by the editors, and
the material in the Refereed section is reviewed by one or
more additional reviewers whose line of research concerns the
article's topic. The reviewers could be members of the Human
IT Editorial board or could be researchers not affiliated with
the journal. Guided by the reviewer comments, the editors
accept the article for publication or encourage the author/s
to make necessary revisions. In special circumstances, an
article suggested for rejection by the reviewers might be
accepted for publication in the Open section, or might, if the
editors find it appropriate, be submitted to one more reviewer
for a second or third opinion. The review process is, whenever
it is deemed feasible, "double blind", i.e. only the editors
know the identity of the author and the reviewer.
The reviewer’s comment should contain an evaluation of the
article with a motivated suggestion for either the article's
acceptance for publication, acceptance for publication after
revision, or a rejection. If revisions are recommended, a
clear and tangible instruction of the nature and extent of the
revision necessary should be offered. The comment will be
distributed to the author anonymised and should be designed so
that it can be sent directly to the author. The comment should,
in normal cases, not exceed 500 words (see
Referee’s Evaluation Sheet).
In order to keep the
time between the submission of the article and its subsequent
publication to a minimum, the reviewer is asked to present
her/his opinion within 4 weeks of receiving the article.
A Thank you to our reviewers
Human IT is very
grateful for the time and effort that our reviewers spend on a
non-profit basis to assess submitted material for the Refereed
section. The work is particularly valuable in order to keep up
a reliable system for scholarly quality control when the
journal covers so many different disciplines and subject
areas, something that is of use both to authors and readers.
Without the work contributed by our referees, we could not
offer the quality guaranteed by a referee journal.
It is customary for
the people who volunteer as referees to receive an
acknowledgement in the journal or on the journal web site,
even in cases where the referees remain anonymous in each
individual case. However, as a consequence of Human IT:s
multi-disciplinary approach, we think that it would be
difficult to keep anonymity in the referee process if we
published the names of our referees. We are happy to provide
all referees who so wish with a certificate that acknowledges
the work that they have done for us.
We would also like to
extend a collective “thank you” to all our referees!
