Policies of the Journal

General

Aigne falls under the auspices of the Graduate School of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, which houses eleven different Schools and more than twenty departments. In keeping with the ethos of the College, Aigne encourages submissions that adopt an interdisciplinary perspective. Articles that are discipline specific are also welcome, as long as they relate to the theme of the issue in some way. The journal publishes two distinct issues a year. The first issue is an annual release which works in collaboration with the Graduate School’s postgraduate conference. All papers presented at the conference are invited to submit for peer review and the opportunity for publication. The second issue is theme-based and open to postgraduates worldwide. Both publications welcome submissions in either Irish or English and should be sent to: aigneucc@gmail.com

It is the aim of the journal to promote the free circulation of research and to make all our publications viewable online via the UCC website. Aigne maintains the first right of publication before reverting the copyright back to the authors.

Roles within Aigne

Permanent members, current editors, reviewers and proofreaders will be published alongside the edition in which they participate.

Academic Editor

The Academic Editor is usually a permanent member of staff of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences. S/he maintains and facilitates contact with the Editor-in-Chief and the Board of the Graduate School of the College.

Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief is chosen on an electorial basis after a Call for an Editor-in-Chief has been sent out. The Editor-in-Chief has a number of supervisory and secretarial duties. S/he is responsible for overseeing all issues currently under review and maintaining contact with all current members of the Editorial Board; the Editor-in-Chief calls Editorial Board meetings once an issue approaches completion. The Editor-in-Chief is further responsible for maintaining the standards of the journal during the Peer Review Process, i.e. ensuring that anonymity and professionalism are maintained. Other responsibilities include the maintenance and promotion of the public profile of Aigne, including the journal's international social media presence as well as its promotion within the College and UCC.

Book Review Editor

The Book Review Editor is chosen on an electorial basis after a Call for a Book Review Editor has been sent out. The Book Review Editor is responsible for editing book reviews sent to Aigne for publication. S/he is also responsible for promoting and offering books, which have been published by members of the College, for review.

Web Editor

The Web Editor is chosen on an electorial basis after a Call for a Web Editor has been sent out. The primary duties of the Web Editor include, but are not limited to, maintenance of the Aigne website, coding and forwarding of articles to be published as well as ensuring the anonymity of the Peer Review Process by removing any data pointing to the author's or reviewer's idenity or affiliation.

Sub-Editor

The Sub-Editor is chosen with regard to special editions of Aigne and acts as the head of the Editorial Board for such a special issue. It is the responsibility of the Sub-Editor to ensure the quality and anonymity of the Peer Review Process in lieu of the Editor-in-Chief and to report any progress to the same.

Editor(s)

Refers to the editor of a particular edition of Aigne. Editors are chosen on a first-come-first-served basis after a Call for Editors has been sent our via the Graduate School of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences. The editor's primary task is to find reviewers for an article or articles of which they are in charge and to assure the anonymity of the peer review process. Editors do not normally look after more than one article, except where the number of submissions exceeds the number of available editors. An editor is further responsible for maintaining regular contact with the Editor-in-chief/Sub-Editor of the current issue and to update them about the status of the peer review process. The Editor further keeps the database of the UCC and International Review Board up to date. S/he is generally expected to promote Aigne.

An Editor must commit their time for the minimum duration of one edition – from Call for Papers to Publication.

Editorial Board

All UCC postgraduates who contribute extraordinary efforts to a particular edition of Aigne will be considered members of the Editorial Board. These include, but are not restricted to: website maintenance and article coding (usually the duties of a designated web editor), final editorial decisions for a particular edition (usually involves current Editors, and current members of the Aigne board), secretarial duties, raising sponsorship, raising awareness of the journal (via social media like Facebook and Twitter), contributing to the database of the International Review Board and communicating between reviewers and authors during the peer-review process. Different editorial boards are formed for different editions of Aigne. Former membership of an editorial board does not constitute automatic membership of the next editorial board, as members are chosen after a Call for Editors has been sent out. Editors who are serve on the Editorial Board for an international (themed) issue of Aigne will vote on the theme for the next international edition.

It is the policy of Aigne that an editor for an edition cannot be a reviewer for the same edition

Reviewer(s)

A reviewer is a current member of the Aigne Review Board. His/her primary task is to judge the quality of an article based on his/her own expertise in the field. 

The Review Board

All peer-reviewers for a particular edition are considered members of the Aigne Review Board. The Aigne Review Board is divided into UCC Affliates and International Affiliates. Categories include postgraduates students (preferably advanced PhD students, postdoctoral candidates, early research candidates as well as academics of long standing.

Board members are chosen for individual articles based on several factors, including expertise in the field, reputation and location. With regard to location and in accordance with the double-blind peer review process procedures, reviewers can only review articles originating from an institution other than their own. Thus, an article originating from UCC must always be reviewed by a member of the International Review Board. An article originating from an institution other than UCC can be reviewed by either a UCC affiliate or an International affiliate where the International affiliate and the author do not share the same institution.

It is the policy of Aigne that a reviewer for an edition cannot be an editor for the same edition.

The Peer Review Process

Aigne strictly adheres to a double-blind peer review procedure. All articles submitted to Aigne, which conform to the journal's guidelines are eligible to be submitted to the Peer Review Process. For each article, two reviewers are found, who will judge the quality of the article and, in case it is deemed of sufficient standard, will recommend it for publication. Each article further goes through two stages of Peer Review: following an inital one-month period, the author has the option to make any suggested changes to their article or to withdraw from the Peer Review Process entirely. Authors are generally given two weeks to make the necessary changes before their articles are reviewed a second time during a further two week period. At the end of the second stage of review, both reviewers forward their final recommendations to the Editor in charge of the article, who then communicates these to the Editorial Board/Editor-in-Chief. At no point during the Peer Review Process, will the author be in direct communication with the reviewers and vice verse.