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Policies

Contents

OPEN ACCESS POLICY / AUTHOR CHARGES

The Agora is a fully open access journal, following the diamond model of open access, wherein authors are not charged to publish their articles and readers are not charged to access articles. There are no fees whatsoever for authors at any point in the process. There is no embargo period to read articles, and readers do not need to register to access articles. All student editors and faculty advisors volunteer their time to work on the journal, and funding for the Digital Commons platform is provided by the NMSU Library. Articles are published under Creative Commons licenses that make them not just free to read but also free to re-use -- please see our Copyright and Licensing Policyfor more details.

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PEER REVIEW POLICY

The Agora follows a double-blind peer review process:

  • The authors do not know the identities of the editors.
  • Editors do not know the identities of the authors.
  • The authors are not aware of the identity of the editor-in-chief, but not of their peer-reviewer or the editor directly involved with their submission. Feedback will be delivered to the authors anonymously, e.g. “Reviewer A” or “Editor A.” Only the editor-in-chief knows the identities of the authors.

The Agora submission review process will follow these steps in the order listed:

  1. Submissions are only eligible for review once they are in APA style. Submissions not in APA style will be sent back to authors for reformatting. Any significant grammatical errors will also be addressed and asked to be fixed by the author.
  2. Upon review, submissions are divided into two categories: rejections and those deemed eligible for peer review. Any eligible piece is sent to peer reviewers. Rejected projects, deemed as such by the editorial team and peer reviewers, are not considered beyond this stage.
  3. Only once the peer reviewer recommends publication is the project “accepted” for publication.
  4. Peer reviewers are given four weeks to complete their review and suggest any edits or revisions, which are then sent to the editorial team.
  5. After receiving the peer reviewers’ feedback, the authors are sent recommendations that address the reviewers’ concerns and ask for the suggested changes.
  6. Once implementing the recommended revisions, the authors will send their piece back to the editorial team.
  7. After ensuring that the author integrated the peer reviewers’ revisions, the editors will then proofread the piece. The editors check for grammar, typos, clarity, and any other technical aspect of the submission that they believe requires assessment. The editor will either make the changes themselves or make a note for the author.
  8. After final checks, the editors will then ensure all pieces are copy ready. This stage is completed at least one week before publication.

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SUBMISSION REVIEW STANDARDS

The editorial board will consider the following questions when reviewing submissions:

  1. Are the references used in an academic paper scholarly and reliable? If not, does it affect the credibility of the piece?
  2. Is the submission accessible to a non-specialty audience? How does that affect readability? Some questions to consider to determine readability:
  3. Does this paper use discipline-specific jargon without providing definitions or clarification?
  4. Can the reader understand the paper without completing any additional research?
  5. How is the piece in terms of clarity and organization? Is it concise, consistent, and logically and effectively organized?
  6. Does the submission bring value to The Agora in terms of relevancy and interest? Does the submission fit The Agora’s mission to: publish articles that are meaningful and valuable, add new knowledge by responding to or clarifying an important issue within a particular field?
  7. Does the submission exemplify originality? If so, how? Does it move beyond typical, frequently stated concepts and present new ideas?

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INTERNAL SUBMISSIONS REVIEW POLICY

Members of the editorial team are allowed to submit to The Agora with the understanding that:

  • they will not be present for the review of their submission;
  • their submission will undergo a double-blind review by the editorial team;
  • must follow the same process and guidelines as external submission;
  • and, if accepted, will be edited and reviewed entirely by an editorial member other than themselves.

Being a member of The Agora editorial team does not provide students with a greater chance at publication. Member submissions go through the same process as non-member submissions.

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NMSU FACULTY/STUDENT PROJECT REVIEW POLICY

The Agora designates a section of each edition for reviews of any major project that is published by a faculty member, NMSU student, or any working professional that is connected to NMSU (e.g., anyone who gave talks or presentations on campus). Projects include but are not limited to pieces of literature, musical performances, art exhibits, research projects, etc. Editors within The Agora typically write these reviews; however, students outside of the team are also invited to write reviews.

Reviews should:

  • be approximately 500-750 words,
  • follow APA Manual 7th edition guidelines,
  • be professional and convey respect for the subject matter,
  • be neutral or positive*,
  • be framed for a non-specialty audience that excludes highly technical terms or jargon, and written solely for the use of The Agora and not published elsewhere.

*Note: Writers of these reviews should pick faculty projects that are interesting and valuable to NMSU. If a faculty project is lacking substance, please consider picking another piece in place of that one. Students writing a negative review might be vulnerable if they end up in the faculty member’s class; this policy is to ensure your protection.

Faculty project reviews should contain the following:

A descriptive and clear summary of the project.

  • This includes providing a relevant description of the project topic while also articulating its overall perspective, argument, or purpose. If reviewing a book, then the summary might consider one to two sentences outlining each chapter.

A consideration of the project’s contribution.

Reviews will address the following questions:

  • What does this project contribute to its relevant field?
  • How might it relate to or differentiate from existing projects in that field?
  • Reviews will assess the project’s strengths and unique qualities.

A brief description of the intended audience.

  • Reviews will share insight into how intended audiences might appreciate the faculty’s project.

Conclude with some overall takeaways from the project.

  • Overarching ideas or thoughts that the reviewers believe are important to the overall project. This may or may not include a discussion of the specific implications the faculty project has at NMSU.

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CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY

Editorial team members and faculty peer reviewers are expected to practice confidentiality, meaning they will handle submissions and other materials specific to The Agora with discretion and not share them beyond the journal prior to publication.

PLAGIARISM POLICY

Submissions that plagiarize will not be considered by The Agora.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION POLICY

Being an interdisciplinary journal, The Agora is committed to publishing articles that are diverse and representative of various ideas.

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Authors retain copyright to their work; however, The Agora is an open-access publication, meaning authors’ works are protected but open to the community. For this reason, articles published in The Agora will carry a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA) license. This license protects an author’s legal and moral rights while allowing open-source remixing and revisioning of the work. For example, under this license, a second author might take the work of another author and insert substantial commentary or dialogue into the original piece while crediting the original work to the original author (akin to remixing songs). The Agora could publish the new, remixed piece under the Share Alike aspect of the CC license.

Some authors of creative work may wish to consider the higher protection offered by a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which allows redistribution of the material in unadapted form only, and only as long as attribution is given to the creator and the material is used for noncommercial purposes.

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DISCLAIMER

The Agora does not share the opinions expressed in the content of its publications. The standpoints conveyed belong solely to their respective authors. The Agora simply provides a space for NMSU students to publish their projects and remains impartial to the views articulated.

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