Manuscript Submission Guidelines

Convergence

SAGE Choice and Open Access

Declaration of conflicting interests policy
Other conventions
Acknowledgments
7.1 Funding acknowledgement
Permissions
Manuscript style
9.1 File types
9.2 Journal style
9.3 Reference style
9.4 Manuscript preparation
9.4.1 Keywords and abstracts: Helping readers find your article online
9.4.2 Corresponding author contact details
9.4.3 Guidelines for submitting artwork, figures and other graphics
9.4.4 Guidelines for submitting supplemental files
9.4.5 English language editing services
After acceptance
10.1 Proofs
10.2 E-Prints and complimentary copies
10.3 SAGE production
Further information

Convergence is an international peer-reviewed academic paper journal which was set up in 1995 to address the creative, social, political and pedagogical issues raised by the advent of new media technologies. As an international research journal, it provides a forum both for monitoring and exploring developments and for publishing vital research.

1. Peer review policy

Convergence adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties. All manuscripts are reviewed initially by the Editors and only those papers that meet the editorial standards of the journal, and fit within the aims and scope of the journal, will be sent for outside review. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees.

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2. Article types

The principal aims of Convergence are:

to develop critical frameworks and methodologies that enable the reception, consumption and impact of new technologies to be evaluated in their domestic, public and educational contexts
to contextualise the study of those new technologies within existing debates in media studies, and to address the specific implications of the increasing convergence of media forms
to monitor the conditions of emergence of new media technologies, their subsequent mass production and the development of new cultural forms
to promote discussion and analysis of the creative and educational potentials of those technologies, and to contextualise those cultural practices within wider cultural and political debates.

Topics include: Video games * Cable and telecomms * Mobile media/content * Internet studies * Digital/new media art * Digital photography * VR * Control and censorship of the media * Copyright/intellectual property * New media policy * New media industries/institutions * New media history * New media in cross-cultural/international contexts * New media products * Digital TV * DVD * Digital music � recording, production, distribution, file formats/file sharing * Cinema * Gender and technology * social media * locative and mobile media *.

Main text and word count -- suggested target is about 8000 words.

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3. How to submit your manuscript

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you carefully read and adhere to all the guidelines and instructions to authors provided below. Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

Manuscripts and illustrations should be submitted to the editor fully numbered and typed in double spacing throughout, on one side only of white A4 or US standard size paper emailed as an attachment to:
Professor Alexis Weedon
Convergence
Bedfordshire Institute for Media Arts and Performance
University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU1 3JU
United Kingdom
Email: Convergence@beds.ac.uk
Please attach to every submission a letter confirming that all authors have agreed to the submission and that the article is not currently being considered for publication by any other print or electronic journal. Owing to the vagaries of the internet do not assume your article has been received until you have confirmation of receipt by e-mail

Format of mss: Each manuscript should contain:

(i) title page with full title and subtitle (if any). For the purposes of blind refereeing, full name of each author with current affiliation and full address/phone/fax/email details plus short biographical note should be supplied on a separate sheet. Owing to the broad range of subject matter, authors are encouraged to supply the names of one or more potential referees.
(ii) abstract of 100-150 words
(iii) up to 10 key words
Revised disk: on acceptance of your manuscript for publication, authors will be asked to supply a file attachment of the final version. PC format graphics files should be supplied as TIFF or EPS files.

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4. Journal contributor’s publishing agreement

Before publication SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

Convergence and SAGE 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 articles published in the journal. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked using duplication-checking software. Where an article is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article (removing it from the journal); taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author’s institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; banning the author from publication in the journal or all SAGE journals, or appropriate legal action.

4.1 SAGE Choice and Open Access

If you or your funder wish your article to be freely available online to non subscribers immediately upon publication (gold open access), you can opt for it to be included in SAGE Choice, subject to payment of a publication fee. The manuscript submission and peer review procedure is unchanged. On acceptance of your article, you will be asked to let SAGE know directly if you are choosing SAGE Choice. To check journal eligibility and the publication fee, please visit SAGE Choice. For more information on open access options and compliance at SAGE, including self author archiving deposits (green open access) visit SAGE Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.

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5. Declaration of conflicting interests

Within your Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement you will be required to make a certification with respect to a declaration of conflicting interests. Convergence does not require a declaration of conflicting interests but recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

Please include any declaration at the end of your manuscript after any acknowledgements and prior to the references, under a heading ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’. If no declaration is made the following will be printed under this heading in your article: ‘None Declared’. Alternatively, you may wish to state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.

When making a declaration the disclosure information must be specific and include any financial relationship that all authors of the article has with any sponsoring organization and the for-profit interests the organization represents, and with any for-profit product discussed or implied in the text of the article.

Any commercial or financial involvements that might represent an appearance of a conflict of interest need to be additionally disclosed in the covering letter accompanying your article to assist the Editor in evaluating whether sufficient disclosure has been made within the Declaration of Conflicting Interests provided in the article.

For more information please visit the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

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6. Other conventions

None applicable.

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7. Acknowledgements

Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

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 purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.

7.1 Funding Acknowledgement
To comply with the guidance for Research Funders, Authors and Publishers issued by the Research Information Network (RIN), Convergence additionally requires all Authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. All research articles should have a funding acknowledgement in the form of a sentence as follows, with the funding agency written out in full, followed by the grant number in square brackets:

This work was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant number xxx].

Multiple grant numbers should be separated by comma and space. Where the research was supported by more than one agency, the different agencies should be separated by semi-colon, with ‘and’ before the final funder. Thus:

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Natural Environment Research Council [grant number zzzz]; and the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number aaaa].

In some cases, research is not funded by a specific project grant, but rather from the block grant and other resources available to a university, college or other research institution. Where no specific funding has been provided for the research we ask that corresponding authors use the following sentence:

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Please include this information under a separate heading entitled “Funding” directly after any other Acknowledgements prior to your “Declaration of Conflicting Interests” (if applicable), any Notes and your References.

For more information on the guidance for Research Funders, Authors and Publishers, please visit: http://www.rin.ac.uk/funders-acknowledgement.

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8. Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway..

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9. Manuscript style

9.1 File types
Only electronic files conforming to the journal's guidelines will be accepted. Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC and RTF.

9.2 Journal Style
Convergence conforms to the SAGE house style. Click here to review guidelines on SAGE UK House Style

9.3 Reference Style
Convergence adheres to the SAGE Harvard reference style. Click here to review the guidelines on SAGE Harvard to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, download the SAGE Harvard output style by following this link and save to the appropriate folder (normally for Windows C:\Program Files\EndNote\Styles and for Mac OS X Harddrive:Applications:EndNote:Styles). Once you’ve done this, open EndNote and choose “Select Another Style...” from the dropdown menu in the menu bar; locate and choose this new style from the following screen.

9.4. Manuscript Preparation
The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point.

9.4.1 Your Title, Keywords and Abstracts: Helping readers find your article online
The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting SAGE�s Journal Author Gateway Guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

9.4.2 Corresponding Author Contact details
Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.

9.4.3 Guidelines for submitting artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures, these figures will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. If a charge applies you will be informed by your SAGE Production Editor. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted article.

Tables: tables should be typed (double line-spaced) on separate sheets and their position indicated by a marginal note in the text. All tables should have short descriptive captions with footnotes and their source(s) typed below the tables.

Illustrations: all line diagrams and photographs are termed 'Figures' and should be numbered consecutively and given short descriptive captions. Line diagrams should be presented as camera-ready copy or on disk as EPS files (all fonts embedded) or TIFF files (with LZW compression) for scanning. Photographs should preferably be submitted as clear, glossy, unmounted black and white prints with a good range of contrast or on disk as TIFF files (with LZW compression, resolution x 2 line screen, e.g. 266 dpi for 133 line screen output).

9.4.4 Guidelines for submitting supplemental files
Convergence is able to host approved supplemental materials online, alongside the full-text of articles. Supplemental files will be subjected to peer-review alongside the article. For more information please refer to SAGE’s Guidelines for Authors on Supplemental Files.

9.4.5 English Language Editing services
Non-English speaking authors who would like to refine their use of language in their manuscripts might consider using a professional editing service. Visit http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journalgateway/msg.htm for further information.

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10. After acceptance

10.1 Proofs
We will email a PDF of the proofs to the corresponding author. They will be asked to return corrections within 3 weeks or as advised.

10.2 E-Prints

SAGE provides authors with access to a PDF of their final article. For further information please visit http://www.sagepub.co.uk/authors/journal/reprint.sp.

10.3 SAGE Production
At SAGE we place an extremely strong emphasis on the highest production standards possible. We attach high importance to our quality service levels in copy-editing, typesetting, printing, and online publication (http://online.sagepub.com/). We also seek to uphold excellent author relations throughout the publication process.

We value your feedback to ensure we continue to improve our author service levels. On publication all corresponding authors will receive a brief survey questionnaire on your experience of publishing in Convergence with SAGE.

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11. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the Editorial Office as follows:

Professor Alexis Weedon
Convergence
Bedfordshire Institute for Media Arts and Performance
University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU1 3JU
United Kingdom
Email: Convergence@beds.ac.uk

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