Publishing Process

Contributions, belonging to thematic issues, should be submitted to the editors of the respective issue. Additionally it is recommended that you also inform the FQS editors of the submission. Single contributions should be sent directly to the FQS editors. Contributions to be submitted to FQS Debates, FQS Reviews, FQS Conferences or FQS Interviews should be sent directly to the editors of the respective FQS rubric.

We accept submissions in English, German, and Spanish. Please contact the FQS editors if you are interested in publishing in any other languages. Please send your contribution as a Word document; it is strongly recommended that you read the Publication Guidelines before submitting a text.

All submitted texts are first evaluated on the basis if they would be of interest for the FQS readers. If not, we will inform you, providing also the reasons for this decision. If the texts appear to fit the scope of FQS, then the peer review process is initiated.

Peer Review

Contributions, submitted to be published within the FQS rubrics, are reviewed directly by the respective rubric editors (open peer review). If a contribution is submitted to be published in a thematic issue, the editors of the respective issue are responsible for organizing the peer review process; if necessary, the FQS editors provide support through external reviewers.

Single contributions are made anonymous and sent to two independent reviewers (double blind review). Most of the times these reviewers belong to the FQS Editorial Board, in some cases we also consult external reviewers. Contrary to the practice of some other scientific journals, we usually do not accept author's suggestions to select reviewers.

Usually, the peer review process takes about eight weeks. Principally three different responses are possible: accepted for publishing, rejected in the current form (minor/major revisions necessary), and rejected. Based on the reviewers' recommendations, the main editor (in the case of single contributions) or the issue editors (when contributions submitted for thematic issues) decide whether a contribution will be published or not, and the authors are informed of the decision and its reasons. If major revisions are needed, the revised version will be reevaluated by at least one of the reviewers.

Publishing

Contributions accepted for publication may also be submitted for publication in one of the other three FQS languages (English, German and Spanish) upon the consent of FQS editors. If a contribution should only be published as a full text in one language, title, abstract and key words should also be provided for the other two languages; if necessary, FQS will assist or take care of the translation.

Full texts and abstracts are copy-edited by native speakers and prepared as HTML files. The authors are then asked to check these files using provisional URLs. To inform the authors about changes made during the copy-editing process, all changes are markedadditional questions/suggestions from our copy-editors are also included. Since during the transport from a Word file to the HTML file minor changes can occur, authors are asked to check this version thoroughly and to make final revisions if necessary (this is the online version of the conventional proof reading done for print journals). Once the author has accepted the final version, the final HTML file as well as a PDF file is created.

Announcing the Availability of a Contribution

Contributions, belonging to a thematic issue, are available as soon as the respective issue is published. All other contributions—single contributions and contributions, belonging to the FQS rubrics—are published directly after the editing process is completed. (Technically these contributions would then belong to the upcoming thematic issue.) Once a month the subscribers of our newsletter (March 2008: 8,552 subscribers) are informed of all the texts, recently available on-line.

Additionally, the availability of thematic issues (contributions, belonging to the respective topic, single contributions, and contributions, belonging to the FQS rubrics) is announced in different mailing lists (these announcements reach far more than 10,000 readers).

Copyright

Upon submitting a contribution, the FQS editors have the right, after a successful peer review, to publish it. After the contribution appears in FQS, it is still possible to publish it elsewhere after the consent of the FQS editors and with reference to the place of the first publication.

The contributions submitted should be original ones. They should not have been published or submitted for publishing at any other point in time in a similar form or with generally the same content. Reprints of contributions already published elsewhere are only accepted if (a) it appeals to the interests of the FQS readers and it has not already reached a wide audience and if (b) it is assured that the copyright owner allows the reprint (in the case the submitting person is not the copyright owner). If these conditions are fulfilled, FQS may accept reprints, which will be published with reference to the place of the first publication.

FQS has the right to publish any contribution e.g. on CD-ROM or for selected print editions at any time in the future. In that case, the respective authors will be informed. Authors will also be notified, if other publishers ask for reprints of contributions, originally published in FQS.

For further questions, feel free to contact us via e-mail.

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