For authors

What it costs you

Nothing. No article processing charge, no submission fee, no page charge, no colour charge, no charge to make your work open access. There is no stage at which money is asked of an author.

What you keep

Authors retain copyright. Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0), so anyone may read, copy and build on your work provided they credit you.

What we expect

• Original work, not published elsewhere and not under consideration elsewhere. This includes conference proceedings.
• English throughout.
• Sources that a reader can check. Where you cite a text, cite the edition and the page.
• A question the paper answers, and evidence that bears on it.

What happens after you send it

1. Desk check. The Editor-in-Chief reads it and decides whether it goes to review. Manuscripts outside the scope, below the minimum standard, or failing the similarity check are declined here, normally within two weeks.
2. Review. A member of the Board takes charge of the paper and invites at least two independent external reviewers. Neither you nor they learn each other's names.
3. Decision. Accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject. You receive the reports.
4. Revision. You revise and reply to each point. Usually one or two rounds.
5. Publication. Each article gets its own page and its own permanent address.

Indicative time to first decision: twelve weeks.