Collections
A Journal for Museum and Archives ProfessionalsEntering its 16th year of quarterly publication, Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that seeks timely exploration of the issues, practices, and policies related to collections by addressing all aspects of handling, preserving, researching, interpreting, and organizing collections.
In 2004, Collections was established by Hugh Genoway (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), who also edited the journal. Volumes 3 and 4 were edited by Pamela White (Western Illinois University). Collections is currently being edited by Juilee Decker (Rochester Institute of Technology).
Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals is led by the Editor and guided by members of the Editorial Board. Editorial Board members serve as advisors to the Editor and perform a variety of roles, including identifying topics for issues of the journal; providing content for the journal; approaching potential contributors; reviewing submissions; encouraging submission to and support of the journal among colleagues in the field. Currently, the Editorial Board comprises international scholars and practitioners in the field of museums, archives and special collections, and libraries. If you are interested in serving on the Board, please contact the Editor at jdgsh@rit.edu.
The readership of Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals is interdisciplinary across the fields of libraries, archives, and museums as well as across disciplines including anthropology and sociology; biology, botany, natural history and related fields; art, architecture, and design history; photography and film; history and literature. Readers are welcome from all disciplines and fields of study. Readership of, and submissions to, the journal come from institutions as well as individuals from six continents.
Published by SAGE Publishing, Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that seeks timely exploration of the issues, practices, and policies related to collections by addressing all aspects of handling, preserving, researching, interpreting, and organizing collections. Archivists, librarians, curators, collections managers, registrars, scholars and professionals at every stage of their research and career are encouraged to submit their work to the journal. Submitted manuscripts will undergo blind peer review.
Recent articles have addressed the following areas of interest: women and collections; photographic preservation and collections management; the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center; Atlantic world archives of Louisiana; provenance research; and legal issues involving collections.
| Juilee Decker | Rochester Institute of Technology, USA |
| Paul Akpomuje | Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria |
| Whitney Baker | University of Kansas,Lawrence, KS,USA |
| Susan A. Barrett | Barrett Archival Consulting, LLC, USA |
| Jolie Braun | Ohio State University,Columbus, OH,USA |
| Diane Bruxvoort | University of North Texas Libraries,Denton, TX,USA |
| Mary Coughlin | The George Washington University, USA |
| Alexa N. Cummins | Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, USA |
| Sandro Debono | University of Malta, E.U |
| Vanessa Delnavaz | Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, USA |
| Leisa Gibbons | State Records Office of Western Australia |
| Catharine Hawks | National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, USA |
| Kellen Hinrichsen | Steele County Historical Society, USA |
| Susan Keitumetse | Okavango Research Institute, University of Botswana, Botswana |
| Rebecca Kennedy | Curae Collections Care, LLC |
| David Kreidler | Harley-Davidson Museum, USA |
| Greg Lambousy | New Orleans Jazz Museum, USA |
| Victoria (Tori) Van Orden Martinez | Linköping University,Linköping ,Sweden |
| Katelyn McMullin | Nebraska State Museum, USA |
| Carrie W. Meyer | University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA |
| Melissa Q. Miller | Smithsonian Institution, USA |
| Adriana Munoz | The National Museums of World Culture (Statens museer för världskultur), Sweden |
| Margot Note | Margot Note Consulting, LLC |
| Laurel A. Racine | National Park Service, USA |
| Michele Reilly | University of Arkansas, USA |
| Consuelo Sendino | Natural History Museum, Madrid, Spain & Natural History Museum, London, UK |
| Dee Stubbs-Lee | The New Brunswick Museum, Canada |
| Sanaeya Vandrewala | Independent Researcher, Mumbai, India |
| Nancy E. Villa Bryk | Eastern Michigan University,Ypsilanti, MI,USA |
| Robert Waller | Protect Heritage Corp, Canada |
| Barbara Wood | National Trust, UK |
Call for Submissions
Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals invites articles on the subject of collections in the areas of scholarly research, case studies, guidelines, and discussions and interviews. In addition, proposals are invited for focus issues of the journal that seek to present a range of perspectives on a single topic.
Manuscripts submitted to Collections should not be under consideration by any other publishers, nor may the manuscript have been previously published elsewhere. If a manuscript is based on a lecture, reading, or talk, specific details should accompany the submission.
Submission Instructions
Collections uses an electronic submission and review process. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cjx. Please submit files as Microsoft Word, with each image/figure uploaded individually. PDF submissions will not be accepted.
Articles, Case Studies, and Similar Manuscripts
A complete manuscript submission shall include the following:
- An abstract of no more than 150 words
- Manuscript (At the head of your submission, please include appropriate contact details that will appear in print. Contact details should include: name, title, institutional affiliation, and email.)
- Notes, References (Bibliographies and references should conform to Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, Notes and Bibliography)
- Illustrations (up to five figures or tables may be included with your submission). Captions should include appropriate credits. Authors are responsible for observing the laws of copyright when quoting or reproducing material and for any reproduction fees incurred.
- Journal Contributor Agreement
Focus Issue Proposals
Entire issues of the journal may be developed around a single topic, such as provenance research. proposal for a focus issue of the journal shall include the following:
- 300-word proposal as to the timeliness and relevance of this topic;
- Draft Call for Papers to be used for solicitation of manuscripts OR a list of authors to be approached about writing on this topic. When appropriate, make specific reference to current work in this field, previously published scholarship, or the absence of such work; and
- CV of proposer(s) who will serve as Guest Editor/s and will work with the Editor to develop the Issue of the Journal.
Readership
The readership of Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals is interdisciplinary across the fields of libraries, archives, and museums as well as across disciplines including anthropology and sociology; biology, botany, natural history and related fields; art, architecture, and design history; photography and film; history and literature. Readers are welcome from all disciplines and fields of study. Readership of, and submissions to, the journal come from institutions as well as individuals from six continents.
Frequency and Availability
Entering its 21st year of quarterly publication, Collections was established in 2004. The journal is available in print and online through the publisher as well as database subscriptions including Academic OneFile and the Information Sciences and Library Issues Collection. Information on indexing and metrics is available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/metrics/cjx.
Sample articles are available online. Contact Journal Editor, Juilee Decker (jdgsh@rit.edu) for details.
ORCID
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID.
ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
We encourage all authors and co-authors to link their ORCIDs to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. We collect ORCID iDs during the manuscript submission process and your ORCID iD then becomes part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
Preprints
Collections may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.
If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
Visit the Sage Journals and Preprints page for more details about preprints.