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About the Journal
Motivation
This journal has been established to provide an online site suitable for researchers to present and preserve their findings in genealogy. Although there are a good number of genealogical journals available in print form, there are not many accessible via the internet. This lack seemed much in need of correction.
The internet provides an enormously useful tool, and for genealogy many types of resources have been established. Communication between researchers by email and discussion boards is suitably supported, and access to basic data sources is growing.
For publication of research results, however, the internet has not yet been well utilized. Sites on the internet tend to be ephemeral and scattered. Their very existence usually depends on continued support from their authors and often from a commercial enterprise. Perhaps because of this, relatively few authors feel it worthwhile to provide good documentation of their results online. Yet without supporting documentation, genealogical findings are reduced to being little more than written rumor.
The internet has excellent potential for research publication, especially in genealogy. As a communication mechanism, it has a much wider reach than a print method could ever be hoped to have. Through integration with search technology, it allows discovery of very narrowly-focused articles in a mass of information. It can allow citations to be easily made and accessed. Although we can expect that paper publication will remain important for the foreseeable future to ensure preservation of results, eventually online publication has the potential of being an effective method of long-term preservation as well.
The typical lack of source documentation given in online genealogical information today is also of great concern. For research to be useful to others, it needs to be accompanied by traceable references (not just "Bob's gedcom"). A side effect of this, but an important one, is that documentation helps to give credit where it is due, which encourages further sharing.
All the foregoing led to setting up the Annals. We are still early in the internet age, and this young journal can be expected to evolve. It is hoped that the genealogical community will find it useful.
Focus and Scope
The Annals of Genealogical Research accepts short or medium-length articles in genealogy and family history. There are no geographical restrictions. The papers must be in English, and data on living persons should not be included.
The main requirement for articles is that adequate source documentation be included for the data and conclusions that are presented. For the information to be useful to genealogists now and in the years ahead, the reader must be able to evaluate the underpinnings of the research, and to substantiate it where necessary. Hence giving reasonable citations which are related to the data is indispensable.
We encourage submissions on limited subjects, such as a single generation of a family. Good research and documentation take significant time and effort, so publishing a paper of smaller scope gets results out earlier. Note that sometimes publishing an article will uncover more information on a subject from the readers, which is helpful to the author. A series of smaller articles is often the best way to share and improve one's research. Smaller articles also help search engines like Google return better results.
Articles may be published as become ready for publication or may wait for a new issue to be released. Nominally up to four issues per year are published, but a single, incrementally growing issue per volume is typical. Each volume corresponds to a single calendar year.
Editorial Policy
The editors examine submissions to assure that basic requirements, such as source citation and adequate quality, are met. Articles generally do not undergo peer review.
Fees and Charges
The journal does not charge fees for any of its services (e.g. submission, editing, publication, access).
Open Access Policy
This journal provides open access to all of its content in order to promote the exchange of knowledge. This means we do not charge and will not charge for online access to the articles. Some authors feel that their research should not be appropriated for commercial purposes, and are more willing to publish their results if they are confident that their readers will not be charged.
Copyright
Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors. The authors agree when submitting their work that it can be copied by anyone for noncommercial purposes but only if proper credit is given. Thus by virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, the articles have been declared free to use, with proper attribution, in noncommercial settings.
Donations
The Annals of Genealogical Research is supported by donations of time, effort, and money. At present we are not seeking money or editorial help, but if use of the journal grows we would be likely to do so in the future. We do solicit submission of good genealogical articles, as this will help build a body of work that institutions will feel to be worth preserving (for instance by digitally archiving it).
Other Information
