Should you publish in a peer reviewed online journal?
For many online journals, being online is merely a matter of speed and ability to disseminate the articles widely and inexpensively. In addition, online spaces provide a greater use of a wide range of media, which can make an online journal a much richer reading experience than a print journal. Still, many authors who are in an academic setting are concerned about whether or not publishing in an online journal counts. That is primarily a concern you should raise with your dean and department head or chair. Our position is that if an online journal meets the same standards as a print journal, it should be considered as rigorous as print. In any case, we strive to be a rigorous journal by following the Council of Editors of Learned Journals' 2019 revision of their 2008 Best Practices for Online Journal Editors which covers such issues as having an ISSN from the Library of Congress for archival reasons, regular backups of all electronic media, and peer review.
- We require peer review for critical essays and consider our creative works peer reviewed. Reviews are not peer reviewed.
- We have a reputable editorial board as listed in our Masthead; the link to that page is available on every TC page.
- We have an intellectual property policy, one that is both fair to authors but also guarantees that materials published will be available to scholars in the foreseeable future. Our publishing agreement preserves authors' copyright while giving us a permanent, non-revocable license to publish their work.
- We have an ISSN number (1938-0526) for archival purposes.
- We are a full member of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.
- We index and abstract our work in EBSCOhost, MLA, and Worldcat. More indexes will follow as we continue to sign contracts.
- Where possible, we archive all media directly on our site (rather than allowing linking to existing materials on the web), therefore preventing webrot.
- We backup our material regularly. (Our webhosting service performs daily automated backups of our database archived on their site, with a description of the changes made that we review once a week.)
- We use WP (effective 1 December 2021) as our CMS (Content Management System); use of a URL Alias plugin means that all our webpages have permanent and stable URLS for linking to other sources and use in work cited and reference pages.
- We commit to accessibility to our best ability; however, we have no control over inaccessibility in code that is part of the WP core.
- We attempt to maintain good contact with authors and offer continuous publication; our contracts with authors do not transfer copyright to this journal, though authors are required to give us a permanent and irrevocable licenses to use their work in TC, so that the journal itself is stable..
