Funding Opportunities
Aid to Scholarly Journals
Context
Objectives
Description
Value and Duration
Eligibility
Evaluation and Adjudication
Administrative Regulations
More Information
Context
SSHRC recognizes that peer-reviewed scholarly journals are a primary tool for fostering intellectual debate and inquiry. Today, new information and communication technologies are changing the way research results are published and disseminated, allowing information to circulate more rapidly and widely than ever before. In response, and in accordance with Council's position on open access, SSHRC has designed this program to allow journals to seek support regardless of business model or distribution format.
Objectives
The objective of this program is to increase access to, and the readership of, original research results in the social sciences and humanities through Canadian scholarly journals.
Description
Through the Aid to Scholarly Journals program, SSHRC will contribute to the broad dissemination and impact of original research results in social science and humanities scholarship via Canadian scholarly journals. The program will also assist journals as they seek to take advantage of advances in communication technologies.
Funds will be awarded to help defray the costs of publishing scholarly articles, to assist with distribution costs, and to support journal organizations in their transitions to digital media.
Eligible expenses include costs related to:
- management of the peer-review process (including honoraria provided to support staff);
- editing (including staff salaries, release time and travel expenses);
- computer hardware and software;
- copy preparation (including typesetting, copy-editing and translation);
- document layout (including image presentation and converting images to digital formats);
- marketing and other promotional activities;
- fees paid to electronic-publication service providers;
- printing and mailing;
- technical assistance; and
- technological training for journal staff.
Value and Duration
Grants are tenable for three years. The maximum value of a grant is $30,000 per annum.
The value of the basic grant will be calculated on the basis of $850 for each approved, peer-reviewed scholarly article to be published during each year of the grant period.
As part of the total grant value, up to $5,000 per annum may be requested for each of the two following expenses:
- to help defray distribution costs (printing and mailing costs, as well as fees paid to electronic-service providers); and
- to assist with the costs involved in transitioning to an electronic medium (the purchase of new computers, including software, and staff training).
If funds are requested for these expenses, applicants must provide detailed estimates of costs.
For this competition only, journals that are currently in receipt of a grant under the 2004 Aid to Research and Transfer Journals program, or the 2007 Aid to Open-Access Research Journals program, and that are unsuccessful in their application to this Aid to Scholarly Journals competition, will receive a one-year grant equal in amount to the value of the final year of their current grant.
Eligibility
Journals and Articles
For this program, a scholarly journal is defined as a peer-reviewed academic publication that disseminates the results of original scholarship. Subscription-based journals, journals using an open-access business model, and journals using a "moving wall" arrangement to provide delayed open access are eligible for support.
Also, for this program, an "article" is defined as a record of previously unpublished, high-quality, original research or scholarship that has been accepted for publication after a rigorous process of peer review. The adjudication committee will apply this definition to determine what is or is not a research article.
To be eligible for support under this program, a journal must:
- meet the definition, given above, of a scholarly journal;
- have as its primary focus the publication of scholarly articles in a discipline or disciplines within SSHRc's mandate;
- submit each article to be published to a rigorous, independent peer-review process;
- have been founded at least two years prior to the application deadline and have published within that timeframe a minimum of four issues, each having at least three peer-reviewed articles, or, for electronic journals not publishing in issue format, at least 12 peer-reviewed articles;
- have a minimum of 250 regular readers, as demonstrated through a detailed web-usage report or other verifiable documentation, such as a list of subscribers;
- have an editor-in-chief who is a faculty member of a Canadian postsecondary institution;
- have an editorial board responsible for the intellectual direction and content of the journal of which at least one-third of the board's members are scholars affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution; and
- be published primarily in English and/or French.
A journal is not eligible if:
- it disseminates previously published research results, or mainly publishes material assembled by non-specialists from secondary sources;
- it is a professional or trade magazine, bulletin, newsletter, or advocacy publication, or is instructional in nature;
- it is sponsored or published by, or on behalf of, a government department, agency, or commission;
- it is edited and published solely by students;
- any member of its editorial board is under SSHRC sanction for financial or research misconduct;
- it has an operating surplus equal to or greater than one year's operating expenses; or
- a non-Canadian publisher owns the exclusive copyright to its contents.
Institutions
Institutions that propose to administer any grant awarded under this program must meet the requirements for managing SSHRC funds and must hold or obtain institutional eligibility.
Generally, SSHRC prefers that a Canadian postsecondary institution administers the grant.
Evaluation and Adjudication
A multi-disciplinary committee of scholars well-versed in journal operations will adjudicate all applications.
The adjudication committee will base its assessment on, at a minimum, an examination of the following:
- the two most recent issues of the journal, or, if the journal does not distribute articles by issue, the six articles published immediately prior to the application deadline;
- all available measures of impact (e.g., as taken from citation indexes) for the journal, or, lacking these, a self-evaluation of the journal's impact;
- the editor-in-chief's record of research and scholarly achievement;
- the full list of members of the editorial board;
- a description of the functioning of the editorial board;
- the journal's mission or mandate statement;
- a full, detailed description of the journal's procedures for selecting articles and conducting peer review;
- an outline of the journal's strategic direction for the period to be covered by the grant;
- the journal's publication plan for the period to be covered by the grant; and
- documented evidence of the number of regular readers (such as subscriber lists and/or web-usage reports).
Applications will be assessed and scored according to three broad criteria:
I. Quality and Impact of the Journal (40%)
- rigour and quality of the processes used to select and peer review articles;
- relevance of the articles published in relation to the journal's objectives;
- distinctiveness of the journal's content;
- value of the contribution the journal has made to its field(s) of research; and
- impact of the journal's articles (e.g., as measured through citation indexes or as described by the applicant).
II. Editorial Direction (40%)
- academic standing of, and leadership provided by, the editor-in-chief;
- appropriateness of the editorial board membership;
- evidence of the active engagement of board members; and
- soundness of the journal's proposed objectives for the period covered by the grant.
III. Nature and Effectiveness of the Journal's Current and Proposed Dissemination Strategies (20%)
- diversity and relevance of the journal's proposed strategies for reaching the appropriate readership;
- nature and extent of the journal's readership, and of the journal's efforts to increase or broaden that readership;
- overall appearance and presentation of the journal's content; and
- where appropriate, design and usability of the journal's website.
A journal must receive a score of 75 per cent or higher to be considered eligible for funding; however, eligibility does not guarantee funding. All applications receiving an overall score of 75 per cent or higher will be rank-ordered.
The adjudication committee will then establish an appropriate level of funding for each eligible journal by assessing the viability of its publication plan, and, if applicable, its justification for distribution and transition costs.
The level of funding for multi-disciplinary journals that publish articles in fields other than those supported by SSHRC will be adjusted to reflect the percentage of the journal's articles that are devoted to social sciences and humanities content.
The number of eligible journals that receive grants will depend on the overall program budget and the availability of funds.
Administrative Regulations
Applicants must comply with the
Regulations Governing Grant Applications. Grant holders must comply with the regulations set out in the
Grant Holder’s Guide.
More Information
Please address questions about the Aid to Scholarly Journals program to:
Michèle Dupuis
Program Officer
SSHRC
350 Albert Street
P.O. Box 1610
Ottawa, ON K1P 6G4
Tel.: 613-947-2045
Fax: 613-992-7635
Email:
michele.dupuis@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca