New Journal Proposals

We are looking for a proposal which covers the following key areas:

1. Editorial aims and scope
2. Rationale for the journal (why the journal is needed)
3. Editorial board and administration
4. Format of the journal
5. Market profile/potential and business model
6. About the Institute/University
7. Comparable Journals
8. Abstracting services

Editorial aims and scope

• What are the aims and scope of the journal? If relevant, describe the orientation of the journal (e.g., empirical, theoretical, policy-oriented, clinical, qualitative/quantitative, etc.). Include a defined mission statement as it will appear in the journal.
• Who is it for, at what intellectual level and what disciplines?
• What disciplines or sub-disciplines will be covered?
• Include at least two sample tables of contents. The titles/authors need not represent actual articles, but more a vision of your ideal content. Please follow the template below:

• It is worth noting that a journal which is extremely diffuse in its cross-disciplinarity is usually the most difficult to make commercially viable, since it requires considerable (and therefore expensive) promotional coverage of a number of different areas. If at all possible, you should try and identify some 'core' target fields within which would be found the main audiences for the journal.

• How Indian and/or international will the journal be and how will this be reflected in the editorial objectives? For example, how will you ensure that you receive contributions from other countries of the world?

Again, you should note that it is generally important to us that a journal is truly international in its scope, both in terms of contributions and editorial structure. It is also a 'fact of journal life' that in most instances a journal's long term financial
viability is dependent on obtaining a significant proportion of its subscriptions in America. You should address the need to appeal to the global market and any implications, for example, of possible key differences, approaches and interests in the field(s) covered between the continents.

Rationale for the journal

• Why is the journal needed?
• What is the background to the proposal in terms of the current and future development of the field?
• How confident are you of not only finding an audience for the journal, but also of generating sufficient high quality contributions?
• How will this journal be unique to the specialty, what need does the journal fulfil? Describe why this journal is needed now.

Editorial board and administration

• Who would be the journal's editors?
  As the journal is to be international, we would wish to see Indian as well as international scholars in prominent editorial positions. We would also want you to consider Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity of representation in the Editorial Board. There are several ways to do this. For example, you could have one or more editors based in different regions (e.g. Europe, Asia, US, Asia-Pacific etc.) or an editor based in one of these locations with a couple of Co-editors based in the others.
• Whom would you invite to be members of the editorial board, including affiliations, titles, and research interests? Please indicate if the potential editorial board members are hypothetical or if they have consented to serve on the editorial board?
• How do you propose to handle the administration of the journal and what role, if any, do you see the editorial board as playing in this process?
• Please share if the Journal editors have previous editorial experience and specific qualifications to edit this journal
• Please provide current Curriculum Vitae of the journal editors.
• How would you expect to handle the peer review process? Would it be double-anonymized (blind) review? Who would you invite as the reviewers and how diverse would the panel be in terms of geographical diversity and other areas?

Format of the journal

• What will be the balance between theoretical, empirical/research-based and 'practice-oriented' papers
• How will you deal with any issues of interdisciplinarity?
• Describe or outline the anticipated timeline, including the prospective date of the premier issue. Indicate the factors that might affect the development of the first issue (e.g., generating paper flow).
• What is the proposed frequency of publication and desired start date of publication?
• Is there a preferred format or size? (For instance, whether in colour or black and white; whether it would be in A4 double demy, etc.)
• Approximate number of articles planned to be published in an issue.
• Approximate page length (per issue or per volume).
• What model would you want for the journal, that is, Open Access or Subscription-based?.

Market profile/potential

• Why is there a market for this journal?
• What is the composition of the prospective audience? Can you quantify (approximately) the size of the overall market in terms of the number of potential individual subscribers? Number of Institutional subscribers?
• Describe the primary market. (Scholars in what disciplines, professionals in what specific fields and subfields? Graduate and/or undergraduate students in what specific disciplines or programs? Associations or specific divisions of professional organizations?)
• Who makes up the secondary market?
• How will this journal be unique to the speciality, discipline, or profession?
• Show that sufficient papers and research exist to sustain this journal.
• Do you have specific recommendations for marketing the journal?
• Which relevant conferences might the potential readership attend?
• Which relevant societies or institutions in India/globally might the potential readership belong to?
• Where is the work in this area being done, at what sort of institutions?
• What is the geographical spread of the work, in terms of different countries and thus the international spread of potential institutional subscribers? In particular, what is the state of the field in South Asia, USA and Europe?
• Is there currently and/or will there be, teaching as well as a research base for this work to solidify the library demand?

About the Institute/University

• If it is a society, please share the number of members associated with the society along with whether they are Indian or not.
• Please provide some details about the Conferences, Research Projects (ongoing and completed), Ranking, Courses offered and Faculty of the associated Institute/ University, if applicable.
• Is there any assured member buyback requirement (print copies required by the society at a discounted rate) for the journal? Please share the number of copies required.

Comparable Journals

• List major competing journals, their publishers, audience, and relative strengths and weaknesses of each.
• How will the journal relate to relevant existing journals in the world and what will your journal offer that these do not?
• If no comparable journals exist, why?
• How does the proposed journal fit into the Sage journals program?.

Abstracting services

• Please provide appropriate Abstracting & Indexing services that may be unique to your area of expertise.