FAQ

The February Journal is an independent interdisciplinary journal at intersections of academic, art, and activist practices. A project of Tabor Collective, February produces special issues on strategic themes that currently include migration, displacement, statelessness, and exile in the context of war, violence, and aggression. The journal publishes empirical, theoretical, and speculative research that uses de-centering, queer, feminist, decolonial, and autotheoretical methodologies. It welcomes research in a variety of genres, celebrating innovative ways of presentation. Peer-reviewed and available in open access, The February Journal provides a sourcebook of ideas for an international audience.

Tabor Collective (or Tabor) is an international interdisciplinary project advancing critical discourse around contemporary arts, culture, and humanities. The work of the collective is organized around strategic themes that currently encompass migration, displacement, statelessness, and exile in the context of war, violence, and aggression.

In some languages, the word ‘tabor’ means a temporary settlement of nomadic people. It is used in the title of the project to emphasize the temporary, fluid nature of contemporary society. The work of Tabor is nomadic because it supports mobile, transient, open-ended, speculative, and emerging approaches to arts and culture.

The project consists of three strands—a research journal, an exhibition program, and an engagement and mentorship scheme—all aimed at de-centering identities and deconstructing institutional discourses about arts and culture. The activities of each strand are selected and supported through a system of open discussions and peer review process.

Tabor is registered in the Federal Republic of Germany; however, its members are based all around the world. The project depends on the support of its members, donations, and grants; information about Tabor funding is published annually in open access.

The Garage Journal: Studies in Art, Museums & Culture (2019–2022) was a Moscow-based interdisciplinary academic journal created with the support of Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. With the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the de facto introduction of wartime censorship in Russia, the publication of The Garage Journal was discontinued. Garage Museum transferred the rights to The Garage Journal’s (and GJ Media’s) archives to the journal’s former editors, who have created a new, Berlin-based, independent and extra-institutional academic journal. In order to underline the caesura of the current war, this journal has been called The February Journal.

The February Journal is registered as a research journal in an international publication database. It publishes new original research. Articles and essays published in February are written by researchers involved in academia, museums, and other institutions, and also by independent researchers. Decisions about the publication of a manuscript submitted to February are made on the basis of blind peer reviews, meaning that the manuscript’s reviewers assess it for quality and compliance with the international standards of scholarly research as well as ethical standards (see ‘What is blind peer review?’ for details).

The February Journal publishes materials online in open access, meaning that they are available free of charge to users anywhere in the world, provided that the latter have access to digital technologies such as the internet.

As of 2023, The February Journal publishes two issues per year.

The readership of The February Journal comprises academics, curators, museum workers, activists, artists, critics, and other professionals, as well as all those interested in topics comprising the journal’s scope.

The February Journal consists of an Editorial Board and an Advisory Board.

Members of The February Journal's Advisory Board are drawn from a range of relevant professions, academic disciplines, and areas of knowledge creation and research. They include academics, curators, and cultural practitioners involved in the production of cutting-edge research. All of them have extended experience of working in academic presses, research institutions, cultural institutions, and similar. Members of the Advisory Board consult the Editorial Board on issues concerning the various activities of February, propose topics for special issues, and resolve conflict situations with regard to peer reviews and other issues. For a full list of members, check the ‘Advisory Board' section on the website.

The February Journal publishes work by independent scholars, university faculty members, employees of research centers, as well as curators, artists, activists, and other practitioners who conduct research in the humanities. There are no restrictions as to the type of research, methodology or discipline.

You can submit your paper through The February Journal’s online submission system. You have to register on February’s website, then log into your account and choose the option ‘Submit a contribution’. 

Before making a submission, please read carefully the ‘Info for Contributors’ section on the website.

Yes, please check the ‘Info for Contributors’ section on the website and follow the guidelines in order to prepare your manuscript for submission. Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be rejected.

The February Journal aims to advance research presented in different formats and genres. In addition to the traditional academic genres of article, essay, and book review, the journal publishes datasets and their visualizations, as well as visual / image essays (check the ‘Info for Contributors’ section for details). If you have a contribution in another format or genre, please contact the editors to discuss the possibility, including the technical possibility, of publishing your work.

The February Journal has a long-term objective of publishing all submissions in the original language plus their translation into English. In the mid-term, the journal publishes submissions in their original language plus a 600-word summary in English.

We do not accept unsolicited book reviews. If you would like to review a book, please contact the editors at info@thefebruaryjournal.org before submitting your manuscript to the journal. 

The primary purpose of publishing book reviews in The February Journal is to inform the public about new publications by providing an analytical assessment of the book. We do not publish reviews that contain personal views on the book or its author(s), or uninformed criticism, or a discussion that distracts the reader from getting an understanding of the purpose and scope of the reviewed publication. Reviewers are asked to provide essential information about the book, situate it critically within a particular context (for example, a scientific school, a discipline, current debates, etc.), and make a recommendation in terms of potential readership (for example, researchers, curators, students, etc.). Please check the ‘Info for Contributors’ section for details.

We have a transparent, fair, and unbiased system of assessing contributions for publication. Blind peer review is the assessment of a manuscript by two specialists in the relevant field of research. They are external experts, meaning that they are not members of the Editorial Board. Reviewers are selected by The February Journal’s editors, including members of the Advisory Board and guest editors. February uses a blind peer review system, meaning that the reviewers must not know the identity of the author(s), and vice versa. That is why manuscripts are sent to reviewers in an anonymized form. This implies that no personal data of the author(s)—their name and surname, affiliation, etc.—are made available. In case the reviewer recognizes the identity of the author(s) whose manuscript she is reviewing, she is asked not to proceed with the review. A new reviewer is then appointed by the editors. 

As part of the submission process, the authors will be asked to provide the names of two or more peers who could be invited to review the submitted manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in the relevant field and should be able to assess the manuscript objectively. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of the submission, should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors, and should not be affiliated with the same institution as any of the authors. The editors will consider inviting proposed candidates to review the submission, but are not obliged to do so.

Reviewers assess the quality of the submitted contributions, including their compliance with the international scholarly and ethical research standards. Important aspects of a review are originality and novelty of the author’s approach to the subject. Based on the reviewers’ recommendation, February editors will: 

1. accept the manuscript for publication without any revisions;
2. accept the manuscript but ask the author(s) to make revisions. February editors will assess the quality of the revisions. If they are not satisfied with the revisions, the editors may invite a re-submission or reject the manuscript (see items 3 and 4);
3. recommend that the author(s) re-work the manuscript and make a re-submission to the journal. This means that the re-worked version of the manuscript will undergo a new round of blind peer reviews; or
4. reject the manuscript.

The February Journal carries out reviews of submitted work in a polite, constructive, and professional way. As a result of the review, the author(s) are most likely to be asked to use reviewers’ feedback to revise their contribution. The purpose of revisions is not to ‘penalize’ the authors, but to improve the quality of the submission. Reviewers’ feedback and advice on revisions will be provided. 

The author(s) may ask the editors to clarify some recommendations, but generally it is expected that the author(s) are able to work with the recommendations on their own. 

The author(s) can either revise the manuscript as per recommendations, so that it is published in February, or they can withdraw the manuscript from publication altogether. The author(s) cannot re-submit a manuscript if it was accepted for publication with revisions.

Making a re-submission means that the author(s) are encouraged to significantly re-work the manuscript in accordance with the reviewers’ recommendations, after which they can submit the paper to February again. Once re-submitted, the manuscript will undergo a new round of peer review.

In case of disagreement, The February Journal’s editors will assign a team of assessors consisting of members of the Advisory Board. They will provide an independent, unbiased assessment of the situation and put forward a recommendation for action. Their decision is final and cannot be contested.

In the course of the registration on The February Journal’s website and when submitting a manuscript to the journal, the author is required to provide some personal data (their name and surname, affiliation, postal address, phone number, etc.) and agree that these data be processed by February’s team. Personal data are necessary, so that the editors could work with the submitted manuscript efficiently. The journal’s management of personal data is in line with the current regulation in the European Union (General Data Protection Regulation), where the journal is registered as a publication. Please check our ‘Privacy Policy’ for details.

The February Journal tends to publish original texts that previously were not available to the public. However, exceptions can be made. Decisions regarding expanded and/or re-worked versions of texts that have already appeared in another publication are made on a case-by-case basis. Before submitting such a manuscript to the journal, please inquire with February’s editors or the editor(s) of the special issue for which the text is intended. 

The February Journal publishes works under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license. The content under this license may be reproduced, distributed and made publicly available under the following two conditions: firstly, the name of the authors and the journal must be mentioned, and secondly, it may be distributed under the same legal conditions, that is, the same license as the original (CC BY-SA). In case of further use, we ask for a message to info@thefebruaryjournal.org. 

Importantly, all images and appropriately marked text extracts published by The February Journal comprise third-party copyright material that is not covered by the Creative Commons license. Details of the copyright ownership and permitted use of third-party material is given in the image or extract credit lines. If you would like to reuse any third-party material published in The February Journal and not covered by the Creative Commons license, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright owner. Film stills and screenshots do not require permission; they are published in accordance with the principles of fair use. When submitting the manuscript, the authors will be prompted to provide relevant copyright documentation.

As part of the submission process, you will be required to affirm that you are submitting your own work and that you own the rights to that work. The author is responsible for clearing all copyright permissions for images, figures, and citations, where applicable. Texts cited by the author(s) should be referenced in accordance with the requirements. Only manuscripts that do not infringe any third-party copyrights can be published in The February Journal. The editors are not responsible for the author’s breaking of the international copyright law.

The February Journal requires that its authors seek permission for the use of copyrighted materials such as photos or artworks. Exceptions can be made in situations when the author(s) can clearly demonstrate that such materials are intended for the benefit of the public, that is, they abide with the principles of fair use. Fair use is an exception and limitation to the rights of exclusivity that are granted to the creator of a piece of work by copyright. Limited use means the use of copyrighted material for the benefit of the public without the author’s permission. The approach taken by The February Journal adheres to the principles advocated by international research organizations such as The Society for Cinema and Media Studies. We publish screenshots and film stills in accordance with the principles of fair use.

Yes, manuscripts are screened for plagiarism. If detected, The February Journal has the right to reject the manuscript. A record of the case will be made by the editors.

The February Journal employs the ORCID system for the purpose. The ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a code that uniquely identifies academic authors worldwide. It is used to resolve the problem of the ambiguity of an author’s name in scholarly communication. Most names are not unique, they can change (as a result of marriage or due to other circumstances). The ORCID allows a particular text to be connected with its author in order to avoid confusion.

February requires that each submitting contributor and each reviewer provide their ORCIDs. If you do not yet have an ORCID, please register here to acquire one. 

If a contributor prefers to publish a contribution under a pseudonym, a separate ORCID should be created under that pseudonym. 

Article processing charges (APCs) are not required by The February Journal.

There are two ways to become a reviewer of manuscripts submitted to The February Journal. First, when submitting a manuscript to February, each author is asked to indicate whether they agree to occasionally act as a reviewer. Having consented to that, you are automatically included in our reviewer database. Second, each researcher can contact February editors and send them his/her CV (info@thefebruaryjournal.org). If your academic background fits the journal’s scope, you will be invited to participate in February’s work.

We welcome your ideas and proposals for future special issues. If you would like to propose a special issue, please contact February editors (info@thefebruaryjournal.org) and outline your idea.

F Media is a project of The February Journal that publishes academic and non-academic texts commenting on and/or contextualizing February issues. The project provides useful information about research trends as well as relevant projects and interventions. You can also find on F Media interviews with academics, essays by curators and artists, podcasts, and other materials. If you would like to contribute to F Media, please contact the editors at info@thefebruaryjournal.org.