Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points.
  • Sources are cited in numbered footnotes as well as in a bibliography, following Chicago Notes & Bibliography Style.
  • If you used AI, you have included an "AI Use Disclosure" after the body text. The disclosure should include the name of the AI tool(s) used, the purpose of its use, and the extent of your oversight.

Author Guidelines

Code of Conduct

The Journal of Critical Digital Librarianship is committed to creating and supporting an inclusive, diverse, and equitable community of practice. Harassment of any type will not be tolerated, including:

  • Comments that reinforce oppressive power dynamics related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, national origin, or economic status
  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment
  • Failure to use a person’s chosen name and pronouns (see https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender)
  • Threats of violence
  • Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm
  • Deliberate intimidation
  • Stalking or following, in person or online
  • Sustained disruption of discussion
  • Unwelcome sexual attention
  • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease
  • Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse

In addition to avoiding harassment, we encourage the following behavior:

  • Respecting the effort that others put into their work
  • Accepting critique graciously and offering it constructively
  • Giving credit where it is due
  • Assuming the best intentions from other parties

All editors, reviewers, and authors are bound by this code of conduct in all business related to the journal.

This Code of Conduct benefited from the examples shared by Digital Library Federation and In the Library With the Lead Pipe.

Who Can Submit?

Anyone may submit an original work to be considered for publication in the Journal of Critical Digital Librarianship provided they own the copyright to the work being submitted. We welcome submissions from digital library practitioners, scholars, students and others interested in the field.

What Can You Submit?

The JCDL welcomes articles, literature reviews, reviews of digital collections, personal narratives, reflections, and media-rich perspectives (e.g. recorded interviews, podcast episodes, zines, and other multimodal formats). Articles should demonstrate original contributions to the field of digital librarianship. Literature reviews should supply an overview of current work in the field, or in relevant subfields. Digital collection reviews should focus on one, or a small number of, digital libraries and/or digital collections and offer a review grounded in the field's current literature. Personal narratives should provide critical insight about digital library work based on experience and reflection. Except when advertised otherwise, we seek material that has not been previously published, and that are not forthcoming in another publication.

Authors interested in pitching alternate publication formats are encouraged to contact the editors.

Guidelines for Submissions

These word counts are loose guidelines. Editors are open to work that falls outside of these bounds. 

  • Articles: 5,000 - 9,000 words
  • Interviews: 3,000 - 5,000 words
  • Literature Reviews: 3,000 - 5,000
  • Digital Collection Reviews: 2,500 - 5,000

Publication Model and Timelines

We publish work as soon as it is ready and then assign it to the next complete issue. For example, your piece might be published in April but assigned to the Summer issue once it is closed. It is our goal to ensure work is published and shared in a timely fashion while acknowledging that we need grace in all our projects

Citation Style

The JCDL uses Chicago Manual of Style, Notes and Bibliography.

AI Disclsure Statements

We require authors to disclose any use of generative AI tools during the submission process. Authors should add a brief “AI Disclosure Statement” between the body text and references of their submissions. Please use this AI Disclosure Framework for guidance. Editors adapted the framework from “When and How to Disclose AI Use in Academic Peer Review" by Ken Masters and Jennifer Cleland (2026).

Copyright Notice

We ask that authors release their work under a CC-BY license.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.