Submissions

This page is designed to help you ensure your submission is ready for and fits the scope of the journal. Before submitting you should read over the guidelines here, then register an account (or login if you have an existing account). 

Documenta publishes thematic issues only, and therefore does not accept open submissions.

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Focus and Scope

Documenta (ISSN 0771-8640) is an important forum for the study of theater in the Low Countries. It is a journal that accommodates in-depth, scholarly contributions on all aspects of theater, as well as essays and critical reflections. Although the main proportion of articles in Documenta focuses on theater and performance, contributions relating to music, film and New Media are also considered, as far as they relate to the performing arts.

The journal was founded in 1983 by Jozef De Vos in the bosom of the Ghent Documentation Center for Dramatic Art. Since 2015, Documenta has been published by S:PAM (Studies in Performing Arts & Media) of the Department of Theater Studies at Ghent University. The editorial board is composed of theater scholars from various universities and colleges. Chief editors are Christel Stalpaert and Bram Van Oostveldt.

Peer Review

Documenta is a blind peer-reviewed journal that has A1.2 status. It has a B rating on the European Reference Index and is listed on the VABB list. Each submitted article is blind reviewed by at least two members of the editorial board. Within six weeks, the author receives feedback on their article. The article is deemed publishable, publishable with modifications or not publishable in Documenta. The reviewers make use of a template to assess the article. Criteria include originality, scientific relevance, clarity of the question, scientifically sound research method and argumentation, structure and coherence of the article, adequate bibliography.

Submission Checklist

  • 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.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • The text is double-spaced; uses a 11-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. You will also be asked to upload the original files separately.
  • The referencing system used is Chicago (Author-Date system). The guidelines can be found here. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.

Authorship

All authors listed on any papers submitted to this journal must be in agreement that the authors listed have each made a significant contribution to the paper, and that no authors who would reasonably be considered an author have been excluded. They share responsibility and accountability for the results of the published research.

Based on the ICMJE guidelines on authorship, authors are expected to fulfil the following criteria:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and/or 
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and/or
  • Final approval of the version to be published; and 
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. 

Documenta encourages transparency by publishing authorship statements that specify the contribution of every author.

Plagiarism

Authors must certify that they have written the manuscript in its entirety and that it contains only original and accurate information. We do not tolerate plagiarism in any of our publications. According to Oxford University, plagiarism is defined as ‘presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.’ It can occur in respect to all types of sources and media, including text; illustrations; material downloaded from websites or drawn from manuscripts or other media; published and unpublished material, including lectures, presentations, and grey literature. All submissions are screened by the iThenticate system from Crossref. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. 

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish in this journal agree with the following terms:

• Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication of the work under a Creative Commons Attribution License that enables others to share the work, indicating authorship of the work and its first publication in this journal.

• Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published by the journal (e.g. placement in an institutional repository or publication in a book), always acknowledging the first publication in this journal.

• Authors have the right and are encouraged to make their work available online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during submission, as this may lead to productive discussions, faster and more citations of the published work.


Licences

Documenta allows the following licences for submission:


  • None
  • CC BY 4.0
    Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Publication Cycle

The journal is published twice a year.