Matrix Journal for Matricultural Studies

Managing editor(s): Linnéa Rowlatt (Managing Editor), Angela Sumegi (Senior Editor) / Editor(s): Marie-Françoise Guédon (Editorial Collective), Idoia Arana-Beobide (Editorial Collective), Kierra Beament (Editorial Collective), Pauline MacKenzie Aucoin (Editorial Collective)

Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies (Matrix) is an open-access, peer-reviewed and refereed scholarly journal published online twice yearly. Matrix is founded to provide an interdisciplinary forum for those who are working from the theoretical stance of matriculture as a Geertzian cultural system. Matriculture refers to the cultural system that brings together all cultural aspects informing the lives of mothers, usually women, of a given society, and by extension, the lives of women. Talking about matricultural systems allows us to consider as primary the cultural context of a given society as perceived, constructed, and lived by its women. Similar to other cultural systems such as art, religion, or mathematics, employing the heuristic of matriculture allows for, among other things: cross-cultural comparisons; fresh insights into the social roles of women, men, otherwise identified, children, and the entire community of humans, animals, and the environment; and/or renewed understandings of historically mis-labelled cultures.

Matrix is an open-access, peer-reviewed and refereed scholarly journal published by the International Network for Training, Education, and Research on Culture (Network on Culture), Canada. Matrix launched in 2020 and is published online twice yearly (Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer).

Distribution

Currently, Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies is distributed through Feminist Periodicals and, as of January 2025, the Érudit online journal distribution platform. We plan to submit an application to the Directory of Open Access Journals shortly.

General Information: info@networkonculture.ca

Managing Editor (Linnéa Rowlatt, PhD): lrowlatt@networkonculture.ca

To subscribe to Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies, visit our webpage and register an account as a Reader. When new issues and Calls for Papers are released, you will receive a notification.

Focus and Scope

Matrix is a new journal in the humanities and social sciences, founded to provide an interdisciplinary forum for those who are working from the theoretical stance of matriculture as a Geertzian cultural system. Matriculture refers to the cultural system that brings together all cultural aspects informing the lives of mothers, usually women, of a given society, and by extension, the lives of women. Talking about matricultural systems allows us to consider as primary the cultural context of a given society as perceived, constructed, and lived by its women.

Similar to other cultural systems such as art, religion, or mathematics, employing the heuristic of matriculture allows for, among other things: cross-cultural comparisons; fresh insights into the social roles of women, men, otherwise identified, children, and the entire community of humans, animals, and the environment; and/or renewed understandings of historically mis-labelled cultures. With Guédon’s work in mind, then, and based on Geertzian principles, the concept of matriculture is both a model of reality by rendering the structure of matricultures apprehensible and a model for reality, where psychological relationships are organized under its guidance.

We encourage submissions from scholars around the world who are ready to take a new look at the ways in which people - historically and currently - have organized meaningful relationships amongst themselves and with the natural environment, the myths, customs, and laws which support these relationships, and the ways in which researchers have documented and perhaps mis-labeled the matricultures they have encountered. We publish research articles, research notes, creative contributions, personal reflections on the theme, book reviews, letters to the editor, and announcements.

Open Access Policy

This open access journal is published under Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivatives 4.0 International copyright licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For further information, see Matrix > Copyright.

Peer Review Policies

All research articles will pass through a double-blind review process before publication, in which authors and reviewers are not identified to each other. This process aims to enrich and strengthen the submitted texts. Reviews will be made by external professionals whose field of expertise relates to the topic of the article; reviewers are encouraged to provide constructive comments.

Other submissions will be reviewed by the Editorial Collective.

Copyright Notice

This open access journal is published under Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivatives 4.0 International copyright licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

This means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or her/his institution. You are allowed to read, download, copy, print, search, link to the full texts of the articles, and share them in any format. If sharing, you must give appropriate credit and provide a link to the license.

If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

Republication is conditional upon prior permission from the publisher or the author(s), provided that appropriate credit is given to the author and this publication as first publisher, that a link is provided to the license, and that you indicate if any changes were made.

Also, you may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything this license permits.

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

* Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) that allows others to share the work in any medium or format under the following terms:

appropriate credit must be given to the author and this journal as first publisher
a link to the license must be provided, and
any changes which were made must be indicated.

Authors may make changes for republication in a reasonable manner, but not in any way which suggests that the author, this journal, or this publisher endorses you.

If authors remix, transform, or build upon the material, they may not distribute the modified material under this license.

Authors may not use the material for commercial purposes.

For more details, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (for example, to post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book) with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Publication Ethics

We adhere to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing, as published by the Committee on Publication Ethics, UK (COPE).

With this commitment, we particularly bring to attention the following:

All our research articles will pass a peer-review process.
Both the Editorial Collective and the Scientific Advisory Circle, as the journal's Governing Body, consists of experts in the field and are informed about all decisions being made for the journal. Contact information is available on this webpage (see Contact, above).
No fees will be applied to authors or readers.
Matrix is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, which allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the subsequent non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of their work (for example, to post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book) with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
We do our best to adhere to the highest standards of academic editorial integrity. We will work hard to ensure that any reported or identified issues of misconduct will be addressed in an appropriate and timely manner.
The International Network for Training, Education, and Research on Culture (Network on Culture) owns and provides the platform for Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies.
Conflict of Interest is taken seriously; authors and reviewers must state any when submitting.

Privacy Notice

All data shared with us will be used only for the purposes of the journal. The only data stored (names and email addresses) is required for publication of journal papers, and it will not be shared with third parties, nor used for any commercial purpose.

Allegations

We take any allegations regarding misconduct in the publication of content in our journal very seriously.

Such allegations, including any complaints about plagiarism, disputed authorship, multiple/duplicate/concurrent publication, simultaneous submission, misappropriation of research results, research standards violation, research errors or fraud, reviewer bias or competitive harmful acts by reviewers, or undisclosed conflicts of interest, will be addressed following Elsevier's publicly-available Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK). We will follow PERK's guidelines regarding any ethical issues arising at any stage of the process, evaluating each allegation on a case-by-case basis.

Once a complaint has been assessed from the ethical perspective outlined by PERK, and the EC and author agree a revision, clarification, or correction needs to be made, we will deal with it using the style guide for Correction Notices followed by the American Psychological Association.

We will publish any corrections, clarifications, retractions, and/or apologies when needed.

Matrix aims to publish research articles normally between 5000 and 10,000 words in length, including bibliography. Longer pieces might be considered for publication at the discretion of the Editorial Collective.

Research Notes, or shorter contributions between 3000 and 5000 words, including bibliography, are welcome. There is a separate Research Notes section in the journal.

Twice per year, a Call for Papers will be issued with a submission deadline. Current and past Calls are hosted on the Matrix website.

Submissions not relating to a particular Call for Papers may be submitted for consideration at any time of the year to the Editorial Collective. Material received will be considered for the next available issue where suitable. The Editorial Collective reserves the right to hold back material for subsequent issues when necessary.

As a publication based in Canada, Matrix publishes material in English and French. Submissions made in languages other than English or French must be translated into English or French by the author.

We encourage submissions in the language of the community addressed by the article and will consider publishing it alongside the English or French translation.

Prospective authors should be aware that original papers published in Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies are subject to rigorous peer review by multiple referees. The number of referees consulted will depend on the nature and scope of the submission. See Blinding Your Article for Double Blind Peer-Review Process, below.

On occasion, Matrix will commission the reprinting of articles relevant to the journal's themes which have been previously published elsewhere, where they (a) retain currency for researchers regarding either the history of research and/or current ideas, and (b) hitherto have not been fully available to researchers in a digital medium and/or a readily accessible venue.

Comments by referees may remain confidential at the discretion of the Editorial Collective.

Every effort will be made to maintain the anonymity of referees.

Authors will be expected to accept Matrix's copyright agreement once the article has been accepted for publication.

Charges or Fees

Authors of articles, notes, reports, book reviews and other submissions will not be subjected to any charges or fees, and will receive no remuneration from this open-access publication.

Submissions

Submissions of articles should include an abstract of no more than 200 words, a list of up to five keywords, and a brief biography of the author(s). The abstract should not include references or refer to illustrations within the articles itself.
The font size should be 12 point. The beginning of each paragraph should be demarcated by an extra line space.
We accept numbered footnotes or endnotes. All pages must be numbered.
Papers must be accompanied by a scheme indicating the divisions of the text and the relative importance of the various headings, sub-headings, etc (a small Table of Contents, if you will). A list of figures and their approximate locations should also be included.
Both line drawings and photographs must be numbered in a single sequence within each paper and should be given a number in the text, thus (Fig. 9). Tables should be separately numbered, thus (Table 4).
The author(s) should certify in writing that they have written the manuscript in its entirety and that it contains only original and accurate information.
The editing and peer review process of an article requires a substantial commitment of time by Matrix's Editorial Collective and reviewers. There is NO paid managing editor or staff working for the journal. Submitting an article to Matrix implies a commitment by the contributor(s) to publish in the journal. The author(s) must certify in writing that neither the article submitted nor any version of it has been published, nor it is publicly available online, nor is it being considered for publication elsewhere, nor will it be submitted elsewhere for consideration for publication while the manuscript is under review by the Editorial Collective of Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies. Such certification should accompany the manuscript.

Blinding Your Article for Double-Blind Peer Review

To ensure the integrity of anonymous peer-review, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties:

The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, with "Author" and year used in the references and footnotes, instead of the authors' name, article title, etc.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

This submission meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
This submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
All tables and figures have been numbered and labelled.
Research articles have been blinded according to the process above.
Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets and other material provided with this submission.

Sections

Research Articles

We encourage submissions from scholars around the world who are ready to work from a matricultural heuristic. That is, to take a new look at the ways in which people - historically and currently - have organized meaningful relationships amongst themselves and with the natural environment, the myths, customs, and laws which support these relationships, and the ways in which researchers have documented and perhaps mis-labeled the matricultures they have encountered.

Make a new submission to the Research Articles section.

Creative Contributions

Matrix encourages creative artworks in any media and community contributions which focus on the theme of the issue. As an online journal, any medium suitable for inclusion will be of interest.

Contributions to Creative Contributions will be reviewed by members of the Editorial Collective.

Make a new submission to the Creative Contributions section.

Personal Reflections on the Theme

Matrix welcomes essays which are personal reflections on the theme of an issue. These personal reflections are not peer-reviewed, but offer ideas, opinions, thoughts, or analyses which may suggest new directions for research, subjective conclusions regarding research, or, simply, expand our consciousness about the topic.

Contributions to Personal Reflections on (issue theme) will be reviewed by members of the Editorial Collective.

Make a new submission to the Personal Reflections section.

Research Notes

Notes or reports on research which are not review-ready. Interesting ideas with some promise.

Make a new submission to the Research Notes section.

Book Reviews

Matrix is interested in reviewing books pertaining to the subject matter of the journal. Authors are welcome to inquire about the possibility of a review, which the Editorial Collective will co-ordinate, and reviewers are welcome to submit their review for consideration in an upcoming issue.

Make a new submission to the Book Reviews section.

Letters to the Editor

All good scholarship inspires discussion and respectful debate is crucial to the advancement of knowledge. Matrix invites responses, feedback, comments, and constructive criticism to the material we publish. With permission, letters to the Editorial Collective may be published in an upcoming issue.

To submit a Letter to an Editor, contact lrowlatt@networkonculture.ca. Letters will be reviewed by the Editorial Collective.

Make a new submission to the Letters to the Editor section.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered or registered with 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.

Editorial Collective

Marie-Françoise Guédon, PhD (Ottawa)

Angela Sumegi, PhD (Carleton)

Linnéa Rowlatt, PhD (Network on Culture) - managing editor

Idoia Arana-Beobide, MA (PhD candidate, Ottawa), Basque

Kierra Beament, MA (PhD candidate, Ottawa)

Pauline MacKenzie-Aucoin, PhD (Ottawa)

Scientific Advisory Circle

Peggy Reeves Sanday, PhD (Pennsylvania)

Heide Goettner-Abendroth, PhD (Internationale Akademie HAGIA)

Kaarina Kailo, PhD (Oulu)

Marc Fonda, PhD

Judith Ramos, MA, Tlingit (Alaska)

Margaret Kress, PhD, Michif (New Brunswick)

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