About the Journal

Frequency: 2-4 issues/year
ISSN: 2574-3430

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI) is a double-blind, peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes research, reports from the field, book reviews, and creative works that present wide-ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives on the intersection of equity, social justice, and information diversity within the field of library and information science (LIS). While the IJIDI's primary focus is the LIS field, the journal seeks to expand the discourse on how access to, interaction with, and use of information by a range of populations can impact individuals, communities, and society. IJIDI is a quarterly, open-access online journal.

The following institutions sponsor IJIDI:
Master of Library Science Program, East Carolina University, USA
Faculty of Information (iSchool), University of Toronto, Canada

IJIDI is hosted on the servers of the University of Toronto Library (UTL).

We invite submissions from the members of the Library & Information Science (LIS) community and cognate disciplines and encourage everyone to think about diversity and inclusion in the broadest possible terms. We believe this approach will help many researchers see their work through the diversity lens, find its relevance to the mission and scope of IJIDI, and engage in a dynamic and open conversation.

Authors are not charged article processing fees for publishing in IJIDI. There are no other associated costs to authors to publish in IJIDI. All contents are freely available immediately to the public without charge.

Focus and Scope

IJIDI presents wide-ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives on the intersection of equity, social justice, and information diversity within the library and information science field (LIS). For the IJIDI, LIS includes the following settings: public libraries, academic libraries, school media centers, archives, museums, and information science settings and organizations (e.g., data science, informatics, bibliometrics). Within the scope of LIS, the journal seeks to expand the discourse on how access to, interaction with, and the use of information by a range of populations can impact individuals, communities, and society. In this vein, the IJIDI welcomes submissions that connect or intersect LIS with the realms of museum studies, education, and other cognate fields within the humanities and social sciences.

IJIDI promotes images and concepts of diversity that go beyond demographic characteristics. We continue discussions about the variety of participation and representation in the context of heritage, ethnicity, language, gender, social class, and embodied ability. We are also guided by recently emerged ideas, including values-based diversity and design and a combination of approaches to diversity research and practice emanating from the academy and fields of practice in the LIS field. We are committed to micro- and macro-level discussions and value the policy focus as much as we value attention to individuals, groups, and humanistic concerns. We position diversity as a matter that touches every member of the global public. The social justice approach to diversity is complemented by the vision of diversity as an engine of prosperity and social progress, without which harmonious co-existence and economic growth are impossible. A unique aspiration of our journal is to provide international coverage of diversity issues and a more comprehensive forum for voices beyond North America and the English-speaking world. The word “information” in the title opens the door to connecting the IJIDI to allied professional fields and cognate disciplines, including contributions from museums, archives, performing arts, and other cultural institutions, computer science, health, disability studies, and social work, among others.

IJIDI considers invited and unsolicited manuscripts written in English. The journal publishes a variety of article formats: original empirical research; conceptual and theoretical papers; professional experience-sharing articles; viewpoint submission; conference reports; case studies; and shorter miscellaneous pieces. We also welcome contributions from emergent scholars, graduate students, and young professionals. As an open-access online journal, IJIDI has the capacity to accommodate innovative formats involving supplementary files, full-text creative writing, visual production, and multimedia.

NOTE on LITERATURE REVIEWS: The IJIDI will not accept literature review submissions for the 2024-2025 academic year. This decision reflects an over-saturation of the format in recent volumes, and we aim to prioritize a more diverse range of contributions moving forward. We encourage authors to consider other formats for their research and look forward to supporting innovative scholarship in our upcoming issues.

Some sample topics that the journal will consider include:

Increasing information diversity in professional education, practice, and research
Information diversity dialogues and reconciliation between information groups and communities
Information organizations such as libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural- and heritage-based communities of practice as community anchors and change agents
The impact of information professionals and organizations on social justice
The impact of current and emergent technologies on library and information science education, professional practice, or user experience
The impact of geopolitics on information access in local communities
Diversity as intellectual freedom
Values-based diversity
Information organizations as institutions of human rights
Disability and accessibility research
Conceptual or philosophical reflections on identity construction in LIS settings
Cultural- and heritage-based knowledge, epistemologies, practices, and systems
Creating, expanding, and exploring theories on social inclusion, equity, and justice in library and information organization settings
Creative or innovative methodologies that expand or disrupt approaches to library and information science education and practice
Nuanced perspectives about the intersectionalities of theory and practice as a socially just imperative for LIS organizations as community anchors
Collaboration between information organizations and other agencies (education, culture, IT, business, etc.) in an effort to promote participatory justice and inclusion

This is not an exhaustive list. We also appreciate creative approaches to scholarly presentations. If you have ideas for an IJIDI article and questions about the suitability of your work for IJIDI, please make sure to write to the journal editor(s).

Peer Review Process

The Editor will do the initial screening, including checking manuscripts for compatibility with the journal's scope, topical coverage, and plagiarism or AI use. The Editor retains the right to request revisions to prepare the paper for peer review and not to forward the manuscript for review if it is inadequate after revisions. If the manuscript is deemed unsuitable for peer review, it will be returned to the author with a justification for the decline. If the author wishes to rewrite the paper after a desk review decline, the paper can be resubmitted as a new submission 90 days post-decline.
Once accepted for peer review, the article will be double-blind peer-reviewed by two experts selected from members of the IJIDI editorial board and/or permanent reviewers pool and/or external experts chosen on an ad-hoc basis. The Editor will also add their comments to reviewer feedback as appropriate. The Editor retains the right not to forward reviews to authors “as is”; to filter out portions of reviews that sound offensive, unscrupulous, unsubstantiated, or unhelpful; and to return reviews to reviewers (if feasible) for editing and further substantiation.
A third reviewer will be called in if the two first reviews are polarized or insufficiently comprehensive or if an aspect of the paper (e.g., methodology or literature review) is left without serious critical reflection. (The double-blind peer review process can take up to 6-8 weeks, depending on the promptness of reviewer responses and the need for any additional rounds of review.)
Authors will be given a deadline by which to implement revisions. If the revised manuscript is not returned by the indicated deadline, it will be declined and will have to be submitted as a new submission and put through a new round of peer-review.
Authors will be required to submit a cover letter along with the revised manuscript detailing how they’ve addressed reviewers’ comments or why they have chosen not to implement requested revisions. The revised manuscript and its accompanying cover letter should be emailed to the journal editor at ijidi.editorinchief@gmail.com.
All manuscripts in the categories of Revisions Required and Resubmit for Review will be sent out for the second round of peer-review. After the second round, the Editor retains the right to send manuscripts back to authors for further revision or to reject manuscripts at this stage.
Once the revision is deemed satisfactory, the manuscript will be accepted for publication. No further content-related changes will be allowed after this stage. Authors, however, will be able to make minor grammar-, punctuation-, references-, layout- and formatting-related corrections and updates at the stage of proofing galleys.
The Editor will do the overall final review of the manuscript and pass it on to the copy editor, who will edit the paper for grammar and style, verify in-text citations and bibliographic data of the references, and compose Author Queries (AQs) in the process.
The manuscript, along with the AQs, will be passed on to an assigned Managing Editor (ME), who will typeset the manuscript (galley proof) and send the proof (accompanied by the AQs) to the author. The Managing Editor will maintain timely communication with the corresponding author and keep track of proofreading deadlines given to the author. Once the author returns the manuscript and responds to the Author Queries, the Managing Editor will implement the required changes. Following this stage, no further changes will be made to the content; however, minor changes may be made to the layout.
The Managing Editor will mount the final galley to the journal's submission portal and inform the senior editorial team for final production to publication.

Timeline

Editor desk preview	10-14 days from the date of submission acknowledgement
Manuscript sent out for peer review	2-5 days from Editor preview acceptance
First round of review	8-12 weeks
Time given to authors for revisions	Revisions Required – 4 weeks Resubmit for Review – 6 weeks
Second round of review	2-4 weeks
Copyediting	2-4 weeks, depending on the length and complexity of the manuscript
Production	4-6 weeks, depending on the editorial team's workload within the academic year
Time given to authors for returning proofs, authors' queries, and the author copyright agreement	5-7 business days
Final processing for publication	5-7 business days

Frequency and Submission Deadlines

IJIDI is a quarterly publication with an international scope and a global reading audience. As such, the journal maintains high-quality control standards so that articles and papers are credible, legible, and engaging for a global reading community. To honor our ethical standards, we do not rush the publication of submissions. Our publication frequency and timelines are primarily dependent on the meticulous attention the IJIDI editorial team pays to its production process. We ask that authors exhibit cooperative patience as we work together to publish the best presentation of their work.

From time to time, the IJIDI features special topic issues for which the deadlines will be announced individually.

Please see our Calls for Papers page for more information on submission deadlines.

Special Section Publications

Special Sections in IJIDI are ad-hoc; submissions to special sections are subject to one double-blind peer review. However, they conform to the same quality standards and revision expectations and are processed within the same or similar time frames as regular articles.

Accessibility Note

IJIDI articles have been formatted for accessibility for visually impaired readers and tested against screen readers; PDF files of the articles have the appropriate metadata in place to facilitate accessibility. If IJIDI readers have difficulty accessing the content, please do not hesitate to contact the Editor.

Reviewing Principles

The journal fosters a culture of prompt yet thorough and respectful double-blind peer-reviewing. Depending on the manuscript's subject matter, complexity, and quality, authors can expect to receive initial reviewers’ feedback and the initial editorial decision within eight weeks of the paper being forwarded for peer review. Contingent on the number of required revisions, the authors will receive a definitive decision on their submissions within three to four months, with the entire production process taking approximately six to ten months.

Disclaimer

The opinions of our authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the IJIDI editorial team or its sponsors. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their submitted material. At any stage of the editorial and production process, IJIDI editors and reviewers reserve the right to identify and reject submitted material with serious ethical, legal, and academic issues. However, it must be recognized that, like any other process, mistakes and omissions can occur. Therefore, the author(s), by submitting written material to the IJIDI, assumes full legal responsibility in any matter that may arise due to the publication of their submission(s). This stipulation can include but is not limited to data falsification, libel/slander, moral misconduct, academic misconduct, and plagiarism.

Open Access Policy

The IJIDI operates under an Open Access Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC-BY-NC-ND), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the Contribution is properly cited, the use is non-commercial, and no modifications or adaptations are made. For an understanding of what is meant by the terms of the Creative Commons License, please refer to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.