For authors
Beginner Author's Checklist
Formal Requirements:
Title and subtitle of the submission in both English and Czech
Author’s name, including academic title
Author’s institutional affiliation
A brief description of the author’s field of focus (max. 2 sentences)
A valid email address of the author
Manuscript Requirements:
Main text ranging from 10 to 25 standard pages (18,000 to 45,000 characters including spaces), including footnotes and bibliography
Keywords in Czech and English
Abstract in Czech or English (max. 500 characters)
English résumé (900 to 1,800 characters)
Attachments in a separate file
What to Check Before Submission:
The submission includes all the required information, components, and formal elements listed above.
The manuscript meets all formal and structural criteria of an academic text.
The file is in the correct format, i.e., one of the editable text formats: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF.
The bibliography and citation system comply with the journal’s citation standard, and the submission adheres to the Publication Guidelines. All sources are properly listed and cited.
If the manuscript is part of a grant-funded project or is an adapted section of a seminar paper, bachelor’s, master’s, or dissertation thesis, this is clearly indicated.
The manuscript has not been previously published in another journal and is not under review by another editorial office at the time of submission.
The manuscript is not a case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism and complies with the principles of academic integrity. The author has also familiarized themselves with the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Formal Requirements:
- Title and subtitle of the contribution in both English and Czech
- Author’s name, including academic titles
- Author’s affiliation
- A brief description of the author’s field of focus (max. 2 sentences)
- A valid email address of the author
Manuscript Requirements:
The main text should be between 5 to 15 standard pages (9,000 to 27,000 characters including spaces), including footnotes and bibliography
Keywords in both Czech and English
Abstract in Czech or English (max. 500 characters)
English résumé (600 to 1,200 characters)
Attachments in a separate file
What to Check Before Submission:
The manuscript includes all required information and components listed above.
The manuscript meets all formal and structural standards of an academic text.
The file is in a correct editable text format: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF.
The bibliography and citation system comply with the journal’s citation standards, and the manuscript adheres to the Publication Guidelines. All sources are properly cited and referenced.
If the manuscript is based on a grant project or adapted from a seminar paper, bachelor’s, master’s, or dissertation thesis, this is clearly stated.
The manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under review by another editorial board at the time of submission.
The manuscript is not a case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism and complies with the ethical standards of academic work. The author has also read and understood the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Formal Requirements:
Title and subtitle of the submission in English
Author’s name, including academic title
Author’s institutional affiliation
A brief description of the author’s field of focus (max. 2 sentences)
Manuscript Requirements:
Main text ranging from 5 to 15 standard pages (9,000 to 27,000 characters including spaces), including footnotes and bibliography
Attachments in a separate file
What to Check Before Submission:
The submission includes all the information, components, and formal elements listed above.
The file is in the correct format, i.e., one of the editable text formats: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF.
The bibliography and citation system comply with the journal’s citation standard, and the submission adheres to the Publication Guidelines. All sources are properly listed and cited.
If the submission is part of a grant-funded project or is an adapted section of a seminar paper, bachelor’s, master’s, or dissertation thesis, this is clearly indicated.
The manuscript has not been previously published in another journal and is not under review by another editorial office at the time of submission.
The manuscript is not a case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism and adheres to the principles of academic integrity. The author has also familiarized themselves with the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Formal Requirements:
Title and subtitle of the submission in English
Author’s name, including academic title
Author’s institutional affiliation
A brief description of the author’s field of focus (max. 2 sentences)
Manuscript Requirements:
Main text up to 8 standard pages (14,400 characters including spaces), including footnotes and bibliography*
Attachments in a separate file
*Footnotes are optional for this type of submission; however, a full list of sources must be included in the bibliography at the end of the text.
What to Check Before Submission:
The submission contains all the required information, components, and formal elements listed above.
The file is in the correct format, i.e., one of the editable text formats: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF.
The bibliography and citation system are in accordance with the journal’s citation standards, and the submission adheres to the Publication Guidelines. All sources are properly listed and cited.
If the submission is part of a grant-funded project or is an adapted section of a seminar paper, bachelor’s, master’s, or dissertation thesis, this is clearly indicated.
The manuscript has not been published in another journal and is not under review by another editorial office at the time of submission.
The manuscript is not a case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism and complies with the principles of academic integrity. The author has also familiarized themselves with the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Formal Requirements:
Title and subtitle of the submission in English
Author’s name, including academic title
Author’s institutional affiliation
A brief description of the author’s area of focus (max. 2 sentences)
Manuscript Requirements:
Main text up to 5 standard pages (9,000 characters including spaces), including footnotes and bibliography*
Attachments in a separate file
*Footnotes are optional for this type of submission; however, a full list of sources must be included in the bibliography at the end of the text.
What to Check Before Submission:
The submission contains all the required information, components, and formal elements listed above.
The file is in the correct format, i.e., one of the editable text formats: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF.
The bibliography and citation system comply with the journal’s citation standards, and the submission follows the Publication Guidelines. All sources are properly listed and cited.
If the submission is part of a grant-funded project or is an adapted section of a seminar paper, bachelor’s, master’s, or dissertation thesis, this is clearly indicated.
The submission has not been previously published in another journal and is not under review by another editorial office at the time of submission.
The submission is not a case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism and complies with the principles of academic integrity. The author has also familiarized themselves with the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Formal Requirements:
Title and subtitle of the submission in English
Author’s name, including academic title
Author’s institutional affiliation
A brief description of the author’s area of focus (max. 2 sentences)
Manuscript Requirements:
Main text up to 5 standard pages (9,000 characters including spaces), including footnotes and bibliography*
Attachments in a separate file
*Footnotes and bibliography are optional for this type of submission; however, if the nature of the contribution requires it, the author is obliged to cite all sources used.
What to Check Before Submission:
The submission contains all the information, components, and formal elements listed above.
The file is in the correct format, i.e., one of the editable text formats: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF.
The bibliography and citation system (if included) comply with the journal’s citation standards, and the submission adheres to the Publication Guidelines. All sources used are properly listed and cited.
If the submission is part of a grant-funded project or is an adapted section of a seminar paper, bachelor’s, master’s, or dissertation thesis, this is clearly stated.
The submission has not been previously published in another journal and is not under review by another editorial office at the time of submission.
The submission is not a case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism and complies with the principles of academic integrity. The author has also familiarized themselves with the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Formal Requirements:
Title and subtitle of the submission in English
Author’s name, including academic title
Author’s institutional affiliation
A brief description of the author’s area of focus (max. 2 sentences)
Manuscript Requirements:
Main text up to 5 standard pages (9,000 characters including spaces)
A short introduction of the interviewee (name, affiliation, area of expertise; max. 5 sentences)
Attachments in a separate file
What to Check Before Submission:
The submission contains all the required information, components, and formal elements listed above.
The file is in the correct format, i.e., one of the editable text formats: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF.
The bibliography and citation system (if included) comply with the journal’s citation standards, and the submission follows the Publication Guidelines.
If the submission is part of a grant-funded project or is an adapted section of a seminar paper, bachelor’s, master’s, or dissertation thesis, this is clearly indicated.
The submission has not been previously published in another journal and is not under review by another editorial office at the time of submission.
The submission is not a case of plagiarism or self-plagiarism and complies with the principles of academic integrity. The author has also familiarized themselves with the journal’s Code of Ethics.
Q&A
Simply put, peer-reviewed texts go through a review process, while non-peer-reviewed texts are evaluated only by the editorial team without involvement of reviewers from the academic community.
We have two categories of peer-reviewed texts — Scholarly Studies and Reflections. Their purpose is to provide authors with experience of what it’s like to publish texts in academic journals, where submissions undergo a so-called peer review process. This means the editorial team finds one or two reviewers from the academic community whose task is to prepare a review report on the submission. This report serves as feedback for the author and includes information on any potential weaknesses of the text, suggestions for improvements, and usually recommendations for new literature, possible future research directions, and other useful insights. The level of this feedback is adapted to the fact that it is a contribution to a student journal, so the reviews are typically written in a way that the author gains new experiences and friendly advice they can use in their future academic career.
Non-peer-reviewed contributions — such as Insights, Kunst, Reviews, Interviews, and Reports — are evaluated solely by the editorial team, who collectively prepare comments or recommendations for possible adjustments that would improve the text. This form of feedback is quite informal, as it is given by students to fellow students.
The entire process takes about 10 months and is counted from the announcement of the publication call to the release of the printed version of the journal. The publication call is created based on an agreement within the editorial board, which sets its theme, rules, deadlines within it, and then publicly issues it. The call is usually open for about 4 months, during which the editorial board responds to submitted contributions, preliminarily accepting or excluding them from consideration for publication.
After the publication call closes, the editorial board reads all accepted contributions and decides which texts will be published and which will not. For non-peer-reviewed texts, this process is shorter — the editorial board evaluates them and sends feedback to the author along with information about acceptance or rejection.
Contributions undergoing peer review go through a more demanding process. First, they must be approved by the editorial board and then, with the author’s consent, sent to reviewers that the board selects for the specific contribution. The reviewers send the author a review report, based on which the author revises their contribution if necessary. Once the reviewer approves the contribution in its final form, the text can move forward. This process takes about 2-3 months, depending on the length of the texts, the availability of reviewers and authors, and the number of revisions required.
After peer-reviewed texts have passed the reviewers’ assessment, and non-peer-reviewed texts have undergone evaluation by the editorial board and have been approved by the authors, the contributions are handed over to our proofreading team, which checks their spelling and stylistic quality. The duration of this step depends on the number and length of texts and how many corrections are needed, but it typically takes one to two months.
Once the texts are again approved by the authors and in their final form, they proceed to the next stage — typesetting. Our editorial typesetter transfers the texts from the word processor into a professional layout program to create the form that readers will see in the electronic and printed versions of the journal.
When the typesetting is complete, the electronic version is uploaded to the journal’s website, and the print-ready files are sent to the printer, with whom we also consult about binding, materials, and other technical details.
After more than half a year of editorial work, we finally reach the physical printed version of the journal and its distribution.
The editorial board is composed exclusively of students from Charles University, especially those from the Faculty of Arts, where the journal is published. Membership in the editorial board is a voluntary extracurricular activity, during which students assist fellow students with the publication of their texts.
There are several options. The first is to read online, which is possible on our website in the Archive section, where all issues are available online. Most of them can also be found in the libraries at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University—specifically the Jan Palach Library and the Historical Cabinet. The journal can be located in their databases via UKAŽ.
If you would like a physical copy, the latest issue can be obtained after its release at distribution points we set up in both of the aforementioned libraries, or at events organized by the History Students’ Association.
If you are interested, it is also possible to have the journal mailed to you. For this option, please contact us at obscura@ffabula.cz.