Information | COMHARTaighde

Information about the journal

In 2015 a new yearly academic journal, peer-reviewed by scholars, from institutes both in Ireland and abroad, was founded. This journal, COMHARTaighde, publishes scholarly work of the highest standard, primarily in the following fields of Modern Irish scholarship: literary and cultural criticism, the study of songs and oral tradition, and Irish sociolinguistics. In order to serve the Irish community worldwide, in Ireland and abroad, the journal is published on an open access basis on the internet. This journal is not believed to be in competition with any other recognised periodical and it provides a peer-review forum to researchers in fields of study that do not currently have many opportunities for publication available to them. This project builds on the long-standing tradition of the monthly magazine, Comhar, as a place for public thought and also on the original philosophy of the magazine regarding the dispersion of scholarly findings amongst the widest possible community.

Editors

Associate Professor Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith
Associate Professor Ríona Nic Congáil
Dr Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh

are responsible for the editing of the journal.

Professor Máirín Nic Eoin and Dr Liam Mac Amhlaigh were founding joint-editors, responsible for issues 1-5, and Dr Máirtín Coilféir was also a founding joint-editor, and worked with them on issues 1-4.

Editorial Advisory Board

In order to set out the highest standard for this journal, and to draw on a wide range of influential advice, an international academic advisory board has been appointed for COMHARTaighde, and the members of this board are:

Professor Ruairí Ó hUiginn [DIAS] [Institiúid Ard-léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath]
Professor Pádraig Ó Macháin [UCC]
Professor Gregory Toner [Queen’s University Belfast]
Professor Fionntán de Brún [Maynooth University] [Ollscoil Mhá Nuad]
Professor Michelle MacLeod [University of Aberdeen] [Ollscoil Obar Dheathain]
Professor Jim McCloskey [Emeritus, Santa Cruz University]
Professor Philip O’Leary [Emeritus, Boston College]
Professor Brian Ó Conchubhair [Notre Dame University, Indiana]
Dr Eoin Mac Cárthaigh [TCD]
Dr Máire Ní Chiosáin [UCD]
Dr Brian Ó Curnáin [DIAS] [Institiúid Ard-léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath]
Dr Róisín Ní Ghairbhí [Mary Immaculate College, Limerick]
Dr Deirdre Nic Mhathúna [DCU] [Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath]
Dr Máirtín Coilféir [University of Saint Michael’s College, Toronto]

This board of experts helps to guarantee the best rubrics and academic practice, as well as to provide regular advice on the material, style, layout, and development of the journal. The editorial team also expects support from the advisory board with regard to the promotion of the journal within the general Irish scholarly community and the encouragement of Modern Irish scholars to submit high quality material to the journal.

Open access policy

This is an open access publication. This means that the entire contents of the e-journal are publicly available with no charge to the user. Users can read, download, print, copy, search, and link all articles published in COMHARTaighde without seeking permission from the author or publisher in advance. This is in line with the definition of the Budapest Open Access Initiative as to what constitutes open access.

Editorial responsibility

The basic editorial principles of the journal are as follows:

Every effort is made to promote scholarship in the journal’s niche field, Modern Irish literature, while also promoting the journal as the best journal to publish articles in;
Authors (both new and established) are encouraged to submit articles to the magazine;
A confidential panel of expert peer-reviewers is established and developed;
It is ensured that the feedback given by peer-reviewers to the authors is helpful;
Feedback is provided to writers and reviewers when necessary;
Reviewers and suitable books are chosen for scholarly reviews;
Pioneering work is carried out in the niche field in which the journal operates;
The advice in the file of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ‘Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors’ is implemented.

Peer-review principles

The journal’s main peer-review principles are as follows:

The entire peer-review process is anonymous. The writer does not know who the peer-reviewer is and the peer-reviewer does not know whose work they are reviewing;
Two peer-reviewers read the articles and give advice on improvements;
No peer-reviewer is asked to read more than one article in any given year;
A definite timeline is put in place for the peer-reviewers to read and review the articles;
Writers must adhere to a style guide which explains the word limit, the referencing system to be used, aspects of the house-style, the layout (spacing between lines, etc.);
Discerning and tough recommendations are expected from the peer-reviewers, as well as their honest opinion on whether or not the material is of the highest standard; and
All writers are expected to implement substantial amendments to the content of their articles, taking into consideration the recommendations of the peer-reviewers.

There is no fee to submit or process articles.

Technical arrangements

COMHARTaighde intends to make practical use of modern technology to provide the community with research in Modern Irish scholarship. Ronan Doherty is the technical advisor of the journal.

Every article published in the e-journal can be (i) read online, as a web page; or (ii) downloaded in PDF format. Articles on the website can be read on various types of devices, both desktop computers and mobile devices, and various search and browsing facilities can be used. It is possible to move easily between references in the main body of the article and the bibliography by clicking on the reference itself. References to Irish placenames are linked to entries in the Placenames Database of Ireland (logainm.ie). References to anyone who has an entry in the Irish National Biography Database (ainm.ie) or Portraits of Irish Writers (portraidi.ie) are linked to that website as well.

Every article can be downloaded in PDF format. This is useful in case people wish to print out and read an article or in case an internet connection is not available.

It is important necessary that the scholarly communities who are involved in Modern Irish scholarship and other fields of research are aware of the material that is available in COMHARTaighde. Certain policies are being put in place to ensure that search engines will be able to easily find the articles published in the e-journal and so that articles will be indexed in popular academic databases. COMHARTaighde is registered with CrossRef and is also indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Long-term archiving

With regard to sustainability, it is therefore important to choose a depository or provider which has substantial support and which is linked to an institute that has a record of experience and permanence. To that end, in 2019 COMHARTaighde began a partnership with the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), under the auspices the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, in order to ensure long-term archiving and preservation of the journal’s material. This step is recommended for the following reasons:

This ensures that there will be an extra back-up copy of the journal’s details in the event of any major service failure; and
A policy like this adds to the sustainability of the project; in the event that there would be any change to the status of the publisher in the future, it ensures that the journal’s material will always be available.

Material in the five editions published to date has now been ingested into the Depository and this arrangement will continue on with all future editions. We are very happy to be working with an Irish institute to complete this work and the results of the work will reinforce COMHARTaighde’s status as an open access journal of the highest editorial and technical standard.

The Publisher

COMHAR is one of the main national Irish-language publishers, which published a monthly Irish-language magazine, Comhar, a magazine for post-primary readers, COMHARÓg, a digital archive of portraits of living Irish-language writers, www.portraidi.ie, and various books under the imprints LeabhairCOMHAR and Cló Léann na Gaeilge (CLÓ); and other publishing projects underway in the Irish-language community.

Support

This journal is published with the assistance of grants for Irish-language projects provided by the Higher Education Authority through University College Cork with support from the Irish-Language, Literature and Celtic Studies Committee of the Royal Irish Academy.
COMHAR acknowledges this support.