In 2015, a new annual academic journal was launched, which was peer-reviewed by a team of scholars from institutions in Ireland and abroad. Scholarly work of the highest quality is published in this magazine, COMHAR Ráixn , in the following areas of New Irish studies in particular: criticism of literature and culture, studies of songs and oral traditions, and sociolinguistics of Irish. In order to serve the global Irish-speaking community in Ireland and abroad, the magazine is published on a free-access basis via the internet. It is believed that this journal does not compete with any other well-known periodical, but rather provides a peer-reviewed forum for researchers in fields of study that currently do not have as many published sites available to them. The proposal stems from the long tradition of the monthly Cooperation magazine as a place for thinking and from the original philosophy of the magazine regarding the dissemination of student results to the wider community.
Editors
- Associate Professor Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith
- Associate Professor Ríona Nic Congáil
- Dr Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh
is responsible for the editorial care. Professor Máirín Nic Eoin and Dr Liam Mac Amhleigh were the original co-editors of issues 1-5, and Dr Máirtín Coleféir was their co-editor from issues 1-4.
Editorial Advisory Board
In order to set the highest standards for this e-journal, and to draw on broad authoritative advice, an international academic advisory board has been appointed to RESEARCH COOPERATION, and the members of that 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 confirm academic rubrics and best practices, as well as providing regular advice on the content, style, layout and progress of the e-journal. The editorial team also expects support from the advisory board in terms of publicizing the magazine among the Irish language reading public in general and in terms of encouraging New Irish scholars to submit quality content in its direction.
Open access policy
This publication is open access. That is, the entire content of the e-journal is made publicly available, without charging the user. Users can read, download, print, copy, search and link to all articles published in COMHAR Research without asking permission from the author or publisher in advance. This is in line with the Budapest Open Access Initiative’s definition of what open access is.
Editorial responsibility
The basic editorial principles of the magazine 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;
- Appropriate critics and books are selected 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 basic principles of the journal’s peer review 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
- It is expected that all writers can make comprehensive revisions to the content of their articles, taking into account the recommendations of the peer reviewers.
There is no fee for submitting or processing articles.
Technical arrangements
COMHAR Research aims to make useful use of new technology to present research in Modern Irish literature to the public. Ronan Doherty is the technical advisor for the e-zine. 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 essential that the scholarly communities dealing with Modern Irish studies and other areas of research are aware of the content that will be available in COMHAR Research . Various policies are being implemented to ensure that search engines will be able to easily find the articles published in the e-journal and that the articles will be indexed in popular academic databases. COMHAR Research is registered with CrossRef and also indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
Long-term archiving
From the point of view of sustainability, therefore, it is important to choose a repository or supplier that has significant support and is linked to an institution with a proven track record of experience and durability. To that end, in 2019 COMHAR Research began a partnership with the Irish Digital Archive (DRI) , under the umbrella of the Royal Irish Academy Library , for the purpose of archiving and long-term preservation of the content of the e-journal. It is recommended to take this step for these reasons follows:
- 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.
The content of the five editions published so far has now been received in the Archive and the arrangement will continue for all subsequent editions. We are very pleased to be collaborating with an Irish institution to carry out this work and the results of the work will reinforce the status of COMHAR Research as an open access e-journal of the highest editorial and technical quality.
The Publisher
COMHAR is the main national publisher of the Irish language, which publishes a monthly Irish magazine, Comha r, a magazine for post-primary readers, COMHAR Óg , a digital archive of portraits of Irish biographers, www.portraidi.ie, and various books under the imprints COMHAR Books and Cló Léann the Irish language (CLÓ) ; and other publishing projects in hand in the Irish language world.
Support
This e-magazine is published with the help of a grant for Irish language projects paid by the Higher Education Authority through University College, Cork with the support of the Irish Studies Committee, Irish Literature and Celtic Cultures, the Royal Academy of Ireland. COMHAR acknowledges this support.
