Submissions

This journal is not accepting submissions at this time.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The author is eligible to submit to Pathfinder according to the eligibility criteria specified in Pathfinder's Author Guidelines.
  • The text is formatted following the appropriate template, employing specifications outlined in the Author Guidelines where necessary, and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points within the text, rather than at the end.
  • Documents subject to peer review (research, scholarly articles, literature reviews, research posters, and other peer-reviewed sections as specified in Pathfinder's section policies) must remove the author's name and affiliation from the entire document and file name to ensure anonymity.
  • The manuscript adheres to the APA 7 style guide.
  • The submission has not been previously published, and is not currently being reviewed by another journal for consideration (or if so, an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • Authors have read and understood Pathfinder's Statement on Publication Ethics and Statement on Conflicts of Interest (located in the About the Journal page on the Pathfinder website).
  • A completed Author's Agreement is included in the submission.

Author Guidelines

General Guidelines

Please read the guidelines below carefully to confirm your eligibility as an author, and to ensure that your submission falls within the aim and scope of our journal.

Authors* must be:

  • students currently enrolled in a Canadian LIS program, library tech program, or other LIS-related degree programs; or
  • early career professionals who graduated within the last two years from:
    • a Canadian LIS program, library tech program, or other LIS-related degree programs, or
    • a non-Canadian LIS program, library tech program, or other LIS-related degree programs, and are now currently working at, or are otherwise affiliated with, a Canadian institution.

If you're unsure whether you qualify (e.g., you're a student in a different field of study completing work in an LIS-related area), feel free to send our editorial team a message at pfjeditor@gmail.com to verify your eligibility. 

Submissions must:

  • relate to topics in the fields of libraries, archives, and/or information science;
  • fall under one of the submission types below;
  • not currently be under review by another journal; and
  • be accompanied by a completed Author’s Agreement.

All work submitted to Pathfinder must adhere to the guidelines above; otherwise, it will be returned to the author. Pathfinder also reserves the right to reject submissions if the prospective author is deemed not to meet the above criteria for eligibility.

*As long as the primary author is eligible, co-authors are not held to the same criteria.

File Format

File formats differ depending on the submission type. Submissions that do not use our template and/or follow the specified formatting therein will be returned to the author without further review.

  • Most submissions (original research, scholarly articles, literature reviews, reflections, teaching resources, and conference reports) must be submitted as MS Word (.doc or .docx) documents using our Manuscript Template.
  • Research posters must be submitted as PDFs with dimensions of approximately 142.24 X 88.9cm. Example templates can be found at colinpurrington.com; however, alternative layouts and sizes may be allowed upon discussion with the section editor.
  • Book reviews must be submitted as MS Word (.doc or .docx) documents using our Book Review Template.
  • FIP Extended Abstracts must be submitted as MS Word (.doc or .docx) documents using our Extended Abstract Template.

Languages

The editorial team at Pathfinder believes strongly in supporting the ability of authors to publish in both of Canada's official languages. Unfortunately, as a small student run journal, we do not currently have the capacity to accept submissions in French. The manuscript will be published in the original language of the submission where a translation is provided. 

If you speak French and would like to volunteer as a peer reviewer or translator, please contact the editorial team with an expression of interest at pfjeditor@gmail.com.

Si vous parlez français et souhaitez vous porter volontaire en tant que pair réviseur ou traducteur, veuillez contacter l'équipe éditoriale avec une manifestation d'intérêt à pfjeditor@gmail.com.

Document Guidelines

Below are specific document guidelines for each type of submission. Section policies are located on the About the Journal page. Please note that the word counts indicated below do not include the abstract, references, figure legends, or table captions.

Original Research

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☑ Peer-reviewed

3000-5000 words. Should include scope, objectives, methods, analysis and commentary, and reference list. 

Both quantitative and qualitative research papers are encouraged. Such manuscripts will generally include a statement of problem, a review of the research literature, description of methodology, results, and implications for future research.

Scholarly Articles

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☑ Peer-reviewed

2000-5000 words. Should include introduction, methods (if appropriate), conclusion, and reference list.

Authors are encouraged to submit a range of scholarly work including, but not limited to:

  • Critical scholarship. Manuscripts from authors who work within contemporary alternative research paradigms, or who ground their work in critical theory, philosophy, narrative studies, postmodern and post-structural studies, historical research, discourse analysis, and/or postcolonial and feminist studies. 
  • Position Papers. Papers that describe a problem or an issue, then suggest a solution or direction. The position is supported with logical argument and a review of theory/literature.
  • Case Studies. Papers that describe a particular case setting or event and a problem or issue in that framework. They present a report on the theoretical and scholarly context and report attempted solutions, results, and implications for practice.

Literature Reviews

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☑ Peer-reviewed

3000-5000 words. Should include introduction, methods, analysis and commentary, conclusion, and reference list.

Literature reviews may be either qualitative or qualitative summaries that explore the research literature on a topic in order to determine directions of importance for future research. They offer useful context to understand the issues in relation to theory, practice, and previous research.

Research Posters

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☑ Peer-reviewed

300-800 words. 

Research posters concisely summarize information and/or research through the use of brief text mixed with tables, graphs, and pictures.

Book Reviews

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer-reviewed

500-1000 words. Should include bibliographic citation, relevance of the material to the field (particularly if it is not obviously related), an assessment of quality (both strengths and weaknesses if they exist), and indicate which parties may benefit from purchasing the item for their collection.

Reflections

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer-reviewed

1000-2000 words. 

Pathfinder publishes reflections, personal accounts, and narratives that give readers a fresh perspective about the practice of LIS work. These submissions should explain and describe events, results, conflicts, complicating actions, and how practitioners responded. The author(s) should also evaluate the experience and explore its meaning for future practice. Both historical and contemporary narratives are encouraged.

Conference Reports

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer-reviewed

1000-2000 words. Abstract should contain the title and date of the event.

Conference reports provide a concise summary and synthesis of the main ideas, conclusions and recommendations from significant conferences and meetings. Authors are also invited to incorporate reflections on their attendance or participation in the conference, as well as its impact on their professional development and/or career progression.

Teaching Resources

☑ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer-reviewed

No word count. Should foreground classroom practice and contextualize it in sound research and theory. 

Pathfinder seeks teaching resources to enhance and support the teaching practices of LIS professionals in school libraries, learning commons, and other relevant positions. Such submissions may include innovative teaching methods, materials, and evaluative criteria.

FIP Extended Abstracts

☐ Open submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer-reviewed

1000-1500 words, not including references and other matter.

Pathfinder publishes the conference proceedings for the Forum for Information Professionals (FIP). FIP presenters will be contacted directly.

Copyright Notice

Authors retain all copyright for their work published by Pathfinder. The specific copyright information for each work is included with the work itself. Pathfinder retains the right of first publication. Use and reproduction rights of any articles or abstracts on the Pathfinder website are granted for individual, non-commercial, and educational purposes only, and for electronic materials if properly cited. Otherwise, permission must be obtained from Pathfinder or the authors.

All other materials are covered by a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Privacy Statement

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This journal’s editorial team and its hosting service, the University of Alberta Libraries, use this data to guide their work in publishing and improving this journal. Data that will assist in developing this publishing platform may be shared with its developer Public Knowledge Project in an anonymized and aggregated form, with appropriate exceptions such as article metrics. The data will not be sold by this journal, the University of Alberta Libraries, or PKP nor will it be used for purposes other than those stated here. The authors published in this journal are responsible for the human subject data that figures in the research reported here. 

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Those involved in editing this journal seek to be compliant with industry standards for data privacy, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provision for “data subject rights” that include (a) breach notification; (b) right of access; (c) the right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design. The GDPR also allows for the recognition of “the public interest in the availability of the data,” which has a particular saliency for those involved in maintaining, with the greatest integrity possible, the public record of scholarly publishing.