About the Journal

Aims and Scope

Oral Archives Journal aims to fill a gap in the Italian publishing scene, where journals dedicated to the world of archives mainly refer to 'written' archives, and wants to represent a virtual meeting place between the academic world, public and private institutions, foundations and associations. In the past, there have been journals dedicated to oral archives (e.g. ‘Fonti orali’, directed by Luisa Passerini from 1981 to 1984 and by Daniele Jalla from 1985 to 1987), but what is lacking today is an interdisciplinary point of reference that unites different fields of knowledge and, above all, brings together different actors. There is also a lack of a publishing venue that could enhance the archival work of organising and cataloguing oral sources. An often time-consuming and resource-intensive task, taking care of one's sound documents is instead a fundamental step to guarantee the transmission and dissemination of their contents, as well as the replicability of studies on them. The journal aims to put the spotlight on this activity usually carried out behind the scenes by all scholars of orality and voice, in the firm belief that a well-structured oral archive should be considered a product of research.

The journal seeks to provide a forum for bringing together a wide range of people working with oral sources as researchers, archivists, librarians, documentalists or ministerial actors involved in this field.

The aim of Oral Archives Journal is to publish original papers concerned with oral archives from different perspectives, including research on linguistics, ethnomusicology, archiving and oral history. Moreover, OAr hosts data papers of oral archives: authors are asked to submit to a peer-review process both a presentation paper and the actual related archival effort. Through this procedure, OAr considers the latter as a scholarly contribution on a par with other article types.

This journal follows a double-blind peer review process, in which both the identities of the authors and the reviewers are concealed throughout the review. This ensures an unbiased and rigorous evaluation of submissions, based solely on the quality, originality, and relevance of the work. Reviewers are selected for their expertise in the subject matter and provide independent assessments to support the editorial decision-making process.

The topics covered by the journal comprehend, but are not limited to:

• the life cycle of the archives:
• the production of oral sources, e.g., data collection, fieldwork methods, language documentation, construction of oral archives, development of metadata schemes;
• the curation of oral sources, i.e., papers presenting oral archives (the so called ‘data papers’);
• the preservation of oral sources, e.g., methods for long-term preservation, maintenance of already existing oral archives, digitalization processes,
• the use and reuse of oral sources, e.g., research based on historical archives, recounts of oral archive material re-use for the sake of, e.g., temporary exhibitions, territorial promotion, etc.;

• cross-cutting dimensions of all the aforementioned phases:
  • speech transcription, e.g., methodological and theoretical aspects of transcription;
  • technological tools, e.g., presentations of novel software or hardware and benchmarks of new recording tools or speech processing technologies;
  • legal issues, e.g., accessibility and anonymity of data, data protection and copyright issues;
  • ethical aspects: e.g., giving back to the community, benefits of research for the community, interviewer-interviewee relationship.
    
    
• the critical arrangement (landscaping) of the elements of the contemporary world of oral archives - or attempts at making sense of what is currently happening in the oral archive research community.

Moreover, OAr will also host a “News” section in which information about novel initiatives concerning oral archives will be briefly presented for the sake of keeping the research community up to date.

Finally, the journal will also offer an expanded, up to date bibliography through a collaborative group library. The journal aims at becoming a wider repository for literature and relevant sources which will constitute a reference for oral archives research.

Open to all authors

Oral Archives Journal is committed to openness and inclusivity in scholarly publishing without author-facing charges for reading or publishing. We welcome submissions from all authors, regardless of their institutional affiliation, geographical location, or academic status. Submissions only must align with the aims and scope of the journal and meet the required quality standards once the reviewing process is completed.

Community-owned

Oral Archives Journal is owned by Firenze University Press, a public institution/organisation dedicated to advancing research and scholarship. The journal’s ownership and governance structure reflect its mission to support open and accessible academic publishing. We confirm that any commercial service providers involved in our operations only deal with service-related aspects of journal publishing. All content-related aspects of publishing, such as submission, peer review, acceptance, publication frequency, and scope of the journal, are controlled by the editors of the journal.