European Countryside

Open Access Statement

The journal is an Open Access journal that allows a free unlimited access to all its contents without any restrictions upon publication to all users. Papers are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License:

Open Access License

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Before the decision

Before you submit the manuscript to the European Countryside, please try to answer the following questions:

Why the international public should read and cite your paper? An article published in an international journal is NOT a national paper translated into English!

How could your article contribute to a solution to rural problems?

Is the topic of your article focused on the countryside in Europe?

Only upon satisfactory answers to the mentioned questions you should submit your manuscript to European Countryside.

We do not have any strict manuscript length limit. However, the acceptable maximum length is ca. 60,000 characters that are readable and understandable as a research paper. Enclosures (preferably coloured ones) with a maximum size of A4 are accepted with no additional charge.

Manuscripts have to be completed, which means they should include abstracts, keywords, highlights, graphics (ordered in the paper), acknowledgement and references. Do not enclose separate files with graphic figures. As the European Countryside does not have a printed version, the screen resolution is sufficient. Tables should be sent in a Word or Excel format - not as pictures! The manuscripts should be submitted in electronic form only.

Manuscripts must be in English, and authors are urged to aim for clarity, brevity, and accuracy of information and language. Authors whose native language is not English should have their manuscripts checked for linguistic accuracy by an English speaker experienced in the branch. It is recommended to enclose the confirmation from the proofreading agency/individual or an affidavit that the manuscript has been checked by an experienced English speaker.

The manuscripts should be submitted in MS Word. The text should not be formatted. Paragraphs should be separated by the key “enter. ”. The interspace between two words is formed by exactly one keystroke. Bullets and remarks below the line are accepted when they are created electronically. The hyphenation should be avoided. Please, do not number the references.

The headings should have the following structure: the title of the paper, and the author(s) name(s) without titles. Abstract(s) (maximum 800 characters) and keywords (3-8).

Additional data about author(s) should be written at the end of the manuscript: name(s), academic and scientific title(s), affiliations including mailing address, ORCID numbers, and e-mails of authors.

The title should reflect the content of the paper. In the case of regionally focused papers, the respective region (country) should be mentioned in the title. The abstract should give a short overview of the problem solved, the methodology used and results gained. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references. Do not put quotes in the abstract. The keywords should be provided to be used for indexing purposes. The quality of abstracts and keywords may influence the length of the evaluation process. In order to strengthen not only the unity of Europe but also its diversity, abstracts in the native language of the author(s) or the country in which the investigation was made will be published. Author(s) are kindly asked to provide both English and the native language abstracts and keywords. The author(s) are fully responsible for the language and content of the non-English abstracts.

The references should be divided into the following categories: Academic References and Other Sources. Academic references should contain (in alphabetic order according to the surname of the 1st author) papers in journals, books, chapters in books, unpublished materials such as theses or research reports, and thematic maps. Articles in proceedings should be quoted as book chapters (if the proceedings fulfil the book standards). In case the authors´ names or publishers (in the case of books) are missing, the sources should be quoted within Other Sources. Academic quotations have to contain the name(s) of the author(s). Please cite all authors in References (the citation in the text should be cited as the first author and et al. when they exceed two authors). The institution(s), whether anonymous are not authors. Papers, books, and reports downloaded from the internet should be quoted as Academic Sources when they contain respective data. Sources should be quoted in the original language (if they use the Latin alphabet).

Other sources are not supposed to be a part of citation systems. Typical examples of other sources are the following: statistical data, basic maps, web pages, government and planning documents, laws and regulations, technical norms, and conference papers in a case when the publication does not fulfil the standards (especially when the publisher is missing), conference presentations, oral information or interviews, etc. These sources should be quoted in a form enabling their identification as much as possible.

EXAMPLES

Journal paper [journals usually have an ISSN number; when the publication has both ISSN and ISBN numbers, the citation as a book is recommended] cite author(s), year, title, name of the journal, volume, number, pages (or the number of the paper), DOI, e.g. Printsmann, A., Kruse, A. & Roth, M. (2012). Introduction to living in agricultural landscapes: practice, heritage, and identity. European Countryside 4(2), 89–100. DOI: 10.2478/v10091-012-0016-5. If the article has only the article number instead of the standard data, Article ID: XXX is used.

Book [book usually has an ISBN number, the relevant data can be found in imprint - not in layout] cite author(s), year, title, place of publication, the publisher, e.g. Basile, E. & Cecchi, C. (2001). La Trasformazione Post-Industriale della Campagna. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier.

Chapter in a book or proceedings cite author(s), year, title, editor(s), name of the book, pages, place of the publication, the publisher; in the case of the proceeding, do not cite redundant data like place and locality of conference (if they are not a part of the title), but cite the Publisher which is usually the university, academic institute or scientific society, but rarely faculty and in fact, never the department, e.g. Vaattovaara, M., Schulman, H. & Kortteinen, M. (2011). A Nordic Welfare model at a turning point? Social housing and segregation in Finland. In Driant, J.-C. & Houard, N., eds., Social housing across the Europe (pp.49–70). Paris: La documentation Francaise. If the book is not continuously paginated, the chapter number is given instead of the page range, e.g. (Chapter 5)

Theses, Research Reports cite author, year, specification of the cited source, the publisher, e.g. Schnaitl, C. (2012). Offentlicher Leerstand in strukturschwachen Gemeinden - was tun? [Master thesis]. Wien: Universitat für Bodenkultur.

Reference linking is the most significant benefit of electronic publishing. It allows readers to extend their reading experience immensely. That is why it is important to pay close attention to the references. They should be cited completely, correctly and be properly structured. Quotations of web documents especially papers in journals have to contain the DOI INDEX, if available!

Charts, tables, and photos should be placed directly in the text. Tables must be placed in Word or Excel format, not as a picture. Remember that English has a decimal point - not a comma. All attachments must be placed on the pages oriented upright so that the reader does not have to turn the monitor sideways. All enclosures have to be numbered, described and introduced to the source.

European Countryside publishes the following types of contributions: Research Papers, Editorials, Research Notes, and Short Communications.

Editorials are defined as introductory papers of special numbers. They usually contain an introduction to the number topic, basic theoretical anchoring and an overview of the number papers.

Research notes discuss new trends or aspects of a specific rural problem or sum up some research period. They are usually written by leading experts and do not contain any empirical research.

Short communications are characterized as articles that are usually not sufficiently based on international literature or lack their own research. However, they are interesting and/or have some quotation potential from a specific viewpoint (e.g. problems of a specific region or a specific field of study not sufficiently covered by scientific literature or some application innovations - best practices)

The authors should suggest the type of paper together with its submission. Nevertheless, the Executive Board could change it.

The recommended minimum structure of a Research Paper is as follows:

Introduction

minimal content: the basic context of theme including precise place of concerned area in European (and national) framework (see the three questions at the beginning) clearly defined research objectives, possibly hypotheses, basic argumentation to support the hypotheses if suitable

Theoretical background

content: This part is mainly based on a critical literature review (regional and foreign authors) including one's own evaluation and interpretation.

Methodology

minimal content: description and justification of the applied methods, data sources, monitored period, etc. a characteristic of the region under study when appropriate

Results

minimal content: research results with comments, explanation of causal relations,

Conclusion and discussion

minimal content: summary of research findings, comparison with another region/in European context/other research of authors/another methodological approach etc., comment on the research objectives and hypotheses.

It is recommended to divide the manuscript by subtitles in a common structure (introduction, theoretical and methodological background based on international literature, empirical knowledge, conclusion, discussion, acknowledgements, and references). The paper should contain a unifying idea from the introduction to the conclusions).

Peer Review process

Each paper will go through an initial evaluation. It means being checked by the anti-plagiarism program and an initial evaluation from viewpoints of coincidence with the aim and scope of the journal, a clear definition of the aim and research question(s) of the paper and its sufficient embedding in the international literature (defined as papers in journals covered by Web of Knowledge or SCOPUS).

In the case of a positive initial evaluation, the manuscript is forwarded to the external review process. The journal follows a double-blind reviewing procedure. Manuscripts are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers from different countries. The reviewers can recommend the acceptance of the manuscript in the original version, with minor, with major changes, after substantial reworking or its rejection. The author(s) obtain the reviews with the standpoint or instructions of the Executive Board after the review process is completed. The Executive Board, as a collective body, always decides whether or not to accept the article in the external review process and about the final decision on publication.

Editorial Policy

European Countryside is an international online scientific journal focusing on rural research. It publishes theoretical and empirical articles, considering the multi-functional rural development, regional aspects of rural problems and results of individual disciplines directed towards the countryside. European Countryside supports European integration processes, a collaboration of European experts and the idea of Europe of Regions. Publishing in European Countryside is open for experts from universities, research institutes and other scientific institutions regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or religion. Until further notice, the journal suspends cooperation with authors affiliated with workplaces in Russia.

The Journal publishes individual articles, mono-thematic issues, conference papers, articles based on theses or research reports. Only technical criteria such as quality, language level and technical competence are decisive for accepting or refection the article. The Executive Board of the Journal decides on the base of at least two independent reviews. The review process is confidential. The acceptance of the article for publication is conditioned by payment of the publication costs by the authors or their institutions as a rule. On the other hand, all published articles are at disposal free of charge to the widest spectrum of readers.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE

The fee for publishing the Research paper is EUR 190. The fee for other contributions (short communication, research note, editorial) is EUR 170. The fee is reduced for Board of Reviewers members by EUR 30 for each article reviewed.

SUBMISSION

The paper should be submitted simply as an attachment to eurocountry@seznam.cz. The author will communicate directly with the editor, not with a robot. There is no need to register in any system, choose a login or password, enter other unnecessary data, dissect the article into parts and the like.