The legislation adopted by the ASL to create the category of ASL Sponsored Journals specifies the conditions, terms of agreement, and application procedure specified below. These are intended to ensure that a sponsored journal be viable and of sufficient quality. Questions may be addressed to the ASL Secretary-Treasurer.
- Conditions for Sponsorship
- The journal’s focus should be of interest to a substantial number of ASL members.
- The journal may not be controlled or otherwise affiliated with a for-profit entity.
- Ordinarily, the journal must be sponsored by a second not-for-profit organization in addition to the ASL.
- The journal can be available in electronic format, print, or both.
- Journal articles must be peer-reviewed.
- The journal must have good editorial standards, both for its content and for the technical quality of publication (whether in print or electronic form).
- The journal should have a clear policy for the length of term and the selection of editors.
- The application for sponsorship must specify acceptable conditions for continued long-term fiscal and intellectual viability of the journal, for a period of no less than 5 years.
- The application must specify an explicit and acceptable plan for archiving.
- If a subscription fee is to be charged, the application should address the possibility of a discounted rate for ASL members.
- The journal should provide a mission statement suitable for display on the ASL website.
- The journal should provide and maintain contact information for email correspondence with ASL.
- Terms of Agreement
- The ASL will assume no financial or management responsibilities for the journal other than editorial oversight as specified in the next item.
- Editors are selected in consultation with the President of the ASL and are subject to approval by the ASL Council.
- The journal and its web site will display the ASL logo and state that the journal is sponsored by the ASL.
- The ASL will list the journal on its web site under the heading of Sponsored Journals.
- Sponsorship will be non-exclusive: ASL Sponsored Journals may have other affiliation or sponsorship relationships.
- While the journal is responsible for obtaining copyright of articles, the ASL expects the journal copyright agreement to be similar to the ASL copyright agreement with respect to the right of authors to publicly archive pre- and post-prints.
- The initial term of sponsorship will be for 3 years, renewable for terms of 5 years after review by the ASL. The review will be overseen by the ASL president, in consultation with the Executive Committee and the
- Publications Committee, culminating in a recommendation to be voted upon by the ASL Council.
- The journal must notify the ASL Secretary-Treasurer within 90 days of any material changes in the operation of the journal that were specified in the sponsorship application and agreement.
- Either party may terminate the sponsorship agreement at any time with six months notice.
- Sponsorship Application Procedure
- For a journal be considered for ASL sponsorship, an application addressing all the conditions under (1) above should be submitted to the Secretary-Treasurer of the ASL.
- The application is required to contain a revenue/expenditure estimate, including a list of expected revenue sources. If the application assumes agreements with third parties for revenue or in-kind support (such as hosting for an online journal), these should be included with the application.
- The sponsorship agreement must be ratified by the Council of the ASL. The terms ordinarily must satisfy those specified under (2), above, which are necessary but not sufficient conditions for ASL sponsorship, and may substitute or include other mutually agreed upon terms.