Guidelines

Open Access Policy

Journal of Black Opera and Music Theatre provides immediate open access to its content in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Journal of Black Opera and Music Theatre does not charge any article processing charges (APCs) or article submission charges (ASCs) and does allow the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions.

 (Link BOAI: https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/)

Peer Review Process

The articles published in this journal go through a double-blind peer review process. After an initial review by the editors, each article is anonymized and assessed by two anonymous members of the consulting board or other expert reviewers. We reserve the right for only one peer-reviewer if it is unavoidable.

Publication Ethics

Journal of Black Opera and Music Theatre endeavours to ensure the high quality of its publications. It adheres to high standards of ethical behaviour and expects them to be adhered by all parties involved in the publication. This includes the author, journal editor, peer reviewers and publisher.  Journal of Black Opera and Music Theatre follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for the preservation of scientific integrity.

(Link COPE: https://publicationethics.org/oversight)

AI Authorship

The use of a Large Language Model (LLM), such as ChatGPT, should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript. However, an LLM cannot figure as an author of any kind, furthermost because authorship implicates accountability for the work, an impposible requirement for LLMs. Therefore, its undeclarated use is not allowed in any case.

Generative AI Images

The area for generative AI image creation develops rapidly. Therefore, we will review and adapt our respective rules and policies on a regular basis.

Currently, the following rules apply: as publishers, we strictly follow the copyright law in place and best practices regarding publication ethics. Therefore, generative AI images are not allowed in our publications. Exceptions are images/art obtained from agencies that have created images in a legally acceptable manner; or images and videos reproduced in a text that is specifically about AI. 

The use of non-generative machine learning tools to change existing images or figures must be declared explicitly in the submission and the use of these images or figures will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Plagiarism

Journal of Black Opera and Music Theatre is committed to publishing only original material that has not already been published or reviewed elsewhere. Any manuscript that raises concerns about plagiarism will be reviewed and cases of plagiarism will be sanctioned.

Conflict of Interests

Reviewers, authors and editors must disclose any and all possible financial or non-financial conflicts of interest regarding the manuscript. Please contact the journal editors with any questions.

Archiving

To ensure the long-term availability of scientific information, the contents of the journal are archived with LOCKSS

Style Guide

Submissions should be typeset in Word, using a standard Unicode font (e.g. Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial), font size 12, and double spaced. Images and figures should be sent separately, with clear in-text signalling for placement. Please ensure that all copyright permissions have been obtained before you submit your contribution.

Spelling

  • British (-ise)

Punctuation

  • Single quote marks (double inner)
  • Punctuation should be outside closing quotation marks, unless a complete sentence is quoted.
  • Serial comma
  • Footnote indicators outside quotation marks, and after the end of a sentence.
    • Avoid footnotes indicators that are internal to a sentence unless absolutely necessary.
  • Ellipses:
    • three points only, space before + after
    • for missing text within sentences – text … text
    • for missing complete sentences – text. … Text
    • for missing text at end of sentence – text … . Text
    • for missing text at start of sentence – text. … text
  • Unspaced initials – E.A. Lowe
  • Spaced n-dash

Abbreviations/Contractions

  • No point if ending with final letter of word: St, Dr, Mr, 2nd edn, vs
  • Exceptions specific plurals: cols., vols., fols., eds., nos.
  • Full point when not final letter of word: col., vol., ff., ed., no., pp., trans., cf., Exx, et al., etc., fn.
  • sic
  • g., (with comma in parenthesis, full-out in sentence)
  • e., (with comma in parenthesis, full-out in sentence)

 Capitalisation

  • All style period designations and -isms lower case: romantic, modernist. But capitalise when referring to the specific period as a noun: the Classical period.

 Captions

  • Cross reference in text: Example 1, Figure 1 in text and parentheses.
  • Example 1. Excerpt of the sequence Ave plena gratiae.
  • Figure 1. A photograph of English National Opera’s staging of Act IV scene 2, 14 June 1974. Copyright, British Library. Reproduced with permission.
  • Table 1. Distribution of birthplaces of British opera singers active 1850–1960, by region and nation.
  • Elide bar/bars to b./bb. in captions.

Competing Interests

  • Author A is employed at company B. Author C is on the Board of company E and is a member of organisation F. Author G has received grants from company H.
  • Add competing interests as a footnote at the beginning of the article.

Dates

  • 1 January 2019
  • 1960-5
  • 1960s
  • 1100 (no space)
  • twentieth century
  • 1850s and 1860s (not 1850s and 60s)

Foreign Languages

  • Terms should be given in italics, with English translation where necessary in brackets afterwards, not italicised.
  • For entire passages quoted in a foreign language, provide English translation in the body text and original language (within quote marks) in a footnote. Name the translator.
  • Verse citations should appear in two columns, original language in left hand and translation in right hand column.

Music Conventions

  • When referring to notes (as opposed to keys), flats, sharps and naturals should be indicated by the conventional signs, not words.
  • The following system should be followed for indicating precise pitch: C2 C1 C c c1 c2 c3 , where c1 is middle C.
  • Terminology: British (bars, not measures; semibreve, minim, crotchet, not half note, quarter note etc.)

Notes

  • Footnotes
  • Use surname + short title for recurring references
  • Do not use ibid., idem., etc.

Numbers

  • spell out up to 100
  • max elision eg 126–9
  • Numbers: bars (four-bar phrase; bar 4), pages, work numbers (eg Symphony No. 5), age, money, length
  • Write out ordinals (third, fourth, nineteenth)
  • 5,000
  •  
  • 5 per cent, but if appears a lot in an article, use %

Operas

  • Opera titles should be italicised.
  • Aria or ensemble incipits in single quotation marks.
  • Acts and scenes from operas should be identified (where appropriate) using capitalised Roman numerals for the Act, and Arabic numerals for the scene: Act II scene 3.

Possessives

  • Brahms’s, Orpheus’s

Score References

  • In main text – bar 1 or bars 5–8; in captions – b. 1, bb. 5–8.
  • Rehearsal numbers or letters: No. 1, Nos. 2–4, Rehearsal Letter A, Rehearsal
  • Letters B–D, Rehearsal Number 62.
  • For recordings, use timings rather than bar nos. etc. wherever possible.

Referencing