The Journal of Audiovisual Ethnomusicology (JAVEM) is a newly established, bi-annual, peer-reviewed streaming journal of ethnomusicological film and video sponsored by the Society for Ethnomusicology.

JAVEM aims to advance the use of video/film as a method for exploring music and its entanglements, and as a medium for presenting those explorations.

We invite the submission to JAVEM of original audiovisual contributions.

The editors will consider expository, experimental, and/or artistic works that articulate an argument within or adjacent to the field of ethnomusicology. Accepted audiovisual works will represent current research, new theoretical perspectives, and critical audio-visual strategies that fall outside the limitations of print scholarship. The work, which can be of any length, should produce new musicological knowledge about its subject through its audiovisual form. The web format will also allow for supporting text and relevant hyperlinks to the primary work.

We expect that most submissions will come from academics who make films. This said, we also aspire to bridge the gap between academia and commercial documentary film and to provide a vehicle for the distribution of films by non-academic filmmakers whose films constitute an ethnographic point of view on a musical culture, group, or phenomenon. Similarly, works by producers without academic affiliation are welcome, but these will be evaluated according to the same standards of creativity and scholarship as those by academics.

The work should not be under consideration for academic peer-reviewed publication elsewhere. Works do not need to be exclusive – that is, works that have circulated elsewhere (such as on video sharing sites) may be considered for publication in JAVEM, but they should not have already been included in an academic publication.

Contributors should send the following to our editing team at javem.editor@gmail.com

1. a link to their media, preferably to a password protected page.
2. a fifty-word abstract 
3. a 150-word bio
4. a 300-1000-word supporting statement that articulates the research aims and process of the work as well as the ways in which those aims are achieved in the audiovisual form. 
5. A list of keywords that best describe your film (no more than 10 words).

Furthermore, each submission must conform to the following:

1. Specific suggestions as to how the film might be used
2. A minimum of 80% of the footage must be recorded or otherwise produced by the author/video maker (i.e., archival footage must not exceed 20% of the film’s TRT).
3. Archival footage must conform to international, national, and local laws concerning “fair use” and copyright infringement; all archival footage must be properly attributed.
4. The person submitting the video must own or have licensed the copyright to the video.
5. All persons appearing in the video must provide informed consent to the filming and to the distribution of the film. All responsibility and legal liability for relations with film subjects rest solely upon the filmmaker.

There are no submission or processing charges – JAVEM will be free to publish, free to read, and made available for educational use.

Upon receipt, within one month, JAVEM editors will watch the work, confer on it, and either: agree, in the first instance, to send the work out for peer review to two expert reviewers (including members of JAVEM’s editorial board); or write to the author to explain why, in our view, the work does not yet merit being sent out for external review. One JAVEM editor will agree to take on the role of liaising with the author and reviewers for each submission.

Peer reviewers will know the name of the person(s) submitting the work (single blind review) and, at the outset of the review process, will be asked to declare any conflict of interest. If there is a conflict, a new reviewer will be sought. Once a reviewer agrees to evaluate the work (comprising video and research statement) they will be asked to make a written recommendation (approximately 300-500-words) to the editors about publication, normally within two months of being sent the work, with several conclusive options: “PUBLISH AS IS,” “PUBLISH WITH MINOR REVISIONS,” “REVISE AND RESUBMIT,” or “REJECT.”

Following the reviewers and editors’ approval of the work for publication (with or without further amendments, on which video authors will work in discussion with one assigned editor, normally within the space of a month), submitted videos will be published alongside the original or amended research statement, as well as edited versions of the peer-reviews (signed by their authors). Further comments from readers/viewers will be encouraged.

Authors will retain the rights to their videos and creator statements, granting JAVEM the right to publish their work. While we allow creators to determine their own copyright stipulations based on their country of residence, we encourage creators to license their work under CreativeCommons.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

The timescale for the review process is intended to be four to six months from submission.

Thank you!

Ben Harbert
Frank Gunderson
– JAVEM Co-Editors In-Chief