Instructions for referees

Samlaren publishes scholarly articles about Swedish and other Nordic literature, as well as theoretical articles of relevance to the field of literature. To assess an article, a double-blind peer-review procedure is followed, meaning that if the editor determines an incoming article is of sufficiently high quality to be reviewed, the manuscript will be sent in anonymized form to two expert referees, whose identities are similarly concealed from the author.

Referees engaged must not be close colleagues, or the equivalent, to the author, nor may they be individuals known to stand in a polemical relation to the author.

The main purpose of the review is to determine whether the article lives up to Samlaren’s scholarly requirements. Peer reviewers should consider the following questions in their reading of the article:

1. Is the problem to be addressed clearly formulated? Does the author carry out what s/he intended to do?
2. Is the research relevant to the field of scholarship? Are the findings new and interesting?
3. Does the article take into consideration relevant research in the field?
4. Does the research make a contribution to the field?
5. Are the choices of materials, theories, and methods apposite?
6. Is the argumentation rigorous, and are the conclusions justified?
7. Is the language of the article fitting and formally acceptable?

The expert statement must ultimately arrive at one of the following conclusions:

1. Should be accepted for publication
2. Should be accepted for publication, with minor revisions/corrections
3. Should be accepted for publication, with major revisions/corrections
4. Should be revised and submitted anew for possible peer review
5. Rejection

The assessment should be justified in 1–3 pages. All relevant comments, both major and minor, will be gratefully received. The referee should handle the manuscript with discretion and may not quote from the article or refer to it until it has been published.