Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings

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An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference - December 1, 2006

Department of Criminology and Mens Rea’s Fifth Annual Postgraduate Conference

Delegates to the Fifth Annual Postgraduate Conference of Mens Rea and the Department of Criminology will have the opportunity to have their papers peer-reviewed and placed on the Web as part of refereed conference proceedings in line with the requirements of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).

Delegates who wish to follow this path should note the following. Submission of papers for peer review follows presentation at the conference and gives presenters the opportunity to revise their papers in the light of comments and questions offered during the conference. You will need to submit a copy of your paper in PDF or RTF format to jar@unimelb.edu.au, along with your contact details by 31 January, 2007 at the latest. This deadline is strict and is brought about by the need to ensure publication in a timely manner.

Papers should be written as continuous expository narrative in a chapter or article style - not as lists of points or PowerPoint presentations. Images, tables, diagrams etc. should be placed in the correct position in the text. Word length for papers should be minimum of 3,000 words to a maximum of 8,000 words. Each paper will be forwarded to two referees who will be asked to certify whether the paper is suitable for publication, as submitted, as part of the conference proceedings. In other words, the procedure differs from the normal procedure of submission to a journal in which editors and referees have the opportunity to suggest or require changes prior to publication. There will be no opportunity to revise and resubmit.

The responses of the referees will be overseen by a small editorial committee, which may seek further opinions in the case of ambiguous recommendations from the referees.

Papers should use the following format:

• 1.5 spaced
• Title of paper and name and institutional affiliation of author(s) centred on first page; text begins on 2nd half of 1st page
• Font: Times New Roman 11 pt
• Pagination: top centre
• Citations: any standard form
• First footnote to read: "This paper was presented to the 5th Annual Mens Rea Postgraduate conference in the Department of Criminology, University of Melbourne 1 December 2006. It has been peer-reviewed and appears on the Conference Proceedings website by permission of the author(s) who retain(s) copyright. The paper may be downloaded for fair use under the Copyright Act (1954), its later amendments and other relevant legislation."

Referees will be asked the following:

"The attached paper was presented at the 5th Annual Mens Rea Postgraduate conference in the Department of Criminology, University of Melbourne 1 December 2006 and has been submitted for possible publication as a peer-reviewed conference paper.

We would be grateful if you would read it and offer us your professional judgement on whether it should be accepted for publication in this form.

A published conference paper should show empirical and/or analytical depth in its treatment of the topic and should be anchored critically and reflectively in other literature on the topic. It should be presented in a way that is accessible to an appropriate scholarly audience.

Please note that the review process for conference papers, which have already been presented, does not provide an opportunity for the author to modify the paper in response to suggestions from referees. We ask, therefore, for a simple Yes or No to the question of whether the paper can be published. If your answer is 'No', however, we would be grateful for a few lines explaining your decision. This explanation will be forwarded to the author in due course.

We would be grateful if you can let us have your judgement by 30 March 2007 at the latest."

The refereeing process will begin on, or after, 31 January 2007, but delegates who have a special need for earlier approval (e.g. a job application) may apply for an earlier review, explaining their particular needs.

Access to the papers on the Web will be free of charge.

The conference organising committee gratefully recognises the Asian Studies Association of Australia as the source of these guidelines and thanks them for permission to reproduce their guidelines here.