WiderScreen is a Finnish academic journal dealing with multimedial, digital, and audiovisual media culture. It publishes peer-reviewed articles, review articles, overviews, interviews, reviews, essays, columns, reports and media/art works by academic researchers on both the international and Finnish media scene. The journal is recognized as level 1 peer-reviewed publication by the national Publication Forum.
WiderScreen is supported by Filmiverkko, a non-profit association promoting film-related online publications, and funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education. WiderScreen also co-operates with Film-O-Holic.com, a popular website concentrating on film reviews and film culture.
NEW! Authors can now submit a Registered Report to WiderScreen via the Peer Community in Registered Reports (PCI RR). PCI RR performs peer review and then offers authors the opportunity to publish their approved manuscript without further peer review in a range of journals, including WiderScreen. Further guidance concerning the PCI RR platform may be found at https://rr.peercommunityin.org/
Manuscript Offers to the Journal
If you are interested in offering your manuscript to WiderScreen, first contact the editor-in-chief or the editorial secretary.
In addition to WiderScreen’s thematic issues, the journal also publishes individual texts in the Current Topics Section throughout the year. WiderScreen also publishes creative works, such as image collections, experimental media pieces and artworks. Publication languages are Finnish and English.
What Types of Manuscripts Can Be Offered?
Peer reviewed article: All articles go through a double-blind peer review process. The main purpose of peer reviewed articles is to publicize new, original and well-founded research. The recommended length is 4000–7000 words, unless otherwise noted in the CfP. Finnish JuFo classification: A1.
Peer reviewed review article: A comprehensive, in-depth article where the main focus is not on new scientific contributions can also be published as a peer-reviewed review. In this case, the texts are reviewed according to the normal peer review process by two separate experts. Finnish JuFo classification: A2
Review article: A review article surveys and summarizes previously published studies, instead of reporting new facts or analysis. A review article can also be an introduction to a more advanced research study (e.g. peer reviewed article or scientific book). Review articles do not go through a peer review. The recommended length is 3000–6000 words. Finnish JuFo classification: B1.
Essay: Academic writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis and interpretation. Essays are not peer-reviewed. The recommended length is 2000-4000 words. Finnish JuFo classification: B1.
Review/critique: In-depth review of scientific publications, popular books or media productions.
Interview: Interviews of people working in the field of audiovisual and digital culture.
Column/Position paper: It is also possible to submit free-form articles related to the topics of thematic issues. The purpose of these articles is also to popularize the scientific debate to a wider audience.
Conference presentation: The journal also publishes scientifically meritorious conference presentations dealing with various aspects of audiovisual and digital culture.
Peer Review Practices
Articles submitted to WiderScreen undergo a double-blind peer review. WiderScreen follows the evaluation guidelines of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies and the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (https://www.tsv.fi/en/services/label-for-peer-reviewed-scholarly-publications).
The editor-in-chief and the editorial board of WiderScreen select two suitable anonymous peer reviewers for research articles submitted for publication. Reviewers are typically experts with a doctoral degree, but reviewers without a doctoral degree can be used if they have the necessary expertise for evaluating the article.
When writing their evaluation statement, reviewers utilize WiderScreen’s evaluation form, which requests assessment of the article’s scientific quality, originality, argumentation, reliability and focus. Additionally, the structure, clarity, and style of the text are also evaluated. In most cases, a revised version of the article is requested, depending on the feedback. The manuscripts may also be sent for re-evaluation if it is deemed necessary.
The editorial board does not guarantee the publication of a manuscript even if the submission has been requested. The final decision on publication is made by the editor-in-chief and the editorial board.
Reviews, columns and other writings published in WiderScreen do not undergo anonymous peer review, but authors receive feedback and revision recommendations from the editorial board.
The editorial staff reserves the right to make editorial changes to the texts.
Author Guidelines
Structure
Manuscripts should follow the following structure:
- Author’s name and contact information
- Title
- Brief summary of the text’s main content (180–280 characters including spaces)
- Abstract (120–200 words)
- 4–8 keywords
- Main text
- References
- Possible endnotes
General Guidelines
– WiderScreen generally follows the Chicago Author-date referencing style.
– Text should be written in 12pt font with 1.5 line spacing. Headings and subheadings should be bolded and paragraphs should be separated by a blank row. Quotation marks should be used for short citations and an intended paragraph for longer ones.
– Titles of cultural products (games, movies, TV shows, books, etc.) should be italicized. The year of publication should be included in parentheses after the title when mentioned for the first time.
Author Information
Authors should provide their name, academic degree, current position, and affiliation.
Example:
Sari Jokinen
sari.h.jokinen [at] utu.fi
Ph.D., University Lecturer
University of Turku
Citations
– WiderScreen uses in-text citations. The author’s surname, publication year, and page numbers are inserted inside parentheses (Virtanen 2005, 42–43).
– When referring to multiple sources, they are separated by semicolons (e.g., Virtanen 2005, 47; Mäkelä, Korpela & Koskela 2019).
– The ’&’ symbol is used between two authors instead of the word ‘and’. If there are more than three authors, only the surname of the first author is used, followed by ’et al.’ (e.g., Jokinen et al. 2014).
– When referring to news articles, include the name of the news site and the publication date in the citation (e.g. Helsingin Sanomat 19.5.2023).
– If necessary, explanatory endnotes can be added to the article, but their excessive use is not recommended. If endnotes are used, they are added after the reference list under the title ’Endnotes’.
Reference List
– The reference list should include the following text: ’All links verified <date and year>.’
– The reference list is placed at the end of the manuscript under the title ’References.’ Research material and literature should be grouped under separate headings.
– References are listed alphabetically by the author’s surname. If multiple works by the same author are referenced, they are listed from the most recent to the oldest. Publications from the same year are distinguished by adding a letter after the publication year (2019a, 2019b).
– References are listed as follows: Author’s surname, first name, year of publication, title of paper or book, the name and volume number of the journal, or book publisher and location. The title of the book or the title of the journal should be italicized.
– For online sources, links to the publication are added. DOI or other permanent identifiers are used whenever available.
– As in citations, in the reference list ’&’ symbol is used between authors names instead of the word ‘and’.
– Examples:
Monograph
Suominen, Jaakko, Sari Östman, Petri Saarikoski & Riikka Turtiainen. 2015. Sosiaalisen median lyhyt historia. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
Research Article in an Online Journal
Saarikoski, Petri. 2016. ”’Pistä natsi asialle ja mene itse perässä!’ Hitler-videomeemien historia ja anatomia”. WiderScreen 19 (1–2). http://widerscreen.fi/numerot/2016-1-2/pista-natsi-asia-ja-anatomia/
Research Article in an Edited Volume
Suominen, Jaakko & Tero Pasanen. 2020. ”Digiversioita, klooneja ja omia ideoita: Suomalaisissa tietokonelehdissä julkaistut peliohjelmalistaukset 1978–1990”. In Jonne Arjoranta, Usva Friman, Raine Koskimaa, Frans Mäyrä, Olli Sotamaa, Jaakko Suominen & Tanja Välisalo (eds.) Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja 2020: 3–35. http://www.pelitutkimus.fi/vuosikirja2020/ptvk-02.pdf
Newspaper Article
Helsingin Sanomat 19.5.2023. ”Instagram valmistelee Twitterin kanssa kilpailevaa sovellusta”. https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000009598648.html
Alternatively, the following format can be used:
Helsingin Sanomat 19.5.2023. Venla Kuokkanen: ”Instagram valmistelee Twitterin kanssa kilpailevaa sovellusta”. https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000009598648.html
Images and Video Material
– It is advisable to use images, charts and videos to complement the text. Mark their place, caption and source in text and send the actual images as separate files. Example: <image1.jpg>, caption text. Source: e.g. photo taken by the author.
– The jpeg format is preferred for colorful images. For charts and statistics the png file format should be used.
– Video material is embedded as a link in the articles. The original video should be uploaded to a video distribution service (e.g. YouTube), and the link should be added to the manuscript where the embedding is desired.
– The author must ensure that permission is obtained for the use of images, even though the journal applies the right to quote materials for scientific, non-commercial publications according the Finnish Citation Right. In cases of copyright issues, the responsibility lies with the author.
Submission of Manuscripts and Files
– All files are submitted to the issue editors. Articles for the Current Topics Section are submitted to the editor-in-chief and the editorial secretary.
– The manuscript is submitted as a word processing document (e.g. docx).
– If the article will undergo a peer review, an anonymized version is also submitted along with it.
– Submission should be done with email attachments or a cloud service link (e.g. Drive, Dropbox, One Drive, etc.). When dealing with large file sizes, it is recommended to compile all files into a zip file.
Rights and Restrictions on Text Use
Copyrights to texts published in WiderScreen belong to the authors. WiderScreen is an open science publication, and texts published in the journal may be freely used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. Any commercial use must be negotiated with with the authors.
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Contact information
Mailing address: Kuusiston koulutie 11, 21620 Kuusisto
E-mail petsaari [a] utu.fi
Editor in Chief
Petri Saarikoski, PhD, Docent, University of Turku (petsaari [a] utu.fi)
Subeditor: Jenna Peltonen (toimitussihteeri [a] widerscreen.fi)
Web editor: JP Jokinen
Administration: Juha Rosenqvist
Editorial Staff
Kimmo Ahonen, Veli-Matti Karhulahti, Tero Karppi, Tomi Knuutila, Pietari Kääpä, Markku Reunanen, Jaakko Stenros, Pauliina Tuomi, Riikka Turtiainen, Johanna Ylipulli, Anna Sivula, Elina Vaahensalo and Tommi Iivonen.
Widerscreen.fi / ISSN 1795-6161
Publisher: Filmiverkko ry
Founded in 1998
Place of publication: Turku
Ry number: 174 829