VESTNIK: The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
Editorial Board, Policies, and Processes

Vestnik Editorial Board

 Joshua H. Wilson, M.A., Editor-in-Chief, Assistant Director of the School of Russian and Asian Studies
Renee Stillings, B.S., Director, The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Dr. Victor Peppard, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of World Languages, University of South Florida
Gina Peirce, M.A., Assistant Director, Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Pittsburgh
Gwen S. Myers, M.A., Retired History Teacher
The Peer Review Board is composed of other contributing authors

Policies

The information contained within these papers may be quoted or photocopied for academic purposes, but credit must be given to the author and SRAS. Reproduction for commercial purposes is strictly forbidden.

All contributors retain full ownership of their contributions. Owners of the texts may present them at conferences, republish them for commercial or non-commercial purposes, or use them for any other purpose they see fit. That said, there is no such thing as un-publication. Once a paper is published in Vestnik, it will remain in HTML and PDF and openly available on our site. Published contributions with Vestnik may not be removed for any reason, just as published contributions with any serious academic journal may not removed for any reason.  

Eligible Papers

Vestnik is a publication meant to showcase student work. To be eligible, a submission must have been written while the author was still a student. The author may be no more than two years out of university, and must be under the age of 35 at the time of submission.

Submissions

Submitted papers should include, at the top of the first page, the applicant’s name, major, class standing, and a brief description of his/her future plans. Submissions should not be more than 25 pages (longer submissions may be accepted, but may need to be edited for length), should be in 12-point TNR type with one-inch margins, double spaced, and in electronic format (MS Word). Since we are dealing with diverse subjects, we will accept MLA, ALA and Chicago formats. Students must indicate upon submission that they are in agreement with all policies and processes as presented on this page.

Vestnik Editorial Process:

Vestnik is an academic publication meant not only to showcase exceptional student work, but to act as a tool to help students improve their research and writing skills. To this end, the Vestnik editorial process is nontraditional and seeks to actively involve the contributor in a multi-step editing process.

1. Initial Review - The Vestnik Editorial Board is responsible for approving or rejecting submissions.
2. Content Edits - One member of the board will work directly with the student on improving the submission's organization, argumentation, clarity, and conciseness. This is handled mostly by making comments to the paper using Word's "Comment" function, through general commentary delivered via email, and by annotated edits made directly to the submission.
3. Style Edits and Proofreading - Once these major edits have been made, the entire board reviews and comments and the resultant product. The student will be briefed on these comments and any additional edits that might be made or need to be made to the submission. The student should approve this second version.
4. Final Edits and Commentary - Once the paper has been finalized, the html and pdf versions of the journal are created and presented to all students for review. Students must review at least their own submissions for formatting issues and any final edits. The authors of included submissions constitute a peer review board for the issue in which their submission will be published. Some additional edits may be made to any remaining grammar and punctuation issues depending on the commentary of this peer review board. Commentary will be shared (anonymously) will all students so that all may learn from each other and students will be given a chance to make final edits based on this commentary. Students who give especially insightful commentary or who point out several remaining edits that should be made are often invited to become student members of the board.

Of course, the process is often not as complicated as it may sound. Some submissions require very little content editing. Subsequent edits after the content edits are often very minor. However, we believe that this basic system provides students with much insight to their research and gives an excellent opportunity to students to learn and to publish the best paper possible.

$200 Jury Award

For every issue of Vestnik, one $200 Jury Award is presented. After publication, the editorial board will select the best (most interesting, original, well-written, and well-argued) submission. The recipient will be sent an official letter of congratulations along with a $200 check. This process will take into account as well how receptive the author was to improving the paper before publication under the guidance of our editorial board.

Questions

If you have any questions or concerns about anything concerning Vestnik, contact Josh Wilson, Editor in Chief, at jwilson@sras.org.