Enacted on April 25, 2024
Revised on June 8, 2026
The International Journal of Documentary Heritage (IJODH), launched in 2024, fosters interdisciplinary research on the world’s documentary heritage. Addressing the need for international academic and professional exchange, the IJODH is a thematic publication of the International Centre for Documentary Heritage (ICDH) under the auspices of UNESCO, released annually on December 30th. It aims to enhance global understanding of documentary heritage by stimulating academic discourse and promoting best practices across related fields.
As the first and only academic journal dedicated to this theme, the IJODH actively expands the international network through its publications and academic events. We welcome contributions from scholars, specialists, and professionals worldwide. The journal accepts a wide range of formats, including theoretical essays, empirical research articles, policy briefs, book/exhibition reviews, Memory of the World (MoW) nomination-related content, training materials, data articles, practical reports, and narratives.
To submit a manuscript to IJODH, it is advised to first carefully read the aims and scope section of this journal, as it provides information on the editorial policy and the category of papers it accepts. IJODH adheres completely to guidelines and best practices published by professional organizations, including Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA (https://doaj.org/apply/transparency/) if otherwise not described below. IJODH would like to keep the principles and policies of those professional organizations during editing and the publication process.
IJODH serves as a distinguished platform for disseminating a broad spectrum of scholarship on the world’s documentary heritage and UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) Programme. Published in print and online formats, the journal fosters in-depth discussions on theory and practice across diverse disciplines.
Content encompasses a wide range of formats, including theoretical essays, empirical research articles, policy briefs, book/exhibition reviews, Memory of the World (MoW) nomination-related contents, training materials, data articles, practical reports, and narratives. This inclusive approach fosters an expansive academic forum.
IJODH prioritizes research that is academically and practically relevant. We strive to provide researchers and experts with timely access to cutting-edge findings and best practices. With a commitment to professionalism, diversity, and inclusivity, the journal plays a vital role in advancing the global understanding of documentary heritage.
IJODH acts as a bridge, connecting diverse groups, cultures, and countries. We actively encourage contributions that incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives and employ innovative research methods. This ensures the journal remains at the forefront of addressing contemporary and unique communication topics in the field.
The journal promotes its content through its website and publisher communication channels. Invitations to submit manuscripts may be sent to presenters at conferences or workshops whose work aligns with the journal’s scope.
IJODH is an Open Access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
For all articles published in IJODH, copyright is retained by the authors. Articles are licensed under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted provided that the original published version is cited. These conditions allow for use and exposure of the work, while ensuring that the authors receive proper credit.
Authors are permitted to upload and share preprints (versions of the manuscript prior to peer review) and postprints (accepted versions). However, they must clearly disclose any prior preprint posting at the time of submission. The disclosure should include the name of the preprint server and the DOI or URL. This information should be included in the manuscript.
Example disclosure:
“A preprint version of this manuscript was previously uploaded to arxiv (DOI: https://doi.org/10.00000/2025.01.01.123456).”
Submissions must be original, and manuscripts that have been previously published or are currently under consideration by another journal will not be accepted for review.
All costs associated with the submission, peer review, copy-editing, and publication of manuscripts in IJODH are fully supported by the International Centre for Documentary Heritage (ICDH) under the auspices of UNESCO. Therefore, there are no article processing charges (APCs), submission fees, or any other costs required from the authors.
IJODH strongly encourages authors to share their underlying research data in the interest of transparency, reproducibility, and future research advancement—unless prevented by compelling ethical, legal, or privacy-related justifications.
Authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in publicly accessible, trusted data repositories, and to include a link to the dataset and its digital object identifier (DOI) in the main text or reference list of the manuscript.
IJODH adheres to the guidelines and best practices published by professional organizations, including ICMJE Recommendations and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (https://doaj.org/bestpractice). Furthermore, all processes of handling research and publication misconduct (or when faced with cases of suspected misconduct) shall follow the applicable Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/guidance). Any attempt at duplicate publication or plagiarism will result in immediate and automatic rejection, may also adversely affect the acceptance of manuscripts submitted over the following three years, and may be publicly disclosed in the journal.
All participants in the publication and peer review process—not only authors but also peer reviewers, editors, and Editorial Committee members of the IJODH—must consider their conflicts of interest when fulfilling their roles in the process of submission, article review, and publication, and must disclose all relationships that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest.
All authors should disclose their conflicts of interest, i.e., (1) financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony), (2) personal relationships, (3) academic competition, and (4) intellectual passion.
Authors must include these conflicts of interest before the References list in the manuscript file. If the undisclosed conflict of interest is suspected in a submitted manuscript or published article, a committee composed of Editorial Committee members will be held and discussed, and IJODH will follow the process of the applicable COPE flowchart (https://publicationethics.org/guidance).
The authors should be responsible for the credibility of all allegations of scientific misconduct, e.g., suspected fabrication or falsification of data, double publication, or plagiarism. Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published and not be under consideration for another journal. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Committee of IJODH. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Crossref Similarity Check upon receipt by the journal. If a redundant or duplicate publication is attempted or occurs without such notification, the submitted manuscript will be rejected immediately, and the incident will be announced in IJODH, and their institutions may be informed. There will also be penalties imposed by the IJODH Ethics Committee. It is the responsibility of the authors to request permission from the appropriate authority for any material that is being reproduced for the publication in IJODH. This requirement applies to text, figures, tables, audio and/or video.
With any allegation raised by the reviewers, readers, or the third party, the editor-in-chief together with the IJODH ethics committee will first attempt to address the matter with the corresponding author. In case this fails to resolve the situation satisfactorily, the editor-in-chief will contact the institution of the corresponding author to request an investigation; the editor-in-chief may also contact the coauthors and/or the funder(s) of the published research.
Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3) final approval of the version to be published, and 4) agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that the questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The authors should meet these 4 conditions. If the number of authors is equal to or greater than 2, there should be a list of each author’s role in the submitted paper. The description of co-first authors is accepted if the corresponding author believes that such roles existed in contributing to the manuscript.
All submitted manuscripts should be original and should not be in consideration by other journals for publication. Any part of the accepted manuscript should not be duplicated in any other journal without permission of the Editorial Committee, although the figures and tables can be used freely if the original source is verified according to the Creative Commons Attribution License. It is mandatory for all authors to resolve any copyright issues when citing a figure or table from other journals that are not open access.
Manuscripts may be considered for secondary publication provided they meet the following conditions:
IJODH defines research and publication misconduct as follows. These definitions are based on the COPE and ICMJE guidelines:
When IJODH encounters suspected cases of research or publication misconduct—including but not limited to redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, inappropriate changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, ethical concerns in submitted manuscripts, misappropriation of ideas or data by reviewers, or complaints against editors—these will be managed in accordance with the guidelines and flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/guidance.
Preliminary Review: Upon receiving a report or identifying a possible case of misconduct, the Editorial Committee will conduct an initial review to assess whether the allegation has merit.
Formal Notification: If a formal investigation is warranted, the corresponding author (or the individual(s) involved) will be notified in writing, informed of the allegations, and given an opportunity to respond and provide a written explanation.
Review and Decision: The Editorial Committee will review all evidence, including statements from all parties, in accordance with COPE principles. Decisions will be made by consensus or majority vote within the Board.
Confidentiality: The identity of the whistleblower (if any) and all parties involved will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law and ethical guidelines. All communications will be handled with strict discretion.
Actions Taken: If misconduct is confirmed, the Editorial Committee may take one or more of the following actions:
IJODH is committed to preserving the integrity of the academic record. When necessary, the journal will publish errata, corrigenda, retractions, clarifications, or formal apologies in accordance with the outcome of the investigation.
The Editorial Committee is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and scholarly integrity. To this end, the editors hold the following responsibilities:
The Editorial Committee remains dedicated to maintaining transparency, fairness, and the highest ethical standards throughout the peer review and publication cycle.
This policy is based on international guidelines and best practices regarding the use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in scholarly publishing.
Authors may use generative AI or AI-assisted tools solely to enhance the readability and language quality of their work. However, these tools must not be used to generate scientific content, such as data interpretation, hypothesis generation, conclusions, or recommendations. Generative AI must not replace essential scholarly tasks that require original intellectual contribution.
Use of these tools should be conducted with human oversight and control. Authors must critically review and edit any AI-generated content, recognizing that such tools may produce inaccurate, incomplete, or biased information.
Authors are fully responsible and accountable for the entire content of their submitted manuscript, regardless of the use of AI.
Authors must disclose any use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in a dedicated section titled:
Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies in the Writing Process
This section should be placed before the References list in the manuscript file.
Example statement:
During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used [NAME of TOOL / SERVICE] to [REASON]. The author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of this publication.
This disclosure promotes transparency and complies with the terms of use of AI tools.
Generative AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors. Authorship entails accountability for the integrity of the work and the ability to approve the final version—duties that only humans can fulfill.
The use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create, modify, or manipulate images in the manuscript is strictly prohibited. This includes:
Acceptable adjustments:
Authors should ensure that all image modifications comply with IJODH’s Research and Publication Ethics Policy.
Reviewers must preserve the confidentiality of manuscripts and the integrity of the peer review process. Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude) must not be used substantially in peer review or as a substitute for the reviewer’s own scholarly judgment.
Reviewers must not upload, paste, or otherwise submit the manuscript, any part of the manuscript, unpublished data, confidential editorial information, or personally identifiable information to public or external generative AI tools, unless the journal has explicitly approved the use of a secure tool that guarantees confidentiality, data protection, and non-retention.
Generative AI tools may be used only for limited auxiliary purposes that do not involve disclosure of manuscript content, such as checking general background concepts, improving the language of the reviewer’s own comments, or grammar checking. Reviewers must not use generative AI tools to summarize the manuscript, assess its scientific merit, evaluate its methodology, determine originality, recommend an editorial decision, or draft the substantive content of the peer review report.
Reviewers remain fully responsible for the content, accuracy, fairness, and integrity of their review. Any use of generative AI assistance must be disclosed to the journal, including the tool used and the purpose and scope of its use.
Manuscripts to be submitted are to be typed using Microsoft Word (doc, docx, rtf). Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the Instructions for Authors. Submitted manuscripts that do not follow the instructions, or that are otherwise considered unsuitable for publication will be returned to the author(s) without review. Please refer to the sample paper template for the format of headings, spacing, reference, font and size.
Manuscript Length: Submitted manuscripts must not exceed 8,000 words, including abstract, tables, and figures. Short reports and reviews should consist of 3,000 words or less. Unlimited length is allowed only when considered necessary.
The title should be centered, bold, and in title case (capitalizing the first letter of major words). Avoid using abbreviations or formulas in the title.
All manuscripts must include an English abstract. The abstract should be a single paragraph that summarizes the research purpose, methodology, key findings, and conclusions. It should be written in a way that is understandable to a broad audience without reference to the main text. No citations or statistical values (unless essential) should be included in the abstract. Provide 3 to 6 keywords that represent the main topics of the paper. Keywords should be written in lowercase (except for proper nouns), separated by commas, and listed in alphabetical order.
To ensure clarity and a consistent structure, authors should follow the APA 7th edition heading levels. Please do not use more than three levels of headings unless absolutely necessary.
Example of Headings:
APA 7th edition style is applied. Reference list should be provided next to the conclusion. with is required. Footnotes are allowed only for additional information or copyright attribution.
The journal uses the author-date citation system in accordance with APA 7th edition. Every in-text citation must correspond to an entry in the reference list.
Photographs or other illustrations should be submitted in digital form in high resolution JPG, EPS, PNG, PPT, PDF or TIFF formats (minimum 300 dpi; preferably 600 dpi). They should be submitted as separate files.
A brief biography of no more than 150-200 words, listing academic qualifications, posts held, current post and research interests.
If tables or figures are reused or modified from other publications, authors must obtain permission from the original publisher, unless the source is open access under a Creative Commons license.
Examples:
Paper (article) submission through the online submission webpage is open 24/7. Papers that are submitted until the August 31st will be subjected to the publication process and discussed in the Editorial Committee meeting in October every year. Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published in another journal nor can they be simultaneously under consideration with another journal. An author cannot submit more than one paper to the same volume of the journal.
All submitted manuscripts, including invited articles, undergo a rigorous initial screening by the editor-in-chief and other members of the Editorial Committee before being sent for peer review.
Eligible articles are evaluated by two reviewers, of whom one (but not more than one) may be a member of the Editorial Committee, according to the following criteria:
Reviewers are selected from the list of reviewers recommended by the Editorial Committee and asked to review a manuscript. The reviewers shall follow the ethics guidelines for reviewers:
The submitted articles can be revised or re-assessed in accordance to the assessment result as follows:
| No. | Reviewer 1 | Reviewer 2 | Result |
| 1 | A | A | Accepted for publication |
| 2 | A | B | Publish after revision |
| 3 | A | C | 2nd review after revision |
| 4 | B | A | Publish after revision |
| 5 | B | B | 2nd review after revision |
| 6 | B | C | Non-acceptance |
| 7 | C | A | 2nd review after revision |
| 8 | C | B | Non-acceptance |
| 9 | C | C | Non-acceptance |
A: Accept for publication; B: Publish after revision; C: Non-acceptance.
Upon acceptance, the Secretariat coordinates the copy-editing and proofreading of the manuscript in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief. The manuscript may be further refined by a manuscript editor to ensure compliance with the journal’s formatting and style guidelines. The corresponding author is required to respond to any editorial queries or correction requests within 48 hours (or 2 business days). Delays in response may result in the rescheduling of the article to a later issue.
The corresponding author will receive a galley proof of the final edited manuscript in PDF format.
Should an error be identified in a published article, the corresponding author must notify the Editorial Office immediately with a detailed description of the necessary correction. Corrections that significantly impact the scholarly content or conclusions will undergo a formal review by the Editorial Committee.
IJODH takes research integrity seriously. Authors, reviewers, and readers are encouraged to report any concerns about:
To report a concern, please submit a detailed letter via the “Contact Us” page on our website. Include specific information about the allegation, answering the following questions:
The Editor-in-Chief will review all complaints and appeals promptly. The consequences of any misconduct will be determined based on the nature and severity of the violation. The Editorial Committee will then issue a final resolution.
For inquiries regarding submission, peer review, acceptance certification, or copyright, please contact the editorial office via the journal website:
https://www.IJODH.org
Jan Bos
Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Documentary Heritage
Email: eic@ijodh.org
IJODH Secretariat
International Centre for Documentary Heritage under the auspices of UNESCO
[28471] 719, Jikji-daero, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, Republic of Korea
Email: seo@unescoicdh.org / Telephone: +82-43-262-0825