About the Journal
Peer Review Process
As of December 31, 2015, The Carl Beck Papers will no longer accept submissions for publication. We thank everyone who has supported the journal over its 34 year history.
All manuscripts are subject to a double-blind review. Reviewers assess the manuscript’s merit in terms of originality, contribution to the field of inquiry, the validity and clarity of its thesis or argument, the effective use of data and supporting evidence, its potential usefulness in the classroom and its overall presentation and readability.
Typically, the review process is completed within 90 days.
Reviewers are solicited based upon their knowledge of the topic and familiarity with the countries or groups that are the main focus of the manuscript. We frequently contact former contributors to the Papers.
Publication Frequency
Each number of the journal is a single monograph. Individual numbers are aggregated into a volume which usually consists of 8 monographs and spans roughly a year of publications. New monographs will be made available as they are published.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
There are no article processing charges, submissions fees, or any other costs required of authors to submit articles to this journal.
The Carl Beck Papers
Established in 1984, The Carl Beck Papers publishs original research in the humanities and social sciences focused on the region of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The Papers’ monograph (40-90 pages) format, offers a unique opportunity for scholars to publish works that are larger than the average academic journal article but shorter than a book manuscript. A rigorous double-blind review process ensures that the Papers maintain a high level of quality and continue to make an important contribution to the advancement of scholarly inquiry in our field.
In 2011, after over 30 years as a traditional print journal, the Carl Back Papers transitioned to a digital, open source format. The move to the new format offers new capabilities in terms of the structure and content of articles and provides near-seamless linkages to a vast array of web-based information. Furthermore, a new automated submission and review process provides a faster turn-around times and more effective communication between authors, reviewers and the editorial staff.
As of December 31, 2015, The Carl Beck Papers will no longer accept submissions for publication. We thank everyone who has supported the journal over its 34 year history.
SERU: A Shared Electronic Resource Understanding
In the absence of a separate license agreement, The Carl Beck Papers will follow the Shared Electronic Resource Understanding (SERU) guidelines, as published at the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) SERU Web site: http://www.niso.org/committees/SERU/.
Journal History
In 1981, the Center for Russian and East European Studies of the University of Pittsburgh decided to upgrade its existing working papers series to a fully refereed, scholarly papers series. The aim was to provide a venue for scholarly manuscripts that were longer than a typical article but shorter than a book. The hope was that this venue would attract contributions from people working across the whole range of disciplines covering Russia, the Soviet Union and Central and East Europe. Twenty-five years later, our aims have been more than realized with contributions by both established and aspiring scholars from across the humanities and social sciences. The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies is a unique stand-alone, anonymously refereed papers series that has served the field with more than xxxx Papers published and xxxxx distributed worldwide.
After thirty years of “paper” Carl Beck Papers, we now face the same challenges and opportunities as other established academic journals and serial publications. The costs of maintaining a paper-only format continue to rise while new digital journals offer numerous advantages in terms of distribution and content. Recognizing the many benefits of digital publishing and open access distribution, the editors of the Carl Beck Papers have decided to open a new chapter in the series history by moving to a fully electronic, partially open access format.
This is fitting, of course, because the person for whom the Papers are named, Carl Beck, was a pioneer in the electronic reproduction and distribution of knowledge. The founding Director of the University Center for International Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Carl Beck created a team that produced a then-unique resource for scholars called the United States Political Science Documents—well before the term “data base” became common. As a scholar himself of politics in East Europe, he believed in pushing the methodological and technological envelope to study seemingly opaque phenomena. He did the first quantitative studies of leadership rotation in East Europe —at time when culling even the most basic information from that region was a challenge. His conclusions confronted with data the conventional wisdoms about the nature of communist politics and policies with data and to this day, his work can be read with profit (and not a little marvel)
But more than anything, Carl Beck was an energetic, supportive person whose greatest pleasure was helping young colleagues do their work and bring their results to light. Each of the three Founding Editors The Carl Beck Papers was ere personal beneficiaries of this attitude. He left us much too soon, and those of us who benefited from his creative drive, his infectious energy, and his generous spirit felt at the time that we could best honor his him and his memory by naming the papers series after him. We did that in 1981; yet people are still asking, “Who was Carl Beck?” We are happy to tell them. We can think of no better scholarly legacy.
As of December 31, 2015, The Carl Beck Papers will no longer accept submissions for publication. We thank everyone who has supported the journal over its 34 year history.
