See also: LEA Articles Conventions, LEA Referencing Style & LEA Author Checklist
Leonardo Electronic Almanac accepts only solicited original essays and artist statements for review. These are generally in response to a call for papers that is launched internationally.
The process of publication as of January 1, 2019, has changed and there is a full essay describing the reasons and the thinking behind these changes titled: “Publishing the Unpublishable”. Please ensure that you have read it before engaging with the publication.
Authors are provided with all relevant information in the guidelines regarding referencing, a sample article, image sizes, and all other information. Please adhere strictly to these guidelines.
LEA publishes blind peer reviewed articles online and in print.
If you have a ready-to-publish essay, please respond to the call and submit either the abstract or the full text. Texts sent for consideration should include ONLY text. Should texts arrive with images embedded in the text they will not be considered.
The attachment should be saved as a Microsoft Word document (PDFs and other formats will not be accepted and rejected outright). Text that is pasted into e-mails will not be accepted.
Text files SHOULD NOT include any graphics, audio, animation, and so forth. These will be submitted at a later stage upon editors’ request.
All submissions and proposals should be directed to the attention of LEA Editor-in-Chief Lanfranco Aceti at info@leoalmanac.org
When submitting a manuscript, authors should include a statement indicating that the manuscript has not been published previously and is not being submitted for publication elsewhere.
Manuscripts should be between the 1,500 – 5,000-word count limit (including references and figure captions) to be considered for review.
If an author would like an essay that exceeds 5,000 words to be considered for publication, s/he can submit a short abstract (maximum 500 words) of the essay.
The review process involves peer review of all submitted articles, including those solicited by the editors. Generally each manuscript is reviewed by five technical peer reviewers. Two are nominated by the author and three are assigned by the journal.
Once the essay has been approved for publication by the peer review committee, it will then be edited by in-house editors. A request by an editor for a manuscript is not a guarantee that it will be published.
Authors are notified of acceptance, rejection or the need for revision within three months (depending on their compliance with the in-house requirements). Texts are judged on the basis of relevance to the aims and scope of the journal, originality, rigor of thought, and the use of straightforward and precise prose.
Texts should be condensed as much as possible and written to be accessible to the interested lay reader. Papers may include statements of belief and speculations, which should be denoted as such.
Manuscripts may require revision by the author before final acceptance. After a manuscript is accepted, it is edited at the editorial office and returned to the author for approval prior to publication. On average 60-70% of manuscripts received are eventually published.
Typical time between submission of a manuscript and appearance in print is between 6 – 12 months. For online articles it is between 2 to 6 weeks. Adherence to these guidelines minimizes revisions and shortens the overall editorial processing time.
All texts must be submitted in English. Authors not fluent in English should write in their native language and then have the text professionally translated before submitting it.
Since the journal is read in many countries, authors should review previous LEA texts for general style and format. LEA staff will not make major editorial revisions and cannot accept manuscripts requiring such revisions.