Minnesota Memo Editorial Policies

Last Modified: 4 June 2009
Approved: 16 February 2009

Policy 1: Submission Deadline

The submission deadline for Memo articles shall be the 15th of the month prior to the month that contains a quarterly membership meeting. Based on our current calendar, Memo submission deadlines are 15 December, 15 March, 15 June, and 15 September.

Policy 1a: Submission Deadline Extension

If an article author knows that an article will not be submitted by the deadlines specified in Policy 1, the article author shall communicate with the Editorial Committee in any format and request a deadline extension for the submission.

Policy 1b: Request for Article Submission

If the editorial committee or any member of said committee requests a specific person to author an article for a specific issue of the Minnesota Memo, they must provide the author with as much advance notice as possible in order to adhere to the applicable deadline. Requests made by the editorial committee for to a specific author must be made directly to the author, and the author must give his/her own consent or refusal.

Policy 2: Post-Deadline Acceptance or Rejection

Submissions received after the deadline defined in Policy 1 shall be included in or excluded from the Memo at the discretion of the Editorial Committee.

Policy 3: Multiple Submissions by a Single Author

Multiple submissions by a single author for a specific edition of the Memo may or may not be included in the current edition of the Memo at the discretion of the Editorial Committee. If a submission is retained for a future edition of the Memo, the submitter will be notified (Policy 6, item d.)

Policy 4: Retention of Submissions

It is the responsibility of the submitter to keep a copy of the submission for her or his records.

Policy 5: Criteria for Article Submission

Memo submissions should be no more than 500 words. The Editorial Committee reserves the right to edit any Memo submissions for length, clarity, and content. Where the intent of the submission is not clear, the Editorial Committee will contact the submitter to seek clarification.

Criteria for rejection of articles include the following stipulations:

1. Articles may not contain commercial advertisement
2. No Defamatory statements
3. No Pornographic or otherwise inappropriate material for a general audience
4. Material submitted must be relevant to blindness issues.
5. No articles written on behalf of ACBM as an organization in support of or against a specific political candidate. (501(c)(3) prohibition)

Policy 6: Submitter Notification

Article submitters will be notified when any of the following actions occur as it relates to the current edition of the Memo.

1. Receipt of the article from the submitter
2. Acceptance of the article for the current edition of the Memo by the Editorial Committee
3. Rejection of the article - a reason for rejection will be provided
4. Retention of the article for a future edition of the Memo
5. Receipt of a request for deadline extension

Policy 7: Submission Approval

If an article is rejected (Policy 6, item c), the editorial committee will work with the author to resolve the issues causing the article to be rejected. The final decision as to whether an article is accepted or rejected rests solely with the Editor in consultation with the Editorial Committee.