In the past year, we have frequently been asked about the evaluation procedure of Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide and its rates of acceptance and rejection. Most recently, this question came from the European Science Foundation which is compiling a reference index of research journals in the Humanities (ERIH or European Reference Index/Humanities). On the basis of a series of national and international expert panel meetings, NCAW was considered eligible for inclusion in ERIH’s “Initial List: Art and Art History,” and we were asked to submit a detailed profile of the journal including our review procedure and rates of acceptance. Though some of this information is available on our website, we thought it might be useful to present all of it here.

Each article submitted to NCAW is read by the Managing Editor and, usually, by one of the other editors. It is then sent out to a peer reviewer, selected for her/his expertise in the subfield covered by the article. When the review is unequivocal and the Managing Editor is in general agreement with it, the article is either accepted or rejected, depending on the recommendation of the reviewer. The author may be asked to make changes before her/his article is published. When the review is ambiguous or the Managing Editor entirely disagrees with its conclusion, the submission is sent to a second peer reviewer for his/her opinion. The Managing Editor then makes a decision based on both reviews.

While the editors of NCAW are open to various methodological approaches, they are selective in the articles that they accept for publication. Over the past three years our acceptance rate has averaged 40%.

The book and exhibition reviews are commissioned by the Reviews Editor, who reserves the right to reject a review if it is not up to NCAW’s standard.