Aims & Scope

Visual Resources: An International Journal of Documentation is devoted to the study of images and their uses. While images of architecture and works of art constitute its main focus, it also includes other subjects and contexts in a wide range of formats. Its scope delves into the past and looks toward the future, revealing how images have influenced the perception of art and how the interpretation of images conditions and enhances academic disciplines such as archaeology, history, and particularly art and architectural history.

Visual Resources explores how visual language is structured and visual meaning communicated and also illustrates how picture collections are acquired, organized, indexed, and preserved. VR examines early attempts to document the visual, reports on the state of visual resources, assesses the effect of electronic technology on current and future uses, and provides a platform for reporting innovative ways to organize and access visual information – while aiming to increase the recognition and appreciation of visual documentation.

Over the years, VR has published articles about verbal descriptions of art and architecture; copies, casts, and facsimiles; drawings, paintings, and prints; photography; library, archive, and museum collections; iconography; and computers and electronic imagery - and how these have functioned as documents of art and culture.

Editors

Christine L. Sundt, Editor
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

Helen Ronan, Review Editor
Acton, Massachusetts

Murtha Baca, News Editor
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California

Helene E. Roberts (1931-2008) - A MEMORIAL

Founding Editor - Patricia Walsh

Editorial Advisory Board

Mary Bergstein, Rhode Island School of Design, USA

Hans Brandhorst, Arkyves & Iconclass, The Netherlands

Deidre Brown, University of Auckland, New Zealand

William C. Brumfield, Tulane University, USA

Julie F. Codell, Arizona State University, USA

Eleanor Fink, The World Bank, USA

Colum Hourihane, Index of Christian Art, Princeton University, USA

Amalyah Keshet, Israel Museum

Patricia Mainardi, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, USA

Julianne Newton, University of Oregon, USA

Ferris Olin, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA

Giovanni Pagliarulo, Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Italy

Claudio de Polo Saibanti, Fratelli Alinari, Italy

Kathryn Rudy, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Rachel Stuhlman, George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, USA

John Sunderland, Independent Art Historian, UK

Joye Volker, National Gallery of Australia

Gretchen Wagner, ARTstor, USA

Renate Wiedenhoeft, Saskia Ltd. and Scholars Resource, USA

Peer-review Policies

VR recognizes three classes of articles among those published in the journal: 1) Peer-reviewed articles; 2) Editors’ Choice articles; and 3) Board-approved papers and special issues.

1. Peer-reviewed Articles
Articles received without being solicited or commissioned are subjected to a double-blind review process that involves at least two readers who have demonstrated in writing or by reputation to have expertise in the main content of the article. The decisions returned by the readers to the Editors are then carefully evaluated and the final decision to accept or reject the article is ultimately determined by the Editors.

2. Editors’ Choice Articles
Articles solicited or commissioned by the Editors are typically not subjected to the double-blind review process but they are accepted or rejected based on the judgment of the Editors with evaluation of outside experts as requested by the Editors. The author(s) of a commissioned article may be revealed to the outside expert reader(s) who may be asked to validate facts or to suggest relevant additions or changes but who are not responsible for or required to submit a verdict on publication.

3. Board-approved Papers and Special Issues
A group of articles that comprise a “Special Issue” is accepted or rejected by sanction or recommendation of the VR Editorial Advisory Board upon recommendation by the Editors rather than by double-blind peer review.

The justification for accepting commissioned articles and Special Issue groups of articles without the traditional peer-review process is that 1) articles solicited or commissioned are done so from experts in the field whose work is already well known in the literature and highly regarded among their peers; and 2) articles previously assembled under a topic as is the case with a Special Issue, have already been subjected to peer review during their initial selection and presentation at conference sessions or during the assembly process by the Guest Editor. Special Issue proposals, along with a description of the circumstances that brought the group together under the Guest Editor, are circulated among the Editorial Advisory Board for comment and approval prior to final acceptance.

Reviews of books, electronic resources, conferences, and the like are not peer-reviewed as they are commissioned from experts by the Review Editor.

Abstracting & Indexing

Visual Resources is currently abstracted and indexed in Art Abstracts, ARTbibliographies Modern, Art Index, International Bibliography of Art (formerly BHA), EBSCO, IBR, IBZ and OCLC FirstSearch, Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life.

Subscription Information & Special Offers

Subscribe today! Special reduced rate of US$65/£36 are offered to members of the Association of Art Historians (AAH), the College Art Association (CAA), and the Visual Resources Association (VRA). Contact +44 (0)20 7017 5543 or societies@tandf.co.uk to subscribe.

Christine L. Sundt, Editor
Visual Resources
P.O. Box 5316
Eugene, OR 97405 - USA
csundt@mindspring.com

Helen Ronan, Review Editor
Visual Resources
2 Duggan Road
Acton, MA 01720 - USA
hronan@comcast.net

Murtha Baca, News Editor
Visual Resources
Getty Research Institute
Los Angeles, CA 90049 - USA
mbaca@getty.edu