Call for papers: Romanian Journal for Museums No. 1/2023

The editorial office of the Romanian Journal of Museums is pleased to announce that the National Institute for Cultural Research and Training is preparing the next issue of the publication.

Each issue will now have a main theme complemented by a section for recurring themes with the purpose of developing a platform for fundamental debates and research regarding aspects of constant relevance to the activity of museum institutions.

The novelty of this issue is the inclusion of a section of Reviews (publications and exhibitions), as well as a section dedicated to Opinion articles.

Deadline for contributions: April 30^th 2023

Main theme: Museums, Sustainability and Welfare

Sustainability is a notion that applies to any initiative that generates value, to any system that works by consuming resources – whether they are economic, ecologic or socio-cultural – without endangering the future generations’ chances of building for their own necessities. Adding to this, welfare describes a community where prosperity and well-being are consolidated through a sustainable development of society on multiple levels: social protection, equality of chances, medical assistance, education and last but not least, culture. Considering the changing of the museum definition during the 2022 ICOM conference, and, especially during the present context of a looming crisis, it is necessary to examine the museum institution from the perspective of sustainability and welfare.

Therefore, we invite authors to contribute with potential answers to the following questions:

• How can cultural heritage be sustainably managed by museums?
• How can museums contribute to the welfare of society and individuals?
• Which are the factors of the mechanisms that can generate sustainability in the activity of museums?
• How can we avoid the risk of transforming cultural heritage into an unsustainable commodity?
• What are the potential consequences of an unsustainable approach towards the activity of museums?

Recurring themes:

Articles in this section will tackle one of these themes:

1. Collections, evidence and documentation
2. Preservation and restauration
3. Interpreting and communicating the museum heritage (museum research and marketing, collection mobility, museum aesthetics etc.)
4. Museums and new technologies (digitalization, digitization, equipment, instruments, new techniques etc.)
5. Organisational development and sustainability (management, financing etc.)
6. Ethics and museum theory
7. Museums and communities / the civil society
8. Museum statistics

Reviews:

1. Publication reviews: contributions of 2000-2500 words, which bring light upon the latest publications in the museum field. The reviews’ purpose is to inform the professionals and experts communities about the quality, the purpose and arguments of a book and to explain how it relates to the literature in the field. For details, please see the Editing Guide, p.5.
2. Exhibition reviews: authors are invited to critically describe an exhibition or a set of connected exhibitions, other than those organised by the authors / the institution to which they are affiliated. The contributions should be at most 3000 words long, using a critical, objective and independent analysis, supported by relevant images. Moreover, they should offer perspectives that would advance the general practice, irrespective of the readers’ ability to access the exhibition. For details, please see the Editing Guide, p.6.

Opinion Articles:

This section invites authors to voice their opinions or launch debates through original contributions ranging 2000-2500 words. They can be related to the main theme or one / several of the recurring themes, and present the critical viewpoint of the author regarding diverse subjects in the museum field – problems, fundamental concepts, prevalent notions on a certain subject. The texts can also advance and support a new theory or discuss the possible implications of recent innovations. The contributions expected in this section should be based on constructive critique and well-documented, objective arguments that can be supported by scientific evidence.

The editorial office of the Romanian Journal for Museums encourages authors to originally explore the potential of the chosen themes and to observe the editing guidelines and the principles of academic integrity. We look forward to receiving your articles at: revistamuzeelor@culturadata.ro. As usual, the articles will be objectively and impartially peer-reviewed.

The best selected contributions will be remunerated as follows:

• 4 articles for the main theme 1400 RON (gross) / article
• 3 articles in the recurring themes section 1400 RON (gross) / article
• 2 publication reviews 700 RON (gross) / review
• 2 exhibition reviews 700 RON (gross) / review
• 2 opinion articles 700 RON (gross) / article