AmeriQuests is a forum for writing and research about real and metaphorical quests towards America, defined as either an absolute but an achievable objective, or as some place in the Americas. A peer-reviewed, multi-and inter-disciplinary e-journal, AmeriQuests was founded by Robert Barsky to contribute in original and creative fashions to the humanities, the social sciences, education, law, medicine, business and social justice. Contributions may focus on questions of dislocation, relocation, displacement, homelessness, American dreams and border crossings of all sorts, from the geographical and the social to the psychological. AmeriQuests also features special issues, student issues, book reviews and discussion sections to add to its immediacy, its allure and its relevance. Submissions are accepted on an on-going basis in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

AmeriQuests is peer-reviewed by at least two specialists in the field. The purpose of peer review is to ensure that only good research is published. Peer review is an objective process at the heart of good scholarly publishing and is carried out by all reputable academic journals. Our reviewers play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of the Journal.

Initial manuscript evaluation

An Editor first evaluates all manuscripts. It is rare, but it is possible for an exceptional manuscript to be accepted at this stage. Manuscripts rejected at this stage are outside the aims and scope of the journal, or are insufficiently original, have serious flaws, or display poor command of the English language. Manuscripts that meet the minimum criteria are normally passed on to at least 2 experts for review, generally from the Board.

The members of the Editorial Board play an important part in the review process, but we also use outside reviewers, and our reviewer database is constantly being updated. Whenever possible, reviewers are matched to the paper according to their expertise. We welcome suggestions for reviewers from the author though these recommendations are not necessarily used.

Reviewers' reports

Reviewers are asked to evaluate whether the manuscript: - Is original - Follows appropriate ethical guidelines - Is methodologically sound - Has results which are clearly presented and support the conclusions - Correctly references previous relevant work Language correction is not part of the peer review process, but reviewers may, if they so wish, suggest corrections to the manuscript.

Final report

A final decision to accept or reject the manuscript will be sent to the author along with any recommendations made by the reviewers, and may include verbatim comments by the reviewers. The Editor's decision is final Reviewers advise the Editor, who is responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the article. Special issues Special issues and/or conference proceedings may have different peer review procedures involving, for example, Guest Editors, conference organizers or scientific committees. Authors contributing to these projects may receive full details of the peer review process on request from the editor.

Generally, issues appear two times per year, and issues are complete on publication; in certain instances, however, individual items can be published as soon as they are ready, or some will be held back pending final revisions. AmeriQuests also supports a monograph series that produces, sporadically, book-length works on single subjects.

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...