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Call for Submissions
International Journal of Telepresence (IJT)
https://ijtelepresence.org

Published by the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR, https://ispr.info)

Editor:
Matthew Lombard, Ph.D.
President, International Society for Presence Research
Department of Media Studies and Production, Temple University, USA

Deadline: General submissions are accepted at any time; calls for contributions to special issues have specific deadlines.

The International Journal of Telepresence (IJT) is an open access academic journal with no publication fees. Published by the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR; ispr.info), its mission is to provide an accessible, enlightening and engaging forum for rigorous, constructive, open-minded, and interdisciplinary scholarship for anyone who studies, theorizes about, designs or is just interested in telepresence. We welcome submissions of previously unpublished work in formats including but not limited to reports on single or multiple studies, case studies, theory development, literature reviews, critical analyses, first-person or other descriptive reports, book reviews, commentaries, and more. For research reports, any traditional or rigorous nontraditional method is welcome. Submissions that include rich and engaging media including static and interactive graphics, audio and video material, etc. are especially encouraged.

Defining telepresence

Although there are many overlapping definitions, telepresence (or just ‘presence’) refers to a sense of ‘being there’ in a technologically mediated environment (“spatial presence”) with other people or personae (“social presence”). More formally, ISPR has defined presence as “a psychological state or subjective perception in which even though part or all of an individual’s current experience is generated by and/or filtered through human-made technology, part or all of the individual’s perception fails to accurately acknowledge the role of the technology in the experience.”

Presence is an increasingly common, and usually desired, phenomenon in which we feel present in or connected to the mediated people or things we encounter. We still know we’re using a technology, but at some level we ignore that fact and just perceive the people, things and events of the experience. For example, we get “lost” in the world of a novel, TV show, movie, videogame or theme park ride; we feel immersed in the interactive worlds of virtual reality and consider the technology-generated additions of augmented reality as part of the nonmediated world; we’re convinced by the realism of paintings or graphic designs; we treat our cars, computers or other machines as if they have personalities of their own, and we feel like we’re “with” a person we talk to on the telephone or in a videoconference.

Although studied formally most often in communication and psychology, presence has applications across every academic discipline and profession – with prominent examples in art, business, education, entertainment, and health and medicine.  Presence has great promise to improve our lives but also the possibility for perilous misuse; it thus warrants attention from scholars in each of these and many other fields.

Potential topics for submissions

We welcome submissions on topics related to presence that contribute to our collective understanding and/or appreciation of presence phenomena and applications in any/every aspect of life. Topics of interest include (but are absolutely not limited to):

• Presence theory
• Measures of presence
• Presence and emotion
• Presence and education
• Presence and social interaction
• Gender and Presence
• Neuroscience approaches to Presence
• Presence in gaming and entertainment
• Philosophical perspectives on presence
• Ethics of presence
• Presence technologies and applications (e.g. in business, arts, medicine and therapy)
• The future of presence research

Submission process

Authors are invited to submit their work on the To Submit page of the IJT website (www.ijtelepresence.org).  All submissions are blind peer-reviewed by at least two reviewers; authors are invited to recommend potential reviewers or particular criteria for reviewers of their work. The status of submissions can be checked at any time by e-mailing ijtelepresence@gmail.com. Accepted work including multimedia components are published online at https://ijtelepresence.org.

Why submit to IJT?

Breadth of topics: IJT encourages submissions on a wide range of topics including not only communication and media technology but all disciplines and interdisciplinary areas. Work that focuses on theory, practice, and especially the combination of the two; history and predicted futures; causes and consequences; individual experiences and social, ethical, legal and other implications; and any other thoughtful, challenging and interesting topics are welcome.

Variety of formats: In addition to traditional research reports IJT encourages submissions in a wide variety of formats including personal essays, position papers, first-person descriptions and reviews, extended literature reviews, research proposals, and even fiction, poetry and art. As an online publication IJT accepts both long and short form work.

Multi-media: With a focus that often includes immersive multi-media experiences it’s unreasonable to limit a publication about presence to static print; IJT strongly encourages the inclusion of images, animations, audio and video recordings, interactive demonstrations, links to applications, and other media to enhance the reader experience.

Open access and free: IJT does not charge authors or readers and provides easy online access, closely linked to the website of ISPR (ispr.info), a non-profit academic organization devoted specifically to presence.

Rigorous but constructive peer review: IJT seeks to offer thoughtful and constructive, open-minded, and timely blind peer review of submissions by appropriately qualified members of the presence and other related communities. Submitters can recommend specific reviewers and reviewer qualifications. In addition to an editorial board of long-time members of the presence community, any community member can volunteer to provide (occasional) reviews.

Contact

Please send inquiries to ijtelepresence@gmail.com.

The International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) is a non-profit membership organization founded in 2002 to support academic research related to the concept of (tele)presence.