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At Life in Our Time we are committed to fostering dialogue, supporting new voices, and rethinking how academic exchange can take place.
Our Editorial Standards
Life in Our Time Magazine is aimed at university students, recent graduates, young academics, and those new to academia and academic publishing. We cover all aspects of the social sciences, including politics, finance, history, and culture, because we want to provide a true reflection of life in our times. Our magazine was created with the aim of facilitating intellectual exchange across borders, institutions, and knowledge levels. This is why we prioritise inter-regional knowledge exchange in our work.
What sets us apart from other academic publications is our attempt to rethink publishing practices and the role of metrics to make academia more accessible to everyone. This starts with our approach to peer reviews.
We believe that peer review is important, but we don't see it as a reviewer judging whether a particular paper is worthy of being added to the academic discourse. Rather, we see it as feedback given to the author after publication. Our approach is similar to the peer-review-by-endorsement system, except that if you want to publish your work in LiOT Magazine, you must first review at least two other articles in our collection. Reviewers are not chosen by the author, but by the editorial team, to encourage regional exchange and the sharing of different experiences, ideas and arguments. We believe this is a productive way to counter academic silos.
Furthermore, we see this reviewing approach as a guarantee that every article receives attention and that ideas keep circulating, putting academic debate at the heart of what we do.
The requirements for the reviews are as follows:
We understand that your schedules are busy, but the reviews shouldn’t be too long. We also know that each of us likes to receive qualitative feedback for the work we have put in. Therefore, please try to keep your review to approximately 10% of the original article’s word count.
Identify the article's core argument.
Engage with one key concept.
Offer at least one constructive question or reflection to help the author improve in future.
If a reviewer feels they cannot provide an impartial review, they should inform the editorial team so that a reassignment can be made.
As for your article itself:
There is no word limit.
We disapprove of using AI to generate texts.
Please use a consistent citation style (Harvard or Chicago are preferred) and ensure that all your citations are included in your bibliography, as we will check your work for plagiarism, using standard plagiarism‑detection tools.
At this stage, the editorial team consists of the journal’s founders. Your articles will be reviewed for spelling mistakes and plagiarism before publication. We will not edit the core elements of your text, such as your argument or the structure, but we can provide feedback prior to publication if you agree. We believe that writing is a craft, and we want to give you the space to develop it.
Once we have grown into a larger community, we hope to add other members of our team to the editorial board to ensure the fairness of contributions.
How we work together
We are a collaborative, volunteer‑driven publication built around dialogue and shared learning.
Our contributors take part because they believe in accessible academic writing and in the value of exchanging ideas across regions and backgrounds.
We respect the time and commitment of everyone involved, and we aim to offer a supportive space where people can develop their writing, deepen their thinking, and connect with others.
All work published with us remains fully your own.
Life in Our Time is shaped by the belief that we learn best through exchange, by reading one another’s work, offering thoughtful feedback, and engaging across regions, disciplines, and experiences.
Our community grows through contribution rather than hierarchy, and every voice adds something to the conversation.
We value openness and curiosity, and we see academic writing as a collaborative craft rather than a solitary pursuit.
If you would like to connect with us, whether to exchange ideas, collaborate, or take part in our wider conversation, we would be glad to hear from you.
We know that contributing to a publication with ambitious aims can feel daunting, but our founding principle remains simple: all work has value.
Whether you’re an experienced academic or a student publishing for the first time, we welcome one‑off submissions and offer thoughtful feedback, editorial support, or publication.
If you would like to become a part of our community, please feel free to fill out the form below. We will read your message and follow up to help you find the best way to get involved.
Please fill out the form from elow to register your interest. Thank you.
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