Foreword
2 October 2019
We are proud to introduce the inaugural issue of Aspectus, a journal founded by and for the postgraduate community of the History of Art department at the University of York. Our editorial board has worked (seemingly) endless hours to bring this project to fruition so that the work of our first class students and alumni can shine. For their hard work, we would like to thank them. That they have managed the unpredictable schedule of wrangling authors and peer reviewers so gracefully is a testament to their character.
We would like to recognise the hard work of our authors who have ceaselessly pursued innovative and exciting research, and who, much to our delight, have decided to share it with our emergent journal. We would also like thank the department for their support in this endeavour; without it, we may have never dared to imagine and implement our own research outlet.
We would like to acknowledge the format of this journal, for even in 2019, a self-published, open-access journal seems to be a rarity. The editorial board of Aspectus believes in equality through access. We are committed to contributing to the larger academic discussion in a way that does not privilege economic status or university affiliation. As such, we have envisioned that Aspectus might enable the scholars of our department to share their findings within a larger research network without being subject to article processing charges or other fees now often associated with publication, an unattainable model for many early stage researchers.
Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge our commitment to peer-reviewed research through the use of mutually exclusive reviewers outside of the University. We believe in upholding the high academic standards of the History of Art department, and as such, have committed to publishing articles that have been peer reviewed and deemed worthy of academic publishing. We believe these standards are fitting for the postgraduate community at York and prove the high level of the research being conducted in our department.
We thank all involved for their assistance, and we look forward to publishing our next issue in October 2020.
Signed,
Blair Apgar & Caitlin Doley
Editors-in-Chief, 2018-2019