Quote:There is an extra expense that authors must pay to make a study open-access. On the balance, I decided it would be worth it in the long term to pay that up-front cost.
I will ask maybe a naive question. if you publish in Cryptologia do they pay you for that or do you pay them for that?
(27-11-2025, 11:24 PM)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Quote:There is an extra expense that authors must pay to make a study open-access. On the balance, I decided it would be worth it in the long term to pay that up-front cost.
I will ask maybe a naive question. if you publish in Cryptologia do they pay you for that or do you pay them for that?
In academic publishing, the journal doesn’t pay the authors, and sometimes, the authors must pay the journal to publish once the article is accepted. Many journals also offer open-access publishing if an extra fee called an APC (Article Publishing Charge) is paid.
Thanks for the info. I am considering sending my own article about Rohonc Codex to Cryptologia so I am checking things out.
By the way they have really crazy prices. 56 Euro for an article from 1986 ?!
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(28-11-2025, 01:51 PM)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Thanks for the info. I am considering sending my own article about Rohonc Codex to Cryptologia so I am checking things out.
By the way they have really crazy prices. 56 Euro for an article from 1986 ?!
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I think it's priced that way to strongly encourage subscriptions. 56 Euro for a single article...or ~180 Euro/year for unlimited access?
Prices for individual articles are mostly fictional because barely any academic actually pays for them thanks to bundles bought by research libraries (not to speak of the more grey areas or authors being allowed to send you copies, which is often the easiest way in smaller fields). You can often get a library card for less than that fee for one article and download all you want from all the journals the institution is subscribed to even if you don't have an university affiliation. In some cases you have to be on the premises of the library, in others, you can just sit at home and need some kind of login.
That being said, for publications on the Voynich manuscript, it is probably smart to a) choose a reputable journal to make sure your contribution does not get lost among the countless theories that are published online every day, which unfortunately usually means it is not a free open access journal and b) nevertheless ensure to keep it easily accessible to amateur researchers. In other words, great to see the article on the Naibbe cipher published!
(28-11-2025, 08:58 PM)N._N. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.That being said, for publications on the Voynich manuscript, it is probably smart to a) choose a reputable journal to make sure your contribution does not get lost among the countless theories that are published online every day
Rafal, you must be careful to not mention the Voynich Manuscript, not even once. Then I suppose the Rohonc article would be fine for Cryptologia.
Jim Reeds too has experience publishing there. Maybe you should contact him?
All the best, --stolfi
Quote:That being said, for publications on the Voynich manuscript, it is probably smart to a) choose a reputable journal to make sure your contribution does not get lost among the countless theories that are published online every day,
Yes, the world changed a lot even for the last 25 years since I was a student myself.
There wasn't such thing as predatory journal ( You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. ) then. If someone published you then you had to be good. Today for money anybody may publish anything and even get citations from all around the world
But indeed nobody will care if you publish in some Turkish journal of dubious reputation ( see: You are not allowed to view links.
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But Cryptologia seems to have a good reputation.
Magnesium, could I ask you a bit more details about writing articles for Cryptologia? I will make it public here because others possibly could find it useful too.
What are their expectations for your writing style?
- could you write in first person "
I discovered..." or do they prefer personless forms "
It was discovered..."?
- it it okay to give internet resources (blogs, forum posts, Wikipedia videos etc.) as your references or should it be scientific articles only?
- is it okay to refer to publications which aren't in English?
- is there any template for writing your biblography?
- do they accept just established facts or your hypotheses as well?
- any other useful hints?
And when you send it to them, did they just accept it or did they give you some feedback first - correct this and that ?
(30-11-2025, 01:49 PM)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.?
I believe Cryptologia is a typical academic journal, so my experience elsewhere may be useful:
- could you write in first person "I discovered..." or do they prefer personless forms "It was discovered..."?
The "I discovered" is unusual and makes the article seem like it is more about the author than about the topic. Thus passive voice is the norm.
(I recall a non-technical writing expert complaining that tech articles make it seem that labs are deserted places where the instruments operate themselves, chemicals mix on their own, etc.)
If you must refer to yourself, use the majestic plural "we discovered", even if you are the only author.
But, more importantly, the article should not spend any words telling how you reached the conclusions, much less your failed attempts. It should state only the conclusions and the evidence that supports them. The article should describe only procedures, like statistical tests, that do work, and that others can use to confirm the conclusions; not what you actually did to reach them.
YES: "The ruins can be reached by cable car from the village of Al-Kaputt in the valley below."
NO: "The locals told us that there were ruins at the top of the mountain. It took us three days to climb the North slope (not counting one day wasted because we read the map upside-down), during which we sprained our ankle and ran out of food, only to find, when we finally reached the top, that there was a cable car reaching there from the village Al-Kaputt in the valley below."
- It it okay to give internet resources (blogs, forum posts, Wikipedia videos etc.) as your references?
Generally not, except for repositories where you make available additional data or programs that readers may need to check or use the paper. Or to give credit to someone else who came up with a key idea. Or to a digital repository in a respectable institution, like digital scans and transcriptions served by a museum, state archive, university, etc..
Otherwise the references should be only to scientific articles published in journals, books, or at least proceedings of conferences.
- is it okay to refer to publications which aren't in English?
Yes, no problem there.
- is there any template for writing your bibliography?
If the journal requires one, just look at a few examples in that same journal. As long as it is serious and of reasonable size, the journal will not care about what is in it.
- do they accept just established facts or your hypotheses as well?
The paper must contain at least some claims that have substantial evidence. Given that, it is OK to add a few conjectures which would need further work to prove or disprove. They usually go at the end of the article, at the end of the "Conclusions" section. But of course you should distinguish them from the conclusions: "Several symbols remain to be deciphered or confirmed. In particular, we conjecture that the symbol {\spac} may represent an alien spaceship, based on its shape and the tiny human figure that appears to be being sucked up into it by a powerful beam."
Hope it helps, --stolfi
(30-11-2025, 01:49 PM)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.more details about writing articles for Cryptologia
Reputable journals provide detailed "Instructions for authors" at their websites. For
Cryptologia, see
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This page links further to document templates, the Taylor & Francis style guide, their chatbot authorship principles, etc. Manuscripts that scrupulously follow posted editorial policies have a head start with editors and reviewers. Where serious-minded questions remain, it is normal to communicate with editorial staff by email.