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Nabokov Online Journal

History
Nabokov Online Journal (also abbreviated as NOJ) is a multidisciplinary academic journal devoted to Nabokov studies, published since 2007. As a multilingual journal, NOJ publishes a balanced selection of mainly English and Russian-language scholarship with the primary goal of bridging various branches of Nabokov studies in a dynamic and intellectually creative environment. The overall output of the Nabokov Online Journal to date is comprised of seven electronic issues and one paper almanac: The Goalkeeper: The Nabokov Almanac. . Each volume usually consists of 12-14 articles published in PDF format. Academic research is complemented by roundtable discussions, interviews, and multimedia presentations. Access to the NOJ online archive is free.

About
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) was a multilingual novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, educator, and professional entomologist. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then switched to the English-language prose. There is a clear consensus that Nabokov was able to establish himself as a refined stylist in the second part of his literary career. Nabokov’s Lolita (1955) is frequently cited as among his most important novels and is certainly his most widely known one. The novel was ranked at No.4 in the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels; his other novels, Pale Fire (1962), Pnin (1957), and memoir, Speak, Memory, are also regularly listed among the most popular modernist writings that characterize the literary landmarks of the 20th century. Nabokov’s works have influenced many major contemporary writers, including Martin Amis, John Updike, Thomas Pynchon, John Banville, Salman Rushdie, Edmund White, and the Nobel Prize laureates Joseph Brodsky and Orhan Pamuk. Nabokov is regularly taught in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Russia across the literature departments in humanities (English, American, Russian, and Comparative literature programs).

The Editorial Board
The founding editor of NOJ is Yuri Leving, Professor of Russian Literature and Film (Dalhousie University, Canada). The managing editorial board is comprised of two Associate Editors: Nassim W. Balestrini (University of Regensburg, Germany); Marijeta Bozovic (Yale University); Associate Editor for Reviews Andrei Rogatchevski (University of Tromsø, Norway); and two editorial assistants. In addition, NOJ consists of an international Editorial Board (12 members) and Consultative Board (5 members).

Subscription Policy
The Nabokov Online Journal is indexed by major bibliographic aggregators: MLA International Bibliography, ProQuest, and ABSEES (American Bibliography of Slavic & Eastern European Studies) and major university academic libraries are subscribed to the journal. Beginning with 2013, NOJ is available exclusively by subscription: it is free for individual subscribers and there is a nominal charge for the university libraries.

Readership
Average regular monthly readership is 300 people, currently coming from over 50 countries and territories (the Google Analytics online tracking system is used by NOJ to generate its monthly and annual reports). The authors of the journal articles include established scholars and doctoral students, representing such countries as USA, Canada, Russia, UK, France, Austria, Italy, Ukraine, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. According to the NOJ editor, Yuri Leving, the principle of openness has been at its inception: "We have tried very hard to make the journal accessible, which I think scholarship should be," says Dr. Leving. "So that’s the big reason for publishing online."

Notable Interviews
In an interview with Suellen Stringer-Hye (Vol. II, April 2008), the writer’s son Dmitri Nabokov announced his controversial decision to publish Vladimir Nabokov’s last unfinished novel, The Original of Laura. This interview was called "a major coup", and was later cited in the US, British, and German major press (Slate, The Guardian, Telegraph, Open Letters Monthly, and Telepolis). In 2010, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia, gave an interview to NOJ about his love of Nabokov's fiction. (Vol. IV, 2010)

Mandate and current focus
As the journal's official website states, "the landscape of the book and journal publishing industry is rapidly changing. Many scholars are eager to adapt to technology-based publishing that provides authors with a fast and affordable way to disseminate the results of their research." Cutting-edge online technology allows Nabokov Online Journal to reach a wide audience around the world; in addition to the regular publication, the NOJ editors also publish the Nabokov Almanac, which includes specially commissioned articles and a selection of materials that have previously appeared in the electronic version. The inaugural issue of the almanac, entitled The Goalkeeper (because Nabokov played as a soccer goalkeeper and the game is frequently featured in his novels), was published in October 2010 by Academic Studies Press (Boston, USA), ISBN 978-1-" "936235-19-3."

As the only digital publication in this area of studies (there are two additional paper publications: the bi-annual journal, The Nabokovian, published by the University of Kansas, and Nabokov Studies, printed irregularly by Davidson College), NOJ reflects the ongoing trends in modern scholarship, including the exploration of new media and presentation of video reports from the scholarly conferences. It was announced that in order to make access to the Nabokov Online Journal even easier, an interactive application will soon become available for downloading and use on mobile devices (smart phones, iPads, iPhones).

The strategic goal of NOJ is bridging various branches of Nabokov studies in a dynamic and intellectually creative environment. Thus a special issue of the journal in 2014 will be devoted to the “Nabokov Scholarship in Translation.” According to the editorial, these will be articles in translation that have been originally published in the area of Nabokov studies during the past decade in languages other than English.

The NOJ Prizes for Best Contribution to Nabokov Studies
In 2012, NOJ launched the Best Student Essay competition, in recognition of the importance of training the new generation of young scholars. Concurrently, an annual Prize for the Best Scholarly Contribution in the area of Nabokov studies has been established. Brian Boyd's Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness was awarded the NOJ 2012 Prize for Best Contribution to Nabokov Studies 2000-2011.

NOJ is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.