Instructions to Authors
GeneralSubmission
Guidelines for presentation
Footnotes
Figures
Revised
Supplementary material for online publication
Permission to reproduce figures
Proofs
Offprints and unique URL
Licence to publish
Author self-archiving/Public access policy
GENERAL INFORMATION
English is an international journal of literary criticism, publishing both essays and reviews.
Each issue contains essays on major works of English literature or on topics of general literary interest, aimed at readers within universities and colleges and presented in a lively and engaging style. There is a substantial review section, in which reviewers have space to situate a book within the context of recent developments in its field, and present a detailed argument, rather than just a brief evaluative commentary. The review section is supplemented by a regular Editorial Commentary which allows attention to be drawn to some of the many books received which cannot be fully reviewed, especially new scholarly editions of the work of major writers. The Editorial Commentary is used from time to time to comment on more general issues relevant to the study of literature and to the teaching of English.
English is unusual among academic journals in publishing original poetry. This policy embodies the view that the critical and creative functions, often so widely separated in the teaching of English, can co-exist and cross-fertilise each other.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
Please submit contributions via Scholar One by clicking here
Contributions should be between 5,000 and 9,000 words.
Contributors can normally expect replies within three months. Essays will be refereed, and referees' comments will usually be forwarded to authors.
When you upload your article onto Scholar One please always ensure that your abstract appears between the title of your article and the main body of the manuscript.
GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATION
Contributors can greatly help the editorial process by setting up their manuscript in accordance with the following conventions.
1) Use A4 paper, one side of each sheet only.
2 Leave generous margins.
3) Use double line spacing, even for quotations and notes.
4) Indent the beginning of each paragraph except the first.
5) Use single, not double, inverted commas.
6) Italicise (or underline) book titles.
7) Enclose in single inverted commas the titles of poems, short stories, articles and chapters.
8) Longish quotations should start on a new line and be set off by indentation, but not enclosed in inverted commas.
Shorter quotations should be incorporated into the text within single inverted commas.
9) The titles of articles are neither capitalised throughout nor italicised.
10) The author's name should be centrally placed below the title of articles, and academic affiliation, italicised or underlined, should be placed at the end of the text but before the notes.
11) Reviews should have brief titles (three or four words), underlined or italicised. Details of the book under review are given below the title, using the following conventions:
Dividing Lines: Poetry, Class and Ideology in the 1930s. BY ADRIAN CAESAR. Manchester University Press. £29.95 and £8.95.
For reviews, the author's name, capitalised, should be placed at the end, with academic affiliation, italicised or underlined, below it.
12) If a source can be clearly and concisely indicated within parentheses in the text, please do so: e.g. Hamlet's well-known soliloquy (II.3.56). References after the first one to a work should be in the text, in parentheses, and in abbreviated form (do not use 'op. cit.'): e.g. (Form and Style, p. 82).
Often (especially when there is a series of references) just a bracketed page number in the text is sufficient: (p. 82).
13) When footnotes are necessary make them as brief as possible and place them at the end of the article.
14) Material submitted should generally be in line with modern conventions on issues of language and gender. If guidance is needed please consult The Handbook of Non-Sexist Writing for Writers, Editors and Speakers, Casey Miller and Kate Swift, published by the Women's Press.
JOURNAL STYLE AND FOOTNOTES
Authors should follow the MHRA style for producing their manuscripts and footnotes. Please click this link to download the freely available MHRA style guide.
FIGURES
Figures should be self-explanatory and contain as much information as is consistent with clarity. All figures must carry the figure number in Arabic numerals. Citation in the text should take the form Fig. 1a etc. The minimum resolution for the figures is 300 dpi (dots per inch) for tone or colour, 1200 dpi for line art at approximately the correct size for publication. Colour figures should be CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black).
Line drawings should be clear: faint shading or stippling will be lost upon reproduction and should be avoided and heavy shading or stippling may appear black. Lines and symbols should be drawn boldly enough to stand reduction to the desired size.
Photographs should be supplied electronically and must be of high quality.
Colour figures: If the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors will be asked to cover the cost of reproduction, which is £350 per figure. Colour plates should be combined to make a single composite figure whenever possible.
For useful information on preparing figures, visit http://dx.sheridan.com where you can also test whether your figures are suitable for production by using the preflight tool at http://dx.sheridan.com/onl/. Please note that all labels used in figures should be in lower case in both the figure and the legend. The journal reserves the right to reduce the size of illustrative material. All micrographs must carry a magnification bar.
REVISED MANUSCRIPTS
Revised manuscripts should be returned to the editors within two months of the date from when the invitation was sent; revised manuscripts received after this time will be considered as new submissions. Revised manuscripts should be accompanied by a detailed response letter on how all the concerns of the editor and referees have been addressed. Please give the exact page number(s), paragraphs(s) and line number(s) where each revision was made. Please copy this letter in ‘Response to reviews’ during submission.
Format: Original source files are required to avoid delays if the manuscript is accepted. The main text must be provided as Microsoft Word. Figure Legends should also be included in the Word file.
Figures should be provided as .TIFF files. The minimum resolution for the figures is 300 dpi for tone or colour, 1200 dpi for line art at approximately the correct size for publication. Colour figures should be CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black).
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL FOR ONLINE PUBLICATION
Supplementary data may be submitted for online only publication if it adds value for potential readers. However, it must not contain material critical to the understanding of the manuscript. The hard copy of the manuscript should stand alone, but it should be indicated at an appropriate point in the text that supplementary material is available on-line. In addition, the availability of supplementary material should also be indicated in the manuscript by a section heading ‘Supplementary Data’ with a brief description of these data to appear before the Acknowledgements and References. Please name your supplementary material and cite it within the manuscript as Figure S1, Table S1, Video S1, etc, and provide a detailed legend.
Electronic files of supplementary material are preferable as one complete .PDF file. If images are supplied as .GIFs or .JPEGs, the minimum acceptable resolution for viewing on screen is 120 dpi.
Videos: The preferred formats for video clips are .MOV, .MPG, .AVI, and animated .GIF files. Authors are advised to use a readily available program to create movies so that they can be viewed easily with e.g., Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
Authors should carefully check the supplementary data as this information is not professionally copy edited or proofread.
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE FIGURES
Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS and similar licencing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Please note that obtaining copyright permission could take some time. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section at http://www.oxfordjournals.org/access_purchase/rights_permissions.html. Should you require copies of this then please contact the editorial office of the journal in question or else the Oxford Journals Rights department on journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.
PROOFS
Proofs will be sent electronically to the corresponding author as a .PDF file. The author should reply to the proof email with their corrections, and should send either a list of corrections in the email or attach an annotated PDF. Corrections should be limited to typographical errors and corrections should be returned within five days of receipt; otherwise the Editor reserves the right to correct the proofs and to send the material for publication. This is essential if all the material in a given issue is not to be delayed by the late receipt of one corrected proof.
OFFPRINTS AND UNIQUE URL
On publication of an article the corresponding author of articles, poetry and book reviews will receive a free copy of the issue and a unique URL that gives access to both PDF and HTML versions of the paper. The URL links visitors to the English site and the complete version of the paper online with all functionality retained is accessible regardless of subscription status. Additional offprints may be purchased if required. Order forms are sent out with the proofs. Late orders submitted after the journal has gone to press are subject to a 100% surcharge (to cover the additional printing cost).
LICENCE TO PUBLISH
It is a condition of publication in the journal that authors grant an exclusive licence to The English Association. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In assigning the licence, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that the journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication, and Oxford University Press, on behalf of The English Association is notified in writing and in advance. To download the form, please click here
AUTHOR SELF-ARCHIVING/PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY
For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving policy page.