Information for Authors
New for 2011 – Please note that the journal now encourages authors to submit articles online. See below for further details.
SUBMITTING A PAPER
Essays in Criticism is edited by Christopher Ricks, Professor of the Humanities, Boston University, and Seamus Perry, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.
Articles for publication may be submitted through the ScholarOne Manuscripts website. Instructions on how to submit manuscripts are available here. Otherwise, correspondence should be sent to Seamus Perry at the editorial address below. The review pages are edited by Christopher Ricks.
Essays in Criticism is an Oxford journal, but it has a world-wide circulation and suitable articles from abroad are welcome. Decisions on acceptance are made as promptly as possible, and publication is usually within a year. Please refer to Style Points (listed below) for guidance.
The Editors reserve the right to amend the phrasing and punctuation in all articles and reviews. References should be worked into the text as far as possible, and end-notes kept to a minimum. Publication of an article or review is deemed to confer on its author the right to a half-share of any permission fee arising from that article's major re-use in critical anthologies etc., and the Publisher will use his best endeavours to pass this on.
Editorial Address:
- Balliol College
- Oxford
- OX1 3BJ
- UK
BOOK REVIEWS
Book reviews are commissioned, and unsolicited reviews are unlikely to be acceptable. English review copies should be sent to our editorial address at Oxford. American review copies should be sent to:
Professor Ricks
Editorial Institute
Boston University
143 Bay State Road
Boston MA 02215
USA
STYLE POINTS FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Use - ise endings where available (realise, recognise)
Use an en rule - with space either side - for parenthetical dashes
Use single quote marks throughout; double only for 'quotes "within" quotes'
acronyms/abbreviations:
In general don't use points: BBC, RADA, RSC, UK, USA
exceptions: A.D., B.C., M.P., St., Dr., Mr., Mrs.
hyphenation:
eighteenth century verse
historically minded, sincerely held
late Victorian
no-one
postcolonial
postmodern
post-structuralist
possessives: add 's except in Classical names: Dickens's, but Ulysses', Alcibiades'
capitalisation:
Romantics
Western (cap. when a political concept; l.c. if geographical)
Quotations
Prose:
In general, only display prose quotations of over c. 40 words. The first line should only be indented if a new paragraph begins in the original; otherwise, begin full left.
Avoid using ellipses at the start of quotes (whether displayed or run on in the text): it can be assumed that a prose quote isn't taken from the very start of a work.
Poetry:
Any length of quotation can be displayed, though if a lot of short quotations are given consider whether they may be better run on in the text. In run-on quotes, indicate line divisions with a solidus / with space either side.
Reference/Notes
Use references sparingly. At first citation give full details in a note (see templates below). Give place (= town) of publication unless it is London.
Subsequent references to frequently cited works should be given in parentheses in the text. Avoid using a bare number: (p. 99) (l. 300) not (99) (300).
Reviews: no notes; all references should be within the text.
Templates
Chapters in edited books:
David Riede, 'Transgression, Authority, and the Church of Literature in Carlyle', in Jerome J. McGann (ed.), Victorian Connections (Charlottesville, Va., 1989), pp. 99-130.
Editions of works:
The George Eliot Letters, ed. Gordon S. Haight, 9 vols. (New Haven, 1954-78), ii. 126.
Journal articles (spell out journal titles in full):
Janice L. Haney, '"Shadow-Hunting": Romantic Irony, Sartor Resartus and Victorian Romanticism', Studies in Romanticism, 17 (1978), 300-30: 327.
A-Z
A.D.
age: 30 years old
analyse (not -yze)
B.C.
BBC
bishop of Ely, but Bishop Patrick
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, VII. 99; individual tales roman: Monk's Tale
date: 22 July 2000
dénouement
duke of Northumberland
earl of Leicester
eighteenth century (not 18th)
eighteenth century verse (no hyphen)
enquiry (not in-)
focusing
historically minded, sincerely held (no hyphen)
in so far (three words)
judgement (e)
late Victorian
M.P.
no-one (hyphen)
numbers: spell out up to 100 except ages (30 years old), percentages (30 per cent), and statistical passages generally
offstage
onstage
paralyse (not -yze)
per cent: 30 per cent
play text
play-goer
possessives: add 's except in Classical '-es' names: Dickens's, Apemantus's, but Ulysses', Alcibiades'
postcolonial
postmodern, modernism, modernist
post-structural, structura
OFFPRINTS
Contributors receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which their piece appears together with free url access to their contribution. Twenty-five gratis offprints are also available; these can be claimed using the Oxford Journals Author Services site when your paper enters production.
COPYRIGHT
It is a condition of publication in the Journal that authors grant an exclusive licence to Oxford University Press. This ensures that request 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 copyright, 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 is notified in writing and in advance.
Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at Oxford Journals authors will be invited to complete an online copyright licence to publish form.
Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that Oxford University Press ("OUP") may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify OUP immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that OUP does not retain copies of rejected articles.
AUTHOR SELF-ARCHIVING/PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY
For information about this journal’s policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving policy page.