Author Guidelines
What to send
You don't need to send an initial proposal before submitting a completed piece, but if you wish to, please contact the editor by email at michael.duggan@livingmaps.org.uk with your outline.
Completed articles should be submitted online using this OJS system. As well as submitting your article please use the metadata section of the online submission process to give a summary of the article (aimed at a general readership), a short biography (max 100 words), keywords, your contact email, your institutional affiliation if you have one and the url for a website, if you wish, either your own or an institutional one which contains more information about your work. This information will appear alongside your article.
Readership and prose style
Our readers include artists, campaigners and individuals with an informed but non-specialist interest as well as academics. Please avoid unnecessary technical language.
Layout of copy for submission
Set all text aligned left and with a double line space (two returns) to mark each paragraph.
Style guide
For general editing style see the Modern Humanities Research Association MHRA Style Guide. There is a free pdf version of this available online at: http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/StyleGuideV3_2.pdf.
For spelling, use the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, Oxford University Press http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199570010.do.
House Style
Headings
The full title of the piece should appear at the top of the first page. Capitalise first words and main words only. For example: ‘Getting Directions from a New Map of the World’. Keep article titles as short as possible (suggested maximum 20 words)
Sub headings
Introduce sub headings capitalised as above. Please do not use more than three levels of subheading unless absolutely necessary and please do not add subhead numbering. If in doubt add an explanatory note in square brackets for clarity.
Line breaks
Separate headings (or subheadings) from subsequent text using just one return.
Punctuation
Full stops to indicate truncation should be avoided (use Mrs not Mrs. PhD not Ph.D. eds not eds.).
Hyphens should be used to connect compounded words like ‘up-to-date’ and to join numbers or dates in a range; for example the years 1945–1995, or pages pp 23–25.
En-dashes are used to indicate a strong interruption from the rest of the sentence text (unless the interruption comes at the end of the sentence). For example: “Reading my story of their lives – a story to which they had contributed from the start – was, as far as I can tell, mostly a positive experience.”
Italics, rather than inverted quote marks, should be used to indicate emphasis. ‘Scare quotes’ (the use of quotation marks by the author to add emphasis) should be avoided.
Do not use the Oxford (or serial) comma, which is a comma used before a conjunction (such as 'and' or 'or') at the end of a list.
Ellipses: use three dots with a space on either side ... even if a sentence ends or starts with one. Put ellipses within square brackets [ … ] when they indicate content has been that omitted from a quotation.
Numbers
Numbers and ages less than 100 should be written in full eg sixty-nine. Numbers 100 and over should be in figures, for example 2711. The percentage sign (%) should only be used in tables, otherwise use ‘per cent’.
Use figures with percentages only when a decimal point is required (e.g. 7.4 per cent).
Insert a comma for thousands and tens of thousands, e.g. 1,000 and 10,000.
Dates. For decades use 1930s (not nineteen thirties), for centuries use ‘nineteenth century’ not ’19th century’. When quoting spoken word use thirties not ’30s.
Set all dates out as follows: 5 November 1997.
For date ranges use full dates, for example 1945–1995, not 1945–95.
Abbreviations and contradictions
Wherever possible please avoid using abbreviations except in notes. Instances should generally be written in full ('for example', 'for instance' rather than e.g. or i.e. as should 'and'.
Abbreviations should end with with full points, for example p.m., ed., vol., no., etc.
For single initials of people use a point, for example R. A. Butler, Edward W. Said.
Do not use full points for names of organisatins and acronyms, e.g. BBC, SWP, HMSO, USA.
Contractions
Omit full point of contractions which end in the last letter of word, e.g. Dr, Mr, Mrs, St, edn, eds, Ltd; and after metric units, e.g. cm, m, km, kg .
The World Wars should appear as First World War and Second World War not as World War One/Two or WW1/WW2). Full wording forms should be used: do not (not don’t), will not (not won’t), except in quoted speech.
Spelling and language
English rather than American spelling conventions should be used, e.g. colour not color, programme not program, unless they are used in direct quotes. We can on occasions take pieces written wholly in American English.
S/Z? Use s not z in organise, realise etc.
Non-English words should be italicised, e.g. frisson and force majeure. All published works (books, newspapers, journals, radio and television programmes) mentioned in the text should appear in italics.
Please spell-check your piece before submitting it.
Capitals
Keep capitalisation to a minimum, thus CD-Rom not CD-ROM and Internet not INTERNET.
Use lower case for government, church, volume. Compass points should be lower case and hyphenated within combined (north-east); north should not be capitalised unless used in a proper noun (north London but North Carolina). Political parties should be capitalised (e.g. Fascist and Communist should only be used if referring to a specific political party).
Quotes and quotation marks
The use of longer direct quotations is welcomed. Quotations must be referenced. If quotes are less than two sentences long they should be included in text using single quote marks. Quotations longer than two lines should be indented.