Author Guidelines
Submissions should be made electronically through this website.
Please ensure that you consider the following guidelines when preparing your manuscript:
Article types
- Research articles (8000 words) should describe the outcomes and application of unpublished original research, either empirical or theoretical/conceptual. These should make a substantial contribution to knowledge and understanding in Maternal Studies.
- Methods papers (8000 words) should outline new approaches to researching motherhood and the maternal, and discuss potential applications and significance of this new approach. In addition, papers that critique or modify extant methodologies and approaches are welcome.
- Review papers (8000 words) can cover topics such as current controversies or the historical development of Maternal Studies as well as issues of regional or temporal focus. Papers should critically engage with the relevant body of extant literature.
- Visual, audio and creative writing submissions can be made in standard formats, and must include an accompanying written commentary (1000 words), situating the visual work in relation to Maternal Studies.
- Position statements (2-3000 words) are short pieces that outline an area of research (empirical or theoretical) that is in its early stages, and lays out the premise for this research, early research findings, and potential ways in which it will be developed.
- Reviews, commentaries, responses (500-1500) are short pieces that reflect, comment on, or engage with books, films, exhibitions, and other public events that relate to the aims of the journal.
Word limits include all referencing and citation.
Video and Audio Contributions
Video and audio contributions should be submitted as RealPlayer, MP3 and Quicktime formats. They should be submitted ready-compressed at the desired quality, suitable for streaming at broadband speeds. If you wish to include a different file format, please contact the editors.
Studies in the Maternal House Sheet Style
The contributors are responsible for obtaining and securing the copyright permission for any submitted material. The journal Studies in the Maternal is not responsible for any materials submitted without the copyright permission.
Text-based contributions
As Studies in the Maternal is an interdisciplinary journal, we employ two styles in our publication corresponding to conventional styles used in the Humanities and Social Sciences respectively (referred to as 'Humanities style' and 'Social Sciences style' in this guide). Please choose amongst the two styles described below after the general guidelines. Where the difference is not specifically stated, guidelines refer to both styles.
In addition, for the Humanities style, this style sheet should be read in conjunction with the MHRA style guide for preparing scholarly material for publication. This is available free online. If this page is not working, you can search the MHRA website for the free download. Please refer to sections 9 and 10 in particular for advice on the preparation of endnotes and references.
Please note that articles which substantially deviate from this style sheet (and in the case of Humanities style, the MHRA guidelines) will be returned to the contributor for revision.
General Guidelines
Page setup — margins and layout
Top 2.54 cm
Bottom 2.54 cm
Left 2.8 cm
Right 2.8 cm
Gutter 0 cm
From edge Header 1.27 cm
Footer 1.27 cm
Text
Font Times New Roman 12pt
Spacing 1.5 for main text and endnotes
Alignment Justified
Paragraphs First paragraph of article and each subsection: no tab
Otherwise each paragraph indented one tab
Humanities style
Article title In bold, centred, 16pt; then leave one line in between
Name of contributor In bold, centred, 12pt; then two lines before the body of the text
Sub-sections Marked by non-bold, centred Roman numeral
Followed (if applicable) by section title on new line, in bold
Then one line before the body of the text
Titles of books, etc. Italicised, never underlined
Dates of books Please provide, wherever possible, the dates of primary texts in the main body of the article.
Social Sciences style
Article title In bold, justified, 16pt; then leave one line in between
Name of contributor In bold, justified, 12pt; then two lines before the body of the text
Sub-sections title In bold, justified, 12pt; then one line before the body of the text
Titles of books, etc. Italicised, never underlined
Dates of books Please provide, wherever possible, the dates of primary texts in the main body of the article.
Quotations (both styles)
For short quotations (i.e., under 40 words), please incorporate in the main body of the text, using single quotation marks.
For a quotation within a quotation, use double quotation marks.
For longer quotations of over 40 words, please set out from the main body of the text and format in the following way:
Alignment Justified
Indentation 1 cm left and right
Spacing Single, 10pt after
Long quotations should not be enclosed in quotation marks.
Punctuation (both styles)
Full stops: Followed by a single space before a new sentence
Hyphens/dashes: Please note as a general rule that en dashes should be used in the main body of the text, with a single space on either side.
Most Word application programmes will convert hyphens automatically into en dashes when used with a single space on either side, or by using the 'insert/symbol/special characters' function.
You may wish to retain em dashes and punctuation as they appear in primary quotations. Em dashes can be represented by two hyphens or by using the 'insert/symbol/special characters' function in Word.
A small dash (or non-breaking hyphen) should be used with no space either side for date and page ranges, e.g. 1847-1872.
Ellipses: Ellipses that represent your omission from original source material should be represented with three full stops enclosed within square brackets, e.g. […], to distinguish them from ellipses and variant punctuation in the original source material.
Emphases: Please indicate where appropriate whether emphases and insertions are in the original material, or are your own additions.
Annotations — Humanities style
All bibliographic information should be presented in endnotes, indicated by superscript numbers in main text. Endnotes should be in Times New Roman 10pt, 1.5 spacing, and justified (again, please refer to MHRA guidelines, section 9, for advice on layout of endnotes).
To reduce the number of endnotes, please incorporate subsequent page numbers for frequently-cited sources in the main body of the text. After the first reference in the endnotes, add a brief sentence, e.g. 'Further references [to this edition, etc.] are given after quotations in the text'. Please use an appropriate abbreviation, italicised, in the main body of the text, i.e., BH for Bleak House.
Please refer to MHRA guidelines, section 11, from page 59 onwards for advice on forms of references. These are only some general examples:
Books
Tom McArthur, Worlds of Reference: Lexicography, Learning and Language from the Clay Tablet to the Computer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 59.
Chapters in books
Martin Elsky, 'Words, Things, and Names: Jonson’s Poetry and Philosophical Grammar', in Classic and Cavalier: Essays on Jonson and the Sons of Ben, ed. by Claude J. Summers and Ted-Larry Pebworth (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982), pp. 31-55 (p. 41).
Articles in Journals
J. D. Spikes, 'The Jacobean History Play and the Myth of the Elect Nation', Renaissance Drama, n.s., 8 (1970), 117-49.
Annotations — Social Sciences style
All bibliographic information should be presented in Harvard style. Although the Harvard style is the most commonly-used style of referencing worldwide, it is not 'owned' by any institution or organisation, so no authority sets the rules. This means they have been interpreted slightly differently by different institutions. Studies in the Maternal follows the Harvard style described on the Birkbeck library page. These are some general examples:
In the main body of the text: (Author 1906, p.34).
Referenced:
Books
Mercer, P.A. and Smith, G., 1993. Private viewdata in the UK. 2nd ed. London: Longman.
Chapters in Books
Bantz, C.R., 1995. Social dimensions of software development. In: Anderson, J.A., ed. Annual review of software management and development. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 502-510.
Articles in journals
Evans, W.A., 1994. Approaches to intelligent information retrieval. Information processing and management, 7 (2), 147-168.
The reference list should be in Times New Roman 10pt, 1.5 spacing, justified alignment with a hanging indent.
Spelling (both styles
American spellings should be amended to UK English, except in quotations.
Page numbers and footer (both styles)
Please note that page numbers and footers should start on page 2
Page Numbers Position: Top of page
Alignment: Right
Font: Times New Roman 10pt
Footer Alignment: Right
Indentation: 0 cm either side
Spacing: Single
Font: Times New Roman 11pt
Layout: Author, new line, Title of paper (all in bold); leave single line space after
Studies in the Maternal, in bold, Issue Number (Year), www.mamsie.bbk.ac.uk, e.g.
Josephine Bloggs,
Mothers and Daughters
Studies in the Maternal, 1 (1) 2009, www.mamsie.bbk.ac.uk
Images
Please do not place images in Word documents. Images should be provided as separate files in JPG format, 72dpi resolution, no bigger than 1000 pixels width/height. Instructions should be added to your Word document to insert images where appropriate. These instructions should be placed in square brackets, stating the file name and, after a semi-colon, the caption, e.g.:
[guernica.jpg; Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid]
Video and audio contributions
Video and audio contributions should be submitted as RealPlayer, MP3 and Quicktime formats. They should be submitted ready-compressed at the desired quality, suitable for streaming at broadband speeds. If you wish to include a different file format, please contact the editors.