Guidelines:
- In the cover letter, which should be addressed to the Editor, authors must include a three-hundred-word abstract that outlines the substance and significance of the work, identify anyone who has critiqued the manuscript, and list the author’s contact information (email address, mailing address, phone number).
- List the author’s name (as it would appear in print), title, department, and institutional affiliation.
- Include a list of works cited as a separate file.
- Include the title at the top of the first page of the manuscript.
- Avoid authorial identification throughout the manuscript as well as any identification stored in the document properties. Please refrain from using identifying proxy links to website sources in your manuscript.
- Be sure to double space throughout (footnotes may be single spaced).
- Margins should be one inch on all sides.
- Consecutively paginate the entire text.
- Embed footnotes in the document (meaning that the callout number in the running text links with the footnote text).
- Do not use parenthetical citations.
- Distinguish prose extracts of one hundred words or more and poetry from the running text by indentation.
- Supply each table in a separate file. Number tables consecutively, indicating their position in the manuscript.
- Submit all illustrations you wish to use as separate files (see below for further details on acceptable formats). In the manuscript, indicate the placement of each illustration. Submit captions for each illustration in a separate document.
- Notes on Quarterly House Style: The Quarterly does not use subheadings. We employ space breaks to indicate new sections and ask authors to craft more careful transitions. We also try to steer authors away from announcement language (“In this essay I will argue….”) and toward substantive declarative sentences that articulate the thesis.
Procedures:
Evaluation: Article manuscripts offered to the William and Mary Quarterly are first reviewed by the Editor; if appropriate, they are then subject to double-blind peer review. Readers’ reports are advisory; the Editor is the final arbiter.
Decision: On completion of peer review—normally within four months—the Editor notifies the author regarding the disposition of the manuscript. A manuscript may be (1) accepted; (2) rejected; (3) rejected with option to revise and resubmit. An author in doubt about the nature or terms of the decision should seek prompt clarification.
Revision and resubmission: If a manuscript is rejected with option to revise and resubmit, an author who accepts the option may propose a general plan of revision to the Editor. Revised manuscripts are normally submitted to the original referees. As a rule, in such cases, a final decision is rendered in the second round.
Acceptance and revision: When a manuscript is accepted, the Editor projects a provisional date of publication and outlines an agenda for revision.
Copyright: Copyright forms, establishing the author’s and publisher’s respective rights in published articles, are sent to authors at the time of acceptance. One signed copy should be returned to the Editor.
Preparation for publication: Submit the final manuscript electronically as an email attachment in Word to the Editor. The manuscript should be completely double spaced, including extracts and footnotes. Authors are required to follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition.
Permissions: Authors are responsible for obtaining and paying for permissions to reproduce all illustrations in the journal (including the online version of the journal that is available to subscribers on Project Muse, which some archives may classify as a reuse for which a separate application must be made). Authors are required to send original artwork (color images, if possible, for the online version) and copies of permission forms before the manuscript goes into production. Digital images should be of print quality, at least 300 dpi (at least 600 in order to use a detail of an image), in JPG, TIF, or EPS formats. Contact Jay Aja (jayaja@wm.edu) for instructions on transferring a high-resolution image that is too large for email.
Copyediting: Manuscripts are copyedited by the Managing Editor or Assistant Editor three to six months before the publication date. This editing usually involves styling footnotes and standardizing citations to Quarterly style as well as working with authors to clarify meaning for Quarterly readers. Authors are asked to read edited copy and may make revisions at that time but should abstain from making substantive changes in page proofs, which they are also asked to read.
At every point, the editors are responsible for clarifying, and authors for comprehending, the terms of the process. The editors will respond to all appropriate requests for information.
For more information on the submission and publication processes: