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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Cliodynamics

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Submission Guidelines


Submit Article

Your manuscript should not exceed the appropriate word limit (see “Article Types,” below). Overly long manuscripts will be sent back to the authors for shortening. However, additional text can be included as Supporting Information. We strongly encourage authors to upload data and/or source code as Supplemental Material.

Article Types

  • Articles are in-depth treatments limited to 12,000 words; figures and tables are unlimited.
  • Reports are shorter than articles, limited to 4,000 words and four figures or tables.
  • Book reviews have a suggested length of 1,500 words.
  • Review essays are longer book reviews of volumes or edited works, limited to 12,000 words.
  • The Forum section is the home for synthesis, review, and discussion of novel ideas and new directions for Cliodynamic research. A Forum is typically introduced by a substantial review or an “ideas” paper, whose goal is to transgress existing boundaries by synthesizing larger fields or seemingly disparate areas, and to offer new ways of approaching “Big Questions.” The Forum is also an appropriate section for publishing short communications presenting opinions on, or responses to, material published in the journal. Reanalysis of the original data presented in the focal article is encouraged; however, new data should not generally be presented. Responses should be submitted in a timely manner, ideally within 12 months of publication of the original article, and should be no longer than 4,000 words. Authors of the original article are not required to write a forum response and are given a set timeframe if they choose to do so.
  • Databases are descriptions of new datasets or database initiatives. These articles require an introduction and methodological overview, but the database itself (if included as a supplementary file) will be only lightly edited for display purposes.

Before you begin, please be sure you have the following items:

  • Article title
  • An abstract of 250 words or less (separate from the article body, and not required for book reviews)
  • Keywords for your article
  • Article in native document format, such as Microsoft Word or RTF (Articles must be submitted without a title page, abstract, or page numbers. These will be provided by the system.)

Please make sure that your contact information is complete and correct, as the editors of the journal may need to contact you regarding your submission. We will never share any of this information without your permission. Be sure to enter your name and affiliation exactly as they should appear in a published article (including appropriate capitalization and punctuation).

INITIAL MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION (ONLINE)

Authors and their emails, the lead footnote with acknowledgments, title (in headline case), keywords, and abstract are uploaded separately to the “Submit Article” site. The review manuscript should be submitted with custom top and bottom margins (0.79 inches top and 0.59 bottom) and custom mirror margins (0.59 inches inside and 0.39 outside), 5.83 x 8.27 inch page size, single-spaced, and in electronic format as a Windows *.doc, *.docx or *.rtf file with graphics either embedded in place at the end of the file or uploaded as separate files (these will be embedded in place in the publication version). Graphics files must be in formats of acceptable quality for pdf, and the text or label for a figure or table may contain a visible URL link where interactive versions of the figures may be viewed. Graphics should be uploaded separately rather than in a .zip file. Images must have a minimum 300 dpi at their maximum size. In final publication these will refer to a URL on the eScholarship site, so that figures will be published along with the article on the same website. When a link requires an uncommon program or plugin for reading the figure, the authors should supply any programs or links to browser plugins that are needed. Sources cited should appear in a bibliography at the end of the article in Chicago style (16th ed.), and references to them in the text should use the (Author Date) or (Author Date: page range) format (e.g. Smith 2003: 445–47). The review process will allow commenting and proofs to be sent to authors electronically, and authors can contact anonymous reviewers anonymously.

FINAL MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION GUIDELINES

This document provides details on copyediting, typesetting, and layout requirements and recommendations pertaining to final manuscript submission to this eScholarship Repository journal or peer-reviewed series.

COPYEDITING

We copyedit manuscripts and add a title page and pagination. Authors will be able to approve the final version of their edited manuscript. We recommend, however, that authors use their own copyeditor before submitting their article. Articles with numerous spelling and grammar mistakes may be rejected.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS

  • Do not include a title page or abstract. (Begin the document with the introduction; a title page, including the abstract, will be added to your paper by the system.)
  • Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. (The system will add the appropriate header and page numbers.)
  • Write your article in English.
  • Your manuscript should not exceed the appropriate word limit (12,000 for articles and review essays, 4,000 for forum contributions and reports, and 1,500 for book reviews). Overly long manuscripts will be sent back to the authors for shortening. However, you can include additional text in the Supplemental Material.
  • Submit your manuscript, including tables and figures, as a single file (Word or *.rtf files are accepted). Supplementary files should be uploaded separately.
  • Page size should be A5 5.83 x 8.27 inches.
  • Margins should be customized: 0.79 inches top, 0.59 bottom. Mirror margins should be used for side margins: 0.59 inches inside, 0.39 outside.
  • Use a single-column layout with both left and right margins justified.
  • Font size for the body of the text should be 10 pt Cambria and 9 pt for footnotes.
  • Include a bibliography in Chicago (16th ed.) author-date style: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html.
  • If figures are included, use high-resolution figures (minimum 300 dpi), preferably encoded as a high-resolution .pdf, .gif, .jpg or encapsulated PostScript (.eps). Upload your figures as separate files in Step 4 of the submission process.
  • Copy-edit your manuscript.
  • Use the following document structure (remember there is no title page):
  1. Introduction (titling this section is optional)
  2. Subsequent sections, including all tables, figures, and footnotes referenced in the text, but avoid the use of footnotes whenever possible.
  3. References
  4. Supplemental material, if any

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

  • Supplemental materials with text should be formatted in the same way as the main article.
  • Use separate numbering for figures and illustrations in supplemental files. Example: Figure S1.
  • Do not submit supplemental materials as a .zip file: upload each document separately to eScholarship.
  • We accept supplemental files in all formats.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Indenting, Line Spacing, and Justification
Indent the first line of all paragraphs except those following a section heading. An indent should be at least 2 cm.

Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text, with the exception of long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.

All text should be left-justified and right-justified (i.e. flush with both the left margin and the right margin).

Article Length 
Refer to “Article Types” at the beginning of this page.

Colored Text 
Use only black text. However, you can use colored text in figures where their employment is critical for understanding, e.g. in maps and in certain graphs.

Emphasized Text: Italics, Single and Double Quotes 
Use italics (never underlining!) for (1) emphasis, (2) titles of books and journals, and (3) words in languages other than English. Use double quotation marks in all cases except for quotes within quotes, for which single quotation marks should be used. Quotation marks should appear after rather than before other punctuation such as commas and periods.

Headings 
Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be in bold 12 pt Cambria in order to be distinguishable from the main body text. Subheadings should be bold 10 pt Cambria. The first paragraph following a heading should not be indented.

Fonts 
Except, possibly, where special symbols are needed, use a single serif font (we prefer Cambria). If you desire a second font, for instance in figures, use a sans serif font (we prefer Arial).

Font Size 
The main body of text should be in a 10 pt font.

Foreign Terms 
Foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Main Text 
The font for the main body of text must be black and in Cambria.

Titles 
Titles of books, journals, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Footnotes 
Avoid the use of footnotes, but if absolutely necessary use 9 pt for footnotes. In any case, use footnotes and not endnotes. Numbers referring the reader to footnotes should appear after, not before, punctuation.

Tables and Figures 
Avoid the use of overly small type in tables. Include tables in the main document, but upload figures separately during Step 4 of the submission process.

Mathematics 
Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be in a smaller font size than the main text.

Short mathematical expressions should be typed inline. Longer expressions should appear as displayed math. Expressions using many different levels (e.g., fractions) should also be set as display math. Important definitions or concepts can also be set off as display math.

Equations should be numbered sequentially, with equation numbers appearing on the right.

Symbols and notation in unusual fonts should be avoided. This will not only enhance the clarity of the manuscript, but will also help ensure that it displays correctly on the reader’s screen and prints correctly. When proofing your PDF, pay particular attention to the rendering of the mathematics, especially symbols and notation drawn from other than standard fonts.

Use periods rather than commas for decimals: 10.15 rather than 10,15.

For numbers in the main text (rather than in equations, figures or tables), spell out numbers zero to nine and use numerals for all others.

Dates
The author should mark dates as BCE or CE. Use numerals for centuries: 19th century rather than nineteenth century.

References
It is the author’s obligation to provide complete references with the necessary information. References should appear at the end of the document, following the heading ‘References.’ Each reference should give the last names of all the authors, their first names or first initials, and, optionally, their middle initials. All citations included in articles must also include the DOI for the cited article, whenever one is available. Our house style is Chicago Author-Date, 16th ed.: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html The usual hierarchy for ordering the references in the references section is:

  1. Surname of first author
  2. First name of first author
  3. Surname of second author (if any). A co-authored work is listed after a solo-authored work by the same first author (e.g., Edlin, Ann S. would precede Edlin, Ann S. and Sarah Reichelstein).
  4. First name of second author
  5. Publication date
  6. Order cited in text

If the same author appears twice in a row, repeat the name instead of using dashes to indicate repetition.

The information to be given with each citation in the references is as follows:

Articles in traditional journals: Required: Author’s (or authors’) name(s), year of publication (or “n.d.” if no date), title of article, name of journal, volume and issue number, page numbers. For forthcoming (in press) articles, state the expected year of publication and substitute “forthcoming” for the volume and page numbers.

Article in an electronic publication: Required: Author’s (or authors’) name(s), year of publication, title of article, name of journal, series name (if the journal has different series), volume and issue number, article number, hyperlink to the article.

Books: Required: Author’s (or authors’) name(s), year of publication (or “n.d.” if no date), title of book, edition (if not first), place of publication, publisher. For forthcoming (in press) books, state the expected year of publication and add “forthcoming.”

Chapters in collections or anthologies: Required: Name(s) of author(s) of chapter, year of publication (or “n.d.” if no date), title of chapter, title of book, name(s) of editor(s) of book, edition (if not first), place of publication, publisher. For forthcoming (in press) books, state the expected year of publication and add “forthcoming.”

Other works: Required: Author’s (or authors’) name(s), year, title of work, and information about how the reader could obtain a copy.

Examples:

Article

Weinstein, Joshua I. 2009. “The Market in Plato’s Republic.” Classical Philology 104 (3): 439–58. doi:12.3456/777998.

Article in an online journal

Marklein, Kathryn E., and Douglas E. Crews. 2017. “Frail or Hale: Skeletal Frailty Indices in Medieval London Skeletons.” PLoS ONE 12 (5): e0176025. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176025.

Chapters in edited books:

Soldier, Edward F., Alfred S. Sailor, George H. Tinker, and Karl L. Taylor. 2009. “Vertical Transmission of Father’s Trade in Early Modern England.” In Social Mobility in Historical Societies, edited by George H. Tinker and Karl L. Taylor, 34-56. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. doi:12.3456/999888.

Books:

Emerson, Thomas E. 1997. Cahokia and the Archaeology of Power. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

Internet resources:

JAMA. 2004. “Key and Critical Objectives of JAMA.” Accessed January 2, 2004. http://www.jama.org/objectives.htm.

Use hanging indents for reference list entries (i.e., the first line of the entry should be flush with the left margin and all other lines should be indented from the left margin by a set amount). Entries should be single-spaced with extra space between entries.

Within the text of your manuscript, use the “author-date” method of citation. For instance, “As noted by Emerson (1997: 40).”

When there are two authors, use both surnames. For instance, “Soldier and Sailor (1996) claim …”

If there are three or more authors, give the surname of the first author and append “et al.,” which should not be italicized. For instance, “Soldier et al. (1987).”

Use commas to separate multiple works by the same author(s) in the same citation, but semicolons between works by different authors: (Smith 2016, 2017; Taylor 2013).

If two or more cited works share the same authors and dates, use “a,” “b,” and so on to distinguish among them. For instance, “Jones (1994b) provides a more general analysis of the model introduced in Example 3 of Jones (1994a).”

After the first citation in the text using the author-date method, subsequent citations may use just the last names if that would be unambiguous. For example, Edlin and Reichelstein (1996) can be followed by just Edlin and Reichelstein provided no other Edlin and Reichelstein article is referenced; if one is, then the date must always be attached.

When citations appear within parentheses, use commas—rather than parentheses or brackets— to separate the date from the surrounding text. For instance, “… (see Soldier and Sailor 1996, for an early discussion of this).”