Guidelines for Contributors

 American, British and Canadian Studies seeks quality submissions of work in the entire spectrum of the humanities. The review process is blind: articles are sent out to subject specialists for reviewing anonymously and we leave it up to the reviewers to choose whether or not to reveal themselves to authors. Decisions on articles submitted are normally made within three months, but may take longer due to pandemic circumstances. Authors are strongly encouraged to submit exciting and broad-ranging original articles that have not been published elsewhere, nor are currently under review in any other refereed journal. We regret we are unable to accept multiple submissions. Authors may submit papers that have been presented in conferences only if the papers have been thoroughly revised or extended to engage a theme that fits the ABC Studies profile.

A chief objective of the journal is to minimise the time for paper processing and to expedite printing; therefore, electronic submission of papers in final form is strongly recommended. Please email contributions to abc.journal@ulbsibiu.ro before the closing date. The first page of the manuscript should carry the title, names of authors, institutional affiliations, a brief but detailed 200-word abstract, and 7-10 key words/ concepts.

The usual word-limit for articles is 8500 words, including notes and references. Please include a brief 200-word biography for each author, for our Notes on Contributors, along with contact information. For detailed instructions for preparing your contribution and a sense of format, topics of interest to us and targeted audience, you may wish to consult the journal’s previous issues and style files at http://abcjournal.eu/ or https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/abcsj/abcsj-overview.xml. Only articles styled in compliance with the 9^th edition of the MLA Handbook and our Submission Guidelines posted on the journal websites will be considered. Please email us if you have any queries. Questions about format should be directed to abc.journal@ulbsibiu.ro. Questions about content should be directed to karina.schneider@ulbsibiu.ro.

Please note that you, as the author(s), are required to secure permissions for any third-party materials you have used in your article (quotation, poetry, images). Rightsholders have differing policies, so if you are uncertain as to what you are allowed to reproduce, please contact the rightsholder to confirm. Permissions must be secured for reproduction in print and online, for the life of the work (i.e., without a time limitation).

Deadlines for Submissions: American, British and Canadian Studies is published biannually in June and December. The deadlines for submission of contributions are typically 1 February for the summer edition (expected publication: 15 June) and 1 August for the winter edition (expected publication: 15 December), but may vary for special issues.

Charges: There is no Article Processing Charge for publishing with us.

Special Issues

Suggestions for special issues are welcome. To propose a special issue, a two-page proposal should be submitted to Adriana Neagu, Advisory Editor, containing the following information: title; purpose; scope; a list of prospective contributors; time-table (submission and review deadlines, intended publication date); and guest editor’s address, phone, fax, and e-mail address.

Once approved, the guest editor will be fully responsible for commissioning/ advertising, selecting and copy-editing the articles to be included in that issue, as well as for writing the editorial, and should follow the normal review procedure of this journal. Simple proposals of theme(s) without guest-editing commitment are also welcome and will be given due consideration. Please attach these to your contributions and email to adriananeagu@lett.ubbcluj.ro and abc.journal@ulbsibiu.ro.

Editorial Review Policy

American, British and Canadian Studies invites papers and special issue proposals by posting Calls for Papers on its webpage, several specialized pages such as https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/, and the social media, particularly Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Academic-Anglophone-Society-of-Romania-221613231184438 and https://www.facebook.com/ABCstudies). The journal depends on the scholarly review process for the selection for publication of quality manuscripts in line with the highest academic standards. Appropriateness for inclusion of an article in the journal is given by the soundness of the article’s academic standards, the strength of the body of research endorsing it, novelty, contribution to the field, and the journal’s spectrum of interests.

Reviewer selection is essential to the review process. Consequently, our choice of peer reviewers is based on several complex criteria, ranging from area of expertise, credentials, availability and willingness to devote time to the fair assessment of manuscripts, as well as our previous experience with the individual. Our reviewers include subject specialists in the American, British and Canadian humanities from both Romanian and foreign universities.

Procedure

Submissions first go through a summary similarity check and screening, in order to ascertain that they conform to journal requirements concerning form, originality and accuracy of citation. Previously published work and work that is under consideration with other journals is not accepted. Only manuscripts assessed as likely to meet American, British and Canadian Studies criteria upon initial screening are sent for formal review.

All eligible manuscripts submitted to American, British and Canadian Studies are refereed. The review process is double–blind: manuscripts that meet the preliminary requirements of suitability are sent out to two subject specialists for reviewing anonymously. Based on the referees’ reading reports, articles will be accepted, accepted subject to revisions (as per the report from the referees), pursued or rejected. If one of the referees recommends rejection, while the other recommends publication, a third is invited to review the manuscript.

The referees’ comments are forwarded to authors in view of appropriate revision. The referees’ comments on rejected manuscripts shall be forwarded to authors upon request. The identity of the referees is kept confidential and we leave it up to the reviewers to choose whether or not to reveal themselves to the corresponding author. We reserve the right not to publish revised articles that do not fully respond to the alterations suggested by the reviewers. The final decision regarding publication rests with the Editor-in-Chief. An accepted manuscript will subsequently be forwarded to the Manuscript Editor for final processing.

In the case of guest-edited special issues, the responsibility for commissioning and selecting the articles, as well as screening them for plagiarism and conformity to formal standards, rests with the guest editors. The journal’s editorial board can help by recommending peer reviewers and participates in the copy-editing, typesetting and proofreading of the final manuscript.

Finally, a letter of acceptance is sent to the authors, requesting them to sign the License to Publish form and at this stage submit any final supplementary material required. Starting with 2020, articles are published under Creative Commons BY 4.0.

Requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled with utmost efficiency in the best interest of our contributing authors and of the wide dissemination of knowledge. In assigning the license, authors may use their own material in volume publications provided that the journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication, and pre-notified in writing.