Diplomatic History Reference Guide
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DIPLOMATIC HISTORY REFERENCE GUIDE This reference guide will help you prepare your manuscript according to the journal’s policies before submission. It includes submission and formatting policies that are particular to Diplomatic History, examples of the most frequently used citations, and citation standards for the most frequently consulted archives. We will unsubmit and possibly reject any articles that do not adhere to this guide. Please read it very carefully. Diplomatic History, sponsored by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), is the only journal devoted to U.S. international history and foreign relations, broadly defined, including grand strategy, diplomacy, and issues involving gender, religion, culture, race and ethnicity, and ideology. It examines U.S. relations in a global, transnational, and comparative context, and its broad focus appeals to a number of disciplines, including political science, international economics, gender studies, geography, anthropology, national security studies, and history. The editorial staff of Diplomatic History encourages authors to submit manuscripts that address broad understandings of U.S. foreign relations. The journal editors strive to find preeminent experts in the appropriate specialization who represent diverse backgrounds to review submitted manuscripts as well as participate as commentators in special solicited forums and as book reviewers. The choice of commentators and book reviewing is subject to the Editors’ discretion. Please consult the Diplomatic History website for more information about submissions and the review process. *** Manuscript Preparation and Style Formatting: Manuscripts should be double-spaced, with double-spaced (superscript) footnotes, one-inch margins, indented paragraphs, 12-point, Times New Roman font. Manuscripts must be less than 12,500 words and submitted as a WORD document. See below for more specific details on formatting. Style: Manuscripts should conform to the style requirements in this guide and the standards we have developed for archival citations. For additional inquiries not covered in this guide, please consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. Length: Manuscript submissions must be no longer than 12,500 words, including notes, but preferably shorter. The Editors make final determination of the length of all articles, and whatever the length of a submitted article, the Editors may ask that it be reduced to a word count meeting the needs of the journal. Authors who submit articles that exceed the 12,500-word limit can expect the Editors to ask them to reduce the length of their manuscript to meet the journal’s length requirements, and then to resubmit the shortened manuscript for review consideration. This word limit also applies to manuscripts that are returned to authors after the first round of decisions by reviewers and the Editors, and are then revised by authors and resubmitted. Title: The title and subtitle of the manuscript combined should be limited to a maximum of 10 words. Diplomatic History Reference Guide Anonymity: In order to assure anonymity, the author’s name and affiliation should appear only on a separate cover sheet. Authors should also avoid text references that indicate their identity and should limit citations to their own work. Abstract and Bio: Authors should include an abstract and short bio (50–100 words) with their manuscript submission as supplementary documents. In order to assure anonymity, the author’s name and affiliation should appear only on a separate cover sheet. International Standards: Authors should use U.S. (not British) English. Consult the Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary for spelling, hyphenation, italicization, capitalization, use of numbers, punctuation, and other matters of style. Book Citations: Diplomatic History does not include the publisher in citations. Use the city and state only. Spell out the city name and abbreviate the state (Chicago, IL, 2006). A comma, not a colon, follows the place. Avoid discursive notes: Lengthy, discursive notes should be reduced to a minimum or integrated into the text (see 14.39). Limit block quotes: Avoid the use of block quotes. Quotations under 100 words can be run into the text. Subheadings: Limit subheadings to no more than three. U.S. vs. United States: Use U.S. as adjective only. When used as a noun, use United States. Do not use “America” as a noun referring only to the United States. You may use the “Americas” if referring to North and South America. Dates: Dates should appear as January 4, 1977. Centuries are spelled out: seventeenth century (noun) and seventeenth-century (adjective). Do not insert footnotes mid-sentence: The number of note references in a sentence or a paragraph can sometimes be reduced by grouping several citations in a single note. The citations are separated by semicolons and must appear in the same order as the text material (whether works, quotations, or whatever) to which they pertain. Take care to avoid any ambiguity as to what is documenting what. Quotations: Periods and commas at the ends of quotations go inside the closing quotation mark while colons, semicolons, question marks, exclamation points go outside unless part of the quotation. Quotations marks inside of extracted text should use single quotes placed “inside of ‘punctuation.’” Keep interpolations enclosed in brackets and to a minimum. Acronyms: Use acronyms only after the full name is used and acronym defined in parentheses. Ibid. refers to the preceding item and takes place of the succeeding citation if it is identical. Ibid. cannot be used if there is more than one citation in the preceding note. Images: The author is encouraged to submit relevant graphics (photographs, maps, charts, line drawings, cartoons) that enhance the manuscript or that serve as supporting evidence. Such files should be sent as .tiff, .jpeg, or .bitmap, and must have a resolution of 300–600 dpi. The author is responsible for obtaining permission to publish any copyrighted material. Insert the figures into the text with figure numbers and captions and download the images as separate high-res files into ScholarOne as supplementary files. Final decisions about the inclusion of images will be up to the editors. 2 Diplomatic History Reference Guide Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS, and similar licensing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section. Information on permissions contacts for a number of main galleries and museums can also be provided. Notification of Submission: Authors must indicate that Diplomatic History is the sole venue for consideration of your manuscript. Successful Submission Requirements An article published in Diplomatic History is a product of a meticulous review process and, we believe, meets the highest standards of the discipline in terms of substance and style. The process can be time-consuming and arduous. Below are some factors that bear on the success of a manuscript in the writing and review process, from its conception to publication. Submission Requirements: 1. A manuscript should be historical in context, no matter how recent, and should deal with the foreign policy of the United States, broadly conceived (see the opening mission statement of this document). Diplomatic History encourages submissions of the widest thematic and historical scope, including international topics; trends in the field and beyond as they touch on U.S. foreign relations; cross disciplinary work, new topics, and/or new interpretations and arguments. 2. Manuscripts must be based on archival and other primary materials. The sources usually go beyond those compiled in Foreign Relations of the United States, although FRUS can be an essential source. 3. Manuscripts should address the literature, both older and the most-cutting edge, and indicate how the author’s topic is situated in that body of work. Authors should show the importance of their articles within the literature and demonstrate how the manuscript will advance or add to our knowledge. A long historiographical section is not necessary, but a judgment of the literature is in order. Some authors place this discussion in a footnote by listing relevant sources. Please remember: all notes, historiographical as well as primary sources, are added to the total word count of the manuscript. 4. It is important to edit carefully and abide by the journal’s policies before submission. We will unsubmit articles that do not meet the highest standards of publication at the time of submission. Sloppy formatting often brings into question the quality of the author’s argument. Along with the substance of the article, presentation can affect the review of a manuscript. Successful manuscripts usually include one or more of the following: • a developed and appealing introduction (of one to several paragraphs) with a clear and succinct argument which makes a distinct contribution to the respective historiography. • an interpretation based on the most