Notes for contributors

postmedieval publishes theoretically driven scholarship on premodernity and its ongoing reverberations. Contributions are characterized by conceptual adventure, stylistic experiment, political urgency, or surprising encounter. The editors are committed to expanding the fields of knowledge and geography represented in the journal, by showcasing scholarship that reaches across disciplines, language traditions, locales, modes of inquiry, and levels of access. Our aim is to facilitate collaborative, ethical, and experimental engagements with the medieval—with its archives and art, its thought and practices, its traces and its enduring possibilities. Contributions on sources beyond Western Europe are warmly encouraged.

In general, postmedieval is published four times a year. Some of these are themed, guest-edited issues; others are open-topic. The journal’s editors will consider submissions of individual essays as well as proposals for themed issues. If accepted, individual essays will be published as Online First publications, appearing first as independent articles on the journal’s website and later in one of the print issues. We will also entertain small, themed “clusters” of essays to be included in open issues as well as commissioned book-review essays.

If you have a suggestion for or would like to guest-edit a themed issue, or would like to discuss the appropriateness of an article for an open issue prior to submission, please contact the Managing Editor at postmedievalED@gmail.com.

General submission guidelines

Authors wishing to submit to an article for publication in an open-topic issue should send their manuscript via the journal's online submission site at the link below. Authors interested in submitting to a themed issue should contact the guest editors directly. Information about the guest editors of forthcoming issues can be found under the 'Forthcoming Issues' link.

Manuscripts should be in English, preferably in Word format. Please submit two documents, containing the following elements:

1. Author contact details and biography:

  • the title of the article
  • the author(s)' names
  • [optional] the author(s) institutional affiliations
  • [optional] a short biography of no more than 80 words for each author, as well as any additional background information that be helpful to editors, like author(s)’ first language and/or national academic training outside Anglo/US institutions
  • full contact details (including email, postal address and phone number) for the “corresponding author” (or the author primarily responsible for communications with the publisher)

2. Article:

  • Make sure the article is titled.
  • At the start of the article, please include a summary or abstract of not more than 150 words, outlining the aims and subject matter.
  • The full article should follow the abstract, with references. Please double-space the entire manuscript, including all notes and bibliographical references, and make sure all pages are numbered consecutively.
  • In preparing your article, please keep in mind that postmedieval’s lay-out means that notes necessarily will be constrained in length. However, the synthetic “References” list has no fixed limit.
  • Please print a word count at the end of your manuscript. Word counts should include abstract, article, and all notes and references.
  • Please make sure that the article is anonymized and there is no identifying information throughout.

In the peer review process for postmedieval both authors and reviewers will be anonymous. Please ensure that NO author names are given on the first page of the article manuscript nor anywhere throughout and that author names have been taken out of the ‘File’ ‘Properties’ screen in Word.

If images or text in the article require permissions for use, please keep in mind that securing permissions will be the author(s)’ responsibility. Please ensure you have a plan in place for the prompt securing of permissions should your article be accepted. In the meantime, see our page on Artwork and our page on Copyright and Permissions.

Please note: If you are including the details of more than one author on your paper, please ensure that the first-named author is prepared to be "corresponding" author, responsible for communication with Production and handling the proof of your manuscript, if it were to be accepted. If you're unsure of how to order your names, please contact the editors, or the publisher.

We expect that most postmedieval articles will fall between 6,000 and 9,000 words (including notes and references), but these are not strict limits. For articles of exceptional brevity or length, please consult with editors.

postmedieval uses the Chicago Author-Date style, with in-text references and an alphabetical reference list at the end. For more information, see our page on Presentation and Formatting.

Because postmedieval uses sidenotes rather than endnotes, we encourage authors to keep notes to a minimum (with no notes exceeding 50 words in length). The original motivation for employing sidenotes was to lay emphasis on articles’ readability, accessibility, and essayistic communications (and to distinguish the journal from other footnote-heavy venues in medieval studies). In our experience, the author-date reference format means that citations can be copious without copious notes.

postmedieval only accepts original submissions from authors. We cannot republish material that has been previously published elsewhere. If you have any questions about this, please contact the Managing Editor at postmedievalED@gmail.com.

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