Submissions

Author Guidelines

Stylesheet for Contributors

• REVIEW TEMPLATE
• SUBMIT YOUR COMMISSIONED REVIEW
  

A. Content

Five Kinds of Reviewer

(adapted by Roger Shiner from Susan Swan, 'Nine Ways of Looking at a Critic', Toronto Globe and Mail, 30th November 1996. E23)

• The Spankers: These reviewers aim to administer discipline over anything from ill-conceived plot lines to misplaced commas.
• The Young (and Old) Turks: They view the review as a platform to showcase their own intellectual superiority and above-average intelligence.
• The Self-Abusers: Believing they could have written a better book, these reviewers extensively detail their criticisms.
• The Gushers: They skip over critical discussion of the book and focus solely on conveying the enjoyment of reading it.
• The Good Reviewers: These reviewers represent the book accurately, without resorting to long-winded summaries, allowing readers to understand the book’s essence regardless of the reviewer’s personal opinion. They also offer insightful or revealing perspectives from which the book can be critically assessed.

B. Length and Deadlines

We kindly request that all contributors adhere to a word limit of 1500 words. This ensures fairness among all contributors. If a submission exceeds this limit, it will be returned for further editing. Please note that a slight deviation from the limit (e.g., 1534 words) is acceptable, but a significant deviation (e.g., 1704 words) is not.

As for the submission deadline, we offer a degree of flexibility. We publish reviews on a rolling basis, meaning that early submissions are likely to be published sooner. However, to maintain our credibility, we cannot publish many outdated reviews. Therefore, we may reject reviews that are significantly delayed. If your review will be delayed beyond the agreed deadline, please email us at pir@uvic.ca.

C. Heading

Please single-space the heading, using the following format and punctuation:
John Doe, Making Sense. University of Alberta Press, 1997. 227 pp. $44.99 (Hardback ISBN 0123456789); $20.99 (Paperback ISBN 0123456023)

• Formatting Notes:
  • Author’s name in bold.
  • Title in italics.
  • If pricing information is unavailable, leave space for us to fill it in.
• Multiple Authors:
  • Use bold for authors' names and regular type for "and".
  • For editors, abbreviate as "ed." or "eds." (e.g., John Doe, ed. or John Doe and Heidegger Jones, eds. Painting the Sky).
• Translations:
  • Format as: Robert Burch, Confessions of a Technophobe. Trans. Joe Ubersetzung.
• Editions:
  • For both hardback and paperback, format as: [space for price] (Hardback ISBN 0123456789); [space for price] (Paperback ISBN 9780123456789).
• Press Names:
  • State the full name of the press (e.g., University of Virginia Press) and spell out abbreviations like "U.P."

D. Layout

Please follow these instructions for the layout of your review:

• Page References:
  • Place page references inside parentheses as plain figures, inside the final punctuation.
  • Use 'p.' only when it is part of the normal grammar of a sentence.
  • Examples: Blogg says on p.21 or Blogg says (21) ... or ... as Blogg says (21), ...
• Reference Forms:
  • Use the reduced form for reference: e.g., 239-67 not 239-267, 235-9 not 235-39; but 112-17 (leave the 1 in for teens).
• Quotations:
  • Always use double quotes; use single quotes only for quotes within quotes.
  • Normally, put closing commas and periods inside quote marks when quoting the reviewed book. Otherwise, put punctuation outside quote marks.
  • Examples: "... an invalid argument." but "... an invalid argument" (21).
• Omissions in Quotes:
  • Use space / three adjacent dots / space for omissions, like this: ...
• Author Information:
  • Put your name and affiliation in caps & lower case on the left of the page at the end of the review. Non-affiliated persons will be recognized as 'Independent Researcher'.

E. Style

Please note that any reviews submitted without proper references will be returned to the author, as we do not have the capacity to search for missing references.

We kindly request that contributors minimize the use of indented quotations/block quotes. Even a quotation spanning 6-8 typescript lines can be seamlessly integrated into the main body of the text. This helps maintain a consistent and clean layout for the content.

We do not permit the use of footnotes and lists of sources at the end of the review. We will not include a bibliography. Instead, all necessary citations should be included directly within the text using parentheses. This approach ensures a clean and uninterrupted flow of content, with all relevant sources acknowledged directly within the text.

It is recommended that contributors refer to authors by their unadorned surname (for example, "Wisdom") whenever possible. If appropriate, abbreviations such as "W" are acceptable. Please avoid using the expression "the author" unless the context absolutely requires it.

We kindly ask contributors to refrain from using third-person references such as "This reviewer thinks…". Instead of using phrases like "In my opinion, the book was excellent", you could simply state "The book was excellent". This saves you four words and makes your argument more direct.

F. Revisions to Submissions

The editors will proof every review and may make minor editorial changes for reasons of clarity or to correct typos. Authors of reviews will only be consulted about these changes if the editors believe that they are major or if they are uncertain whether they capture the authors' intended meaning.

Philosophy in Review Publication Agreement and Copyright License