INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS
GENERAL INFORMATION
The Arts in the South. SoQ defines "the arts" broadly, including literature, painting, sculpture, music, dance, film, and popular culture. We also publish studies of Southern culture informed by such disciplines as history, folklore, anthropology, political science, and geography. SoQ defines "The South" as anything south of the Mason Dixon Line, including the Caribbean, to the larger Global South.
Articles. Each issue of the Southern Quarterly contains 3-5 articles (20-25 double-spaced typescript pages in length) that explore what the South meant, or means, today. We publish articles that are based on solid documentation, that are grounded in literary or critical theory, and that make an original and important contribution to the study of the American South.
Archival Documents. We welcome submission of important unpublished documents, including letters, literary works, memoirs, etc.
Original Poetry. The SoQ publishes 2-3 poems about the South in each issue. We prefer poems that are under 40 lines and will not consider work that has been submitted elsewhere or previously published. Caution: Because of the large volume of poetry we receive, we do not consider email submissions.
Review Essays. SoQ also solicits thoughtful review essays on one or more works that reflect the writer's assessment of books or films representing the South.
Interviews. A hallmark of our journal, the interviews that we regularly publish have included those with Ernest J. Gaines, Robert Morgan, Fred Chappell, Lewis Nordan, Beth Henley, and Dr. Chris Chapman on celebrated African American artist Loïs Mailou Jones.
Portfolios. SoQ also publishes portfolios of original artwork or photography. Artists and photographers interested in having their portfolios featured in SoQ should send at least ten slides and/or black and white prints of work, or digital images of 300 dpi or better. Recent portfolios include "The Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail" (photographs); the paintings of Ulrick Jean-Pierre; "A Guided Tour through Hell: A Photographic Essay of Emmett Till's Mississippi Delta"; and "Survivors of Katrina: Portraits" (drawings) by Paul McCall.
Special Issues. SoQ solicits proposals for special issues which may include essays from conferences. We have published special issues on such diverse topics as the African American church, Southern food and drink, country music, southern cemeteries, contemporary visual art, Southern women playwrights, and Southern film, as well as individual Southern artists and writers. Most recently, special issues have focused on Hurricane Katrina, the South in the Atlantic World, Poetry in the South, the Legacy of Emmett Till, and the Tennessee Williams Centennial. In 2013, we will publish an issue on United States Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.
Back to the top
SUBMISSIONS
SoQ prefers not to consider multiple submissions or work that has been approved elsewhere. For poetry, we ask contributors to send 2 hard copies of their work, plus a SASE envelope to:
The Southern Quarterly
The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive #5078
Hattiesburg , MS 39406-5078
For all other work, email submissions of Microsoft Word documents to the Managing Editor are preferred. The current mailing address of the author should be included with all submissions.
Notification. Please allow at least 3-4 months to review your manuscript before querying us about it.
Electronic copies. Upon acceptance of your work for publication, you must send a properly formatted electronic copy of your work.
Peer Review. As a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, SoQ submits all articles and interviews to readers for their recommendation for revision, acceptance, or rejection. When appropriate, the editor will share comments from readers with the author.
Proofs. You will receive page proofs of your work to review for errors and to make minor changes in the text before final production.
Back to the top
GUIDELINES
Note. Acceptance of submissions for publication is contingent upon the author conforming to all the guidelines below.
Format. All submissions should be typed and double-spaced. We prefer Times New Roman, 12pt. font.
Pagination. Pages must be consecutively numbered in the upper left corner of each page.
Capitalization. Capitalize the “S” in South in all references to our region except those dealing with direction (e.g. south of Memphis, southerly movement, etc.).
Documentation.SoQ follows the current Modern Language Association (MLA) in text (parenthetical) method of documentation tied to a “works cited” list. In matters of scholarly style, contributors should follow the most recent MLA Manual and Style Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd edition. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2008). All submissions must include a complete list of works cited.
Endnotes. Following MLA, the SoQ discourages lengthy endnotes and urges authors to keep these to a minimum, using them only when necessary to cite cross-referential material.
Works Cited. All submissions must include a complete list of works cited, in MLA format.
Illustrations. Upon acceptance of their work for publication, contributors must supply digital images of 300 dpi or better of any illustrations to be included. JPEG format is preferred. Contributors should also provide a caption and permission from the copyright holder for each illustration. It is the responsibility of the contributor to obtain such permission and without it, the author’s manuscript will not be published.
Back to the top
PAYMENT
All contributors receive one copy of the issue in which their work appears. Additional copies of SoQ are available for purchase by all contributors at 40% discount plus postage.
Back to the top
RIGHTS
Royalties. All royalties from reprint rights granted by the SoQ remain with the journal.
Copyright. The Southern Quarterly retains copyright of the materials it publishes (excluding art, poems, and photography which revert to authors upon publication of their work in SoQ). Authors of scholarly articles in SoQ can reprint their work in any monograph or book they are writing or editing. However, in those instances, the author agrees to acknowledge that his/her work originally appeared in the SoQ.
Back to the top
