Submissions

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Author Guidelines

We're happy you're interested in submitting to us. If you have any questions about these guidelines, please contact us. 

 

Tangents, the journal of the Stanford MLA program, is currently soliciting submissions for our Summer issue.  We welcome scholarly articles, essays, works of creative nonfiction, and other creative works (including photography or other digital art) from current or former Stanford MLA students. 

Who we publish

Tangents publishes topics that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the MLA program and the talents and interests of the MLA community. Authors must be current students or alumni of the Stanford MLA program. All submissions must be original work by the author, previously unpublished. Submissions will be assessed by an editorial group. Those considered to be a good fit will be sent for peer review before determining whether they will be accepted or rejected. An editor may immediately reject a submission if it does not follow our guidelines.

Copyrights

Authors are responsible for obtaining in writing and/or purchasing  permissions to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents, song lyrics, poetry, and datasets. All authors identified on the submission must consent to being identified as an author and consent to publication in print and online, including permanent archival access through open journal access. After publication, the author retains copyright but must include a statement acknowledging Tangents as the first place of publication.

 

Submission Preparation Checklist

Guidelines

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

Written material is in manuscript form (double spaced, 12pt Times/Arial or other readable font). Format is MS Word .doc/.docx or .rtf only. If you use Google Docs, please save as one of these formats and submit the file. We will not accept links to Google.

If you want to make our editors really happy, please use only one space after periods, do not use tabs at the start of paragraphs, and remove all blank paragraphs--but don't worry if you don't know how to fix these issues.

  • Length should be under 3,000 words, excluding citations and works cited. 
  • Material should be accessible to general readers who may not be familiar with the subject text or material, meaning some context may be necessary. This is often the case for papers from a course.
  • Citations should consistently follow a citation style for the field of your topic, such as MLA, Chicago/Turabian, APA. We strongly recommend using a citation tool such as Zotero.
  • Figures, regardless of citation style, should be labeled "Fig x" with x starting at 1. Captions should be brief but descriptive. Example:
            Fig 1 The map of Baja California as drawn by Garcia in 1922.
    Figures must be referenced and explained in the text. Use a citation in the figure caption as needed for appropriate credit. As the author, you must demonstrate that you have copyright permissions to reprint any figures or that the images are in the public domain.
  • Your submission has not been previously published (including on your personal website or social media), nor is it under consideration with another journal.
  • All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
  • All tables and figures have been numbered and labeled, and they are referenced in the text.
  • Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, figures, images, song lyrics, poetry, and other material provided with this submission.
  • Submission copyright(s) return to you upon publication, although we do ask that you not republish or post the material online or in another format for at least the remainder of the year in which we publish your work.

Images may be embedded in the written document but must also be available in high-resolution JPEG, PNG, and/or RAW formats. If you are submitting only artwork or photography, please submit both a low-resolution (smaller file size) .jpeg/.png as well as the highest quality image you have. Unfortunately, some images cannot be printed well if the image quality is low. We cannot accept/print native iPhone .heic files or .mov files.

An editor may immediately reject a submission if it does not meet our submission requirements. 

 

Scholarly articles

Scholarly articles under 3,000 words can follow any well-established citation style (MLA, APA, Chicago, CSE, etc.). We highly recommend using a citation manager like Zotero. You may embed images, figures, illustrations, and other graphical information. Upon acceptance, we will need high-resolution images (300dpi, large file size) or RAW photo formats. 

Essays and stories

Narrative pieces under 3,000 words may or may not include references or images. We seek creative and engaging pieces that speak to the human condition and issues of enduring concern.

Artwork and photography

Submit artwork, photos, graphics, visual essays. Please upload high-resolution files, preferably RAW photos and 300dpi .jpg or .png files. We cannot accept iPhone .heic files. 

Medley

Submit here any other material that doesn't fit neatly into the other categories.

Copyright Notice

Tangents requires first print and ongoing online rights (PDF, website plus Open Access) to publish your work. You will retain copyright but you will grant Tangents the rights to publish in print and online and to have your work archived and available on the web and in library databases as well as in the OJS online system, which is available through Google Scholar and other databases. 

Authors are responsible for obtaining in writing and/or purchasing permissions to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents, song lyrics, poetry, and datasets.

All authors identified on the submission must consent to being identified as an author and consent to publication in print and online, including permanent archival access through open journal access. After publication, the author retains copyright but must include a statement acknowledging Tangents as the first publication.

 

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