Submission Guidelines and Stylesheet

Submission Guidelines & Stylesheet of The ESSE Messenger

This set of guidelines (updated November 2022) replaces all previously issued guidelines. Before submitting a contribution to The ESSE Messenger, please ensure that you take into consideration each of the points in the following sections. By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors confirm that it has not been previously published nor is currently being considered by any other journal in any form. Contributions are to be submitted to the Editor at esse.messenger@uma.es as a .doc file, also attaching a .pdf version if it requires the use of special fonts or contains special formatting, tables or diagrams/images.

Language

Manuscripts are to be submitted in English. Authors must consistently follow either British or American spelling conventions.

Length limit

Because this is an online publication, there is no strict length limit. A length of 6,000 to 8,000 words is recommended for articles and of 1,500 to 2,500 words for book reviews, but they can be shorter or longer if justified by their content.

ARTICLES

1. Format your work as a Word document with 2.5 cm margins on all sides. An 11-point Georgia font is required for the body of the article and 10-point Georgia for the abstract, keywords, footnotes, indented quotes and references. Use single space throughout the entire text of your paper. The first line of each paragraph should be indented 1 cm (use the indentation tool included in Word, not the tab key), except for the first line in the first paragraph of each section and the first line after figures, tables, examples, etc., which should not be indented. Do not add extra returns after or before paragraphs and do not use hyphens to divide words at the end of the line. Do not number pages.

2. Authors should avoid the use of bold and underlining. Italics should be restricted to book titles (and other bibliographic needs), names of works of art, terms from other languages than English (e.g. He approached the líder máximo with disdain.), linguistic words cited as examples or as subjects of discussion (e.g. The conjunction but expresses contrast.) and emphasis (only when strictly necessary).

3. The title of the article will appear centred and in bold. Do not include name and affiliation, which must be sent in a separate document to preserve anonymity in the review process (see section 12).

4. The abstract, justified and comprising between 150-200 words, should appear after the title, followed by the keywords (up to 6). Any acknowledgements, which should only be added once the article has been accepted for publication (not in the initial submission), must appear as an initial note, immediately after the title. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript and when they appear at the end of a sentence, they should be placed after the punctuation mark. Digressive or excessively lengthy footnotes should be avoided.

5. Number the sections of the article with Arabic numbers and a period. Enter a space and type the section heading. When using multiple levels of subheadings, follow the structure of the example below:

5. SYNTAX

5.1. The noun phrase

5.2. The verb phrase

5.2.1. Agreement

5.2.1.1. Agreement in Old English

6. Short quotations (fewer than 3 lines) should be enclosed within double quotation marks, (“ ”). Commas and full stops should be placed before a closing quotation mark, “like this,” rather than after, “like this”. Long quotations (3 lines and more) should be placed in a free-standing block of text and omitting quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line after a single space, with the entire quote indented 1 cm from the left margin. For both types of quotations always provide the author, year and specific page citation, placing the parenthetical reference of long quotations after the punctuation mark. Use square brackets and elision, […], to indicate any omission of words within a quotation.

7. When using em dashes (—), do not leave any spaces before or after the em dash, e.g.

English historical—particularly medieval—dialectology has received increased attention…

8. Authors are advised to make clear reference to the number of the figure, table or graph in the text. Illustrations should be in .jpg format. Authors are expected to have obtained any required permission for publication.

9. Avoid the use of Oxford or serial comma. To ensure that there are no extra spaces in the document, use your software’s find and replace command to substitute all double spaces for single spaces. Repeat this procedure until no double spaces are found.

10. The whole text should be fully justified without breaking lines with hyphens. For long URLs, break lines only at slashes.

11. In-text references and the final reference list should conform to the guidelines found in the latest author-date system of the Chicago Manual of Style (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html) with some adaptations: (i) use small capitals for the first author’s/editor’s (if applicable) surname and rounded typeface for first names and rest of authors’/editors’ surnames (if pertinent); (ii) do not employ Oxford or serial comma; (iii) for page ranges in the text and in the reference list, use full digits (e.g. 75-77; 224-228). For electronic sources provide date of publication (if available) and date of access. The ESSE Messenger requires the inclusion of full URL/electronic address information. Some examples are provided next:

  • Article in print journal:

Author’s surname [in small caps], Author’s full name and Author’s full name and surname. Year. “Title of Article: Capital Letters for Content Words.” Title of Journal: Capital Letters for Content Words volume number (issue number): pages.

Brewer, William D. 2022. “Aaron Burr and Mary Shelley’s Lodore.” The Keats-Shelley Review 36: 9-20.

Wakefield [in small caps], Hannah. 2020. “Olaudah Equiano’s Ecclesial World.” Early American Literature 55 (3): 651-684.

In-text citations

(Brewer 2022, 12)

(Wakefield 202, 680-681)

  • Basic format for books:

Author’s surname [in small caps], Author’s full name and Author’s full name Author’s surname. Year. Title of Work: Capital Letters for Content Words. Place of publication: Publisher.

Baron [in small caps], Noemi S. 2008. Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World. Oxford: Oxford UP.

In-text citations

(Baron 2008, 195-197)

  • Article or chapter in an edited book:

Author’s surname [in small caps], Author’s full name and Author’s full name and surname. Year. “Title of Chapter: Capital Letters for Content Words.” In Title of Work: Capital Letters for Content Words, edited by Editor’s full name and surname and Editor’s full name and surname, pages of chapter. Place of publication: Publisher.

Leong [in small caps], Elaine and Sara Pennell. 2007. “Recipe Collections and the Currency of Medical Knowledge in the Early Modern ‘Medical Marketplace.’” In Medicine and the Market in England and Its Colonies, c. 1450–c. 1850, edited by Mark S. R. Jenner and Patrick Wallis, 133-152. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

In-text citation

(Leong and Pennell 2007, 140-142)

12. To safeguard the double-blind peer review policy, contributors should send a note in a separate file with name, affiliation, email and postal addresses (stating specifically that their manuscript is only being considered for publication by The ESSE Messenger), and a short bionote (approximately 80-100 words).

BOOK REVIEWS, EVENTS/CONFERENCE REPORTS, PUBLICATIONS

The formatting rules listed above also apply for book reviews, events/conference reports and publications. Additionally, full details of the book or event concerned should be provided in the title, followed by your name and affiliation, e.g.:

Reviews

  • Name and surname of the author of the book.
  • Title of the book.
  • Place of publication: name of the publisher, year of publication, number of pages, price, ISBN (both hardback and paperback if applicable).
  • Name and surname of the reviewer (affiliation, country).

Events

  • Official title of the event.
  • Place, dates of beginning and end of the event.
  • Name and surname of the reporter (affiliation, country).

Publications

  • Working title of the book or title of the host journal.
  • Deadline for proposals.
  • Contact address (name and email address of main contact person).

The articles and book reviews will be published online as a journal in PDF format, the event/conference reports and publication will be launched on the Blog page of this site.

Do not hesitate to contact the Editor (at: esse.messenger [at]uma.es) if you have any queries.

The deadline for submissions of articles and book reviews is—unless otherwise stated—31 May for the Summer issue and 31 October for the Winter issue. Should there be a backlog of submissions accepted for publication, publication will normally follow the order in which contributions were received.

The Editor reserves the absolute right to accept or reject submissions for publication. The Editor also reserves the right to make changes to texts submitted, including shortening texts or making linguistic changes, without consultation with the author. Changes which substantially affect the meaning of the text will, however, be cleared with the author before publication.