Submission Guidelines

The editor invites submission of original, previously unpublished article-length manuscripts (not exceeding 35 pages in length). Articles that have been published elsewhere in any form, version, or language cannot be considered for publication, including those that are available on the Internet. Manuscripts may be submitted in English, French, or other languages, but they will generally be published in English. “Blind” copies of articles that are formatted according to the RAL house style should be sent, along with an accompanying cover letter, to ral@osu.edu.

Research in African Literatures will not send out for review any articles that are under consideration elsewhere, nor will we consider multiple submissions by the same author. Authors of articles that have been accepted for publication will be required to sign a consent-to-publish form, which is an agreement vesting copyright in Indiana University Press.

RAL follows the MLA Style Manual, 3rd ed. (2008). Chapters 6 and 7 offer documentation and bibliographic information, including web publications, television or radio broadcasts, film and video recordings, and other common sources in addition to periodical and nonperiodical print publications. Please note that articles that do not conform to our house style may be returned to the author before being considered for publication.

1. 1. Manuscripts should be submitted as email attachments, preferably as Word files (.doc or .docx), be double-spaced, use a 12-point standard font (e.g., Times New Roman), and have one inch margins.

2. 2. In addition, the article must include (1) a 150-word abstract and (2) a list of works cited, following the MLA Style Manual bibliography guidelines.

3. 3. Include all endnotes (if used) as a separate file. Do not use word processor features that embed notes as footnotes or endnotes. Note numbers should be prepared as Arabic numerals in superscript and normally occur at the end of a sentence, not following an author’s name.

4. 4. All images must be submitted in electronic files, as PDFs or JPGs. (Large electronic files may be sent through a file-sharing service, such as Dropbox or YouSendIt). It will be the responsibility of the author to secure permission to reprint copyrighted images or texts.

5. 5. Do not center or fully justify your text—all text should be left-justified. Paragraph indentations should be tabbed at five spaces. Do not enter carriage returns within paragraphs, especially for indented quotations, where you should set new margins.

6. 6. Use American spellings and punctuation except when quoting from a source that has used British style. All punctuation except colons and semicolons is placed inside quotation marks. Single quotes are used only for quotes within quotes; otherwise, double quotation marks are to be used.

7. 7. Provide translations (your own—or the standard, if there is a printed translation available) of all material in languages other than English. The translations should be incorporated into the text, following the foreign term or foreign selection.

8. 8. Please pay particular attention to the following matters of punctuation: Apostrophes: All singular proper nouns, including the names of persons and places, form their possessives in the same manner (Mars’s wrath, Camus’s novel, Kansas’s weather, Dickens’s reputation; but the Dickenses’ economic woes). See Section 3.4.7.

   Colons: Skip one space only, not two. In separating a title and subtitle of a book, use a colon.

   Periods: Skip one space only (not two) after all periods, semicolons, and commas.

   Commas: Always use a comma before all coordinating conjunctions in a series of three or more items and always after “i.e.” and “e.g.” See also MLA Style Manual section 3.4.2.

   Hyphens: Do not use spaces before or after hyphens.

   Em-dashes: Prepare in electronic file as two hyphens with no space before or after hyphens (“natural—instead of chosen—alliances”). Typesetters will convert the hyphens to em-dashes (“natural—instead of chosen—alliances”).

9. 9. When you quote from or refer to a text, do not, as a rule, use endnotes, but follow the MLA Style Manual directions for in-text, parenthetical documentation. Please note that we do not use an author-date reference system and that specific pages must be given for all quotes...