Instructions to Contributors

Dictionaries encourages submission of manuscripts for articles on all aspects of lexicography, as well as from areas of linguistic inquiry that relate to lexicography, and from the study of reference works in general as they bear on dictionary making. Within reason, length of manuscripts for regular articles is not an issue, and the Editor is open to proposals to dedicate the entire article section of the journal to a theme or even to a single, lengthy article. Manuscripts for the journal's regular special sections, Reference Works in Progress and Working Knowledge, are by invitation of the Editor. Inquiries about and suggestions for these sections are strongly encouraged, as are inquires about special issues of the journal itself.

Manuscripts for review are accepted by electronic submission only and must be in MS Word or Adobe PDF. They should be sent to the Editor, Elizabeth Knowles, at elizabethmary.knowles@btinternet.com. Book reviews are overseen by the Book Review Editor, Wendalyn Nichols, and are by invitation only; suggestions for books to review are always appreciated and can be sent to the Book Review Editor at wendalyn.nichols@gmail.com.

Because manuscripts will be distributed to referees electronically for anonymous review, indications of authorship should be removed from the text and from other identity-tracking files, such as Properties and Track Changes, which store markers of authorship. Papers will be reviewed and assigned one of three categories: accepted with revision (minor or major), revise and resubmit (a request for a complete rewrite of an otherwise promising paper), reject. Accepted manuscripts, after final revisions, are to be submitted only in MS Word.

Manuscripts should adhere to the following specifications:

• • Cover sheet: title of the article and author's name with affiliation, snailmail and e-mail addresses, and telephone number.

• • Type: Times New Roman 12 pt. throughout — text, foot-notes, and references.

• • Spacing: double line-spacing throughout, including foot-notes, lists, blocked quotes, and references; paragraphs should begin with one indent and start directly beneath the preceding text, separated by regular, double-line spacing.

• • Alignment: all text aligned only at left margin (i.e., not right-justified).

• • Headings: title of the paper should be centered, with author's name, both in bold; affiliation and contact information below, no bold; title, author, affiliation, and contact should be in title case (i.e., CAPS on all major words); first-level headings should be flush left, also in bold title case, with no numbering: text should start beneath as a new paragraph; second-level headings are permitted, in bold with sentence case (i.e., CAPS on first word only), ending in a period, and starting the paragraph, with text immediately following; the heading for references should be centered in bold at the end of the text. These are illustrated below:

  Title of Article

  Name of Author

  Affiliation

  Contact Information

  First Level Heading

  Text goes directly beneath...

  Second level heading. Text starts here...

  References

• • Special styles: italics for mentions and word or phrase citations (e.g., He was called Bucky. We love the word syzygy) and em-phasis (e.g., not this dog, but that one); bold for headwords/ entries (syzygy, n ...); double quotes for direct quotation and shudder (irony) (e.g., Smith said, "Blahdey blahdey blah..." He was a "lexicographer"!); single quotes for glosses and other citations of meaning (e.g., Spanish gato 'cat'). Do not use underline or set special styles, headers, footers, tabs, etc.; if special characters are required, such as phonetic symbols not available in Word or from the Web, indicate them clearly in the text.

• • Abbreviations: Shorthand reference to works with longer titles should appear in parentheses after the first usage and be in italics: Oxford English Dictionary (OED); abbreviated ordinals should not be superscript: 21st, 3rd; degrees and countries do not have periods: PhD, MA, US; decades take a simple plural: 70s, 1950s.

• • Bullets and numbers: use these kinds of lists sparingly; bullets should be dots •; numbered lists should be used only for items that have a clear numerical motivation in the text (e.g., The following four items, in order, are essential to the argument... ); items in bulleted and numbered lists should...