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Take Note!

Notes to Contributors


Manuscripts for publication should be sent to the editor of Language:

Brian D. Joseph
Language Editorial Office
202 Mount Hall
The Ohio State University
1050 Carmack Rd.
Columbus, OH USA 43210

Correspondence pertaining to Book Reviews (books for review, manuscripts of Book Reviews or Book Notices, etc.) should be sent to the Review Editor of Language (see also the Language Book Review web page ):

Language Reviews, c/o Gregory Stump
Department of English
University of Kentucky
1215 Patterson Tower
Lexington, KY USA 40506-0027

Manuscript form for articles

Manuscripts of articles should be submitted in TWO ANONYMOUS COPIES. In addition, an anonymized pdf and/or Word version of the paper should also be sent, either as an email attachment or on a diskette; such electronic submissions are NOT to be sent in place of hard copies, however. Normally at least one author of any article submitted to Language must be a member of the Linguistic Society of America; if there is any doubt, submissions will not be entered into the review process until membership is verified.

Maintain anonymity: Manuscripts should be made as anonymous as possible for the review process. A title page with your contact information should remain separate from the rest of the manuscript. Place acknowledgments on a separate piece of paper as well, as this information may reveal your identity (yet the information is important to the determination of suitable reviewers). In addition, remove any excessive references to yourself and your previous publications (e.g. avoid statements like: “In my recent work (Your Name 1999)…”). Finally, make sure that not only the text of the manuscript is anonymous, but also the electronic document itself (i.e. the name of the electronic file, the title and author designations in the file properties, etc.).

Include an abstract: Make sure to include a brief (c. 250-word) abstract on a separate page. An electronic version of your abstract should be included on a diskette or sent via email to language@ling.ohio-state.edu at the time that you submit your paper.

Length of manuscript: Language does NOT have a maximum length for submissions, but at the same time, papers that are rather long are potentially worrisome, for two reasons: first, an overly long paper will, if accepted, take up a disproportionate percentage of the 900 pages the journal prints in a given year—this can mean that the paper has to be REALLY worth publishing, so in a sense the length raises the bar to a certain extent for acceptability for the paper. Second, from the practical point of view of the review process, a long manuscript can make it more difficult to find readers who will agree to review the paper. Excessive length may also mean that the paper will be a harder read for those who do agree—they may need to read it in several sittings, may find that their attention wanders, and so on. Such problems can make it difficult to ensure that the paper gets the fairest and best review it can (something we are interested in guaranteeing for ALL submissions).

Manuscript format/style: Authors of articles submitted to Language are not required to follow the Language style sheet in preparing their manuscript for initial submission. We accept manuscripts in any format, but it is clearly in the author’s best interests to make a submission as reader-friendly as possible (e.g. rather than dense single-spaced pages, readers tend to like pages with double-spacing, reasonable margins, page numbers, and indented paragraphs). Any manuscript, however, that has been accepted for publication as an article will have to be revised so as to conform STRICTLY to the Language style sheet. The style sheet is designed to facilitate copyediting and typesetting; the more closely a manuscript adheres to the style sheet, the more easily the copyeditor and typesetter can do their job, and the more quickly the paper will appear in print. But this reasoning applies only to material that will actually be published in Language, so we see no value in applying it to all submissions, hence our acceptance of any format for initial submissions. See the complete style sheet online.

Dual submissions: There are three aspects to be considered here:

i. Authors may submit only one manuscript at a time to Language for consideration. As long as a manuscript is in the review process or until an accepted manuscript is published in Language, authors may not send additional submissions for consideration; this generally includes coauthored works, though consult with the editor if you have any questions. The intent of this policy is (as stated by Sarah G. Thomason, Editor of Language 1988–1994, in an Editor’s Department column in Language 69 (1993), p. 639) “to ensure that two articles by the same person will not appear in a very short time span” so as to forestall any appearance of favoritism on the part of the journal.

ii. Following the usual practice in academia, authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Consider this statement, taken from a general handbook about academic publishing: “Few journals tolerate multiple submissions. In fact, some regard this as a sin so serious that they report it to the author’s department chair. Because you can send your work to only one journal at a time, you should choose carefully.” (Beth Luey, Handbook for Academic Authors, Cambridge University Press, 1987, p. 12).

iii. Regarding the submission of previously published work, Language’s policy is to regard all print venues except for working papers as prior publication (thus appearance in a conference proceedings volume constitutes prior publication). If some of the results in a submitted paper have been published elsewhere, the paper you submit should build on those results and should develop the ideas and evidence along new lines or in greater depth. In cases where you are not sure if the degree of overlap is too great, please send the previous publication along with your submission; the need for such a step should be rather rare, though, in practice. If you have any questions, contact the editor.

Manuscript form for book reviews and book notices

Manuscripts of reviews should be submitted in TWO COPIES to the Review Editor (not the general editorial office); they will not be returned. Normally at least one author of any review article submitted to Language must be a member of the Society. Book reviews and book notices are solicited by the Review Editor and they must adhere as closely as possible to the Language style sheet on first submission. For more information, visit the Language Book Review web page.

Manuscript review procedures

Upon receipt of your paper, the Editorial Staff will contact you via email and confirm receipt. The review process normally takes up to six months, though it could be even longer depending on various circumstances (and every attempt is made to expedite the process at all stages). For a full description of the editorial process, see the Editor’s Department columns in Language 78.2, 78.3, 78.4 (2002).

Please address questions or comments to: language@ling.ohio-state.edu

 


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