Instructions for Authors

Visual Studies is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes visually-oriented articles in a broad range of areas. The multidisciplinary character of the journal is reflected in its attention to visually-based research in sociology, anthropology, cultural and media studies, documentary film and photography, information technology, education, communication studies as well as other fields concerned with image-based study. It is expected that most articles will be accompanied by appropriate visual material; visually-led submissions are particularly encouraged.

Submission.

All submissions should be made online at the Visual Studies Manuscript Central site (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rvst). New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre.

Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript. One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from the files to allow them to be sent anonymously to reviewers. When uploading files authors will then be able to define the non-anonymous version as ‘File not for review'.  

In preparing a manuscript for Visual Studies, please conform to these guidelines:

Length. Papers should usually be in the 5000 to 8000 word range excluding endnotes and references and accompanied by appropriate visual material. Shorter or longer submissions may, however, be acceptable; please contact the editors about this.

Form. Manuscripts should be A4 or 8x11 format and double-spaced throughout. A short abstract of 200 to 300 words and a brief biographical statement of no more than 50 words are also required.

Illustrations. Authors are responsible for providing visual material that will accompany an article, for securing permission to reproduce this material and for associated costs, including copyright fees. Written copyright permission must be secured, and copies of permission-letters should accompany the manuscript's final draft. Authors are encouraged to contact the editors for advice about these matters; we may be able to help secure copyright permission in some cases.

In preparing a manuscript, please give careful consideration to the number, placement, size and captioning of images. Indicate the location where an illustration should be placed in the text with a figure number - for example, ‘Insert figure 2 about here' - or in separate written instructions.

Also on a separate sheet, provide a numbered list of figures and full caption texts including source and copyright statement where applicable. For example:
 

Figure 3. A Leopard-Skin Chief. Plate XXVI published in Evans-Pritchard's The Nuer (1940). Reproduced courtesy of Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. [Accession No. EP.N.362]

Authors are asked not to include visual material within the text of a manuscript but to submit images as a separate file or files. Note that readers who review submissions are asked to comment on a paper's visual component, its quality and its suitability.

When a manuscript is accepted for publication, reproduction quality image files (or original artwork) will be required. Visual Studies prefers to reproduce from originals or professional quality digital images or scans. (At this stage images should be submitted individually. Image files must be at least 300 dpi, preferably 600 dpi, and TIFF or JPEG format; images embedded in text files cannot be accepted.) Artwork will be returned after publication.

Quotations. Use single quotation marks unless the 'quote is "within" a quote', and set off and indent quoted material of more than forty words (without quotation marks). Reproduce the original spelling and punctuation of quotations exactly; poetry, diagrams, line drawings and so forth should be reproduced in their original layouts.

References. References should be indicated in the text following the Chicago Author-Date system, i.e. with author's name, year of publication and page number of material cited (except in cases where an entire work is cited) in parentheses - for example (Light 1972; Keller 1896a, 1896b, 1907; Smith 1941, 45-49; 1944, 105). List references alphabetically at the end of the paper including all works cited, no works not cited and in the following forms:

JOURNAL:  Brain, C. K., and V. Brain. 1977. Microfaunal remains from Mirabib: Some evidence of palaeoecological changes in the Namib. Madoqua 10 (4): 285-93.

BOOK:  Brett, P. D., S. W. Johnson, and C. R. T. Bach. 1989. Mastering string quartets. San Francisco: Amati Press.

IN ED BOOK:  Kaiser, Ernest. 1964. The literature of Harlem. In Harlem: A community in transition, edited by J. H. Clarke. New York: Citadel Press.

ED BOOK:  Wang, Jen Yu, and Gerald L. Berger, eds. and comps. 1962. Bibliography of agricultural meteorology. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

NEWSPAPER  Philadelphia Inquirer. 1990. Editorial, 30 July. (However, mostly not necessary in ref list, can be simply inserted into text.)

ELECTRONIC  Kulikowski, Stan. 1989. "Readability Formula." In NL-KR (Digest vol. 5, no. 10) [electronic bulletin board]. Rochester, N.Y., 1988 [cited 31 January 1989]. Available from nl-kr@cs.rochester.edu; INTERNET.

DISSERTATION  Downright, Alice B. 1993. Narrative diffusion and the professional editor. Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1992. Abstract in Dissertation Abstracts International 52: 3245A-3246A.

Further guidance on references can be found by clicking here: Chicago Author-Date Guide

Endnotes. Endnotes should be numbered and follow the style of the journal.

Editorial Miscellany. Use conservative British spelling, not U.S. spelling (follow the Oxford English Dictionary) - for example, colour rather than color, centre rather than center, organise rather than organize - and use apostrophes sparingly (for example, 1980s rather than 1980's). In respect to acronyms, spell out the names of public agencies, publications and so forth the first time they appear; acronyms may be used subsequently. Numbers in text should take the forms 30, 300, 3000, 30 000 and so on, with numbers under 10 spelled out unless used with a unit of measure (for example, nine pupils but 9mm).

Electronic format. When a paper is accepted for publication, the author(s) must provide an electronic version of the final text using a standard word-processing software, preferably MS Word, and separate image files (or original artwork) as described above.

Proofs. Authors will receive proofs of material prior to publication and are asked to return corrections within two days. (Major revision of text cannot be done at this stage.)

Free article access: Corresponding authors can receive 50 free reprints, free online access to their article through our website (www.informaworld.com) and a complimentary copy of the issue containing their article. Complimentary reprints are available through Rightslink® and additional reprints can be ordered through Rightslink® when proofs are received. If you have any queries, please contact our reprints department at reprints@tandf.co.uk

Copyright.  It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or license the publication rights in their articles, including abstracts, to the International Visual Sociology Association. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and of course the Journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Authors retain many rights under the Taylor & Francis rights policies, which can be found at www.informaworld.com/authors_journals_copyright_position. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.

Please direct questions about any issues concerning the submission or formatting of manuscripts to the editors.