Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).

  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word.

    If you use OpenOffice, WordPerfect or some other RTF software, you must convert your files to Word before submitting them to your acquisitions editor. Please review your files to make sure that no errors were caused by the conversion.

  • The document has been spell-checked and grammar-checked, following conventions of British spelling (i.e. colour vs. color, capitalise vs capitalize etc).

  • The text is double-spaced and uses 12-point Times New Roman font for the main body of the text and subheadings, 14-point for the title, and 10-point for footnotes. 

  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.

  • The page has one-inch margins (including the notes and bibliography) and pages are numbered sequentially throughout the articles, included on the bottom right of each page.

  • Quotes of five or more lines should be extracted and double-indented one-half inch from the left margin. Block quotes should be single-spaced.

  • There are no blank lines between paragraphs. If you need to indicate a change of subject without using a subhead, type “<break>” on a line by itself (so we know you intended to have a blank line), but keep these to a minimum.
  • That the instructions for Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Author Guidelines

There are no charges to submit to Brief Encounters.*

Please read through these guidelines in full. Your submission should conform to the journal Style Guide, or it will be returned to you for revision.

Before submitting to Brief Encounters, please ensure the submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).

Brief Encounters publishes content with citations and bibliography according to the MHRA Style Guide (footnotes and bibliography).

If your submission includes artwork (e.g., graphs, drawings, diagrams, maps, photographs, film stills, etc.), please do not include them in the body of your submission, but upload them as supplementary files in the appropriate format (.tif, .pdf, .jpg, .eps, .psd) and refer to them in the main body of your article with the corresponding title (i.e. <Figure.1>). Please download our Artwork Guide for more detailed specifications.

Along with your submission, please include an abstract (max. 300 words), and a list of key words (max. 5). When you register as an author on the website, please provide a brief bio statement (max. 200 words). 

For more detailed instruction on how to submit to the journal, download our step-by-step Guide to Submitting.

 *with the exception of the cost of image permissions, which are the responsibility of the author.

ARTICLES

Articles should be between 500 and 4,000 words in length (including footnotes, excluding bibliography).


CREATIVE ENCOUNTERS

Creative Encounters are submissions which feature content for the Brief Encounters online exhibition space, such as:

  • Video-essays
  • Creative Writing
  • Poetry
  • Documentaries
  • Posters
  • Musical Interpretations
  • Photography

Creative Encounters should be accompanied by brief critical contextualisation of the piece, between 500 and 4,000 words in length, (including footnotes, excluding bibliography), to be published in the journal.

Multimedia Submission Guidelines

Authors of video and multimedia texts are advised that submissions should be between 5 and 30 minutes in length, in edited and polished form, and capable of being uploaded to an online file storage system.

Please email the editors at journal@chase.ac.uk with any queries.

Due to the large size of video files they should be uploaded separately via dropbox by following the link below:  https://www.dropbox.com/request/xkrBxtOQpmzDAxJrhaxf

Authors are responsible for obtaining all relevant copyrights for their content. Please refer to our Copyright Notice for more information.

Video guidelines:

  • Format: MP4
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • File name convention: submission_title.mp4
  • For the initial review process there should be no inclusion of any reference to the author of the video. Please refer to instructions for Ensuring a Blind Review for more information.
  • Videos should be in edited and polished form, and accompanied by full captions. These should follow the conventions as set out in the Author Guidelines.
  • Videos should be accompanied by a critical commentary between 500 and 4,000 words in length, which if accepted will be published alongside the video in the journal. This is to be submitted via the OJS system, simply log in and begin the five-step process. Critical commentaries should be submitted under the same title as the media file uploaded to the dropbox.

Audio guidelines:

  • Format: MP4
  • File name convention: submission_title.mp4
  • For the initial review process there should be no inclusion of any reference to the author of the audio. Please refer to instructions for Ensuring a Blind Review for more information.
  • Audio files should be accompanied by a critical commentary between 500 and 4,000 words in length, which if accepted will be published alongside the audio in the journal. This is to be submitted via the OJS system, simply log in and begin the five-step process. Critical commentaries should be submitted under the same title as the media file uploaded to the dropbox.
  • When including audio media, a full transcript of the spoken text and descriptions of any unspoken sound should also be provided. These should be submitted along with the critical commentary as a ‘supplementary file’ and should  follow the conventions as set out in the Author Guidelines.


REVIEWS

Reviews (500-1,500 words) can cover new publications, films, theatre productions, documentaries, and major exhibitions engaging with any aspect of the art and humanities. Reflecting the ethos of CHASE, we are particularly interested in emerging scholarship and innovative interdisciplinary publications and productions. 

Reviews should be between 500 and 1,500 words in length.

Essay Reviews should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words in length.

The following information should be given about the text(s) being reviewed at the start of each review:

Author / Editor Name, Book Title, Publisher, Year of Publication, ISBN: 000-0-00-000000-0, Number of Pages, Price

Reviews should be objective and should consider the following:

  • The intended audience for the material being reviewed and who would find it useful
  • The main ideas and major objectives of the material being reviewed and how effectively these are accomplished
  • The suitability and effectiveness of methodology and sources used
  • The context of the material being reviewed
  • Constructive comments about the strength and weaknesses of the material being reviewed.
RESUBMITTING REVISED SUBMISSION
If you have succesfully submitted to the journal your item will be peer-reviewed. After this you may be asked to resubmit a revised piece. To do this please follow the below instructions:
1)    First, log in to the website, and go to User Home → Author and click on ‘Active’ submissions.  
2)    Next to the relevant Title of the Submission is the ‘Status’ of that submission. 
 3)    Click on the status of the relevant submission (which will in most cases be ‘In Review: Revisions Required). This should take you to Review.
4)    Under the Editor Decision section, you should see ‘Upload Author Version’.
 5)    Upload revised submission here.

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Hosted by the Open Journal System (OJS), Brief Encounters provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. 

The author is responsible for securing permissions and paying any associated fee for their submission.

For more information please see our Permissions Guide

If including artwork in your submission that is not your own, you must obtain and (likely) pay for permission to reproduce those images. You must also supply credit/source information with your captions. Forward all original, signed permissions to your Editor as soon as you have them; they must be submitted no later than when you submit your final draft. Remember to make copies of the permissions for your records. Without permission or a clear indication that the work is in the public domain, we will not be able to use the art. Remember, you should treat web content like you would print content. Do not assume any images you find on the web are public domain, and make sure to research and acquire all permissions necessary. If you have any questions regarding permissions, contact your Editor as soon as possible. Please also see our Artwork Guide for more information.