Consult the call for submissions page for descriptions of upcoming issues and deadlines for the submission of manuscripts. Send manuscripts, review copies, and all correspondence to:
Michael Cornett, Managing Editor
Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Duke University
340B Trent Hall, Box 90656
Durham, NC 27708-0656
Email address: jmems@duke.edu
Contributor Guidelines for Submissions
Completeness of Editorial Content
Preparation of Visual Materials
Preparation of Manuscript
A manuscript submitted for publication should have no gaps of information or material needing to be added at a later time. Bibliographical information in the notes should be complete.
Once an article accepted for publication has been copyedited, all issues raised by the editor must be resolved so that no rewriting or additions will be necessary after the manuscript has been typeset.
Authors can obtain images in all sorts of ways. The following guidelines will help you prepare visual materials--such as artwork, tables, figures, and other images--to appear sharp in printed form.
Submit artwork as early as possible for review
The earlier we have your artwork, the more time we will have to identify and resolve potential quality or permissions issues before your manuscript is ready for production.
Do not include any images in your manuscript file
Instead, submit each figure in a separate file, and name the files using a short title reference and figure number (e.g., Severed Head_fig1.tiff). Do not use your personal name in the file name, since submissions are vetted anonymously. List the figure captions at the end of the manuscript file, and include an in-text "callout" for each figure when it is introduced in the text, (e.g., see fig. 3).
Tables are not considered art
Submit tables in separate text files when you submit the manuscript. Original tables should be editable and not pasted into a Word file as a picture.
Avoid scanning images from previously printed materials
Instead, locate the original source, request a high-resolution file of the image from the museum or library owning the materials or from a rights holder if the image is within copyright, and seek permission to reproduce the image using the terms needed by Duke University Press (see below). If this is not possible and you wish to use an image you create yourself (e.g., scanning an image from a published book), please consult with the managing editor.
Do not submit images from the Internet
Even if these images look fine on your computer screen, the quality is likely to be too low for print publication. Additionally, image files on websites may be subject to licensing terms.
Image file specifications
All images should be at least 300 dpi. We prefer images in TIFF format but will accept high-resolution JPEGs. Do not try to enlarge or adapt a low-quality image by changing the resolution or size. Submit charts, graphs, diagrams, and maps as EPS or PDF files.
Submitting image files
Because image files typically are too large to be sent as e-mail attachments, please submit them via a file-sharing platform like DropBox or Google Drive.
Permissions for reproduction
Once your article is accepted for publication, by signing Duke University Press's publication agreement you confirm that your article contains no matter that violates copyright law. You are therefore responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce all copyrighted material. In the case of images of rare materials outside of copyright provided by museums and libraries, these institutions frequently require specific permission to reproduce the images they have created for patrons, while some have policies that grant blanket permission. A clear statement of permission must be provided for each image, that is, one that indicates the nature of the material (e.g., author, title, publication facts, and page or folio reference) and that states the terms of the permission (see below for the terms required by Duke University Press). If an image is your own original work, supply a statement to this effect. Images cannot be sent into production without permissions for their reproduction in hand.
When requesting permission for reproduction rights from an institution, be sure to ask for the rights that Duke University Press needs: non-exclusive worldwide publishing rights for use of the identified image(s), in all media and formats, within the article to be included in the journal issue in whole or in part, with no time/term restrictions.
If you have questions or need help to obtain adequate image formats or to secure permissions for their reproduction, do not hesitate to contact the JMEMS managing editor.
JMEMS follows The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.) in most matters of style. Below are elements of the journal’s house style highlighted for special attention. For further guidance on matters of style and format, please refer to current issues of JMEMS.
Formatting
When sending a submission to JMEMS, submit one hard copy of the manuscript with a cover letter that includes your street and email addresses. An exact electronic copy of the manuscript should be submitted by email attachment. Note that a file written with a Mac program must be saved as a MS Word file for us to be able to work with it.
Double space all materials, including block quotations, notes, and captions for figures or illustrations.
All material in the document, including extracts and endnotes, should be formatted in a 12-point Courier font (not in a proportional font like Times Roman).
Use 1.25 inch margins for each side; do not justify margins.
Underline to indicate italics; do not use an italic font.
Notes must be placed at the end of the article as endnotes, double-spaced, with no extra space between notes. Superscript note numbers in the text; in the endnotes, do not insert a period after note numbers, just a single space. An acknowledgment note, if used, should be unnumbered and placed at the beginning of the endnote section. Do not strip the notes from the text; the auto-numbering function must be preserved during editing.
Citations and documentation
JMEMS uses endnote citations without a corresponding reference list of works cited at the end of the article. Notes are to be formatted according to the guidelines in The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 17th ed., chapter 14, humanities style.
To avoid disrupting the flow of sentences in the text, note references should appear at the ends of sentences, and only rarely in the middle of a sentence when required to avoid confusion. Avoid giving more than one note reference within a single sentence; citations to different parts of a sentence should be grouped within a single note.
Full bibliographical citations appear in the notes at first mention of a source; thereafter, short-form citations are used. A short-form citation of a work contains the author’s surname, a shortened title, and a page number or other appropriate reference number as needed. For consecutive citations of a given work, just the author name and reference is given, omitting the title; ibid. is not used (see CMS 14.34).
Frequently cited primary sources, after being documented in the notes upon first citation, may be cited parenthetically in the text thereafter. In the initial note, state what information will be supplied in further citations. Translations should be cited, or if translations are by the author, this should be indicated.
Note: See Martin Luther, D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 95 vols. (Weimar: Böhlau, 1883-2009), 18:37-214. Further citations of the Weimar edition of Luther’s works are to WA (“Weimarer Ausgabe”), followed by volume and page numbers. Translations are my own unless otherwise indicated.
Text: Luther’s Against the Heavenly Prophets offers positive accounts of the use of sacred images. These accounts center on images’ potential functions as “testimony,” “witness,” “remembrance,” “memorial,” and “sign” (WA 18:70, 74, 80).
Document secondary sources only in the notes.
JMEMS does not allow cross-referencing in the notes.
Publisher locations and names are included with book citations. For pre-1900 imprints, publisher names are not required.
For citations of articles in journals, both volume and issue numbers should be given as a courtesy to readers who consult articles online (unless the journal is an annual).
Godfrey Sykes, “The Mythical Straits of Anian,” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society 47, no. 3 (1915): 161-72.
At the initial citation of articles—whether from a journal or a book anthology—the inclusive page range should be given; a specific page reference may be added using “at.”
Thomas H. Bestul, “The Passion Meditations of Richard Rolle: The Latin Meditative Tradition and Implications for Authenticity,” Mediaevalia 27, no. 1 (2006): 43-64, at 53.
When citing websites, include as much of the following information as possible: author of the content, title of the work, publication date or latest revision date (if presented as the de facto date of publication), title or owner of the site, and URL. An access date is not required, since it has limited value: previous versions will often be unavailable to readers; authors typically consult a source any number of times over the course of a day or months; the accuracy of such dates cannot be readily verified; and URLs are checked during the publishing process, so that the publication date of an article itself can represent the latest verified access date (see CMS 14.6-18).
Oxford English Dictionary Third Edition, Oxford University Press, June 2017, s.v. post-truth, adj.2, www.oed.com.
Ian Atherton, “Hodges, Thomas, (c. 1600-1672), dean of Hereford,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan. 3, 2008, doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/66142. [A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique and permanent string assigned to a piece of intellectual property such as an article or book. It the most stable form of online citation and should be preferred if available (see CMS 14.8).]
Digital Edition of the Index of Middle English Verse, ed. Linne R. Mooney et al., no. 807, www.dimev.net/. [An online source without a named publisher or sponsor and without a date.]
Guaman Poma de Ayala, Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno (1615), Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek, MS GKS 2232 4°. The original manuscript held at the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen may be viewed on The Guaman Poma Website, along with a transcription of the narrative, at www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/poma/info/en/frontpage.htm.
For the troupe’s performances, see “Early of Derby’s Players” at REED Patrons and Performances, University of Toronto, reed.library.utoronto.ca/content/earl-derbys-players.
Constantijn Huygens, “Constantijn Huygens to Daniel Heinsius, 4 March 1632,” in Circulation of Knowledge and Learned Practices in the 17th-Century Dutch Republic, at ckcc.huygens.knaw.nl/epistolarium/letter.html?id=huyg001/0663.
Style
The abbreviations p. and pp. and l. and ll. (lines) are not used in citations unless required for clarity. Note, too, the following preferences in JMEMS: ca., not c., for approximate dates; cf. (see by way of comparison) should not be used when see alone is meant; chap. for chapter; fol. (fols.) for folio; sig. (sigs.) for signature; and JMEMS prefers not to use the following at all: f. (ff.), op. cit., loc. cit., nor eadem, idem, infra, passim, and supra.
Follow old-style abbreviations of states, CMS 10.27 (e.g., Calif., Minn., Fla., N.Y.). States should be indicated for any cities that are not internationally recognized (e.g., Princeton, N.J., and Washington should also be followed by D.C.). When the publisher’s name includes the state name, the abbreviation is not needed (e.g., Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press). Likewise, Canadian provinces should be given for any cities that are not internationally recognized (e.g., Waterloo, Ont.).
For inclusive numbers, follow CMS 9.60-64.
For use of ellipses, follow CMS 13.50-58, and for permissible changes in quotations 13.7-8, 18-21.
Foreign or special characters should be obtained through the “Symbol” section of MS Word. If you must use characters not obtainable here, insert them any way you can, but include a memo notifying us of their presence and a legend of all such characters used in the article. Languages that do not use the Latin alphabet should be transliterated.
Format any lists or tables in a consistent manner and as close as possible to the way you wish for them to appear in print.
Quoting primary sources and translations
Because various formats are used for quotations of primary sources and translations, it is necessary for consistency that authors follow house style. The following should be observed for JMEMS:
(a) Original language quotations should be enclosed within quotation marks and should not be italicized.
(b) If a translation is supplied after an original language quotation, or vice versa, the second quotation is given within brackets and without using quotation marks.
According to the doctor Jean de Saint-Amand, writing in the thirteenth century, “le sang se rend du ventre à toutes les parties du corps, comme le suc des arbres se répand depuis les racines jusqu’à la totalité des branches” [the blood moves from the stomach to all the parts of the body, just as the sap of trees spreads from the roots to all the branches].
In the Commentaria on the anatomist Mondino published in 1521, Berengario da Carpi says to the student, “Don’t think that one can master this discipline only by hearing a lecture or by reading books: this requires vision and touch” [non credat aliquis per solam vivam vocem aut per scriptura posse habere hanc disciplinam: quia hic requiritur visus et tactus].
(c) Verse quotation set off with prose translation (no quotation marks are used):
Ich was in one sumere dale,
In one suþe diʒele hale:
Iherde ich holde grete tale
An hule and one niʒtingale.
[I was in a summer valley, in a really out-of-the-way retreat, when I heard an owl and a nightingale having a huge dispute.]
(d) If original language words or phrases are interpolated within a translation, these should be placed within brackets and should not be underscored.
Gregory begins his argument by challenging Julian’s mistaken notion that “to use Greek words [hellena logon] is a matter of belief, and not simply of language [tes glosses].”
(e) Other types of editorial insertions in quotations of original language or translation should be placed within brackets.