Submission Guidelines
Comparative Drama encourages submission of studies which are international in spirit and interdisciplinary in scope.
In addition to the instructions posted below, please refer to our style sheet for more specific guidelines, particularly with regards to documentation of source materials.
Guidelines for Authors
Comparative Drama follows the documentation style of The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed (endnotes and no bibliography). Authors may submit articles via e-mail to comparative-drama@wmich.edu Length should be between 7,500-10,000 words, double spaced including endnotes.Please include a 250 word abstract along with your submission.
Submissions are expected to be exclusive and to follow Comparative Drama style. Comparative Drama will not accept submissions of works that have been previously published without substantial revisions. This includes works published in open access venues. Please contact the editors with specific queries about this policy.
Authors already published in Comparative Drama are welcome to submit again. It is our policy to wait three years before publishing another essay by the same author. Book review authors may submit an essay for consideration immediately after the review is published.
Essays must be double spaced, including indented quotations and notes, with all diacritical marks as well as archaic letters (e.g., Þ) clearly indicated. While it is hard to establish a rule in this regard, quotations of more than three lines of poetry or of more than ten lines of prose should be set off and indented without quote marks. Otherwise, quotations should be run into the text and placed within “double quotation marks”; quotes within quotes “should be placed within ‘single quotation marks’.” Elipses are three spaced dots (. . . ) with a period also required at the end of a sentence (. . . . ). Do not use elipses at the beginning of a quotation. Interpolations, including [sic], are placed within [brackets]. Do not double space following the period at the end of a sentence.
Spelling should conform to American usage rather than British. Do not substitute the letter l for the number 1, or vice versa.
Dates are to follow modern usage, beginning each year on 1 January, and are to be written in the following form: 2 March 1987. For conversion of English regnal years to modern usage, see C. R.Cheney, Handbook of Dates for Students of English History, Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 4 (London, 1970).
Avoid jargon.
Quotations if possible should be from original editions rather than reprints; standard editions of works must be used rather than anthologies (except in those cases in which an anthology presents a very superior text) or less accepted editions. Often it is wise to check sources against the readings in the original manuscripts or printed books. Accuracy is required in quotations as well as in all other aspects of preparation of the manuscript. Quotations from Latin or foreign languages are to be supplied with English translations; the original text should appear first, followed by the translation in parentheses.
In those instances in which the author provides only his or her own translation of a quotation from a critical source, the translation may be identified by the words “translation mine” following the documentation in the endnote or in the text at the end of the passage. When documentation is placed at the end of a quotation in the text rather than in the notes, the reference to act, scene, and line numbers should be placed in parentheses following the quote but within the end punctuation, as in this example from Hamlet: “Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear,/ Blasting his wholesome brother” (3.4.64-65). If only line numbers are being cited, then use this form (64-65), but if there is a possibility of confusion add ll. (ll. 64-65). (If the reference appears with material already in parentheses, use brackets for documentation: “You cannot call it love” [3.4.68].) For references to mystery plays in cycles, citations should give the number of the play (using the form in the edition utilized) followed by the line number(s) (IV.1). In some instances it will be necessary to include also the name of the play or cycle as well (Chester IV.1). In certain other cases scholars will similarly wish to refer to page numbers, folio numbers, or signatures within their texts in order to reduce the number of notes.
Abbreviations are to follow standard usage.
Any images included in your submission must be scanned as TIFF files, at a minimum of 300dpi, using the gray-scale setting. Graphics that are particularly detailed, such as those that include line art or any type of text, should be scanned at a minimum of 1200dpi. Authors are responsible for obtaining reproduction rights and copyright information for images as applicable. More detailed information on editorial procedure regarding images may be found in the "Graphics" section here.
Please contact the editors with other queries.