• Medieval Institute Publications Style Guide
• Guidelines for Guest Editors of Thematic Special Issues

Medieval Institute Publications Style Guide

If the decision is made to publish your manuscript, you will be asked to deliver the text in accordance with our house style. In general, Medieval Institute Publications follows the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, with some minor modifications. Some series have their own requirements in addition to MIP house style. Please ask whether this applies to your title.

Introduction

Below are the guidelines for preparing your manuscript for final submission. We only accept complete and final manuscripts. A complete manuscript consists of the text; any images, graphs, or tables; and all relevant permissions for photos or other reproductions. For edited collections and journals, it is essential that all contributions are consistent with regard to reference conventions and spelling. Once submitted, the manuscript will be peer reviewed, gatekept, and copyedited -- steps which might require varying degrees of revision, which will be done in consultation with the press or its representative. Then typesetting will occur, and the final production stages.

Submitting text

Submit files in Word. When using a less common format, please check with your main contact at MIP if the format is acceptable. Please use as little formatting as possible. Do not justify the right margin, or use varying type sizes or variable line spacing, or insert extra space around paragraphs. The manuscript should be a single file, paginated continuously. Any additional pieces should be designated as Figure 1, Appendix 1, Table 1, etc., and there should be indications in the text where the graphics, etc., are to be placed. During production your manuscript will be formatted to fit house style by the press.

For manuscripts with non-western scripts please use a Unicode font (e.g., Times).

• If there are a significant number of special characters in your text, let us know as early as possible. We will then consult with the copyeditor assigned to your project to determine the best font for you to use – this way, you will be working in a compatible font before you submit the final files, and this will ensure that we avoid having to amend fonts and files at a later stage.
• If your book contains a large amount of such non-Roman characters, please supply a pdf along with the Word document when submitting the text, so that the copyeditor may check that the font reflects what is intended.

Submitting visual materials

As a rule, we expect you to supply all internal visual material.

• Images must be at least 300 DPI (dots per inch) and minimum format of 10 x 15 cm. Note that a color spread requires images of extremely high quality and resolution, a small black-and-white image much less so; for black-and-white line artwork the minimum resolution is 600 DPI. Submit digital images in their original format. TIF, EPS, and JPG files are all suitable.
• Tables should be submitted as Word or Excel files if they are complex. Simple tables can be placed in the text.

Mark clearly in the text where each illustration or table needs to be inserted. For example: [PLACE ILLUSTRATION 1/TABLE 1 HERE] This will be the approximate place where the typesetter will insert the item, as exact placing can only be determined at the time of typesetting. Make sure that the illustrations and tables are clearly numbered and that the caption is given either at the insertion note or at the end of your text.

Copyright

It is the author’s responsibility to secure permission to use any approved illustrative materials that are not their own. When you submit your manuscripts, enclose a list of illustrations and copies of the permissions you have received.

When seeking permissions, note the following:

• You must get permission for the use of material in an electronic edition.
• Illustrations taken from another book are not owned by the publisher of the book. The actual owner of an illustration may be the artist or photographer, or the library or museum where it is kept.

Make sure that you start clearing permissions as soon as possible, as it often takes much longer than expected. Always specify the use—e.g., an online scholarly journal. Check whether a specific format for acknowledgement is required. Permissions costs can often be reduced through external subsidies.

Layout

Your manuscript will be typeset according to our house style, so your manuscript needs only to have the minimum of formatting (e.g. italics, bold, or small capitals) when you send it in. Use tabs for new paragraphs (not spaces). Use blank lines only when absolutely necessary.

Add named headings where relevant. Numbering your headings is not necessary. If you use headers, make sure these are recognizable as such. If you have more than one level, there should be a clear and consistently used distinction between them.

Larger sections of quoted text (i.e., quotations of over a hundred words) should be set off from the running text by a blank line before and after the quoted text, and the text should be indented on the left side. No quotation marks are needed.

Italics

• Place single words or short phrases in a foreign language in italics; direct quotations or more substantial quotations in Roman.
• In the case of foreign words, an English translation may immediately follow in normal type, in parentheses—e.g., “the distinction between exhortatio (exhortation) and praedicatio (preaching) became very important in thirteenth-century discussions about lay preaching.”
• Use italics for titles of books and journals; titles of articles should be placed between double quotation marks.
• Use roman for punctuation following italicized text if the main sentence is in roman.
• The use of bold type is discouraged, unless there is a very clear reason for using bold and it is used sparingly.

Punctuation

• Series (“Oxford”) commas should be used: commas should appear before the final “and”/“or” in a list of three or more items (e.g., truth, grace, and beauty).
• Use double quotation marks; single quotation marks belong only within double quotation marks (e.g., “This is the ‘best’ way.”)
• Translate quotation marks from different systems or languages (e.g. « … » or „…“) into the forms here (“ ”).
• Punctuation goes inside quotation marks.
• Footnote numbers go outside the final punctuation mark of a sentence or clause, except where an em dash is used; footnote numbers comes before em dashes.
• A single space (not two) should follow periods at the end of sentences, as well as commas, colons, and other punctuation marks.
• Do use a space to separate each initial of an author or editor’s surname (e.g., B. C. Cummings, not B.C. Cummings).
• Ellipses should have a space before and after; if the beginning of the sentence is omitted following the ellipses, begin with a capital letter. Do not use ellipses at the beginning of a quotation or at the end, unless there is a specific reason such as a purposely incomplete thought or sentence.
• Possessives almost always take the ’s. This includes names ending in s or another sibilant (e.g., Jesus’s, Berlioz’s), and names with es endings (e.g., Moses’s leadership, Sophocles’s plays). When the singular form of a noun ending in s is the same as the plural, the possessives of both are formed by adding an apostrophe only (e.g., politics’ true meaning). The same applies for the name of a place, organization, or publication is a plural form ending in s, even though the entity is singular (i.e., the National Academy of Sciences’ new policy).
• Hyphenation is used where the first of two or more words is used adjectively (e.g., “a tenth-century manuscript” versus “in the tenth century”). You may find these referred to as compound adjectives or compound modifiers. Where one of the words is an adverb ending in –ly, do not hyphenate (e.g., “a handsomely bound codex”).
• MIP copyeditors use the Merriam-Webster dictionary (available free online at http://www.merriam- webster.com/) as guidance for hyphenation, particularly at ends of lines.

Spelling

MIP prefers that spelling conforms to American practice and follows Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.

Be consistent in transcribing foreign names. Spellings should conform to the Biographical Names section at the back of Merriam-Webster’s. As a general rule, use the native form of place-names. In some cases where the English form can be retained: Prague, Vienna, Florence, The Hague.

Numbers

• Numbers from zero to one hundred should be written out as words (so, nineteen but 345), and all numbers pertaining to even hundreds and thousands. You may depart from this rule when numerals or numbers form the main part of the text.
• Follow the Chicago Manual of Style for inclusive pairs of numbers (e.g., 96–97, 101–4, 246–48), except for spans of years, which repeat the century (1014–1103).
• Decades should be written as 860s, not 860’s.
• Use Arabic for percentages and spell out percent (e.g., 50 percent). You may depart from this rule when percentages form the main part of the text (50% – without a space).
• Use Arabic for volume numbers (whether of journals, series, or multivolume works) and for sections of medieval texts. Roman numerals are used for front matter, manuscript shelfmarks as per library usage, and in titles.
• Set dates in the format February 19, 2018.

Capitalization

On the whole, CMS 17 prefers a “down” style, or a sparing use of capitals. Some of the exceptions are noted below. When it doubt, consult chapter 8, “Names and Terms.”

• Nationalities and nouns deriving from people or languages are capitalized (e.g., Latinate, the Lombards), as are nouns and adjectives of movements derived from proper nouns (e.g., Christian, Platonism).
• Historical periods are capitalized (e.g., Middle Ages, the Reformation), but a descriptive designation of a period is usually lowercased – except for proper names (e.g., the medieval era, ancient Greece, the baroque period, antiquity; but the Victorian era).
• Books of the bible are capitalized but not italicized (e.g., the book of Genesis, the Gospel according to John, the First Epistle to the Corinthians); also note biblical, not Biblical; satanic, not Satanic; the Eucharist but eucharistic.
• Named prayers, canticles, creeds, etc., are capitalized but not italicized (e.g., the Ten Commandments, Kaddish, the Nicene Creed). Parables and miracles are lowercased (e.g., doxology, the parable of the prodigal son, the miracle of the loaves and fishes).
• Unique events and periods take capitals (e.g., the Last Judgement, the Peasants’ Revolt).
• Note that church is generally lowercased, unless it is part of the official name of a denomination or building, or unless it refers to the whole body of Christians in all times and places.
• References to particular parts of a book are not capitalized (e.g., chapter 1; appendix 2; part ii, figure 8).
• Seasons of the year are not capitalized (e.g., spring 1349); nor are points of the compass (north of England, northern England), except when they indicate an official name or specific concept (South America, the Western world).
• Civil, military, religious, and professional titles are capitalized when they immediately precede a personal name and are thus used as part of the name (e.g., the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Wilberforce). When following a name or used in place of a name, a title is normally lowercased (e.g., the president, the bishop, the pope).

In most European languages, titles of books and other publications are set in sentence-style caps, with just an initial capital. English-language titles are set in headline-style caps, following these basic principles:

• The first and last words in titles and subtitles are capitalized.
• All nouns, pronouns (except the relative “that”), adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions are capitalized.
• Always capitalize the first element in a hyphenated compound. Capitalize any subsequent elements unless they are articles, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, or such modifiers as flat or sharp following musical key symbols. If the first element in the compound could not stand by itself as a word (i.e., anti, pre, etc.), do not capitalize the second element unless it is a proper noun or adjective.
• Do not capitalize: articles; prepositions; and the coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, and nor; to, whether as a preposition or as part of an infinitive; as in any function; and parts of proper names that would be lowercased in text, such as de or von.
• For journals, follow the preferred capitals style of the journal.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations and symbols are most appropriate in tabular matter, notes, bibliographies, and parenthetical references. The use of less familiar abbreviations should be limited to those terms that occur frequently enough to warrant abbreviation—roughly five times or more within an article or chapter—and the terms must be spelled out on their first occurrence. If there are a significant number of abbreviations in the text, consider an abbreviation list.

The following conventional abbreviations are some that may be used:

• ca. [not ca. or c.].
• b. (birth / born), d. (died), r. (reigned), fl. (flourished), f. (founded)
• Use full-stops / periods with e.g. and i.e., and after Mr., Dr., ad., vol./vols., fol./fols., ed./eds., no., ed., chap., pp., n., trans., and so on. Other than Mr. and Dr., these abbreviations should not be used in running text.

Moreover, please note:

• Journal titles may be abbreviated if a clear abbreviation list is supplied; this may be an editorial decision.
• Do not omit the period after abbreviations such as “St.” except in titles that themselves omit it. French place names containing “Saint” are normally spelled out, and the hyphen is essential: “Saint-Denis.”
• Avoid starting sentences and footnotes with abbreviations. Use for example, not e.g.

References

Citation style will differ slightly depending on whether your contribution is for a journal, a monograph, or an edited collection. In all cases, follow these general rules:

• Provide the forenames of the cited authors, unless the author is known only by initials.
• For names with particles, take into account the individual’s preference (if known), as well as traditional and national usages. Merriam Webster’s Biographical Dictionary is a guide for well-known persons long deceased; library catalogues and encyclopedias are also of assistance. Alphabetize those names as appropriate.
• Italicize the titles of books and journals.
• Be complete, particularly in relation to titles of series and series numbers. Series names are not italicized, and series numbers are given in Arabic.
• Name both the publisher and the primary place of publication.
• Use footnotes, not endnotes.
• Note reference numbers should be located in the main text at the end of a clause or sentence and after the punctuation (except for a dash, in which case the note number is then placed first). They should be marked with a superscript Arabic numeral.
• The author is always given in the footnotes, even when the name is mentioned in the text preceding the note.
• MIP follows the Chicago Manual of Style in the decision for whether or not to use p./pp. When a number or range of number clearly denotes the pages in a book or journal, there is no need to use p./pp. However, if you frequently cite primary sources that use line, section, or paragraph numbers in addition to page numbers, please use p./pp. for clarity and to avoid any potential ambiguity.
• The first citation of a work should be a complete bibliographic reference including page range (e.g., 115–35 at 118–19); thereafter use a short citation.

The most important thing, no matter the type of volume, is to be consistent in the citation of a particular work. Some examples are below; please consult the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style for further information.

Medieval texts:

• First footnote: Epictetus, Dissertationes 2.4.1 [volume, page, line/paragraph], ed. Heinrich Schenkl (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1916).
• Shortened footnote: Epictetus, Dissertationes 2.4.2.
• Bibliography: Epictetus. Dissertationes. Edited by Heinrich Schenkl. Stuttgart: Teubner, 1916.

Monographs:

• First footnote: H. Munro Chadwick and N. Kershaw Chadwick, The Growth of Literature, 3 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932–40; repr. 1986), 3:xiii. [Reprint volumes are all published in the same year]
• Shortened footnote: Chadwick and Chadwick, Growth of Literature, 3:x–xvii.
• Bibliography: Chadwick, H. Munro and N. Kershaw Chadwick. The Growth of Literature. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932–40. Reprint, 1986.

Multiauthored, multivolume works:

• First footnote: Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Joseph R. Strayer et al., vol. 6 (New York: Scribner, 1985), 26. [Citing a particular volume in a multivolume work printed over a span of several years]
• Shortened footnote: Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 6:26.
• Bibliography: Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Edited by Joseph R. Strayer et al. 13 vols. New York: Scribner, 1982–89.

Edited or translated works:

• First footnote: Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Sämtliche Werke, ed. Rudolf Hirsch et al., vol. 13, Dramen, ed. Roland Haltmeier (Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 1986), 12–22. [“ed.” = edited by. Replace “ed.” with “trans.” or “rev.” where necessary.]
• Shortened footnote: Hofmannsthal, Sämtliche Werke, 4:16.
• Bibliography: Hofmannsthal, Hugo von. Sämtliche Werke. Edited by Rudolf Hirsch et al. 40 vols. Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 1986).

Chapters or articles in a book:

• First footnote: Fanni Bogdanow, “The Suite du Merlin and the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal,” in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History, ed. Roger Sherman Loomis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), 325–35.
• Shortened footnote: Bogdanow, “Suite du Merlin,” 329.
• Bibliography: Bogdanow, Fanni. “The Suite du Merlin and the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal.” In Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History, edited by Roger Sherman Loomis, 325–35. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1959.

Journal articles:

• First footnote: Robert F. Cook, “Baudouin de Sebourc: Un poème édifiant?,” Olifant 14 (1989): 115–35 at 118–19.
• Shortened footnote: Cook, “Baudouin de Sebourc,” 129.
• Bibliography: Cook, Robert F. “Baudouin de Sebourc: Un poème édifiant?” Olifant 14 (1989): 115–35.

Articles in a newspaper or magazine:

• First footnote: Jacques-Pierre Amette, “Thé et désespoir,” Le Point, October 8, 1989, p. 18.
• Shortened footnote: Amette, “Thé et désespoir,” 18.
• Bibliography: Amette, Jacques-Pierre. “Thé et désespoir.” Le Point, October 8, 1989. Pp. 18–25.

Websites:

Access dates may be useful, but are unnecessary. When possible, cite the name of the page, the creator or owner of that page, and the URL.

• First footnote: “Google Privacy Policy,” Google, http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html.
• Mike Nizza, “Go Ahead, Annoy Away, and Australian Court Says,” The Lede (blog), New York Times, July 15, 2008, http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/.
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Sibelius, Jean,” http://original.britannica.com/eb/article-9067596.
• Bibliography: “Google Privacy Policy.” Google. http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html .
• Nizza, Mike. “Go Ahead, Annoy Away, an Australian Court Says.” The Lede (blog), New York Times, July 15, 2008. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/.

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Guidelines for Guest Editors of Thematic Special Issues

The editing of a special issue of MFF provides the guest editor with an opportunity to bring a group of scholars together and to stimulate them to do their best possible work. We hope you enjoy this leadership role.

1. Launching the Issue:

The guest editor of a special issue is responsible for defining its theme and for soliciting relevant contributions. The guest editor normally will be a contributor to the issue unless unusual circumstances prevent this.

MFF encourages authors to reflect widely on their topics. Part of the guest editor’s role is to transmit this intellectual spirit to the contributors. The contributors should understand that a narrowly specialized article is not appropriate for MFF even if the article relates to the special issue’s theme. The best special issues are those in which every article engages with large and serious issues. In cases where a contribution is competent but could be more thoughtful, the guest editor should not encourage the authors to write a new article. Asking the author to make revisions, such as revising the introduction or conclusion so as to widen the intellectual scope of the paper, would be a reasonable request.

A special issue typically consists of an introduction written by the guest editor, an article written by the guest editor, and five or six other articles by contributors invited by the guest editor.

Guest editors may issue open calls for papers. Although contributors might not be known personally to the guest editor, he/she/they should be confident of all the contributors’ abilities to produce a significant piece of work.

Guest editors should compose a brief (1-2 pages) prospectus that defines the topic of the special issue to send to potential contributors as part of the invitation to contribute to the issue. The guest editor should also establish a deadline for all contributors.

2. Supervising the Creation of the Special Issue:

Once the guest editor has found suitable contributors, she/he/they should remind authors to format their articles in accordance with MFF guidelines, which are provided on the journal’s webpage at http://smfsweb.org/mff/. Authors should include an ABSTRACT of 100-150 words and 6-8 keywords when they deliver the article to the guest editor and when they upload the final submission through MFF’s “Submit Article” link.

To keep issues on schedule, guest editors will normally have to send deadline reminders to contributors. Since we at MFF will not begin editing an issue until we receive all materials for it, any contributor who is late with an article will hold up the publication process. We generally publish issues in the order in which they are completed.

Before turning over the articles to MFF, the guest editor must read all articles, suggest and oversee revisions, if necessary, and edit the revised versions.

The guest editor should also obtain at least one peer review of each submission. Guest editors are responsible for identifying peer reviewers and soliciting reviews. If the guest editor cannot find a reviewer for a particular article, MFF’s editorial board will assist.

We expect guest editors to complete a round of close content editing and copyediting. This editing involves working with the author on the overall arguments of the article, but also modifying extremely long sentences, eliminating unnecessary jargon, reducing repetitions, and ensuring that footnotes match MFF conventions. Once the guest editor is satisfied with the quality of each article, the authors should then submit the final manuscript version of their articles as a Microsoft Word file with abstracts, keywords, and a note indicating that the submission is part of a special issue in the fields provided through the “Submit Article” link at http://ir.uiowa.edu/mff/. The MFF editors will read and edit as necessary to ensure conformity with MFF style.

Please note that guest editors should make every effort to see that manuscript copies conform as closely to MFF guidelines as possible. Please keep a copy of the original text you received from the authors, but authors should send MFF the final versions only.

Images, figures, and charts should be submitted in either TIFF or JPG (at least 300 dpi), high-quality PDF, or EPS file formats. Authors are responsible for securing any necessary permissions and must pay any permission fees for images they use that are not in the public domain. If permission fees are a problem, MFF may be able to provide some assistance.

3. Final Things

Guest Editors must supply all contact information for contributors. This must include email and phone numbers in addition to “snail mail” addresses.

We do not expect the guest editor to oversee the final editing and publishing process of the special issue, but we will inform the guest editor of how that process is progressing. Once the guest editor has submitted the finished issue, it will be read in-house and the production process will begin. Authors will be asked to correct both manuscript “pre-proofs” and the first proofs. All authors will receive a pdf of their published articles.

The editors of MFF are always available to the guest editors to help facilitate the production of the special issue. We find this partnership to be very fruitful and we hope you will as well.

Editorial Board

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality