Editorial Policy
All manuscripts submitted for publication must be original work not published previously and not currently under consideration by any other publication. Papers submitted to the journal for publication need not have been presented at the Society’s annual meetings, nor must contributors be active members at the time they submit their work for publication. All submissions must be original research that has not been published in English or French. Translation from languages other than English or French may be considered on a case by case basis.
FCH also welcomes proposals for special issues or forums of several articles around a theme. Potential guest editors should contact the Journal Editor to discuss their proposals.
French Colonial History appears annually. Given the review and production schedules of the journal, manuscripts received prior to June 1 will have the best chance of completing the review process in time for inclusion in the following year’s issue. We strive to respond to initial submissions within two months.
To ensure publication in time for FCHS’s annual meeting, authors must be available to respond to reviewers’ comments, make revisions, and review page proofs late summer through early spring. A tentative schedule will be provided at time of submission acceptance.
Manuscript Preparation and Submission
Articles, normally 8,000–10,000 words in length (including notes), may be submitted in English or French. Quotations from languages other than English or French should be translated into the language in which the manuscript is written.
Manuscripts should be prepared following the guidelines below and The Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition), which MSUP uses for copyediting, punctuation, endnotes, and style. You can also refer to the MSU Press journals Style Sheet to prepare your piece for submission.
Authors should provide two abstracts, one in English and one in French, of not more than 150 words.
Submission Instructions
- Create an author profile at http://ojs.msupress.org/index.php/FCH. Include current affiliation and rank and a brief description of research interests.
- Log in to your author account and then click on “New Submission” to begin the process.
- Once submitted, log back in to your author account to track the progress of your submissions through the review and production process.
Questions may be directed to the Editor at FCH@frenchcolonial.org.
- Articles accepted for publication must agree to the terms of the Author Publishing Agreement; they cannot be printed otherwise.
- All articles should be formatted using 12-point font and double spacing for all text, including quotations, notes, bibliography, and captions, as well as 1-inch margins on all sides of US Letter-sized (8.5”x11”) paper.
- File format should be Microsoft Word.
- Margins: A simple “ragged” right margin is required, typically referred to as “alignment: Left.” Do not use justified alignment as it complicates typesetting.
- Use endnotes only for citation, using Microsoft Word’s “insert note” function. The Journal cannot accept submissions containing embedded notes generated by bibliographic programs such as Endnote or Zotero.
- Spell out numbers from one to nine. Use Arabic numerals for numbers 10 and above. Exceptions to this rule include: 1) a series of mixed numbers (e.g., 14 cities, 2 small towns, 11 villages, and 8 settlements); 2) when a number precedes an abbreviation for a standard unit of measure (e.g., 3 g, 18mm, 6 m). Use numerals for all dates, times, page numbers and percentages.
- Time, when presented in even, half, or quarter hours should be spelled out. (e.g., “She did not return home until a quarter to one”; “They did not finish until noon”; “He always arrived at nine o’clock”; “The sun came out at half past three.”) When greater precision is required, numerals (with zeros included for even hours) should be used as follows: 2:00 p.m., 4:25 a.m., 9:10 in the morning.
- Use continental dating (13 April 1892 or 12 June) throughout.
- List all accented letters or other special characters used in the text on a separate page at the beginning of the text.
- Do not skip a line or insert extra spaces between paragraphs.
- Use the tab key (not the space bar) to indent the first lines of new paragraphs.
- Do not insert “soft” hyphens at the ends of lines. Turn off the automatic hyphenation feature in your software and do not break words manually. The only hyphens that should appear in your manuscript are those in compound words.
- Do not center any text anywhere.
- Do not use “running heads” or headers/footers features.
- Do not use hanging indents.
REFERENCE EXAMPLES
BOOK
George Orwell, Animal Farm (New York: New American Library, 1974), 26–38.
CHAPTER
Sylvia Harris, “Contemporary Continental Philosophy,” in Late Twentieth Century Political Theory, ed.__________, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989), 110–49.
ARTICLE
Sara M. Fernandez, “The Age of Reform,” Economic Review 14, no. 9 (1992): 78, 80–87.
Images & Derivative Materials
Any illustrations, including images, maps, or graphs, should be submitted electronically in clearly labeled graphics files separate from the manuscript text. Figures will appear in the journal in black and white or grayscale. Since journal pages are 6 x 9 inches in dimensions, images should be no more than 4 x 7 inches, although smaller is preferable. Figures should be numbered and referenced parenthetically in the text (fig. X).
It is the author/researcher’s obligation and responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright and/or other use restrictions prior to submitting materials to MSU Press for publication. Citations, permissions, and captions are required upon submission for all images. Use the FCH Permission Request Letter to obtain permission from the image’s rightsholder—we cannot publish such materials until written clearance is obtained. Electronic files accepted; all images must be minimum 300 dpi at planned publication size.
