Publish in Across the Disciplines

The mission of Across the Disciplines is to provide information for— and an opportunity for interaction among—scholars interested in writing, speaking, reading, and communication across the curriculum (CAC). We welcome contributions of the following kinds:

  • articles on CAC theory, practice, and research
  • reviews of publications addressing CAC theory, practice, and research
  • papers formerly presented at scholarly conferences but not published elsewhere

For more information about submitting to this journal, please see the Clearinghouse invitation to contribute scholarly work and its statement on publication ethics. Submissions and peer reviews should be informed by these statements. Our peer review process is also guided by the practices outlined in "Anti-racist scholarly reviewing practices: A heuristic for editors, reviewers, and authors" (2021).

For queries or questions about submissions to ATD, please contact Michael J. Cripps, Editor, at mcripps@une.edu or 207-602-2908.

Information for Prospective Authors about Articles and Book Reviews:

Original Research Articles

Preparing Manuscript for Submission:

  • Typical Length: 6,000-9,000 words (Including references)
  • Author Anonymity: Anonymize your manuscript by removing all identifying information in your manuscripts, both in the text content of your submission and in the metadata of the file. This includes IRB clearance, referential self-citations (citing your own work is okay if you do not refer to it being yours), institutional affiliations, and software features like embedded comments that may include names or other identifying information about the author.
    Resources for anonymizing:
    • To remove identifying information in the content of your manuscript, refer to the NAISA guidance.
    • How to remove identifying information from embedded comments, tracked changes, etc. in Microsoft Word.
  • Style: ATD's house style uses APA with ATD-specificities (including APA+author full first name format). Departure from APA is negotiable (please flag instances with deliberate decision not to use ATD's house style format in submission, for example, via a note or marginal comment)
  • File Type: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). Authors are invited to submit their manuscripts formatted in ATD style using this template document. To use the template, download the file to your device and work on it as a local file.
  • Media Components (images [including figures], audio, video, etc.): Media used in manuscripts (for example, images, charts, audio or video files), should be provided as individual file(s) separate from the manuscript.
    • Authors can decide whether to also embed the media in their manuscript where it is referenced, or to only use a marker in the text at the point of reference that refers reviewers to the relevant media file.
    • Media file names should clearly indicate their position in the manuscript (for example, figure1.png or appendixa.mov).
  • Accessibility: Figures, images, audio, video, and other non-verbal media should include alt text/image descriptions (for images, charts, or diagrams) or captions/transcripts/audio descriptions (for audio and video) and adhere to ATD's accessibility guidelines.

Submission and Publication Process:

  • Submission Method: WAC Clearinghouse Submission Portal -- after submitting, keep an eye on the Portal to see where your submission is in the editorial process
  • Peer Reviewed By: At least two members drawn from ATD's list of consulting readers and/or editorial board
  • Anonymity: Reasonable efforts will be made to conceal from reviewers the identity and affiliation of contributors.
  • Review Timeline: Typical turnaround time: 10-14 weeks. Timeline for ATD's review process is as follows:
    • Editor receives manuscript, determines fit with journal, locates peer reviewers/readers (~2-4 weeks)
    • Reviewers/readers read manuscript and provide feedback to editor (6-8 weeks)
    • Editor synthesizes reviewer/reader feedback (~2 weeks)
    • Decision and feedback sent to author
    • Review decisions: Accept, Accept with specified revisions, Revise and resubmit, Reject
  • Creative Commons Publishing: Across the Disciplines is a fully open access journal with all articles available on the Internet to all users immediately upon publication. Articles are published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs). Non-commercial use and distribution in any medium is permitted, provided the original article is not modified and the author and the journal are properly credited. Authors retain copyrights to all articles published in Across the Disciplines though we ask that the journal be credited as the original site for publication when reprinting.

Content Considerations (Review Criteria):

  • Relevance: Authors should clearly situate their work within ATD's primary fields of CAC, WAC, ECAC, and/or interdisciplinarity in writing studies. If an author’s work engages with topics, methods, populations, etc. that are not substantively addressed in existing research in ATD's primary fields, they should connect their project to the mission and scope of ATD to expand the boundaries of CAC, WAC, ECAC, and/or interdisciplinarity in writing studies.
  • Quality: Authors should explain the significance of their project/research questions, articulate their research methods, explain their findings, and argue for the importance of their work.
  • Inclusiveness: Article manuscripts submitted to ATD should engage with a range of diverse scholarship in terms of race, gender, sexuality, language, class, ability, geography, etc. If an author’s citations and/or engagement are not inclusive, this should be addressed in the manuscript
    See the resources below for support:
  • Author Positioning: Authors should utilize their own expertise and perspectives to offer some critical commentary about the text under review (e.g., locating notable omissions, important potential next steps for research on the topic, etc.) (see (Boveda & Annamma, 2023).

Book Reviews

Submission and Publication Process:

  • Submission Method: WAC Clearinghouse Submission Portal -- after submitting, keep an eye on the portal to see where your submission is in the editorial process.
  • Proposing a Book Review: Authors who are interested in proposing a book review are encouraged to reach out to Paul Cook, Reviews Editor for ATD, at paulcook@iu.edu.
  • Reviewed By: Reviews Editor and one other ATD editorial board member
  • Review Timeline: Typical turnaround time: 10-14 weeks. Timeline for ATD's review process is as follows:
    • Editor receives manuscript, determines fit with journal, locates peer reviewers/readers (~2-4 weeks)
    • Reviewers/readers read manuscript and provide feedback to editor (~6 weeks)
    • Editor receives reviews and communicates decision to author (~6 weeks)
    • Review decisions: Accept, Accept with specified revisions, Revise and resubmit,Reject
  • Creative Commons Publishing: Across the Disciplines is a fully open access journal with all articles available on the Internet to all users immediately upon publication. Articles are published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs). Non-commercial use and distribution in any medium is permitted, provided the original article is not modified and the author and the journal are properly credited. Authors retain copyrights to all articles published in Across the Disciplines though we ask that the journal be credited as the original site for publication when reprinting.

Preparing Manuscript for Submission:

  • Typical Length: 1000-2000 words
  • Style: ATD's house style uses APA with ATD-specificities (including APA+author full first name format). Departure from APA is negotiable (please flag instances with deliberate decision not to use ATD's house style format in submission, for example, via a note or marginal comment)
  • File Type: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). Authors are invited to submit their manuscripts formatted in ATD style using this template document. To use the template, download the file to your device and work on it as a local file.
  • Media Components (images [including figures], audio, video, etc.):
    • Media used in manuscripts (for example, images, audio or video files), should be provided as individual file(s) separate from the manuscript.
    • Authors can decide whether to also embed the media in their manuscript where it is referenced, or to only use a marker in the text at the point of reference that refers reviewers to the relevant media file.
    • Media file names should clearly indicate their position in the manuscript (for example, figure1.png or appendixa.mov).

Content Considerations (Review Criteria):

  • Relevance: Authors should clearly represent the thesis and approach of the book(s) under review, position the book(s) within a specific subfield relevant to CAC, WAC, ECAC, and/or disciplinarity in writing studies. Authors should also place emphasis on the book’s contributions to the field.
  • Quality: Book review authors should evaluate the quality of the research, methodology, analysis, conclusions, etc. in relation to CAC, WAC, ECAC, and/or disciplinarity in writing studies.
  • Inclusiveness: Authors should consider the text under review in relation to issues of race, gender, sexuality, language, class, ability, geography, etc.
  • Author Positioning: Authors should utilize their own expertise and perspectives to offer some critical commentary about the text under review (e.g., locating notable omissions, important potential next steps for research on the topic, etc.) (see (Boveda & Annamma, 2023).