Submission Guidelines

Series Editors: Steven Fraiberg, Michigan State University; Joan Mullin, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Magnus Gustafsson, Chalmers University of Technology; Terry Myers Zawacki, George Mason University; Ana M. Cortés Lagos, Stony Brook University; and Soledad Montes Sanchez, Lancaster University.

We invite submissions that address a wide range of issues related to the study of writing in diverse settings. Please view our language policy for information about our approach to making work available in languages other than English. We are aware of how research traditions are represented through our language practices and invite colleagues in the community to send us their suggestions for ways to expand our current policy We also invite colleagues to send suggestions for maintaining multi-lingual access in a way that is both fiscally achievable and culturally responsible. Please also consult our guidelines regarding quality in quantitative and qualitative research.

Those submitting proposals to the International Exchanges on the Study of Writing or the Latin America Section should consult the information links in the sidebar and follow the guidelines provided below for either 1) single-authored or collaboratively authored manuscripts or edited collections not derived from a conference or 2) edited collections derived from a conference. Submissions that follow these guidelines should be uploaded through the WAC Clearinghouse submissions portal. We will review submissions following the WAC Clearinghouse peer review processes. Our peer review process is informed by the Clearinghouse invitation to contribute scholarly work and its statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our reviews are also guided by the statement on anti-racist scholarly reviewing practices, which can be found at https://tinyurl.com/reviewheuristic.

Like other book series published by the Clearinghouse, books in our series are released under Creative Commons licenses. These licenses allow authors to retain copyright to their work. To learn more about these licenses, please view the Clearinghouse's Creative Commons Licenses page.

If the series editors determine that a proposal is consistent with the goals of the series and possesses strong scholarly merit, it will undergo a rigorous peer review by scholars drawn from the International Exchanges Editorial Review Board or, in some cases, the Clearinghouse Editorial Board. Reviews are typically completed in one or two months.

The series editors will not consider work submitted simultaneously for consideration by another publisher. 

If you are seeking guidance on developing a proposal, please contact us. Or consider some of the guides that have been published to help academic writers. We have found a book by Laura Portwood-Stacer, The Book Proposal Book, useful. Portwood-Stacer is a publisher who has read many proposals, worked closely with numerous authors, and worked as a researcher herself. In addition to giving practical advice on audience, voice, and the tacit expectations of editors, her book includes checklists for the publication process, sample documents, and other resources to suit any academic’s particular needs. You can read the introduction and decide whether this book will be useful for you.

Process for Submissions: Single Authored or Collaboratively Authored Manuscript or Edited Collection Not Derived from a Conference

To propose a single authored or collaboratively authored manuscript or an edited collection that is not derived from a conference, please submit your prospectus and supporting material electronically through the WAC Clearinghouse submissions portal. Please be sure to include the following information:

  • the names of the author(s) or editor(s);
  • the complete title and subtitle;
  • the length or proposed length;
  • the content of the book including your aims in writing it; your primary findings, arguments, or themes; its genre; the sources used in your research, if applicable; and the relationship or similarity your work has to other writing in the field;
  • the intended audience or markets for your book, including courses for which the book might be used as a text or collateral reading and organizations or groups that might be interested in reading it;
  • related books that have been published elsewhere;
  • the ways that the book complements or extends work published in the International Exchanges on the Study of Writing series or elsewhere on the Clearinghouse;
  • any features in the proposed manuscript that will require special attention in the design and production of your book, such as photographs, line drawings, or other illustrations; charts, graphs, or tables; technical or foreign languages; complex mathematical or scientific data; video, audio, or other multimedia elements; embedded data sets or applications;
  • the status of your manuscript, including how much of it has been written and when you expect to finish writing it;
  • a copy of your current vita or resumé, as well as those for any co-authors or editors;
  • if possible, a copy of the table of contents of the proposed work, preferably annotated; and
  • a sample chapter from the manuscript, if it is available, or the full manuscript, if it is available.

We accept PDF, Rich Text Format (.rtf), and Word (.doc, .docx) files as well as most word processing files, including Microsoft Publisher (.pub). We limit file size to 15 megabytes. Please note that our server cannot process files with characters such as slashes, colons, asterisks, and question marks in the file name.

Please be sure that any files you upload are suitable for anonymous review. To the greatest extent possible, please remove identifying information about you (and any co-authors or co-editors) as well as institutional information from the proposal and any accompanying materials. Please also note that any CVs you upload will not be shared with reviewers.

Process for Submissions: Edited Collection Derived from a Conference

We accept proposals for edited volumes anthologizing a selected number of conference papers that will be solicited through a CFP, reviewed by the editor(s) of the proposed conference volume, and deemed most representative of the work at the conference. 

We recognize that such collections might include theoretical essays, methodological reflections, and teacher-research, but volume editors are encouraged to include a significant number of empirically driven and methodologically sound chapters in the full manuscript. 

Volume editors should encourage the revision of conference presentations rather than submissions that reproduce conference presentations; this is for several reasons: 

  • a voiced and visual conference presentation is a different genre than the written academic chapter in a print volume collection;
  • a conference presentation is delivered for a particular audience and often needs to be revised for a print volume that reaches a wider audience; 
  • conference audience questions, feedback, and discussion following delivered papers often lead to expanded, more in-depth chapter versions. 

While composed of separate selected submissions, the volume should result in a cohesive piece, one that is representative of the conference, and one that makes a contribution to or an argument about a moment, a particular discussion, or related discussions in the field.

To propose an edited collection derived from a conference, please follow these steps:

  1. Editors interested in proposing a conference collection should follow the “Format: Proposal for an Edited Collection Derived from a Conference guidelines, which also include instructions for uploading materials to the WAC Clearinghouse submissions portal. After initial appraisal by the lead editor, the proposal is sent out for external review and, if approved by reviewers, receives a standard contract. (If the proposal is submitted and approved prior to the conference, this timeline allows volume editors to include in the CFP that they have a contract with the WAC Clearinghouse International Exchanges series, contingent on satisfactory completion and delivery of the full manuscript.)  
  2. Upon receiving feedback on and a contract for the proposal, the volume editor[s] will solicit submissions from conference participants, select chapters that best suit the collection and notify all who submitted whether their chapters have been selected for the volume.
  3. Volume editors will notify selected authors of the timeline, process and the format and guidelines that they must follow when submitting the final drafts of their chapters.   
  4. The completed draft of the collection will be uploaded through the WAC Clearinghouse submissions portal for external review and feedback. Should a chapter or chapters be written in a language in which no IE series or WAC Clearinghouse review board member is fluent, collection editors will be asked to recommend a credentialed reviewer in that language, working with IE editors to ensure that a qualified scholar is selected.
  5. The completed draft is sent out for reviewer feedback. The feedback will be conveyed to volume editors by an IE editor. Volume editors communicate any suggested concerns, edits, additions, or corrections to chapter authors, setting a final deadline for revisions.
  6. Upon completion of any revisions, volume editors will check that all chapters in the volume have followed the publication guidelines, and then upload the completed manuscript to the portal for copyediting and layout for publication. 

Statement on Language for Submission and Publication

Research traditions in writing studies are represented through our language practices, and the language of publication is often a political and identity decision. In addition, different regions, languages, and traditions develop their own relatively specific perspectives and methodologies to address their own interests and research problems. This diversity is not always apparent as center/periphery dynamics in knowledge-making often prevent an equal international exchange of scholarship.

The International Exchanges Series has expanded the languages of publication with the aim of fostering knowledge-building and community across languages and audiences. Currently, submitted manuscripts can be written in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or combinations of these languages. We hope to continue this expansion, and, if queried in advance, will consider manuscripts submitted in additional languages depending on the availability of guest editors and other production resources.

For the sake of administrative simplicity, however, letters of submission, contracts, and other paperwork will be written in English. Language assistance will be available if needed. Further, to facilitate indexation, submissions in languages other than English should include abstracts in English for the complete book or/and for each chapter.

Preparing Your Manuscript

To view our manuscript preparation guidelines, please see our Guide for Authors and Editors. If you are editing a collection/anthology, we encourage you to read these guidelines closely and consider sending them to chapter authors early in the process.

A Note on Open-Access Publishing

The International Exchanges on the Study of Writing series offers books in free digital editions and low-cost print editions. Books are offered through a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License. Copyright is held by the author(s) or editor(s) of the books. The publisher covers the costs of reviewing, designing, producing, and distributing the books. Any proceeds from sales of print books in the series are used to support the publication of subsequent books. Our goal as a publisher is to make work available to the widest possible audience while maintaining the highest standards in scholarly publishing. We welcome contributions to the series and to the larger goal of supporting open-access scholarly publishing. If you have questions about the goals of the larger WAC Clearinghouse project, please contact Mike Palmquist at Mike.Palmquist@ColoState.edu.