Submission Guidelines

Series Editors: Joan Mullin, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Magnus Gustafsson, Chalmers University of Technology; Terry Myers Zawacki, George Mason University; and Federico Navarro, Universidad de O'Higgins; Steven Fraiberg, Michigan State 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.

Submissions to the International Exchanges on the Study of Writing series should follow the guidelines provided below and in the links in the sidebar before submitting a proposal through the WAC Clearinghouse submissions portal.  Submissions to the International Exchanges on the Study of Writing series will be reviewed following the WAC Clearinghouse peer review processes. Our review processes are informed by the Clearinghouse invitation to contribute scholarly work and its statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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. 

Format for Submissions

To ensure timely consideration of your proposed work, please provide the information outlined below:

  • 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; and
  • the status of your manuscript, including how much of it has been written and when you expect to finish writing it.

Please include a copy of your current vita or resumé, as well as those for any co-authors or editors. If possible, enclose a copy of the table of contents of the proposed work, preferably annotated. You may include a sample chapter from the manuscript, if it is available, or the full manuscript, if it is available.

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.

Where and How to Submit

You may submit your prospectus and supporting material electronically through the WAC Clearinghouse submissions portal. 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 that you upload will not be shared with reviewers.

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.