- Articles that do not follow our guidelines and APA style will be rejected. Short articles should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length (from introduction to conclusion, NOT including tables, figures, footnotes, and references; no abstract/keywords needed).
- We do not send to reviewers papers with a similarity index higher than 15% (submissions should not be a collection of quotes, even if properly cited and referenced). Furthermore, in the field of literature, we won’t select papers that paraphrase and summarize without quoting primary and secondary sources.
- We will reject submissions that are not about literature or librarianship.
- Manuscripts that offer long synopses of literary texts, along with critical analyses with derivative conclusions, are discouraged from submission. These papers are very unlikely to reach the publication stage.
- The IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship is an international endeavour with an international audience. This means that papers may be rejected to maintain the journal’s Internationality when there is a disproportionately high number of submissions from one country.
- Submissions must be professionally edited and proofread before submission. Please seek the help of an expert and native speaker in the field. These standards are non-negotiable and strictly enforced by the editor of the IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship.
Because we receive so many submissions, we generally won’t be able to offer detailed feedback on the reasons why an article is not accepted.
For papers that are selected for review:
Submissions that receive one positive and one negative feedback will be sent to one more reviewer. If the third review is negative, the paper is rejected. Papers that receive two negative reviews are rejected.
We do not offer short peer review times, although reviewers are requested to return their review within 3 weeks. The editorial process may take more time (sometimes considerably) when there are extenuating circumstances, such as conflicts with the evaluators’ teaching duties at the beginning or end of an academic semester.
Short Articles
Please see here for Author Guidelines for main journal articles
We accept submissions of short original essays and articles. Short articles should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length (from introduction to conclusion, NOT including tables, figures, footnotes, and references; no abstract/keywords needed). These will be peer-reviewed by at least three of our team members like regular research papers. Editors will select three short pieces which receive positive feedback and which show clear contribution to the fields of literature or librarianship and include these in out regular issue of the journal.
Structure of Articles
These short submissions are expected to be broadly categorised as Perspective, Opinion & Commentary pieces and only in the field of literature or librarianship.
As such, the article structure does not need to follow what is expected in a typical research paper (literature review, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and so on). As long as the ideas flow logically, the author is free to structure the article as they feel. Broadly, these articles should have an introduction, a few body paragraphs, a conclusion and some referencing.
Articles should be submitted through the online submission form in Microsoft Word format. Before submitting your article please ensure that it is prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines below.
Contributors are expected to submit the initial draft of their paper in the IAFOR Journal house style, which is APA (the American Psychological Association). For details see Purdue Owl https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. If accepted for publication, the paper’s style will likely be slightly modified to provide consistency across papers. There may also be minor edits to ensure the academic rigour of the language, grammar and spelling. British and American English are both acceptable, but spelling and punctuation conventions should be consistent with the form of English used.
Only papers that demonstrate the following attributes will be accepted:
- Written in correct and fluent English at a high academic standard;
- Some referencing to the most recent literature in the field; papers relying on old (except seminal works and original source material) and non-academic references will be rejected;
- We do no accept submissions with borrowed text that is not properly quoted and referenced and we reject articles that copy-paste entire paragraphs/sections from authors' previous publications (self-plagiarism, auto-plagiarism).
- Applicable to the topics covered by the journal. For more information about the Aims and Scope of the Journal, see the About the Journal page.
Contributors whose command of English is not at the level outlined above are responsible for having their manuscript corrected by a native-level, English-speaking academic prior to submitting their paper for publication. This is non-negotiable and strictly enforced by the editor of the IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship.
For further information please also view details of the journal review process, copyright and licencing policy, and publication ethics statement.
If you have any queries about how to prepare your article for submission, please contact publications@iafor.org.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism screening software (iThenticate) is used to verify the originality of all submissions. If plagiarism is found on initial pre-screening, manuscripts are returned to authors without review. No further submissions will be allowed for that issue of the journal.
What is Plagiarism? – See here for the Complete Guide [eBook]
Article Structure
Title
Ensure that your title accurately reflects the contents of your paper and is free of errors.
Abstract
No abstract is needed with short articles.
Keywords
No keywords are needed for short articles.
Introduction & Conclusion
A brief Introduction and Conclusion is needed.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Insert them using Word's footnote function, ensuring that they are numbered consecutively throughout the article in superscript Arabic numerals. Please do not insert footnotes manually.
Word Count
Short articles should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length (from introduction to conclusion, NOT including tables, figures, footnotes, and references; no abstract/keywords needed).
References
Length
Short articles must contain academic references, at least five, in APA style.
In-text citations
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).
Reference Style
Within the text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association (APA). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-0561-5.
List at end of paper: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. Please single-space, and indent after the first line of each.
Reference to a journal publication:
Lee, J. (2018). Yasukuni and Hiroshima in Clash? War and Peace Museums in Contemporary Japan. Pacific Focus, 33(1), 5–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style. (4th ed.). New York: Longman, (Chapter 4).
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). New York: E-Publishing Inc.
For more details about referencing, please read our APA Referencing Style Guide.
DOIs
Full DOI's need to be added, where available, to the referenced work.
Hyland, K. (2007). Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16(3), 148–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2007.07.005
Style Checklist
- Please use APA style – APA Referencing Style Guide.
- 12-point Times New Roman font.
- All paragraphs and body text justified and single-spaced.
- One line should separate paragraphs or sections.
- Set page size to A4.
- Margins: Microsoft Word "Normal": This is top, bottom, left and right; 2.54 cm
- Main headings, subheadings and sub-subheadings should be formatted as in the Article Template below. We recommend a maximum of three levels of headings.
- Please be as concise as possible when writing articles. Articles should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length (NOT including tables, figures and references).
- Japanese names should follow the modified Hepburn system of transliteration, including the use of macrons for long vowels.
- Contributors for whom English is not a native language are responsible for having their manuscript checked by a native-speaking academic prior to submitting their paper for publication.
- All figures and images must be inserted in a JPEG image format, within the page margins, left justified images. Do not insert loose objects such as arrows, lines or text boxes. Please include figure number and caption above the figure (Figure 1: Caption), left aligned. Please ensure that all figures are referenced at least once in the main body of the text.
- Tables should be created within the Microsoft Word document, should fit onto one A4 page and should be numbered and captioned above the table (Table 1: Caption), left aligned. Please do not insert tables as images. Please ensure that all tables are referenced at least once in the main body of the text.
- Do not use any page headers, footers or page numbers (footers are acceptable if they contain footnotes).
- Use only portrait layout. Do not include any pages in landscape layout.
- Corresponding author contact email address should be added to the end of the paper after the reference list as in the article template below. IAFOR is not responsible for unsolicited emails received.
- An optional Acknowledgments section may be included as the last section before the reference list. Please ensure this is as concise as possible.
- References should be single-spaced. Each reference should be indented after the first line with a 1-cm hanging indent.