WRITERS' GUIDELINES

On this page you will find general principles for writers, guidelines for articles, book reviews, and information regarding the submission of computer disks. To contact Review for Religious by e-mail about articles and book reviews, send us a message.

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GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. Review for Religious welcomes unsolicited manuscripts on topics pertinent to the publication's stated purpose as "a forum for shared reflection on the lived experience of all who find that the church's rich heritages of spirituality support their personal and apostolic Christian lives."

2. The articles in the journal are meant to be informative, practical, inspirational, or historical written from a theological or spiritual or sometimes canonical point of view.

3. All interested persons (religious, clerical or lay) are invited to submit articles for consideration by the editorial board. Authors writing from other Christian and other religious traditions on areas of shared concern are given the same serious consideration as Catholic authors. All authors are requested to include an e-mail address, if one is available for them.

4. Review for Religious reaches an international audience for whom English is not necessarily a first language, nor are the cultural perspectives and assumptions of the author always immediately understood by the reader. In light of these facts, editorial preference runs to articles that state clearly and concisely the author's ideas with enough development to establish and illustrate the point(s) being made.

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ARTICLES

1. Submitted manuscripts should be typewritten or computer-printed in MicroSoft Word. Please use double spacing and Courier New,Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica font with plain formatting. E-mail submissions please follow the same guides.

2. Published articles vary in length from 1,500 to 5,000 words (4-15 pages).

3. Authors should make every effort to employ inclusive language and avoid jargon.

4. Our preference is for endnotes instead of footnotes.

5. Editors reserve the right to edit manuscripts for grammatical correctness and readability, and for the content's factual and theological accuracy.

6. Each manuscript should include a brief personal biography of the author(s) two-to-three line entry and also a two-to-three line synopsis of the article. The editors will use this information in composing the author note and the table-of-contents description.

7. If you wish your manuscript or computer disk returned please send a self-addressed envelope stamped with sufficient postage or $2 check payable to Review for Religious

8. Review for Religious pays $6 per printed page for one-time right of publication. Four copies of the issue in which the published article appears will be sent to each author. Upon publication all rights revert to the author except for the usual acknowledgment of the article's having been previously published in Review for Religious in the case of any future publication.

9. Review for Religious cannot promise a specific publication date for any article. Attention, however, will be paid to the timeliness of the topic so that, for example, we would try to publish an article on the resurrection during or shortly before the Easter season. Articles that have special appropriateness for Easter time or other liturgical times should be sent to us at least six months ahead so that we can conveniently arrange their timely publication. Normally the time between acceptance and publication will not exceed one year.

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BOOK REVIEWS

The book review section of our journal presents a wide coverage of books judged to be of interest to our readership. To allow us to include as many reviews as possible, please keep your review brief (400-600 words). Avoid a telegraphic style, but try to make every word count, both in your description and in your evaluation.

In appraising the book's worth, please do not feel that you must express only favorable observations. Your forthright comments on significant limitations, deficiencies, or errors can be helpful to our readers. While we hope that many readers will purchase or borrow and read a book you consider excellent, we also hope to caution our readers that particular books are not as enlightening or as inspirational as their titles indicate.Comparing or contrasting this book with another book or two, recent or classic, can add spice to your review and make it more helpful for our readers.

The review should be (1) descriptive: giving a glimpse of the content; (2) evaluative: assessing the book's worth; (3) indicative: suggesting which kinds of readers might be drawn to the book.

Notes on Format

1. Title and subtitle (if there is one) together with the rest of the bibliographical data (as illustrated in the format example) should be flush with the left margin. The title and subtitle should be in boldface; the rest of the bibliographical data should be italicized. Please do not forget to include the price of the book, if that information is available to you.

2. The body of the review should be followed by the name and full mailing address of the reviewer. Please include telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address if applicable.3. A book review may be submitted by e-mail. Please format it as below and send it as an attachment in MS Word or in text.If you prefer to send a manuscript by conventional postal mail, it should be formatted as below with double or 1 1/2 spacing and wide margins. Please use Courier New,Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica font.

Example of Format

Sisters In Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia. By Jo Ann Kay McNamara. Cambridge: Harvard UniversityPress, 1996. Pp. xi + 751. Cloth. $35.

This is an explosive book. In a comprehensive history of Catholic nuns from gospel times to the present, Jo Ann McNamara achieves what no other scholar has even approximated. The text is supported by wide-ranging documentation, attesting to the remarkable progress made in recent decades towards retrieving the long-hidden story of religious sisters. . . .Given the praise Sisters in Arms has received in the secular press, it merits attention from all interested in accurate history and the role of women. In particular, it may be the single most important book to be added to convent libraries and reading lists this year. --- Ritamary Bradley SFCC; St. Ambrose University; Davenport, Iowa

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COMPUTER DISKS

1. If you are submitting your article via email please send it to review@slu.edu

2. We prefer articles sent on CD-disk to be in Microsoft Word (either PC or Mac). The disk will not be returned to you. Please no. 3.5" diskettes.

3. Articles received through the postal service will be scanned in. Please double space and no fancy fonts or formats.