Submission Guidelines: Authors

Author Submission Guidelines

Please consult our About the Journal page for more detailed information regarding Early Theatre's focus and scope, support for authors, peer review and production/publication processes, and copyright, open access, and archiving practices and policies. 

Early Theatre seeks to report expeditiously on submissions – generally within 4 months.

Once authors submit their contributions, they should receive a receipt of acknowledgment via email within 24 hours. If you do not receive this acknowledgment, please promptly resubmit your material. 

We welcome submissions of articles (approximately 6,000 – 8,000 words) and notes (300 - 5,000 words). We are occasionally willing to consider articles up to 10,000 words in length, depending on topic and methodology, but strongly recommend that contributors wishing to submit longer essays consult the editors in advance of submission.

Because of the considerable unremunerated work required for the peer review process, Early Theatre will not consider material that has been previously published, nor will we consider any submission that is being submitted to another journal simultaneously. 

In order to ensure we are creating space to include a wide variety of voices, we generally encourage contributors to wait 18-24 months after any prior publication with the journal before submitting new work for consideration. Book reviews are a general exception: if a book reviewer has published with us, they do not need to wait before submitting original research for consideration. We ask all other contributors to please consult with the editors via email should you wish to propose a new submission prior to this recommended timeframe.

Once submissions have gone through peer review and as a prerequisite final acceptance, authors must send digital images of all unpublished manuscript documents to the journal for paleographical checking. We use REED style for manuscript transcriptions; for more details please see our Paleography Guide. 

Authors of accepted submissions will also be required to ensure that their content is formatted in accordance with practices outlined in the Early Theatre Style Sheet. All published Early Theatre content must cite DOIs where available. For instructions on how to check whether a DOI exists for a source you are citing, please consult our Style Sheet Supplement on DOIs.

Contributors to Early Theatre retain copyright for their work. We require all published authors to grant a limited exclusive license for publication to the journal, according to which authors agree not publish their submissions elsewhere in the same form, in any language, without the consent of the journal for a period of one year, and without acknowledgment of its initial publication in the journal thereafter. Authors are encouraged to archive the work on their own not-for-profit site and/or that of their institution.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors will be required to testify to their submission's compliance with the following statements.

  1. I have filled out the optional author survey designed to support contributors during the submission, review, and production stages, or do not need to complete it. [For a preview of the survey questions, click here. Note that this survey includes an opportunity for contributors to suggest appropriate arms-length reviewers.]
  2. I have removed all information about my identity (and the identify of co-authors, if relevant) from the submission's content, or in the case of book reviews, this information does not need to be removed.
  3. I have removed information about my identity (and that of co-authors, if relevant) from the submission's file properties, or in the case of book reviews, the information does not need to be removed:
    • Microsoft Word for Windows: Go to File > Select Info > Click on Check for Issues > Click on Inspect Document > In the Document Inspector dialog box, select the check boxes to choose the type of hidden content that you want inspected > Click Remove All > Click Close > Save the document.
    • Microsoft Word for MacOS: > Go to Tools > Click Protect Document > Select Remove personal information for this file on save > Click OK and save the file
  4. I have included my ORCID iD (and those of co-authors, if relevant) in the 'Public' tab for the submission. (If authors do not already have an ORCID iD, they may register for free here. The process is almost instantaneous.)
  5. If my submission is an article, note, or Issues in Review essay, I have included an abstract of 100 words maximum. If my submission is a book review or review essay, I have included a one-sentence abstract (eg. 'This review considers Y [title of the book you are reviewing]' or 'This review essay discusses X [general topic]').
  6. My submission uses Canadian spelling, favouring 'ize' over 'ise', as is usually the case in the Oxford English Dictionary. (Please check that dictionary if in doubt.)
  7. My submission uses end-notes (or in the case of certain book reviews, no notes are included). Please refer to our Style Sheet for examples. End-notes cite Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) where available. 
  8. If my submission includes transcriptions from manuscripts, these transcriptions follow REED guidelines. Please consult our Paleography Guide.
  9. I have submitted any charts/illustrations as separate files. Within the text, phrases such as 'See figure 1' direct readers to the correct illustrative material.
  10. I (and if relevant, my co-authors) agree to obtain necessary permissions for all image reproductions prior to publication.
  11. I (and my co-authors if relevant) attest and warrant that:
    (a) the submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration;
    (b) the submission does not contain any libel or unlawful statements or defamatory material or content, and does not infringe any existing third party copyright, moral right, or other intellectual property rights;
    (c) the submission is not in violation of any rights of privacy or any other rights of third persons; and
    (d) the submission is the original work of the author.
    The author agrees to hold harmless Early Theatre's editorial team, McMaster University, Board of Governors, officers, agents, employees, students, agents, licensees, volunteers, and subcontractors, from any claim, action, or proceeding alleging facts that constitute a breach of any warranty enumerated in this paragraph.