Submission Guidelines

A peer-reviewed scholarly journal, BC Studies welcomes the submission of articles dealing with all aspects of British Columbia, its landscapes and its cultural, economic, social, and political life, past and present. The average article length is twenty-five to thirty double-spaced pages (this includes footnotes, references, illustrations, photographs, maps, and tables, and is equivalent to approximately 7000 – 9000 words) although shorter and longer submissions may occasionally be considered. PLEASE NOTE: each full page table, map, photo, or other illustration is equivalent when published to 450 words; a half page figure is equivalent to 225 words.

BC Studies has a 12-month embargo period before articles become open access. Immediate open access is subject to an OA author paid fee.

In recognition of the scholarly imagination, BC Studies seeks Research Notes that attend to diverse knowledge practices, political projects, alliances and/or engagements in any field of research. These are shorter essays that may include, research stories, works in progress, innovative methodologies, problems or dilemmas encountered during research, etc. For peer-reviewed Research Notes we encourage critical (i.e. not solely descriptive) work that is grounded in scholarly literatures within relevant fields of knowledge production. The average Research Notes is six to ten pages (3000 – 5000 words) although shorter and longer submissions may occasionally be considered. We welcome submissions of alternate media forms with accompanying text.

Sound submissions are accepted in two forms: Scholarly Podcasts and Soundworks.

Scholarly Podcasts are a new peer-reviewed feature that extends our commitment to disseminating new knowledge forms from diverse voices and trans-disciplinary perspectives. Podcast submissions should contribute to the production of knowledge about any aspect of British Columbia, its landscapes, and its cultural, economic, social, and political life, past and present.  They may present original research results or engage existing scholarship in new ways.  The presentation of research or scholarship should be tailored to the genre and the medium. More information about scholarly podcasts is available here.  Podcast submissions may be standalone episodes or short mini-series. Sound files should be cleanly edited and listenable, and may be submitted in any file format. There is no set length; we suggest between fifteen and ninety minutes as a guideline.  Podcasts should be accompanied by a short text (1000-2000 words) that serves as an abstract, as well as by a full bibliography.

Soundworks are peer-reviewed sonic and/or musical compositions and recordings with a brief textual accompaniment.  Soundworks submissions should engage with sonic expressions, phenomena, or explorations of sounds in/ about / of British Columbia. They may be site-specific and/or related to particular questions, intentions, and/or creative processes.  SoundWorks may be approached from various epistemological perspectives, including activist, phenomenological, cultural, historical, artistic, political, and/or ethical.  Possible forms include narrative or non-narrative voice, storytelling, collected or created sounds, and noises. Audio files may be submitted in any form and have no set length. They should be accompanied by a short text (1000-2000 words) that directly relates to the audio piece.  The text may take a range of forms including essay, poem, or story, and must engage in some way (i.e. methodologically, theoretically) with sound studies (i.e. anthropology of sound, acoustic ecology, musicology, ethnomusicology), storytelling, communications, media culture, or other approach that critically addresses the multi-dimensionality of sound.

BC Studies accepts all manuscript and sound submissions online through the Open Journal System (OJS).

To submit an article or research note, please visit: www.bcstudies.com/ojs

You must first register as an author and then follow the submission instructions.

Please provide an abstract with your article submission.

Ensuring a blind peer review

To ensure the integrity of the blind peer-review process for submission to this journal, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This requires authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) to take the following steps to delete or remove identities from their text and the document properties. Please ensure that:

The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, with “Author” and year used in the references and footnotes, instead of the authors’ names, article title, etc.

With Microsoft Office documents, author identification should also be removed from the properties for the file (see under File in Word), by clicking on the following, beginning with File on the main menu of the Microsoft application: File > Save As > Tools (or Options with a Mac) > Security > Remove personal information from file properties on save > Save.

With PDFs, the author’s name should also be removed from Document Properties found under File on Adobe Acrobat’s main menu.

Publication Agreement

Submitting manuscripts to BC Studies implies the author’s commitment to publish in this journal. Authors of articles, reviews, and other materials accepted for publication in BC Studies are required to sign a Publication Agreement that formally assigns to the journal all rights in their work. The Publication Agreement also stipulates that only original articles will be accepted for publication and that neither the article submitted nor a version of it has been published, nor is being considered for publication elsewhere.

Style and format

Text and reference style should follow The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) 18th Edition or online version. The following examples are provided to illustrate general rules. Please consult CMS for more detailed information and/or for instances not described below.

Manuscript submissions should be formatted as follows:

• doubled-spaced (including footnotes)
• CMS “Notes and Bibliography” style is preferred for citations
• Times New Roman, 12-point font
• left-justified margins
• block quotes: indent one tab (0.5 inches) and single-space; right margin not justified
• italicize (not underline) titles of books

Spelling

• Please consult the Canadian Oxford Dictionary (Second Edition, 2004) to confirm correct spellings. If the dictionary recognizes alternative spellings, the first one listed is preferred.
• Spelling mistakes will be assumed to be author errors and will be corrected by our copy editor unless the error is followed by “[sic].”
• Possessives in last names ending in “s” must follow CMS: James’s, Hughes’s, etc.

Punctuation

• For dashes within a sentence, use an em-dash or double hyphens with a space on both sides ( — ).
• For a range of numbers, use an en-dash: (1872–78).
• Include the serial (Oxford) comma before the last item in a series: “Simpson, Ogden, and Douglas.”
• Place periods and commas at the end of quoted matter inside the closing quotation marks: “The legislation was hopelessly inadequate.” Or, if a page number is required: “The legislation was hopelessly inadequate” (119).
• Do not insert spaces between the initials of people’s names in the text, footnotes, or bibliography: E.W. Hamber, k.d. lang, W.A.C. Bennett.

Dates and Numbers

• For dates, the day precedes the month followed by the year: 28 February 2009; 27 September; September 1940 (no comma); 1960s (no apostrophe).
• For year ranges, always use two digits in the second year (1872–78), unless in full in an original title or quote, or different centuries, for example, 1858–1914.
• Spell out numbers less than 100 that indicate quantity: eighteen kilometres; fifty-two years; ninety-nine copper kettles; 127 marten pelts; nineteenth century.
• Use figures for numbers that do not indicate quantity: grade 6; 8 percent (not %); 2 o’clock.

Abbreviations

• Use BC when it functions as an adjective: BC politics. (Otherwise spell out “British Columbia” in full).
• US takes no periods.
• Omit periods from acronyms: CBC, NATO, BC, HBC.
• Spell out First World War and Second World War (instead of WWI, WWII).
• Do not italicize scholarly abbreviations such as: ibid., et al., ca., i.e., e.g.

Capitalization

• Generally, only proper nouns and formal titles should be capitalized, except when capitalization is necessary to avoid ambiguity.
• When titles are used in apposition, do not capitalize them: “the new Liberal minister of citizenship and immigration”

Quoted matter

• Quoted matter less than four lines long should generally be run into the text.
• For block quotes, indent one tab (0.5 inches), single-space, and leave right margin unjustified.

References

• References to page numbers are not preceded by “p.”
• Italicize article or book titles: A Crossroad in the Forest: The Path to a Sustainable Forest Sector in BC; The Resettlement of British Columbia.
• Cite journal articles by volume and issue number.
• Cite specific page numbers in footnotes.
• Shorten the title of sources that have been previously cited: McDonald, A Long Way to Paradise, 100.
• In references to newspapers, include article title and page number: “More New Vessels,” Victoria Colonist, 19 January 1898, 8.
• Italicize the names of statutes and court cases: Agricultural Land Commission Act, Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia.
• Archival materials should be cited in ascending order from most specific to least specific: file, box, fonds, archive.
• Repeat short title in place of using “ibid.”

Metric vs. Imperial measurements

• Use metric measurements; where necessary, convert miles into kilometres, feet to metres, acres to hectares, etc.

Geographical terms

• Conventions for some common references include: interior British Columbia, the Interior; coastal islands, the Coast; northern British Columbia, the North; the North Pacific, the northern Pacific.
• Somewhere in the text (not the notes), please situate your study (regardless of its subject matter) with respect to relevant Indigenous place names(s), territory, language, and/or Indigenous People(s).

Nationalities and groups of people

• Capitalize specific national, linguistic, tribal, cultural, and other groupings of people: Indigenous, Asian, Italian, Caucasian, Indo-European, Black, First Nations.

Terminology for Indigenous People(s), people, and persons

• Indigenous is the preferred general term and should be used as an adjective (e.g. Indigenous People(s), Indigenous rights). First Nations, Aboriginal (adjective), Inuit, and, Métis may be appropriate in certain contexts.  Their usage should accord with their specific constitutional and legal meanings. “Indian” is rarely used, unless for Department of Indian Affairs, Indian Act, Indian Agent, Indian Reserve, etc.
• Unless quoting from another source, use the current preferred autonyms of specific Indigenous Peoples, e.g., Kwakwaka’wakw (not Kwakiutl), Nuu-chah-nulth (not Nootka), Nlaka’pamux, (not Thompson), and so on. In some instances, it may be appropriate to clarify the correspondence between current and prior terminology. Example: Tsay Keh Dene First Nation (also known as “Tsay Keh Dene Band,” formerly known as “Ingenika Indian Band”).
• Capitalize “People(s)” in “Indigenous People(s)” when referring in a collective sense to one or more of the distinct Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and/or Métis) societies in BC.
• Do not capitalize “people” in “Indigenous people” when referring to a group of Indigenous persons in contexts where you are not referencing a specific shared collective identity (e.g. a “People”).
• Helpful resources for territories, languages, and current terminology include
  • Map of First Nations in BC (BCAFN)
  • Language Map of British Columbia (FPCC)
  • List of First Nations in BC (BC government)
  • Map of Indigenous Peoples of BC
  • Map of First Nations Languages of BC 

Graphics & Images

• BC Studies welcomes the addition of illustrations, maps, graphs, or photographs to your article. BC Studies has a preferred style for illustrations and maps, and may ask for illustrations and maps to be reworked by a cartographer familiar with this style. If your article includes graphs, please be prepared to provide either the original data, .eps or .tiff files. We encourage the inclusion of photographs with manuscripts. If you would like to use photographs, we require scans at a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch). If you have prints or old-fashioned slides, please scan the image to meet our specifications above. The author is responsible for obtaining permission (copyright) and any costs associated, but BC Studies may be able to assist in particular, exceptional cases. Please note that BC Studies is a non-profit organization, thus not-for-profit rates and discounts apply when seeking permissions or prints.
• Please provide alt-text for any images you would like to include, for example photographs, paintings, maps, tables, charts, graphs, or other illustrations.  Alt-text is a short written description of an image and should be specific and concise. The following websites are a great resource for guidelines on writing effective alt-text: UBC Press, Digital Accessibility at Harvard University, The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and the Government of Canada.