Submission Guidelines

Guidelines for Contributors

The Southern Quarterly, an independent journal of the arts in the South published by The University of Southern Mississippi since 1962, is one of the first journals devoted to the interdisciplinary study of southern culture.

Audience. Because of our interdisciplinary approach, our audience includes scholars with a wide range of interests. SoQ rarely publishes work of a highly technical nature, so our journal also appeals to the educated general public.

The Arts in the South. SoQ defines "the arts" broadly, and we include in our pages the traditional arts - literature, painting, sculpture, music, dance, and so forth - as well as popular culture. We also publish studies of southern culture from such disciplines as history, folklore, anthropology, political science, and geography. SoQ defines "The South" as anything south of the Mason Dixon Line extended to the West Coast, including the Caribbean.

Special Issues and Features. SoQ solicits proposals for special issues and features, which may be based on conference or panel proceedings or upon sound ideas for which SoQ can issue a call for papers. We have published special issues and features on such diverse topics as the African American church, southern food and drink, country music, southern cemeteries, contemporary visual art, southern women playwrights, southern film, and southern novelists on stage and screen. SoQ special issues and features have been devoted to individual southern artists and writers, and more recently to themes such as Hurricane Katrina, the South in the Atlantic World, Poetry in the South, the Legacy of Emmett Till, and others.

Bibliography. Since 1989 SoQ has published in each fall issue a bibliography of the Visual Arts and Architecture in the South.

Articles. SoQ solicits essays based on original research or new critical insight. Subjects of a highly technical nature or intended for a limited group within a specific scholarly discipline are usually not suited for our audience.

Review Essays. SoQ also solicits thoughtful review essays on one or more works that reflect the writer's assessment of books, films, exhibitions, performances or other works of general interest. Though we make every effort to keep up with new publications, we will be grateful to have contributors bring to our attention books that we might have missed.

Interviews. SoQ publishes a number of interviews each year and interview subjects come from all the arts. Some recent interviews include: Ernest J. Gaines, Robert Morgan, Ted Tally, Donald Harington, Fred Chappell, William Hoffman, and Lewis Nordan.

Memoirs, Commentaries, the Passing Scene. SoQ welcomes memoirs and essays of opinion on almost any topic within the broad range of our interests. We would be especially happy to receive personal essays of an appreciative nature that would call readers' attention to worthwhile books and authors which have fallen through the scholarly cracks, or to interesting places, people, and events worthy to be recorded.

Portfolios. SoQ occasionally publishes portfolios of photography and such graphic arts as etching, engraving, and drawing which will reproduce well in black and white. Artists and photographers interested in having portfolios featured in SoQ should send at least ten slides and/or black and white prints of work, or digital images of 300 dpi or better, that they would like to have reproduced. Statements by the artist, interviews, or writing about the artist should accompany the portfolio. Recent portfolios include "The Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail" (photographs); the paintings of Ulrick Jean-Pierre; "A Guided Tour through Hell: A Photographic Essay of Emmett Till's Mississippi Delta"; and "Survivors of Katrina: Portraits" (drawings) by Paul McCall.

Reviews: Books and Films. Although SoQ 's book and film editors assign works to reviewers with established competence in their respective fields, we are always interested in identifying new reviewers. If you have not reviewed for us before, send a brief résumé, tell us your areas of preference, and perhaps include a sample of a review you have published elsewhere.

Reviews: Exhibitions and Performances. SoQ also welcomes reviews of exhibitions and performances. If you have not reviewed for us before, send a brief résumé , tell us your areas of preference, and perhaps include a sample of a review you have published elsewhere.

SUBMISSIONS

Address all submissions to:

The Editor
The Southern Quarterly
The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive
Box 5078
Hattiesburg , MS 39406-5078

SoQ prefers not to receive multiple submissions. Enclose SASE for return of materials submitted.

Format. All submissions should be typed and double-spaced. The author's name should appear only on the title page. SoQ uses the current MLA style. All submissions must include a complete bibliography of works cited. Book, film, and artwork files should be prepared to supply a 3.5 computer disk copy upon acceptance of their work for publication.

Peer Review. SoQ submits all articles and interviews to qualified readers for review, critique, and recommendation for or against publication. Reviewers are blind. When useful, the editor will share comments from readers with the author but in no case will the review reader's identity be disclosed to the author.

Notification. SoQ notifies authors in writing, or by email, that it has received submissions. Notification of the editor's decision regarding publication will ordinarily be made within 90 days. Allow more time if your submission is mailed in the summer.

Payment. Portfolio artists and authors of published articles, interviews, memoirs, commentaries and extended review essays receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears. Book and film reviewers receive one copy of the issue in which their review appears. Additional copies of SoQ are available for purchase by all contributors at half-price plus postage.

Back Issues. Let us know if you would like to have a copy of our full list of back issues.

INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THE SOUTHERN QUARTERLY

Disk Copies. Upon acceptance of your submission for publication, please send us a 3.5 disk or CD-ROM copy of your work. We prefer Microsoft Word, using Times New Roman, 12pt. font.

Proofs. You will receive page proofs of your work for a final review for errors and to make minor changes in the text. Changes at the proof stage are expensive and inconvenient. That is why we make acceptance of your essay contingent upon its conformity to our guidelines, its complete and accurate notes and bibliography, and its use of the MLA style.

Notes on Contributors. When you return corrected proofs please send us a couple of sentences about yourself and anything that may reflect your expertise on the subject of the work being published.

Purchase of Additional Copies. All contributors may purchase additional copies of the issue in which their work appears at the rate of one-half the cover price, plus postage. We request that you place your order before press time so that we will be sure to print enough copies.

Current Address. So that we may stay in touch, we ask that contributors keep us informed of current addresses, institutional affiliations, phone numbers, and email addresses.

Copyright. The Southern Quarterly retains copyright of all published material (excluding art and photography). Should SoQ receive a request for permission to reprint copyrighted material, we will attempt to contact the author for permission (except in the case of brief, properly acknowledged excerpts of no more than a few sentences). It is necessary, therefore, for authors to keep us up-to-date on their current address.

Any royalties from reprint rights granted by the SoQ will be retained by SoQ . The cost of publishing our journal is not entirely defrayed by The University of Southern Mississippi, so all funds from sales and royalties must be applied to the cost of publication.

Any future use by contributors of the material published by SoQ must be approved in writing by SoQ. In such cases SoQ is interested only in making sure that the journal receives proper acknowledgement and will expect no payment for the release of copyright to contributors.