Information for Authors
Submitting a Manuscript Proposal
Manuscript proposals are accepted by the University of Calgary Press.
Please provide:
* A Prospectus (see our Prospectus Guide in the Downloadable Forms section)
* Introduction or preface
* Sample chapters (double-spaced and paginated)
Send your submission either by email or hard copy to:
* Manuscript Submissions
* University of Calgary Press
* 2500 University Dr NW
* Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
* ucpress@ucalgary.ca
If sending hard copy, do not send irreplaceable materials. If you wish your materials returned, please make that indication. Otherwise, your materials will be recycled.
Editorial staff will review your proposal. If the project is found to be potentially suitable for our publishing program, you will be asked to provide your manuscript for our two-stage peer review process.
The Peer Review Process
If you are invited to submit your manuscript for peer review, the completed manuscript must be in our hands before the review process can begin. The submitted manuscript must be self-contained and must represent the final draft upon which evaluation is to be made. Manuscripts must be of a scholarly nature, i.e., they must contribute to the advancement of knowledge, be appropriately annotated, and possess adequate bibliographical apparatus. All cited sources must be fully documented.
The Editorial Board, comprised of University of Calgary scholars, will first examine the manuscript. If this preliminary assessment is favourable, the manuscript will be sent to two or more external reviewers. Blind copies of the external reviews will be provided to the author (or editor) who will be asked to prepare a formal response to the reviews. The reviews and the response will then go to the Editorial Board for discussion. The Editorial Board's decision to reject a manuscript at any stage is final; the decision cannot be appealed, nor will the Press consider for publication a revised version of a rejected manuscript.
After the Editorial Board has accepted the manuscript formally for publication, the author (or editor) and the Director of the Press will negotiate the terms of the publication agreement. In all cases, the author (or editor) retains the copyright to the work.
When the Editorial Board accepts a manuscript for publication, it is with the proviso that final revisions are made and funding is acquired. External funding is needed to assist with the book production costs. Therefore, we appreciate any suggestions for possible funding and encourage authors to investigate funding sources.
Copyediting
Once your manuscript has been accepted for publication, you will be asked to provide the revised manuscript. The Press requires computer files for text, photographs, maps, or other artwork pertaining to your manuscript. All such materials should be submitted on CD. See the AAUP Graphics Guidelines for help in preparing illustrative files.
All manuscripts published by the University of Calgary Press are subject to copyediting in accordance with the style guidelines set out in The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.). Depending upon the nature and extent of the required editorial changes, the copyeditor will consult you either during or immediately after completing the editing of the manuscript. The marked-up copy will normally be returned for your approval (sometimes with first proofs). The copyeditor will also send you a list of questions, comments, and suggestions resulting from this reading of the manuscript. Please resist the temptation to take this stage of production as an opportunity to rewrite your manuscript. Substantive changes are not normally allowed after a revised manuscript has been approved for publication. In the extreme case, such changes could result in a very different manuscript – one that might not have received approval from the Editorial Board if it had been submitted for publication. Demonstrable improvements will be looked upon more favourably the earlier they are made.
When you review the marked-up manuscript, you may, of course, restore the original reading of a text wherever the changes suggested by the copyeditor result in a distortion of meaning or the inadvertent introduction of inconsistencies. Once you have satisfactorily responded to the questions raised by the copyeditor, page proofs will be prepared.
Preparation of the Index
After the final pages have been created, you will be asked to provide an index. The preparation of an adequate index requires a thorough knowledge of the subject matter of a book. Therefore, a case can be made that the author is really the only person who can do the job. Nevertheless, many authors have little experience in the technical aspects of creating an index and wisely hire an indexer. The Chicago Manual of Style presents an extensive discussion of the procedures involved with creating an index.
Marketing and Distribution
The University of Calgary Press has an active marketing program, including sales representation within Canada and abroad. To make this program successful we welcome your advice and cooperation. The close relationship that the Press has developed with many North American university libraries and agents assures the effective and appropriate distribution of your book. You can assist us greatly by providing the names of appropriate individuals, societies, institutions, and scholarly conferences that might have an interest in your book.
Book Reviews. Favourable book reviews, published in appropriate places, can be crucial to the marketing prospects of your book. Soon after your book has been accepted for publication, you will be asked to complete an Author Publicity Form which (among other things) asks for a list of names and addresses of scholarly journals or periodicals that might be interested in publishing reviews of your book. As soon as your book is published, we will send copies to appropriate individuals or journals for review. We ask publishers of reviews to send us copies so that we may include extracts in future publicity. We will forward copies to you as they are received.
Some Helpful Publications
* American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 3rd edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1983.
* The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
* The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. Edited by J. B. Sykes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.
* Gage Canadian Dictionary. Walter S. Avis et al. Toronto: Gage, 1983.
* Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford., 39th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
* Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1984.
* Partridge, Eric. Usage and Abusage; A Guide to Good English. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1965.
* Strunk, William, Jr. and White, E. B. The Elements of Style, 3rd edition. New York: Macmillan, 1979.
* Swanson, Ellen. Mathematics into Type: Copyediting and Proofreading of Mathematics for Editorial Assistants and Authors, revised edition. Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1979.
* The Times Atlas of the World, 7th comprehensive edition. London: Times Books Ltd., 1985.
* Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 5th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
* Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1981.
* Words into Type, 3rd edition. Based on studies by Marjorie E. Skillin and Robert M. Gay and others. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1974.
Copyright Law
* Any author who quotes extensively from a work under copyright is responsible for providing the Press with a "letter of permission to publish" covering all the material used from each copyright source.
* Authors should not assume that they will not be held responsible for observing copyright because their writing is scholarly.
* All material on which the copyright symbol © or the word "copyright" appears must be assumed to be under copyright and permission must be requested.
Whether the material you are borrowing from other sources is protected by copyright or not, it will help our copyeditors if you provide photocopies of the originals (illustrations, tables, quoted passages, etc.), each stapled to copies of the title page and the copyright page of the source document.
For more information on manuscript submissions and requirements contact:
John King, Acquistions Editor at jking@ucalgary.ca
