Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men

Guidelines for Submissions

The editor invites submissions of original, previously unpublished manuscripts that engage issues related to aspects of Black men’s experiences or topics such as gender, masculinities, and race/ethnicity. Specifically, the journal welcomes manuscripts that examine the social, political, economic, and historical factors that influence the life chances and experiences of men of Black descent; authors should address such concerns using disciplinary or interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and approach those topics using empirical methods, theoretical analysis, or literary criticism.

Manuscripts should not exceed 35 pages, including references and tables. Articles that have been published elsewhere in any form, version, or language cannot be considered for publication in Spectrum. Be advised that articles available on the Internet constitute previously published articles. Electronic manuscripts should be composed in Microsoft Word, formatted according to Spectrum guidelines, and uploaded through our online submission system here: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/spectrum/index.

Authors of articles that have been accepted for publication must sign a consent-to-publish form, which is an agreement vesting copyright in Indiana University Press.

Spectrum follows publication guidelines according to American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Articles that do not conform to APA Guidelines will be returned to the author before being released for external review.

  1. Manuscripts should be submitted as Word files (.doc or .docx), be double-spaced, use a 12-point standard font (e.g., Times New Roman), and have one inch margins. Use only one space after all punctuation.
  2. In addition, the article must include (1) a 150-word abstract and (2) a list of references, following the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Please note that all works cited in the body of the essay and in endnotes must appear, with full bibliographic details, in the reference list.
  3. Include all endnotes (if used) as a separate file. Do not use word processor features that embed notes as footnotes or endnotes. Note numbers should be prepared as Arabic numerals in superscript and normally occur at the end of a sentence, not following an author’s name.
  4. All images must be submitted in electronic files, as PDFs or JPGs. (Large electronic files may be sent through a file-sharing service, such as Dropbox or YouSendIt). It will be the responsibility of the author to secure permission to reprint copyrighted images or texts.
  5. Do not center or fully justify your text--all text should be left-justified. Paragraph indentations should be tabbed at five spaces. Do not enter carriage returns within paragraphs, especially for indented quotations, where you should set new margins.
  6. Use American spellings and punctuation except when quoting from a source that has used British style. All punctuation except colons and semicolons is placed inside quotation marks. Single quotes are used only for quotes within quotes; otherwise, double quotation marks are to be used.
  7. Provide translations (your own--or the standard, if there is a printed translation available) of all material in languages other than English. The translations should be incorporated into the text, following the foreign term or foreign selection.
  8. Please pay particular attention to the following matters of punctuation:
    • Apostrophes: All singular proper nouns, including the names of persons and places, form their possessives in the same manner (Mars’s wrath, Camus’s novel, Kansas’s weather, Dickens’s reputation;but the Dickenses’ economic woes).
    • Colons: Skip one space only, not two. In separating a title and subtitle of a book, use a colon.
    • Periods: Skip one space only (not two) after all periods, semicolons, and commas.
    • Commas: Always use a comma before all coordinating conjunctions in a series of three or more items and always after “i.e.” and “e.g.”
    • Hyphens: Do not use spaces before or after hyphens.
    • Em-dashes: Prepare on disk as two hyphens with no space before or after hyphens (“natural--instead of chosen--alliances”). Typesetters will convert the hyphens to em-dashes (“natural—instead of chosen—alliances”).