The John Clare Society Journal

The John Clare Society Journal

Style Sheet

Introduction

The John Clare Society Journal is a 96-page, annual publication which publishes scholarly and other material to advance the study of the English poet John Clare (1793-1864). Prospective contributors should obtain and browse through recent back copies of the Journal, to gain a sense of the range of approaches and styles it encompasses. These are available for £5 (sterling) each, plus postage, from The John Clare Society (address below). Sample essays from each of the last few numbers of the Journal are also available on the Clare web page (details below). The Journal itself is printed and produced to a very high standard, using good-quality cream paper, with a stitched, softbound format. it is distributed free to the 500+ members of the John Clare Society, so it has a large general readership as well as an academic one, and this affects its presentation and general stance in a number of ways. First, we include some popular, creative and other ‘first-person’ responses to Clare, of a high quality, but nevertheless of a kind not usually seen in scholarly journals. Second, we require an accessible writing style, so that all our readers can gain some benefit from the more scholarly work. Third, we may sometimes rule out work that, although in itself of high quality, does not suit the particular ‘mix’ of the Journal. It follows that having a piece rejected by the Clare Journal does not always mean that it is poor work. It may mean that it would be better published elsewhere.

Refereeing

All work submitted to the Journal for publication is refereed by at least two suitably qualified readers, and this is done as far as possible ‘blind’, i.e. the readers will not have prior access to each other’s comments, nor will they know the name of the contributor (unless identification is unavoidable). This is designed to ensure the fairest and most scrupulous assessment. The editor will retain final arbitration, but will not publish anything which has received a significantly negative referee’s report without seeking relevant revision by the author, and / or further reports.

Lead-in time and rejection rates

The current lead-in time for the Journal is 1-2 years (i.e. the next or next-but-one number), with a modest rejection rate (perhaps 25-30%, at present). We publish a mixture of commissioned and submitted materials, so it is always worth sending in Clare-related material ‘cold’.

Conventions and presentation

The writing must be clear and straightforward to follow, with obscure and technical terminology kept to a minimum and explained where appropriate (see also introduction, above). As a general rule (but with some flexibility), the Journal follows Modern Humanities Research Association conventions, as set out in the MHRA Style Book, fifth edition (1996), available from W.S. Maney and Son Ltd., Hudson Rd., Leeds LS9 7DL, UK (phone: 0113 2497 481), available to download here:

As it is a British journal, single quotation marks and British spelling are preferred. Typeface, block quotations, font size, etc., are not critical, but you should use a legible, standard, typeface, and double-space your work. Submissions may be made by e-mail attachment sent to the editor. We can also accept neatly typed work. Once it has been accepted, work should be submitted electronically as well as on paper if possible.

Abbreviations and citation

We have a set of standard abbreviations for Clare-related books, which develops from year to year as new publications appear. The current version is appended below. For other citations, the name and short-title system is preferred. For example, for a first citation:

John Barrell, The Idea of Landscape and the Sense of Place 1730-1840: An Approach to the Poetry of John Clare (London: Cambrudge University Press, 1972), pp. 13-14.

For subsequent citations:

Barrell, Idea of Landscape, pp. 20-2.

Where a reference can be bracketed within the text without causing disruption to the reader, it should be so kept.

We use endnotes rather than footnotes, but these must be kept well under control, especially substantive ones. Footnote reference numbers should be set in superscript and immediately following the appropriate word or punctuation mark (i.e. without spaces).

Editions, textual and factual accuracy

It is important to use the most up-to-date and scholarly editions, as standards of textual accuracy continue to improve. In particular, recent editions of Clare's writings are preferred to older editions; and even for fairly recent editions, the latest should be used. For example the 1993 edition of The Shepherd's Calendar should be used, not the 1964; and John Clare By Himself (1996) should be used in preference to John Clare’s Autobiographical Writings (1983). (A ‘conversion chart’ for this last change is available in the 'indexes' section of the Clare web page, as it affects so much Clare scholarship.) Given the recnet intense debate over the editorial presentation of Clare, however, we do adopt a generally flexible approach to the question of editions.

On the question of factual accuracy, contributors are warned that most of the biographies of Clare are not to be relied upon without independent confirmation from other scholarly or archival sources. There has always been a great deal of ‘mythologising’ about Clare and his life: Frederick Martin’s biography contains many notorious examples. Caution is urged.

Word limits

There are no set limits: we work to the general principle that each word must ‘earn its keep’. However, typical lengths are as follows:

For an article: 2,000-6000 words

For a book review:500-2,000 words

For a review essay:2,500-4,000 words

Occasionally we run longer articles of 7,000-9,000 words, where there is a major advance in Clare studies which merits extended treatment. We have also included a few shorter pieces. A usual article length, however, will be 3,000 words.

Sizes & statistical information

The overall (external) Journal size is 215 x 150 mm

The actual page size (i.e. excluding margins) is 180 x 110 mm

Averages

Article line length: 70 characters or about 12 words

Article page length:42 lines or about 400-450 words

Article titles: 9 lines

Review line length: 40 characters wide or about 6-7 words

Review page length: 50 lines, or about 600-630 words in two columns

Review main title: 4 lines over 2 columns

Review individual titles: 2-3 lines plus 5 for name and space at end

Review essaysabout 615 words per page

Illustrations and adverts

We welcome the submission of suitable high-quality illustrations and adverts, in monotone (we can reproduce grey-tones fairly effectively). They should be submitted either in high-resolution camera-ready printed form or on disc in a suitable program/format. Illustrations will be credited. Adverts are priced as follows: full page £60, half-page £30, quarter-page £15.

Addresses and contact details

The John Clare Society Journal(general editorial, advertising and miscellaneous queries), contact: Dr Simon Kővesi, Dept of English, OxfordBrookesUniversity, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK. phone: [0]1865 483587. fax: [0]1865 484082. e-mail:

The John Clare Society (membership details, back copies of the Journal and other sales materials), contact: Peter Moyse, The John Clare Society, The Stables, 1A West St, Helpston, PeterboroughPE6 7DU, UK. phone [0]1733-252678.

SK 19/09/07

The John Clare Society Journal

Current abbreviations

BY HIMSELF John Clare By Himself, ed. Eric Robinson and David Powell (Ashington and Manchester: Mid-NAG and Carcanet, 1996)

COTTAGE TALES John Clare, Cottage Tales, ed. Eric Robinson, David Powell and P.M.S. Dawson (Ashington and Manchester: Mid-NAG and Carcanet, 1993)

CRITICAL HERITAGE Clare: the Critical Heritage, ed. Mark Storey (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973)

DEACON George Deacon, John Clare and the Folk Tradition (London: Sinclair Browne, 1983)

EARLY POEMS (I-II) The Early Poems of John Clare, ed. Eric Robinson, David Powell and Margaret Grainger (two volumes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)

HAUGHTON Hugh Haughton, Adam Phillips, and Geoffrey Summerfield (eds.), John Clare in Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)

JCSJ The John Clare Society Journal (1981-)

LATER POEMS The Later Poems of John Clare, ed. Eric Robinson, David Powell and Margaret Grainger (two volumes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984)

LETTERS The Letters of John Clare, ed. Mark Storey (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985)

MIDDLE PERIOD (I-II) John Clare, Poems of the Middle Period 1822-1837, ed. Eric Robinson, David Powell, and P.M.S. Dawson (two volumes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996); III-IV (1998)

MIDSUMMER CUSHION John Clare, The Midsummer Cushion, ed. Kelsey Thornton and Anne Tibble (Ashington and Manchester: Mid-NAG and Carcanet, revised edition, 1990)

NATURAL HISTORY The Natural History Prose Writings of John Clare, ed. Margaret Grainger (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983)

NORTHBOROUGH SONNETS John Clare, Northborough Sonnets, ed. Eric Robinson, David Powell, and P.M.S. Dawson (Ashington and Manchester: Mid-NAG and Carcanet, 1995)

OXFORD AUTHORS The Oxford Authors: John Clare, ed. Eric Robinson and David Powell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984)

PROSE The Prose of John Clare, ed. J.W. and Anne Tibble (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951, reprinted 1970)

SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR John Clare, The Shepherd's Calendar, ed. Eric Robinson, Geoffrey Sumerfield, and David Powell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, revised edition, 1993)

SUMMERFIELD John Clare, Selected Poetry, ed. Geoffrey Summerfield (London: Penguin, 1990)

SK 19/09/07