ALAN Volume 26, Number 1 - Instructions to Authors

Volume 26, Number 1
Fall 1998


Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS


ABOUT THE ALAN REVIEW

The ALAN Review is a peer-reviewed (refereed) journal published by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English. It is devoted solely to the field of literature for adolescents. It is published three times per academic year (fall, winter, and spring) and is sent to all members, individual and institutional, of ALAN (The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE). Members of ALAN need not be members of NCTE.

THE ALAN REVIEW publishes reviews of, and articles on, literature for adolescents and the teaching of that literature. Particularly appropriate are these: research, papers presented at professional meetings, surveys and/or critiques of the literature related to works for adolescents, articles about, or interviews of, authors, comparative studies across genre and/or cultures, and articles on ways to teach the literature to adolescents.

AUDIENCE

Many of the individual members of ALAN are classroom teachers of English in middle, junior, and senior high schools. Other readers include university faculty members in English and/or Education programs, researchers in the field of adolescent literature, librarians, authors, publishers, reading teachers and teachers of other related content areas. ALAN has members in all 50 states and a number of foreign countries.

PREFERRED STYLE

Manuscripts should usually be no longer than fifteen double spaced, typed pages. A manuscript submitted for consideration should deal specifically with literature for adolescents and/or the teaching of that literature. It should have a clearly defined topic and be scholarly in content, as well as practical and useful to people working with and/or studying adolescents and their literature. Research studies and papers should be treated as articles rather than formal reports. Stereotyping on the basis of sex, race, age, etc., should be avoided, as should gender specific terms such as "chairman."

MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

Manuscripts should be double spaced throughout, including quotations and bibliographies. A title page with author's name, affiliation, address, and a short professional biographical sketch should be included. The author's name should not appear on the manuscript pages; however, pages should be numbered. Short quotations, as permitted under "fair use" in the copyright law, must be carefully documented within the manuscript and in the bibliography. Longer quotations and complete poems or short stories must be accompanied by written permission of the author and/or publisher.

Author interviews should be accompanied by written permission of the interviewed author to publish the interview in The ALAN Review. Interviewers should indicate to authors that publication is subject to review of an editorial board. The title of The ALAN Review should not be used to gain an interview.

Original short tables and figures should be double spaced and placed on a separate sheet at the end of the manuscript. Notations should appear in the text for proper placement of tables and figures.

The ALAN Review prefers the use of the current Publications Manual of the Modern Language Association. All manuscripts must be accompanied by a 3 1/2 inch MS-DOS disk in either a recent version of Word or Word Perfect format. Disks must be clearly labeled with author's name, manuscript title, disk format, and file title.

SUBMITTING THE MANUSCRIPT

Send three clear copies and a disk of the manuscript to:

Pamela S. Carroll
Editor, The ALAN Review
209 MCH -- 4490
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4490

Include a self-addressed stamped envelope to which return stamps are clipped. The manuscript cannot be returned if the envelope and stamps are not included. Articles submitted only by facsimile or e-mail cannot be considered.

REVIEW PROCESS

Each manuscript will receive a blind review by the editor and at least two members of the editorial review board, unless the length, style, or content makes it inappropriate for publication. Usually, authors should expect to hear the results within eight weeks.

Manuscripts are judged for the contribution they make to the field of adolescent literature, clarity and cohesiveness, timeliness, and freshness of approach. Selection also depends on the manuscript's contribution to the overall balance of the journal. Only rarely are articles that focus exclusively on a single work of literature accepted for publication.

PUBLICATION OF ARTICLES

The ALAN Review assumes that accepted manuscripts have not been published previously in any other journals and/or books, nor will they be published subsequently without permission of The ALAN Review. Should the author submit the manuscript to more than one publication, he/she should notify The ALAN Review. If a submitted or accepted manuscript is accepted by another publication prior to publication in The ALAN Review, the author should immediately withdraw the manuscript from publication in The ALAN Review.

Manuscripts that are accepted may be edited for clarity, accuracy, readability, and publication style.

Upon publication, the author will receive two copes of The ALAN Review in which the article appears. Publication usually occurs within 18 months of acceptance.

A manuscript published in The ALAN Review is considered to have been copyrighted by the author of the article.

REVIEWING BOOKS FOR THE ALAN REVIEW

Unsolicited book reviews are not accepted for publication. Persons wishing to be considered as reviewers of books for The ALAN Review should contact:

Dr. Lawrence Baines
School of Education & Human Sciences
Berry College
Mount Berry, GA 30149-5019
lbaines@berry.edu