Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

Author Guidelines

  • Adhere to APA referencing and citation style
  • Keep submissions to less than 60 pages, including appendices

Articles

Who Can Submit?

Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in The McMaster Journal of Communicationprovided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

The Submission Process

All authors are required to submit their work electronically through the Submit Article section on the left navigation bar. Once you create an account and click on Submit Article, you will be required to fill out contact information in the online form. After filling out the short form, you will then need to upload your manuscript. Along with your manuscript, you will be asked to include the following:

Keywords: Please include 7-10 keywords that best describe your submission.

Abstract: Please include an abstract of 150-200 words in English. Multimedia works should also be accompanied by a 150-200 word abstract describing the nature of the project.

Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). Please note: "publication" in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. In addition, by submitting material to The McMaster Journal of Communication, the author is stipulating that the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) and that he or she will not submit the material to another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at The McMaster Journal of Communication.

Formatting Requirements

Instructions for Authors:

  1. Format: MS Word document
  2. Length: 4,000 to 7,000 words. Authors wishing to submit manuscripts below or exceeding these guidelines must consult with the Editor-in-Chief prior to submitting work.
  3. Multimedia Works: accepted in a zip format.
  4. Referencing: any pictures, diagrams, figures used should be at the end of the paper and not be part of the paper. Instead please indicate with a comment, such as: ‘insert fig. xyz here’ in the body/paragraph of the actual paper.
  5. Language: English 

How to Reference:

Source citations should appear within the text of the paper and in the APA format. Works Cited (Bibliography) should also be in the APA form but on a separate page. Examples of the APA style can be found here: https://libguides.mcmaster.ca/APAhttps://libguides.mcmaster.ca/APAttp://library.mcmaster.ca/guides/mla-style-guide

If you have any questions regarding the submission process, please contact the Editor-in-Chief at mjcmcmaster@gmail.com

Rights for Authors and McMaster University

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to the McMaster University all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal--use exceptions described below.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of McMaster University, requires credit to McMaster University as copyright holder.

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from McMaster University provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

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