Instructions to Authors

Types of Submissions Accepted

Scholarly Articles

We welcome scholarly article manuscripts of 6,500-8,500 words, formatted according to the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition, that demonstrate a deep exploration of the humanities through integrative theoretical approaches and applied practices relevant to the fields of environmental humanities and ecocriticism, including examinations of the ways environmental values and practices are expressed in texts, broadly conceived, including creative writing, art, and film. We welcome essays that explore pedagogical approaches (how to teach a text or a topic) or public-facing scholarship. Authors should make explicit how their work connects to, engages or challenges environmental values, issues, practices, or policies. (More on manuscript formatting below.)

Special Clusters

ISLE welcomes proposals for special clusters. Please note that in order to ensure consistently timely publication of articles, we do not publish special issues whereby an entire issue is devoted to a topic. Instead, we publish "special clusters" of 3-5 articles (6500-8500 words) with an optional introduction by the cluster's editor. If accepted, articles will be anonymously peer-reviewed.

The proposal should include the following information: 1. a proposal (250-500 words) for the special cluster, delineating how it builds on and furthers ecocriticism and environmental humanities scholarship; 2. abstracts for each of the proposed articles (2-3 sentences); and 3. bios for the article authors and the submitting editor (2-3 sentences). Proposals should be sent to the editor at [email protected]. 

Creative Nonfiction

We invite creative nonfiction that considers “nature,” ecology, and the environment as constructs alongside and intersecting with multiple identity forms (including race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, class, geopolitical affiliation); social and cultural histories; social justice, activism, and anti-colonial and decolonial movements; and other aesthetic forms, such as film, visual, or installation art. We encourage risky and imaginative prose, and accept experimental forms, such as flash nonfiction, lyric, and collage. Submissions should average 2,000-4,000 words, with one full-length essay or a series of short pieces. Please submit collections of short pieces in one Word document (.doc or.docx). Please limit your submissions to once a year.

Please note that you do not need to provide an Abstract for creative nonfiction submissions. Please write “Creative Nonfiction” in the Abstract section.

Fiction

We welcome short stories, microfiction, and self-contained chapters of longer works that explore place through narrative, human characters’ relationships with the spaces they inhabit and the nonhumans they encounter, and the reciprocal processes of how humans, nonhumans, and places shape one another. Stories that ask intriguing questions and follow them to unpredictable conclusions are preferred over thinly veiled polemics. Let your fiction live! Please submit in a single Word document (.doc or .docx).

Please note that you do not need to provide an Abstract for fiction submissions.

Please write “Fiction” in the Abstract section.

Poetry

We invite poems that choose questions over answers, practices over polemics, and discovery over dirge. We are especially interested in poems invested in new, thoughtful approaches, forms, and voices that address what it means to think about, live on, and be with the Earth. It is our firm belief that poems about the environment reflect our social world, invite innovation, give form to cultural critique, and imagine other futures for our planet. If you're ready to submit, please send three-six poems in a single Word document (.doc or .docx). We ask that you wait to send additional work until you hear from us. Submissions will generally receive a response within six months. We are closed to submissions during the months of July and August. Please limit your submissions to twice a year.

Submit all poems in the same document and title the document the title of the poem, if one poem; "Two Poems," if two poems; "Three Poems," if three poems, etc.

Please note that you do not need to provide an Abstract for poetry submissions.

Please write “Poem” in the Abstract section.

Book Review Submissions

ISLE does not accept unsolicited book reviews. Prospective reviewers can register interest in reviewing for the journal by contacting the Book Review Editor [email protected]​

Preparation of Manuscripts

The journal adheres to formatting and style conventions found in the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition. Please format the document to accord with the journal’s style guide. The journal does not provide a pre-formatted template.

Scholarly essays should be between 6500-8500 words (including notes and works cited).

All manuscript submissions should be formatted in 12-point Times New Roman font and double-spaced, including the works cited and excluding the endnotes.

Endnotes should be in 10-point Times New Roman font and single-spaced. Please complete endnotes using the automatic endnote feature in your word processing program.

Please include a shortened version of your manuscript title as a running header.

Please include page numbers in the bottom right-hand corner of the manuscript.

A short 100-word abstract should also be provided at the beginning of the manuscript following the manuscript title.

Please use standard US English spellings. Consult Merriam-Webster's Dictionary online (https://www.merriam-webster.com/) for all spellings. 

All manuscript submissions must include the manuscript plus endnotes and works cited page(s) and the abstract in a single Word document (.doc or .docx). Please note pdf files will be returned to the author for revised formatting.

Please include a  title page with the manuscript. ScholarOne will prompt for a  title page and anonymous main document. The separate title page should include the author's name (or authors' names) and contact information. 

ISLE welcomes the recommendation of reviewers (scholars with expertise in the topic engaged), including names and email addresses, and will work to complement them to ensure anonymous peer review.

Kindly note that ISLE does not accept manuscripts with track changes in any stage of the submission, revise and resubmit, or production processes.

Natural language processing tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) do not qualify as authors. The use of AI - for example, to help generate content or images, write code, process data, or for translation - should not be used.

Permissions

If previously published tables, illustrations, or more than 200 words of text are to be included, then the copyright holder's written permission must be obtained. Copies of any such permission letters should be included with the manuscript submission paper. The author is responsible for obtaining all permissions required to reprint any material from other copyrighted permissions. Please also see Permission Guidelines for more information.

Permissions are required to reuse figures, photos, illustrations, and significant portions of text from other copyrighted works. A “significant portion of text” can be defined using a combination of both quantity and quality. Current guidelines suggest that the following would not require permission to reprint: 1) a single prose extract of less than four hundred words; 2) a series of prose extracts of less than three hundred words each, with the series totaling less than eight hundred words; and 3) forty continuous or separate lines from a poem, provided that this does not constitute more than twenty-five percent of the poem. If the material quoted could be considered the heart of the original work, however, permission may be required. Quotations should be kept as short as possible to avoid quoting a large percentage of the work.

When quoting from other works, please consider:

• how much of the work is being quoted; and
• if the quotation constitutes the heart of the original work.

Figures

Please include your figures either embedded in the Word processing file or separately as low-resolution images (.jpg, .tif, .gif or .eps). For useful information on preparing your figures for publication, go to OUP's Preparing your manuscript page.

Please note that all labels used in figures should be in upper case in both the figure and the caption. Each image requires a Figure number (label) and title and may also include a brief explanatory caption and citation information beneath the image. The figure number should appear both beneath the image and as an in-text reference in the body of the manuscript. Example: “Fig. 1. Kara Walker. A Subtlety. 2014. Dominion Sugar Refinery.” and in the body of the manuscript (see fig. 1).

The journal reserves the right to reduce the size of visual material.

The number of illustrations should be kept to a minimum. All tables must bear a title. Footnotes may be used in the tables but not in the text.

Figure accessibility and alt text

Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.  

Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs. 

Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article. 

Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text. 

Language Editing Services

Before submitting your manuscript, you may wish it have it professionally edited, particularly if English is not your first language. This is not a mandatory step, but may help to ensure that your manuscript is fully understood by the editorial office and reviewers. Please note that using a language editing service does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. For further information on language editing, please visit OUP’s language services webpage. Authors are liable for all costs associated with these services. 

Online Submission of Manuscripts

The Editors welcome electronic submission of manuscripts through the journal's online submission system. ISLE does not currently accept emailed, faxed, or hard-copy submissions, nor does it consider simultaneous submissions of scholarly article manuscripts.

Submission of a manuscript implies the work is previously unpublished and not simultaneously under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding and submitting author and that Oxford University Press (OUP) may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article and that you agree to notify OUP immediately if your contact information or affiliations details change. If your article is accepted for publication, OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process.

Please note that OUP does not retain copies of rejected articles.

Please submit your manuscript online at Manuscript Central.

Advance Access Online Publication

ISLE operates an Advance Access publication system, which means that once your proofs are approved, the final version of your paper will be hosted immediately on the Advance Access part section of ISLE's website. You will receive an email with a URL allowing you to view your paper online, and you will be given free online access to your article. Your article will be assigned a DOI. Your article is now considered officially published and will remain on this page, accessible only to paid subscribers, until it is assigned to an issue. Your article can still be cited before it is assigned to an issue by way of its DOI number that you will see at the top of the article. 

Please note that there may be a lag before your article is assigned to an issue. We recommend that you sign up for the electronic table of contents alerting service.

Copyright

It is a condition of publication in ISLE that authors grant an exclusive license to ISLE, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). This license ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In assigning the license, authors retain the right:

• After publication by Oxford Journals, to use all or part of the article and abstract, for their own personal use, including their own classroom teaching purposes;
• After publication by Oxford Journals, to use all or part of the Article and abstract, in the preparation of derivative works, extension of the article into book-length or in other works, provided that a full acknowledgement is made to the original publication in the journal;
• To include the article in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation, provided that this is not published commercially;

For the uses specified here, please note that there is no need for you to apply for written permission from Oxford University Press in advance. Please go ahead with the use ensuring that a full acknowledgment is made to the original source of the material including the journal name, volume, issue, page numbers, year of publication, title of article and to Oxford University Press and/or the learned society. The only exception to this is for the re-use of material for commercial purposes, e.g. republication or distribution of an article by a for-profit publisher or medical communications company etc. Permission for this kind of re-use is required and can be obtained by using Rightslink. See our Publication Rights page for further details.

Open Access

Accepted authors will have an option to select Open Access. The license under which optional OA is published is CC BY-NC-ND, the most restrictive of the Creative Commons licenses, requiring attribution to author and publication, only non-commercial reuse, and no derivatives. 

Fees: $2,132

For more information, please see OUP’s Open Access Options <https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access>.

Crossref Funding Data Registry

In order to meet your funding requirements authors are required to name their funding sources, or state if there are none, during the submission process. Please see further information on this process and the CHORUS initiative.

Author Self-archiving/Public Access Policy

For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving policy page.