Small Wars Journal

Minor Tweaks to Editorial Policy

  1. Blog
Sun, 01/22/2012 - 7:59pm

In an attempt to better set our authors up for success and to maximize the benefit our busy readers receive from our articles, we have made some minor tweaks to the editorial policy for journal articles.  These guidelines (not necessarily rules) are not intended to hamstring our authors, but rather to help them hone their arguments and hold their readers' attention from start to finish.  The full editorial policy, largely unchanged, can be found at this page.  The new guidelines are found below.

"In order to better serve our readers (and help you get your message to them), we are instituting the following guidelines on article length.  While we do not have the page space problem of a print format, your readers do have a time problem when it comes to digesting all of the information available to them, not to mention the tyranny of their daily jobs.  If you want to be read, you have to be concise, unless your name is Kissinger.  We accept works in three general length categories.  These categories do not preclude us from publishing works that merit special consideration, but do not expect us to publish a 50 page opinion piece, again unless your name is Kissinger.  Please note that anything longer than a 750-1000 word op-ed requires a 200-word abstract.  For the longer formats, all quotations and references should be fully cited.  You may use whatever format your field accepts, but please ensure that the citations are complete (i.e., full names, titles, publishers, dates, journal volumes and numbers, web address if online resource, and page numbers), allowing readers to find the works you reference.
  • Op-ed pieces are 750-1000 words in length and advance an opinion or thesis on a current topic in a very tightly argued format.  While your opinion should be based on facts and figures, the length here does not permit elaboration of detailed support.  These pieces should not solely be a rant, but should offer some form of policy prescription.  That is, if you are going to criticize, offer a solution or a way toward one.
  • Essays are approximately 2,500 words in length and provide more room for elaboration of concepts and provision of support.  These pieces should form the bulk of what SWJ publishes.  A 200-word abstract that states your thesis or argument must accompany your submission, this both assists in the editorial process and allows you to essentially advocate your argument in the hope that busy readers will invest their time in reading more.  
  • Papers are in the range of 6,000 words in length.  Papers of this length will not be read by many readers unless the argument is compelling and the support and data given in the paper is unique.  Original primary source research, first-hand accounts of value to our readership, or truly unique and valuable arguments that require this amount of space for elaboration will be considered for publication.  If you do not think your paper meets these criteria, we highly suggest you get out the red pen and cut your paper back to a length that will warrant the time of a very busy reader.  A 200-word abstract that states your thesis or argument must accompany your submission, this both assists in the editorial process and allows you to essentially advocate your argument in the hope that busy readers will invest their time in reading more."

Comments

Peter J. Munson

Sun, 01/22/2012 - 9:21pm

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Dave,
Thanks for the best wishes. I am new to the technical details of the job, but I think the issue with publishing PDFs only is that it interferes with reading on all the newfangled personal devices. I'll see if there is anything we can do, but it may take a bit to sort out.

Dave Maxwell

Sun, 01/22/2012 - 8:30pm

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Peter, I would ask that you publish essays and papers in PDF files and that the journal entries have an abstract or summary. My rationale is that by printing the long essays and papers in their entirety in the journal makes getting to and reading the comments a little awkward. Once we have read the essays and papers the comments become the focus as that is where the excellent discussions take place of course. It is difficult enough following the linkage of comments the way the formatting for comments works but every time there is a new comment you have to scroll through the whole paper to get to the comments section and then find the new comment. In addition, for the long papers and essays disseminating them beyond SWJ is better done with PDF files than in purely HTML format on the web page. Just my 2 cents. Wish you all the best with the nw job.