Submit Papers

Submit Papers

Submission of a manuscript is taken by the Editors to imply that the paper represents original work not previously published, either in print or online, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere; and if accepted for publication that it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in any language, without the consent of the Editors and Publisher. If the paper is accepted, the author must obtain the necessary permissions to include in the paper copyright material such as illustrations, extended quotations, etc; however it is not necessary to demonstrate this at the point of submission.

Style guidelines

  • Oxford Style references
  • Automated numbering
  • Keep references brief: digressions should be incorporated into main text
  • No bibliographies
  • No subheadings (section breaks are permitted)
  • No introductory quotations or epigraphs 

Uploading your manuscript

Submissions to Screen are handled via the Manuscript Central website (MS Central). The journal has three sections, each with its own submission pathway:

  • Articles are blinded for peer review and submitted via MS Central for double-blind peer review. The editorial board does not offer pre-submission guidance as editors participate in blind peer review. If you have queries before or during the submission process, contact the editorial office (screen-journal@glasgow.ac.uk). Do not contact individual Screen editors before, or during, the submission and peer review process. Published articles should be around 8-10,000 words, excluding footnotes.
  • Dossiers and reports are submitted as initial proposals by email. Once approved, they are uploaded to MS Central for peer review. Research notes are submitted directly to MS Central. Dossiers, reports and research notes are not anonymised for review.
  • Book reviews are commissioned directly by the Editors, with submission instructions issued directly to the author. Unsolicited book reviews are not accepted.

Please read the relevant submission pathway below for submitting an article (1) or a dossier, report or research note (2). You can watch a video about the Manuscript Central submission process here. If you require help, contact our editorial office (screen-journal@glasgow.ac.uk). 

1. Submit an article

  1. Go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/screen
  2. Create an account then log in using the username and password issued via email
  3. Click Author tab
  4. Click 'Start new submission'
  5. Select 'Original Article'
  6. Follow the onscreen instructions and upload your article. You will be asked to categorise the documents as you upload them. Please ensure that your abstract, main document and supplementary documents are blinded. Identifying details belong in the title document, the only document not circulated to peer reviewers. 

How to blind your document for peer review: Search the document for your own name then remove or disguise anything that could identify you to peer reviewers, including references to earlier publications or projects. Do not use coloured overlays to redact information, as hidden text can be revealed in some formats e.g. HTML. If you refer to earlier work, you can do so as if referring to a third-party scholar. However it is often more straightforward to change references to "[blinded for peer review]". Non-blinded submissions are rejected outright, meaning that you will need to start the entire submission process from scratch, so ensure that you search your documents before uploading.

2. Submit a dossier, research note or report

Dossiers

The Dossier format has become an increasingly popular one for the journal, allowing us to publish a collaborative and agenda-setting series of short essays (3,000 - 4,000 words each) under a shared theme – for example, a specific theoretical approach, a contemporary issue in the field, a historical body of knowledge, a specific film, filmmaker or national cinema. Examples of recent Dossiers include: Mildred Pierce (54:3), Classical Film Theory (55:3), Peggy Ahwesh (55:4) and Pakistani Cinema (57:3). Dossiers should aim to make a clearly defined intervention within the rubric of the overall theme and will usually have a curated aspect that is explicitly unpicked and discussed in a critical introduction. To submit a dossier to Screen, email a proposal to our Reports and Debates editor, Joshua Yumibe (yumibe@msu.edu). This should include a set of abstracts for each contribution along with a clearly defined rationale for the project that outlines its main aims and methods. For more information, please see the detailed Screen Dossier Guidelines 2024.

Research notes

Resarch notes are short stand-alone articles that highlight significant work emerging out of a specific research project. They are often written in a more reflective and discursive fashion than our longer published articles. Research notes can be submitted directly to MS Central, with "Reports and Debates" selected in the MS type dropdown. They do not need to be anonymised. The covering letter should highlight that you wish your submission to be considered as a research note.

Reports

Screen occasionally publishes reports of one-off major conferences, festivals and exhibitions, but does not accept general reports from rolling annual conferences. Email the editorial office (screen-journal@glasgow.ac.uk) initially with your proposal. 

Post-acceptance: licensing, gratis copies and reproduction

Once the author's paper has been accepted for publication and sent to OUP, they will be prompted to sign a Licence to Publish; during that process the author may apply for a gratis copy of the issue in which their work will appear. Republication in an anthology or collection of an author’s own work is freely permissible, with due credit to Screen. Republication otherwise requires the permission of the publisher and the author. For information on permissions, visit https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/access_purchase/rights_and_permissions