Author Guidelines

Article Submissions

To submit an article or to check the status of any prior submissions, you need to register for an Exchanges user account.

Your personal data (names, email addresses, etc.,) entered here will be exclusively used for the journal’s stated purposes and will not be made available for any other purpose or disclosed to third parties. For further details see the Privacy Notice below, or contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Article Formats and Word Limits

Exchanges has a mandate to foster and promote emerging voices within all academic disciplines. As such, we welcome high-quality submissions from researchers globally working in all academic fields, but especially encourage first-time authors or early-career scholars to submit. We look for submissions that embrace an interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary research approach and those written for a broad, non-specialist audience. The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board invite prospective authors to query us prior to submission with any questions or concerns.

All submissions should be suitable for a broad, interdisciplinary readership rather than niche disciplinary communities. Domain-specific concepts, jargon or terminology will require exploring, clarifying and unpicking within the text. Manuscripts which do not adhere to these guidelines will likely be rejected.

We invite submissions within the following formats:

Themed research articles: Original research articles addressing the core topic within a thematic call for papers, from any disciplinary realm, area or perspective (4,000-8,000 words).
Review articles: Overviews summarising the current state of understanding of a topic, highlighting key literature, trends and authors (4,000-8,000 words).
Critical Reflections*: Focused, critical appraisals typically concerning areas of emerging research, a key event or crucial new text (1,000-4,000 words). Find out more [Blog Post] [Podcast Episode]
Conversations*: Contextualised dialogues with significant research figures in any field. Ideally these should include a particular focus on their subject's interdisciplinary contributions and key publications (1,500-3,500 words). [Blog Post] [Podcast Episode]
Book Reviews*: Brief critical appraisals and descriptive evaluations of a topical or recent academic text designed to offer an introductory overview to unfamiliar readers. (1,000-2,500 words) [Blog Post]

*These formats normally do not undergo external peer review, but if accepted for consideration are subject to an extensive editorial review process instead. Exceptions are made at the Editorial Board’s discretion.

If you are considering submitting an article which does not conform to our standard requirements, please contact us before submission. Authors considering submitting Critical Reflections, Conversations or Book Reviews may find it helpful to discuss their idea with the Editor-in-Chief first. For manuscripts already under publication consideration, please contact your assigned supervising editor in the first instance.

Deadlines

For more on deadlines for our current calls for contributions, please see our Announcements page.

Publication Fees

Exchanges does not charge any author publication fees (APCs) or levy any reader access tolls (subscription charges). As a scholar-led, diamond open-access title, operating and management costs for Exchanges are largely met by the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick, and supported by the intellectual labour contributions from our peer reviewers, Editorial Board and associate issue editors. We gratefully acknowledge their invaluable contributions to the journal.

Journal Policies

Authors are advised to review our operational policies ahead of submission. In particular, they may wish to review the Selection, Rights Retention, Authorship & AI Tools and Contributor Conduct policies. For any policy-related questions, please contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Third-Party Copyrights and Permissions

All manuscript contents, including endnotes, titles, tables and quotations, must be prepared according to our Style Guide. Additionally, authors are responsible for obtaining permission where necessary from copyright owners (rights holders) for reproducing within their articles any illustrations, tables, figures or extensive text extracts previously published elsewhere. This is commonly termed obtaining Third-Party copyright clearance. Authors are also responsible for clearly crediting the source and rights information of any included items in the accompanying captions. Most rights holders will grant permission when asked, although it is possible some may require a clearance fee, which authors are responsible for paying themselves. Exchanges regrets we are unable to seek rights permission on an author's behalf.

Rights clearance for third-party materials is not required at the point of submission but must be completed before a manuscript can be accepted for publication following review and copy-editing. Where any concerns remain about rights clearance at this late stage, authors must make their editor aware of them as soon as possible. Manuscripts that contain any outstanding copyright concerns will be withheld from publication until these issues are resolved to the Editor-in-Chief's satisfaction.

Where clearance is not granted, the third-party material may need to be removed. In some limited cases, a fair-dealing defence may be claimed for the purposes of criticism and review, which may permit inclusion of copyrighted material without explicit permission. However, this should not be assumed as it can be legally challenged and if relied upon may lead to later difficulties for the author.

For further advice on seeking permissions speak with your organisation’s Copyright Advisor, often to be found based within your institutional library. Alternatively, make your editor aware of any concerns during copy-editing or speak with the Editor-in-Chief for additional guidance.

Author Rights Retention

Exchanges authors retain ownership rights to their submitted work. For further details of how authors retain their copyright and the details of the licence they grant to Exchanges in return for publication, please see our Author Copyright Retention Policy.

Authorial Quality

While Exchanges has a history of providing a platform for first-time and early-career authors, submissions are still expected to be written to a sufficiently high degree of publishable academic quality. While minor typographic, syntax or grammatical errors are common within draft manuscripts, where these are systematic this may be identified as a reason to decline the submission. Likewise, any manuscripts generally not meeting any other professional authorial standard are likely to be declined.

Authors are strongly encouraged to proofread and refine their drafts ahead of submission to avoid disappointment. They may wish to explore local proofreading and other editorial services offered by their own institutions or privately. During the manuscript review and revision processes, the submission's assigned editor will offer constructive suggestions for improvements. However, Exchanges does not offer a redrafting service, and authors will be expected to revise their manuscripts themselves. We encourage your to consult our Style Guide and Peer Reviewer Guidance for further advice on structuring manuscripts ahead of submission.

Originality

Accepted manuscripts will normally be published on the understanding they are an original and previously unpublished piece of work. At the initial submission stage, all manuscripts undergo automated originality (anti-plagiarism) checking, and editors and peer reviewers also scrutinise manuscripts in this regard. If at any editorial stage there are significant ethical concerns relating to originality, insufficient citation of incorporated works, substantial use of AI or outright plagiarism, these will likely result in the submission's rejection. The Editor-in-Chief personally alerts authors if their manuscript is declined and will usually offer guidance on revisions and either encourage resubmission or offer advice on alternate publications.

Manuscripts that are based on previously published articles designed for a more specific audience or are translations of non-English originals may be considered for publication at the Editor-in-Chief's discretion. In the former instance, there is an expectation that the article has been significantly redeveloped. In these cases, authors are responsible for checking any permission or citation requirements with the editors at the original publishing journal. In some cases, the explicit permission of the original publication may be required before we can consider the revised manuscript. The author must somehow also acknowledge that their submission is a development, modification or remix of a prior publication, usually via a note to the editor.

AI and Originality

Authors considering or using artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the preparation of any part of their papers are strongly advised to review Exchanges' AI policy.

Lead Authors

We accept submissions from individuals or groups of researchers worldwide. All editorial communications are normally handled through the lead (submitting) author. As a journal with an explicit mission to foster quality early-career research, where possible we encourage an ECR to be listed as the lead author in any collaboration with more senior authors. Where there is any change in lead author during the editorial process, please notify your assigned editor as soon as possible.

References and Media

Authors are encouraged to be selective but broadly inclusive in their use of references. All citations should be contained within the text itself and should not appear in the abstract. We encourage authors to consider including media or illustrative material where possible, assuming appropriate copyright permissions have been sought.

See our Style Guide for more on including media and images.

Writing Assistance

If you need further support in developing an effective scholarly voice or improving academic writing techniques, seek out the local researcher training courses at your institution. Additionally, the following resources may be of use:

Production Schedule

To ensure articles published in Exchanges are of a sufficiently high academic quality, all manuscripts undergo a series of reviews and revisions. For some, this may be a more time-consuming process, especially if highly specialised peer reviewers need to be located or major revisions are suggested. If you have any concerns over the timetable from submission to publication, please contact your assigned editor in the first instance, or the Editor-in-Chief.

The following is a rough guide to Exchanges’ editorial procedures from submission to publication:

Submission	The manuscript is reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief for scope, suitability and originality and to ensure key elements relating to our Style Guide have been sufficiently addressed. Submissions failing to sufficiently meet these criteria will be declined and returned with advice. Manuscripts passing this stage are accepted for review.
Editor	Manuscripts accepted for review will be assigned to a supervising editor to guide them through the editorial review/peer-review and copy-editing process. For editorial-only reviewed formats (e.g., non-peer-reviewed), editors will request any necessary revisions directly from authors.
Identifying Reviewers	For peer-reviewed articles editors are also responsible for locating and engaging a minimum of two reviewers. Locating suitable and available reviewers may take some considerable time for manuscripts dealing with new, emerging or unusual disciplinary areas. Potential reviewers are under no obligation to accept an invitation to review. Hence, many different scholars may need to be approached before a sufficient number of them accept the assignment.
Review	Once peer reviewers have been located, the anonymized article is released to them to review. Normally, reviewers have roughly four weeks to complete their review. However, as many of our reviewers are busy academics, on occasion they may require additional time. In these cases, editors will notify authors of any anticipated delays.
Author Revisions	Once all peer review has been received, editors will collate reviewer feedback and inform the Editor-in-Chief of the review outcome. At this stage, the submissioin will be accepted with no revisions, minor or major revisions will be requested, or the submission will be rejected. In some cases the editor may need to seek further reviews if peer reviews contradict each other. Where minor or major revisions are required, editors inform the authors and pass along feedback. Authors are normally expected to resubmit their revised work in either two to four weeks (for minor revisions) or four to eight weeks (for major revisions). If they require an extension for personal or professional reasons they should discuss this with their editor. For minor revisions, the editor will review the revised submission and decide whether it has sufficiently addressed peer feedback. The editor will then pass on a publication recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief, who makes the final decision. In the case of major revisions, once an author resubmits their revised manuscript, it is normally returned to the original reviewers for re-review, in order to decide if it their concerns have been addressed and if the submission has been sufficiently improved. If further improvements are requested, authors will then have one further opportunity to revise their text, after which the Editor-in-Chief normally makes a final publication decision.
Editorial Decision	Following editorial review feedback, once the revised submission is received, the editor will make a publication recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief, who will make the final decision whether to accept the manuscript for publication or decline it. While the Editor-in-Chief's decision is final, authors may be offered advice on any further revisions needed before resubmitting a manuscript (revise and resubmit).
Copyediting	Manuscripts successfully accepted for publication will then enter the copy-editing phase, where they will be properly formatted for publication by the assigned editor, copy-edited, and passed to the Editor-in-Chief for further copy-editing. At this stage, the editor and EIC may both offer recommendations for further improvements, especially for clarity and concision, and consult with authors regarding any further modifications. Once copy-editing is complete, the EIC will proofread the article and declare it publication-ready.
Production	Ahead of issue publication, the Editor-in-Chief will review all publication-ready manuscripts and make final layout adjustments, including adding page numbers, DOIs, further biographical or metadata information, etc. The EIC will also check that copyright permissions have been observed on any third-party materials. On occasion they may need to contact authors for last-minute queries or complications during the production process.
Publication	Finally, the fully formatted manuscript will become a published article in an issue of Exchanges on its scheduled publication date. Once the article has been published, the author will receive an email notification along with an invitation to offer feedback on the editorial process.

To find out your submission's current status, log into your Exchanges user account and check your dashboard for updates. Alternatively, you can contact your assigned editor or the Editor-in-Chief.