Submission Guidelines: Guest Editor Proposals

Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies invites proposals for guest editors for Volume 44 of our annual publication. We welcome submissions from scholars at any stage of their careers, including university professors and independent researchers, as well as from artists and educators in dance and related disciplines across our global dance community.

Proposals should:

• Detail your vision for the issue, including the proposed focus, why you see it as important to address this debate or theme now, and why Conversations is the right venue for this collection to make an impact. Specifically, please state how the proposed issue amplifies voices or conversations that are underheard in our field.
• Indicate which publication formats you envision in your issue (e.g. traditional essays, creative writing, roundtable dialogues, interviews, recorded performances, photo or video essays, etc.). Keep in mind that Conversations is now an online, open-access, multimedia journal hosted by Michigan Publishing Services. Highlight how you will maximize the multimedia platform.
• Suggest ways in which the issue might spark future exchanges in the Chats & TalkBack features.
• Discuss your previous experiences with editing or related activities that you will bring to the task of guest editing.
• Identify who you see as potential contributors, how many, and how they will be lined up (open call, curated invitations, etc.). Preference will be given to guest editors who provide a preliminary list of contributors. If you plan to circulate a Call for Contributions, please include a draft of the call (350 word maximum).

Please email inquiries and proposals to the Conversations Editor, Arushi Singh at Conversations-editorial@dancestudiesassociation.org. We will accept proposals until October 1, 2024.

Guest editor responsibilities:

• Select authors/contributors
• Write Call for Contributors, if using one (DSA will announce but editors can also circulate); gather contributor proposals; select and notify contributors
• Invite contributors and confirm participation
• Create the introduction to the issue
• Communicate with all authors/contributors, including distributing Author Agreement forms, permission forms and ensuring that contributors have followed MPS’ specifications for images and videos 
• Complete initial editorial review of all submissions, including an attention to citation style consistency
• Submit all completed materials - including text, images, videos, audio files, captions and alt text, author agreements, copyright permissions (for authors using photographs/illustrations/videos), author biographies, and metadata spreadsheets - to the Editor, who serves as an intermediary with the Ed Board and Michigan Publishing Services [MPS] staff. 
• Fully and carefully copyedit the proofs and HTML files, respond to queries from MPS
• Provide metadata for the issue
• Provide/select image for landing page and promotional materials
• Review issue press release

Contributors will:

• Submit written contributions in Word format, double-spaced, no headers/footers, following the citation format set forth by the journal’s style guide
• Submit photographs and videos in digital form following specifications set out by MPS
• Submit copyright forms for permission to use photographs/illustrations/videos
• If requested, submit an image to use for header and thumbnail
• Include image callouts in the text, as appropriate, and write corresponding captions and alt text
• If including video, complete the Fulcrum metadata spreadsheet
• Submit a short biography of maximum 100 words 

Please note that contributors published in Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies have the right to republish their own work in whole or in part after two years. The republication must be accompanied by the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published in Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies, Vol. [number], [year].”