Submissions

Submission Guidelines

Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies welcomes proposals from potential guest editors for each volume of our annual publication. We are currently not accepting proposals. Join Dance Studies Association's mailing list, or follow DSA on social media, to learn when the next round of proposals will open.

Guest Editor Proposals

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 Chat & 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.). 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, Rachel Carrico, at Conversations-editorial@dancestudiesassociation.org.


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 copy edit 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

Access, Rights, and Licensing

Conversations does not charge any fees for publishing an article.

This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Contributors who wish to do so may deposit any version of their contribution, Accepted version (Author Accepted Manuscript) or Published version (Version of Record), in an institutional or other repository of their choice.

Conversations operates under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND). The contributors publishing in Conversations are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as contributors follow the license terms:

  • Attribution - 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].” Contributors must also provide a link to the license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en), and indicate if changes were made. 
  • NonCommercial - Contributors may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • No Derivatives - If contributors remix, transform, or build upon the material, they may not distribute the modified material.
  • No additional restrictions - Contributors may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Submission Guidelines: Letter to Editor/Talk-back

Talkbacks are letters to the editor to address issues raised in and/or extend the engagement with a previous Conversations issue

Must include name, affiliation, email.

Length: 200-600 words.

Content:
- The concern you are addressing (try to limit your letter to one point), and the article and Conversations number in which it was published;

- Your stake in the matter;

- The problems, supports, or the extended information you offer, based on factual evidence, regarding this matter as presented in Conversations;

- Your position: the corrected, or fuller, situation, as you see it, or your viewpoint based on sources, experience, evidence, data, dates, facts….

Letters may not be published anonymously or under pen-names. How do you wish to sign your name (i.e., title, first name or initial, etc. -- as in, Dr. Jesse Smith; Dr. J. R. Smith; Jesse Smith, Ph.D.; etc.)?

Tone: Letters should address issues, evidence, and claims, not the people who wrote the article to which you are responding. Personal attacks on individuals will not be published. All letters are reviewed by the editor, sometimes in consultation with the editorial board, and will be published at the editor’s discretion.

Please email inquiries and proposals to the Conversations Editor, Rachel Carrico, at Conversations-editorial@dancestudiesassociation.org.

Submission Guidelines: Chats

Chats provide a platform for timely exchanges and discussion prompts, such as written or video recorded roundtables, a curated response to a particular question or issue, and the like.

People wishing to propose a Chat individually or among 2-3 individuals should email the Conversations editor at Conversations-editorial@dancestudiesassociation.org with the following information in one page or less:

  • Issue/event to which your “Chat” will respond.
  • A rationale for why a “Chat” is an appropriate format for your contribution.
  • Details of your proposal: what kind of “Chat” are you proposing (written, video, audio, other?), with whom, on what timeline?
  • Please include your name, affiliation, and email.

About the submission:

  • Suggested content limit: The journal suggests a 1,000-2,000-word range for written material and 15 to 30 minutes for video/audio material.
  • In line with DSA’s commitment to undoing anti-Black racism and dismantling white supremacy in dance, Conversations seeks to amplify the voices that are under-heard in our field. Thus, we welcome and encourage dancers, scholars, and educators from all kinds of backgrounds to propose a Chat on our platform.

Chat proposals are considered on an ongoing basis and will depend on the availability of the Editorial Board members to usher it through a short (1-3 months) process from proposal to online launch.