Policies for Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

Contents

Philosophy of Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The US Army War College (USAWC) Press has two product lines: The US Army War College quarterly journal, Parameters, and scholarly monographs. In order to be considered for publication with the Press, submissions must address issues of strategic relevance to US Army and/or Department of Defense leaders and must include actionable strategic or policy recommendations. All submissions must exhibit the highest standards of research and scholarship, avoid jargon, and be written in a language accessible to busy policymakers and senior decisionmakers.

Six things to keep in mind when writing scholarly articles and monographs for the USAWC Press:

  • Clearly express the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of your ideas
  • Thoughtful exposition moves beyond simple description
  • Engage in thoughtful, balanced analysis rather than personal opinion
  • Support knowledge claims, arguments, and insights with clearly presented and sensibly organized evidence
  • Craft a clear, well-supported, properly documented, concise, and logically organized thesis—reducible to one sentence
  • Adhere to conventional rules of English grammar and syntax using Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition, for reference, guidance, and footnotes

Who Can Submit?

Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).

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General Submission Rules

Prior to submitting an article, authors must first submit an abstract of approximately 200 words that must include the following information:

  1. What is the thesis/main argument of the piece in one sentence?
  2. How does this piece differ from what has already been published on the topic?
  3. What methodology and sources are/will be used?
  4. Why will this piece be of interest or useful to the readers of the USAWC Press, who are mainly policy and military practitioners?

Example:

(a) This manuscript argues American military strategy has been more successful historically than contemporary critics admit. (b) This submission differs from most scholarship on the topic which sees present-day US strategic failures as deeply rooted in a faulty, or even nonexistent, strategic culture. (c) In terms of methodology, this manuscript is an historical analysis of more than two dozen twentieth-century US military interventions, and it assesses the extent to which US policy objectives were achieved. (d) This study’s conclusions will assist US military and policy practitioners in discerning the merits and demerits of future American military strategies more accurately.

Please include the author(s) full name(s), email address(es), and phone number(s) and an updated CV containing educational background and current employment and/or research efforts and interests.

Permission to Publish and Public Affairs Office (PAO) Release: Upon a decision to publish an article or monograph, the Press will contact the author with release forms and, if appropriate, Army PAO clearance forms. NOTE: US government employees must obtain PAO clearance from their organizations and must submit written evidence of the same to the Press before the manuscript can be published.

Please note: Submitted articles cannot have been previously published, nor be forthcoming in an archival journal or book (print or electronic). "publication" in a working-paper series does not constitute prior publication. In addition, by submitting material to Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies, authors stipulate the material is not currently under review at another journal (electronic or print) until the completion of the editorial decision process at Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies. If authors have concerns about the submission terms for Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies, please contact the editors.

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Formatting Requirements

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies has no general rules about the formatting of articles upon initial submission. There are, however, rules governing the formatting of the final submission. See Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for details. Although bepress can provide limited technical support, it is ultimately the responsibility of authors to produce an electronic version of the article as a high-quality PDF (Adobe's Portable Document Format) file, or a Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or RTF file that can be converted to a PDF file. A Microsoft Word file must be submitted, even if authors submit a PDF file.

It is understood that the current state of technology of Adobe PDF files is such that there are no, and can be no, guarantees PDF documents will work perfectly with all the possible hardware and software configurations authors may have.

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Rights for Authors and USAWC Press

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, authors assign to US Army War College (USAWC) Press all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal--use exceptions described below.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of articles or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of USAWC Press, requires credit to USAWC Press as copyright holder (e.g., USAWC Press © 2024).

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to authors and do not require further permission from USAWC Press provided authors do not alter the format or content of articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

Authors seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

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General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the US Army War College (USAWC) Press website and/or software agree not to misuse the USAWC Press service or software in any way.

The failure of USAWC Press to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies are found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between USAWC Press and the author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

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