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The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for the US Army War College Press

The US Army War College Press (the Press) publishes The US Army War College Quarterly Journal, Parameters, and scholarly monographs. 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.

Information Specific to Manuscripts for Potential Publication as Monographs

If selected for publication, details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to final manuscript submission to the US Army War College Press are provided below:

Executive Summary, Foreword, and Synopsis. Please provide an 800-word executive summary with no directly quoted material, footnotes, images, or tables, which will also serve as a standalone document on the website; a 300-word foreword that will be signed by the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) director upon final approval of the publication; and a 300- to 500-word synopsis that will follow the foreword in the monograph.

Web Requirements. Please provide a 50-word teaser that will display with the cover image of the publication on the SSI website and provide potential readers with a reason to explore the work; and a 200-word synopsis that expands upon the 50-word teaser that will display on the webpage for the publication.

Author Biographical Information. Please provide a short paragraph with biographical information—300 words; avoid using bullets and acronyms.

Human Subject Research Determination. If the manuscript involves data collection from, or about, living humans, prior to submission the author must provide a Human Subject Determination Form to the Human Subject Resource Representative. The form must indicate whether the research in question required review by an Institutional Review Board, and if so show proper documentation regarding the Board’s determination.

Formatting Requirements for Articles and Manuscripts Following Approval of Abstracts

  • Do not include a title page or abstract.
  • Write your article in English.
  • Page size should be 8.5 x 11 inches.
  • All margins (left, right, top, and bottom) should be 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), including tables and figures.
  • Single space text and use a single space between sentences.
  • Use a single column layout with both left and right margins justified.
  • Font:
    1. Main Body—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
    2. Footnotes—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
  • When articles or monographs have been accepted for publication following peer review and author revision, graphics must be submitted as separate files and preferably as high-resolution images, rather than compressed files such as jpegs, gifs, tifs, etc. Authors must obtain permissions for the use of all graphics and images not owned or created by the author, including embedded graphics used in graphics created by the author. Authors must provide justification for the use of any graphic and provide evidence of permission for use. For further information, contact the editors at usarmy.carlisle.awc.mbx.parameters@army.mil.
  • The Press uses the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition for footnote style. For articles, please use footnotes instead of endnotes, and format the footnotes accordingly. For monographs, please use endnotes. Further, the journal does not allow narrative footnotes. All narrative footnote text must be moved into the main body of the draft article or manuscript. Finally, all footnotes must be referenced at the end of sentences only and only one footnote reference is allowed per sentence.
  • For monographs, all footnotes and acronyms must be re-established/restarted in every section/chapter/appendix. This includes restarting the long form of citations.
  • The Press uses the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition for grammar and punctuation. Please refer to it when considering capitalization, use of commas, passive voice, formatting numbers in text, and hyphenated words.
  • Please use en dashes in all number ranges in the text and in footnotes, rather than hyphens.

Article Length
Articles are limited to 5,500 words including footnotes. Monographs are limited to 20,000 words including endnotes.

Emphasized Text
Whenever possible use italics to indicate text being emphasized rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.

Foreign Terms
Foreign terms should be italicized unless Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary lists them in Roman.

Headings
Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts or by the use of small caps. Use the same font face for all headings and indicate the hierarchy by reducing the font size. There should be space above and below headings.

Graphics (Tables and Figures)
Graphics of any kind are limited to 1 per 3,000 words, with a maximum of 2 for journal articles. Tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text and the in-text reference should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition format. Large tables or figures should be put on pages by themselves. Avoid the use of overly small type in tables.

Acronyms
Acronyms should only be established after the term in question is used three times. The exceptions are: US (no periods) when used as an adjective, EU, NATO, and UN.

References
As noted above, use the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition formats.

Insights into the Process

Once an abstract has been approved and an article has been reviewed and accepted for peer review, submissions will undergo a double-blind review by the Parameters Editorial Board (articles) or the Press Acquisitions Review Board (monographs). Reviewers will assess the content, scholarship, and relevance to the Department of Defense of the submission and will either recommend publication with minor or major revisions or recommend declining the submission. A review may take as long as eight weeks. The editor-in-chief makes the final decision regarding if and when to publish articles in Parameters and the SSI director makes the final publication decision regarding all scholarly monographs.

Publication priorities for Parameters and monographs are set by the Press leadership and may change with little or no warning due to the needs of the USAWC, the US Army, or the Department of Defense. Further, each submission is unique and some submissions require more editorial or graphic work than others. The Press is committed to moving submissions through the publication process as quickly and efficiently as possible. In all cases, it is in the interest of authors to provide submissions that meet the Press standards and requirements.

Authors may contact the Press at any time with questions or concerns at usarmy.carlisle.awc.mbx.parameters@army.mil

Book Review Guidelines can be found here.