Submissions

Note: Journal of Mundane Behavior and its Outburst section are no longer accepting paper submissions. Papers that were previously submitted to JMB and Outburst should be considered released for consideration by another academic journal, with our sincerest apologies.

Our overall policy is to encourage the development of research in any academic discipline and by interested non-academic persons about the mundane aspects of everyday life. Interested members of the public and scholars from any discipline whose work touches on the everyday, ordinary, and apparently inconsequential are invited to submit works that meet the guidelines below. Our approach is serious yet playful, and authors should feel free to "let their hair down" in the writing of their papers and utilize a sense of humor in the development of their project. Contributors should refer to the Mission Statement page for more on our overall approach to the topic.

Journal of Mundane Behavior is a peer-reviewed journal. Our review process generally takes approximately three months from the time of submission, and papers will be reviewed both by scholars in the fields touched on by the works submitted and by scholars from other disciplinary areas, in order to assure that pieces we publish are accessible across disciplines. Each work will be reviewed by at least two reviewers. We follow the standard academic practice prohibiting multiple submissions; if pieces have been submitted elsewhere, please let the Managing Editor know.

Papers, when submitted, should be in accordance with the following guidelines. Questions or inquiries should be sent to the Managing Editor.

1) Scholarly papers should be approximately 5000 words (20 pages double-spaced) and should minimize (as much as possible) the use of discipline-specific jargon (though it is acceptable in definitions as well as when necessary for the development of the argument). Non-scholarly essays should be approximately 2500 words (10 pages double-spaced). In either case, authors should feel free to utilize other materials, including photographs, sound, videotape, or active hyperlinks to other web pages or sites. The writing style should be accessible to members in other disciplines and to the general public. Please make sure that papers are spell- and grammar-checked and in publishable format.

2) The author's name(s), departmental or institutional affiliations, snail-mail and e-mail addresses, and a short biography of each author should appear on the first page of the paper (in its file format). A short (100 word) abstract of the paper should be included, as well as the disciplines and sub-disciplines upon which the work draws (i.e., deconstructive film theory, postmodern anthropology, and the like).

3) All notes should be at the end of the paper so that they can be integrated into the final HTML document, and should be referred to by superscripted numbers. Figures, tables, and images should be included within the document if possible; if not, please append them to your file and inform the editor. Images should also be sent in GIF or JPEG format on acceptance of the paper. If audio and/or video files are an integral part of the presentation, please e-mail the managing editor before submitting these so that a format can be agreed upon.

4) In-text citations and bibliographic references should be submitted in MLA format following the latest MLA Writer's Handbook. Hyperlinks should be underlined in the text so that they can be included in the HMTL markup. Authors should feel free to include links to online materials to which they refer, as well as any additional links that relate to the material discussed in their paper.

For those without a copy of the latest MLA guidelines, please follow the examples below.

In-text references: (Marcuse 197)

Single-Author Book (multiple books by same author should be listed in order by year of publication, and should be indicated by six dashes before the title of following books):

Wilson, Frank R. The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture. New York: Pantheon, 1998.

Book by multiple authors:

Marquart, James W., Sheldon Ekland Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorenson. The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.

Anthology or Compilation:

Feldman, Paula R., ed. British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Work in an Anthology:

Calvino, Italo. "Cybernetics and Ghosts." The Uses of Literature: Essays. Trans. Patrick Creagh. San Diego: Harcourt, 1982. 3-27.

Journal article:

Craner, Paul M. "New Tool for an Ancient Art: The Computer and Music." Computers and the Humanities 25 (1991): 303-13.

On-line source:

Dove, Rita. "Lady Freedom among Us." The Electronic Text Center. Ed. David Seaman. 1998. Alderman Library, University of Virginia. 19 June 1998 <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/afam.html>.

5) Files should be submitted to the managing editor, Scott Schaffer (scott.schaffer@millersville.edu), as an attachment, preferably in Microsoft Word 97-98 format. Either Macintosh- or Windows-based files are acceptable. If you are unable to attach a file to an e-mail message, please contact the managing editor to find another means of transmission. Because of the on-line format of the journal and a lack of resources, paper versions of articles can not be accepted.

6) Copyright for any article published in Journal of Mundane Behavior is jointly held by JMB and the author. The copyright for the compilation of all issues of JMB is retained by JMB. Requests for reprint and on-line archiving of any article must be approved by both JMB and the author. Contributors whose articles are selected for publication are encouraged to register their works with the Copyright Clearance Center or the reproduction rights organization in their country and to list JMB as the location of the article in order to ensure that their copyright is protected and that any desired royalties are paid.