Call for Proposals: Special Issue proposals invited for ‘Italian Studies’ 2024

Deadline for proposals: Monday 20 December 2021

‘Italian Studies’ dedicates its spring issue to guest edited Special Issues, on any theme covered by the journal’s aims and scope. With a rising number of proposals reaching the Editors every year, the journal is now formalising its call for submissions from prospective guest editors to a single annual deadline. In 2021 this falls on Monday 20 December.

Proposals received will be evaluated by the Senior Editors on the basis of the quality of the topic and presentation in the first instance, as well as its timeliness, potential attractiveness to our readers, and the feasibility of on-time submission. We are also keen to ensure the journal provides a good spread of themes and periods that will be of interest to our diverse readership, including by varying the focus of the annual Special Issue. For instance, recent and forthcoming Special Issues include: A Century of Calvino: Interdisciplinary Approaches (2023); Mediating Dante (2022); Italian Thought and the Problem of Potentiality (2021); Key Directions in Italian Studies (2020); The Reception of Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato and Pulci’s Morgante (2019); Continuity and Rupture in the Italian Literary Field 1926-1960 (2018).

The Editors welcome proposals based on themed conference and workshop events, or from research teams working on defined projects, but also from more informal collaborations. At least two guest editors should be named on the proposal, and should be willing to sustain their commitment to the project for the entire 24 month period from commissioning to publication. The word allowance for a Special Issue is approximately 60,000 words in total, and usually consists of 6 to 8 individual articles, plus a short Introduction by the guest editors. Articles in the Issue may be written in either Italian or English.

Proposals should take the form of a 1-2 page document, and must include the following:

  • Title of Issue and Guest Editors’ names and contact details.
  • Introductory note outlining the main theme of the Issue and its rationale.
  • Provisional list of contributors and article titles (with reserves), together with a brief abstract and indication of word length for each article.
  • Proposed schedule of editorial work, from commissioning through peer review and revision to completion.

The next Special Issue commissioned will be published in May 2024 and should be complete and ready for submission with the Senior Editors by 31 December 2023. Proposals are now invited for submission to the Senior Editors by Monday 20 December 2021 at the latest, and their selection will be confirmed by 28 February 2022, and detailed guidelines supplied to the guest editors at that point.

The submission should be by a single email jointly to all three editors, Charlotte Ross, Silvia Ross, and Heather Webb (C.E.Ross@bham.ac.uk; s.ross@ucc.ie; hmw53@cam.ac.uk)

Further information can be sought from any of the three Editors before the submission date. Information about the journal, and a full view of all current and recent issues, can be found on the webpage at: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/yits20/current

Charlotte, Heather & Silvia