Submissions

Page contents:

General Style Sheet
O'Nolan Specific Guidelines
Focus and Scope of the Journal
Submission Checklist
Copyright Notice
License
Peer Review
Publication Fees (confirmation of fees-free publishing)
Publication Cycle
Sections (types of submissions the journal will accept)

Style Sheet

Manual of Style: Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition; Notes and Bibliography Style
Typeface: 12 point
Word count: Articles submitted for peer-review should be approximately 6,000 - 8,000 words in length, with an upper limit of 10,000 words. Notes, reviews, commentaries, and memorials should not exceed 4000 words. [Word counts include footnotes but do not include the bibliography.]
Emphasis: Do not italicise words for emphasis. Capitalisation should be kept to an absolute minimum and not used for ornamentation, emphasis, or as a sign of respect of status.
Language and spelling: UK spellings throughout [Proofing language in Word: <English (Ireland)>]
Formatting: The first paragraph in a section after a subheading should be full out to the margin. All subsequent paragraphs should be indented.
Abbreviations: Avoid unnecessary use of abbreviations, and ensure any unfamiliar ones are explained at the first occurrence, or in a list. Do not use abbreviations at the start of a sentence.
Periods: Omit full point after <Mr>, <Mrs>, <Dr> and other contractions ending with final letter of the word; use <St> for Saint, but <ed.> for editor. Single space after periods.
Dates: Dates should be set out as <11 June 1991>, with the months spelt out and no intermediate commas
Quotations: Short quotations of less than 50 words should be run-on within the text. Long quotations (50+ words) should be indicated in the text by allowing one line above and below the extract and indenting them in a block quote, without quotation marks. Verse quotations of more than one complete line should be separated from the main text, and indented six spaces. Individual line indents should be the same as those in the original poem or verse. No quotation marks are required.
Punctuation: Single quotation marks <‘...’>; double quotation marks for quotes within quotes <‘...“x”...’> . All commas and periods should be placed inside of quotation marks: <‘quote,’>; <‘quote.’>. Apostrophes: Always use the possessive <s’s> for the singular; e.g. <Myles’s>; <Augustus’s>, <Barnabas’s>. In a series of three or more terms, do use the Oxford comma (i.e. use <Flann, Myles, and Brian>). Hyphens between page numbers and year-spans should be double en dash (i.e. <121–9>; <1963–73>)
Footnotes: All citations and elaborations should be footnoted (not endnoted). Footnotes should be used sparingly to supply information that is relevant to the issue at hand, but would disrupt the tight development of the central argument in the main body of the text; not for digressions or underdeveloped theses on the texts at hand. Endnotes should be headed ‘Notes & references.’ Do not use 'ibid' or 'op cit'.
Citations: Relevant sources should be footnoted according to the Chicago Manual of style.
Unusual Cases: Unusual cases not covered by the Chicago Manual might be covered by the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (ODWE) or Harts Rules for Compositors and Editors (Harts Rules). Any cases not covered by these three guidelines should be flagged for the editors.
Competing Interests: Unless the author has specific competing interests or conflicts to declare, please write 'The author has no competing interests to declare' in the appropriate box when submitting.

O’Nolan-Specific Guidelines

Pseudonyms & Titles: In terms of coordinating your article with the others regarding O’Nolan’s writing, we should like to ensure a certain consistency in the way we refer to the author. As you know, this can be a problem with Flann O’Brien/Myles na gCopaleen/Brian O’Nolan. If your article refers generally to all (or many) of the texts written by the author under multiple pseudonyms, we favour the name ‘Brian O’Nolan’; whereas the author of specific texts will be referred to by the chosen nom de plume i.e. The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, An Béal Bocht by Myles na gCopaleen, ‘The Martyr’s Crown’ by Brian Nolan, ‘Díoghaltais ar Ghallaibh ‘sa Bhliain 2032!’ by Brian Ó Nualláin, etc.
Cruiskeen Lawn: The column takes italics. In the footnotes it can be cited in the first instance according to the following style: <Myles na gCopaleen, Cruiskeen Lawn, Irish Times, 10 April 1942, 4. Hereafter CL.> Subsequent mentions will follow the pattern: <CL, 11 May 1961, 4.>.
Irish-language texts: When referring to An Béal Bocht we prefer to refer to the book under the title O’Nolan gave it, An Béal Bocht, unless one is specifically making a point about the English translation The Poor Mouth, and English quotations from Power’s translation of An Béal Bocht should footnote the quote in the original Irish-language text.
De/de Selby: For The Third Policeman the character is <de Selby>, for The Dalkey Archive it is <De Selby>.
Editions: We accept any recognised, major edition of any primary texts. For Cruiskeen Lawn columns, we suggest you reference the original column where possible (rather than the collections, which are notoriously unfaithful), with full date and page number, from the Irish Times Digital Archive or the Proquest database, unless you are making a particular point about one of the edited collections.

Focus and Scope

The Journal of Flann O'Brien Studies is an open-access journal, and the official publication of the International Flann O’Brien Society. It invites original scholarship on all aspects of the work of Brian O’Nolan (pseud. Flann O’Brien; Myles na gCopaleen), and publishes scholarly articles, reviews, conference reports, and artistic responses to O’Nolan’s work.

The general editors are Flann O’Brien scholars and guest editors usually have expertise in O’Brien or in the specifics of the special issue. In addition to copy editing and typesetting, the editors will work with you to hone your ideas.

That noted, please remember that the general and guest editors are not paid for their labour and edit this journal in addition to their other work and responsibilities. We ask that authors submit their articles with as much care to clarity of exposition, logical argument, full bibliography and accurate Chicago notes-bibliography (with UK punctuation adaptations in line with journal style guide) referencing as possible.

As part of our commitment to the community of scholars, we strongly encourage authors to be generous in their citation practices. There are excellent books, articles, chapters and notes on Flann O’Brien and we recommend that authors embed their research within this scholarly conversation. This does not mean that authors need lengthy literature reviews, however, as engagement can take the form of footnote mentions.

Submission Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
Any third-party-owned materials used have been identified with appropriate credit lines, and permission obtained from the copyright holder for all formats of the journal. The Journal of Flann O'Brien Studies also requires authors to secure any permissions for the reproduction of images as figures within articles that are currently licensed to be reproduced under restrictive terms (e.g., an artist's estate, archive or gallery). Evidence of any granted permissions will need to be shown to the Editorial Team prior to an article's publication in the journal. Permission to reproduce images must be obtained from the copyright holder prior to submission, and details of the permissions obtained, including a copy of any agreed licensing terms, should be included with your submission. Image permissions should permit open access publication with no restrictions on duration of use or recurring renewal costs.
All authors have given permission to be listed on the submitted paper and satisfy the authorship guidelines.
The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
All DOIs for the references have been provided, when available.
Tables and figures are all cited in the text. Tables are included within the text document, whilst figure files are uploaded as supplementary files.
Figures/images have a resolution of at least 150dpi (300dpi or above preferred). Each file is no more than 20MB per file. The files are in one of the following formats: JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, EPS (to maximise quality, the original source file is preferred).
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which are found under Submissions. Every effort has been made to ensure that author names are removed from the manuscript (following the instructions to ensure anonymous review).
The submission adheres to the publisher's guidance on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), particularly that substantial and known uses of generative AI are declared in an 'AI Declaration Statement' as a section within the manuscript and that this declaration is also given in the online submission process when prompted. Please read OLH's AI Policy for further information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of generative AI, and where and how to make an 'AI Declaration Statement' if this is required.

Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. If you would prefer to publish your work under an alternative Creative Commons License, please indicate this in the Comments for the Editor box below, providing reasons for your request. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are also permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

License

This journal recommends that authors retain their copyright via a CC BY 4.0 attribution license. This means that users accessing the work must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses them or their use of the work. No additional restrictions, however the user may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Articles published by the Open Library of Humanities may also contain other CC-licensed material, or material used or reproduced under an exception or limitation to copyright. Such material is not subject to the article's license. It is either marked with its own license, or marked that it has been reproduced with permission or under fair-use.

Peer Review

All submissions are initially assessed by an Editor, who decides whether or not the article fits the scope of the journal and is suitable for peer review. Submissions considered suitable are assigned to two independent experts, who assess the article for clarity, validity, and sound methodology. The journal operates a double-anonymous peer review process, meaning that authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout the review process. The review period is expected to take around four to six weeks. Reviewers are asked to provide formative feedback, even if an article is not deemed suitable for publication in the journal. Based on the reviewer reports, the editors will make a recommendation for rejection, minor or major revisions, or acceptance. Overall editorial responsibility rests with the journal’s Editors, who are supported by an expert, international Editorial Board.

For further information, please see the journal's 'Peer Review Process'.

Publication Fees

This journal is published by the Open Library of Humanities. Unlike many open-access publishers, the Open Library of Humanities does not charge any author fees. This does not mean that we do not have costs. Instead, our costs are paid by an international library consortium.

If your institution is not currently supporting the platform, we request that you use our 'Recommend Us' tool. The OLH is extremely cost effective and is a not-for-profit charity. However, while we cannot function without financial support and we encourage universities to sign up, institutional commitment is not required to publish with us.

Publication Cycle

The journal accepts submissions on a rolling basis. It is published online in issues twice a year, Spring and Fall.

Process Stages for Articles

Articles will follow the following timeline and process. Notes, book reviews and memorials do not require peer review, so will jump to stage 5 after submission. The editors do, however, reserve the right to desk reject submissions unsuitable to the journal’s focus or that require substantial revisions.

Stage	Timeframe	Description and notes
1. Submission	Ideally at least 7-8 months before May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	If the article is intended to be part of a special issue, the guest editors will work with the author to hone the article prior to submission. Please submit a properly referenced article (including Chicago style notes and bibliography referencing). The better the article is when submitted, the faster the peer review and copyediting process will be. The initial submission needs to include an abstract and works cited / bibliography. Notes, reviews, and memorials jump straight to stage 5.
2. Peer review	At least 6 months before May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	Articles are blind peer reviewed by two reviewers. Allow at least a month, likely more, for the first-round peer review process for each article. While we ask reviewers for a 2-3 week turnaround, there are usually delays.
3. Author revisions	4 months before May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	Author revises article, with the assistance of the guest editors and some oversight by general editors. If major revisions with new research and/or substantial conceptual amendments have been requested, the author might need up to 2 months. The title and abstract are usually revised at this stage.
4. Second revisions (if required)	3 months before May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	If the peer reviewers recommended major revisions or substantial minor revisions, then the article is sent for a second round of revisions. Allow a month for the second-round peer review process for each article, as while we usually ask reviewers for a 2-week turnaround, there are usually delays.
Article passes peer review
5. Editing by general editors	2 months before May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	Editing by general editors begins. The editors can suggest further conceptual revisions, ask for additional references to scholarship on O’Brien, request arguments to be clarified and tightened, and if the article is lengthy, suggest cuts. This process can involve back and forth between author and general editors, with potential involvement by guest editors, and take approximately a month.
6. Copyediting and proofreading by general/guest editors	1 month before May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	Copyediting by general/guest editors begins. At this point the article should no longer need major edits but editors may still make suggestions about structure, organisation and, in some cases, phrasing. Ideally, the article should need only slight corrections to referencing, punctuation etc. This step also involves back and forth between author and editors and is often surprisingly protracted. We ask authors (and guest editors) to help speed up this step by ensuring their writing, including references and bibliographies, is as clean as possible as early as possible in the process. Allow at least a fortnight.
Article is accepted as final by general editors
7. Article is typeset	May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	The typesetters take around 3-4 working days to produce the PDF and XML of an article. The PDF will be sent to author and viewed for a final proofread by 1-2 editors for errors. Ideally no errors should be found. The typesetting and checking process can take 1-2 weeks. If no errors, the article is published.
8. Optionally, article is typeset again	May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	If errors are found, another round of typesetting can be requested. The correction to the PDF and XML takes the typesetters 1-2 days. Article is then sent to author and viewed by an editor for errors. Very minor errors caught at this point can be corrected by the general editors, but we cannot send the PDF and XML to the typesetters for a third time.
9. Publication	May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	The article is published which takes about 30 minutes.
10. Announcements	May (issue 1) or November (issue 2)	We announce the publication of the issue on email and social media, and the author makes their own announcements.

Please note that this timeline does not leave much slack if an article needs major revisions and there are any delays with review, editing, copyediting etc. If there are delays at any stage, we might need to push the article to the next issue.

Sections

Section or article type	Public Submissions	Peer Reviewed	Indexed
Editorial	Yes	No	Yes
Article	Yes	Yes	Yes
Note	Yes	No	Yes
Review	Yes	No	Yes
Interview	Yes	No	Yes
Translation	Yes	No	Yes
Report	Yes	No	Yes
Creative Testimony	Yes	No	Yes
Checklist	Yes	No	Yes
Inventory	Yes	No	Yes
Letter to the Editors	Yes	No	Yes
In Memoriam	Yes	No	Yes