Submissions

MAI welcomes a variety of submissions from strict, scholarly register to a more experimental or avant-garde approach to analysis. A selection of best feminist writing and creative work is published bi-annually via this website (The Journal). We operate a full peer review process that is subject to external review by at least two independent reviewers. Submissions are first assessed by our managing editor and then reviewed further by subject specialists. Articles are only published if recommended by two peer reviewers, by both co-editors-in-chief and the managing editor.

© Guy Martin/Panos

SUBMISSION FORMATS

We welcome submissions in the following formats:

  • academic research articles (6000-8000 words)
  • interviews (1000-3000 words)
  • book reviews (between 1500-3000 words). Please note that correspondence/suggestions/requests for reviews should be sent directly to reviews@maifeminism.com
  • creative writing (poems, short stories, creative responses, max 3000 words)
  • video essays (5-10 min + a brief supporting statement 800-1000 words)
  • photographs, visual/audiovisual or interactive art

Other types of submissions may be considered at the discretion of MAI editors-in-chief. Any questions regarding the format or type of your prospective submission should be sent to contact@maifeminism.com. Please read MAI Manifesto & The Journal before sending us your writing or projects. MAI only publishes work that fits into its feminist & visual culture remit.

TEXT SUBMISSIONS

Preparing & Sending us Your Written Submission

MAI accepts written submissions up to 8000 words (excluding footnotes and bibliography). These can range from a scholarly to experimental style.

References & Bibliographies

MAI uses the author date referencing system because it is clean, easy and efficient, as well as suitable for online publications. This means that all references should appear as in-text citations: for example, (Woolf 1929: 56).

All sources should be listed in your final bibliography in alphabetical order.

Where necessary, we use footnotes to add explanations. Please keep these to minimum.

It is our understanding that all images that are screen captures are covered under fair use. Please don’t get all of us at MAI into trouble by pinching stuff without checking it is legal.

Please note that at MAI we use single quotation marks.

It goes without saying that your piece should be thoroughly checked for spelling and grammatical errors. This will take the onus off the editors to make last minute alterations to your piece and we will be able to concentrate on the content. You can use American or British spelling but this must be consistent. Please note that it is up to the editors of each issue to opt for British or American spelling.

How to format your references and bibliographies?

Please follow the examples below as scrupulously as you can, particularly the punctuation.

In-text reference notes: 

(Butler 2006: 17)

If the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence: (2006: 17)

If no pagination is available, as for online sources: (Fielder 2012)

Bibliographies:

Books:

Ahmed, Sara (2010), The Promise of Happiness, Durham: Duke University Press.

Butler, Judith (2006), Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence, London: Verso Press.

Edelman, Lee (2005), No Future, Durham: Duke University Press.

Illouz, Eva (1997), Consuming The Romantic Utopia. Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Berkely & Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Edited collections: 

Merck, Mandy & Stella Sandford (eds.) (2010), Further Adventures of The Dialectic of Sex: Critical Essays on Shulamith Firestone, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Books (new editons of older texts): 

Firestone, Shulamith (2015 [1970]), The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, London: Verso.

Chapters in books:

Marchand, Marianne H. & Anne Sisson Runyan (2011), ‘Introduction: Feminist Sightings of Global Restructuring’, in Marianne H. Marchand & Anne Sisson Runyan (eds), Gender and Global Restructuring: Sightings, Sites and Resistances, 2nd edition, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1-23.

Silva Kumarini & Kaitlynn Mendes (2015). ‘Introduction: (In)visible and (Ir)relevant: Setting a Context’, in Kumarini Silva & Kaitlynn Mendes (eds), Feminist Erasures: Challenging Backlash Culture, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-15.

hooks, bell (2009), ‘Postmodern Blackness’, in John Storey (ed.), Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, 4th edition, London: Pearson, pp. 388-394.

Online articles: 

Pollitt, Katha (2018), ‘We Are Living Through the Moment When Women Unleash Decades of Pent-Up Anger’, The Nation, 11 January 2018, https://www.thenation.com/article/we-are-living-through-the-moment-when-women-unleash-decades-of-pent-up-anger/ (last accessed 2 February 2018).

Rogers, Katie (2016), ‘Amid Division, a March in Washington Seeks to Bring Women Together’, The New York Times, 18 November 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/womens-march-on-washington.html?_r=0 (last accessed 8 February 2018).

Fielder, Miles (2012), ‘Maja Borg on Future My Love’, https://film.list.co.uk/article/42871-maja-borg-on-future-my-love/ (last accessed 24 April 2018).

Journal articles: 

Munro, Ealasaid (2013), ‘Feminism: A Fourth Wave?’, Political Insight, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 22- 25.

Mohanty, Chandra (1984), ‘Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses’, Boundary 2, Vol. 12, No. 3, On Humanism and the University I: The Discourse of Humanism. (Spring-Autumn, 1984), pp. 333-358.

Weeks, Kathi (2015), ‘The Vanishing Dialectic: Shulamith Firestone and the Future of the Feminist 1970s’, South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. 114, No. 4, pp. 735-754.

Magazine articles: 

Walker, Rebecca (1992), ‘Becoming the Third Wave’, Ms., January 1992, pp. 2 & 4.

Films:

Lady Bird (2017), dir. Greta Gerwig.

TV series:

Mad Men (2007-2015), created by Matthew Weiner (7 seasons).

How to send us your written submission

Please prepare your text as one Word document file. When you’re ready please  email to contact@maifeminism.com

OTHER SUBMISSIONS

Video Essays

Competing modes of critical expression that contest the written as the singular site of knowledge production and dissemination have been gaining increased academic recognition. This turn appears particularly invigorating for makers who use media as a means of constructing arguments and communicating perspectives that can’t be sustained through written discourse or analysis.

To embrace the growing presence and efficacy of video essays as vehicles for propagating feminist arguments, MAI is open to hosting video essays. We define the video essay in broad terms to include any video-based media that offer a critical argument, analysis or commentary on a subject of feminist concern.

Video essays are short, usually made for online viewing. They often include footage that is either self-generated or drawn from different sources running to some form of commentary. Documentary, experimental and subjective video techniques that align with feminist concerns are strongly encouraged.

Preparing & sending us video essays, photographs & interactive art submissions

Video essays, photographic & interactive art submissions should address feminist concerns and methods in the contemporary global visual culture, conceptualised most broadly or focused on particular visual media examples.

We particularly encourage submissions that use an intersectional lens along with original critical approaches. Creative & high quality audiovisual delivery of sophisticated arguments sits at the centre of our publication criteria.

How to format your submission

We encourage you to include a written description and critical reflection with your visual & audiovisual work. The length of the accompanying text should not exceed 1000 words. You are to elaborate on the theoretical and philosophical influences as well as the methodology for devising your work. Write in clear style, avoiding long sentences. Always keep your reader in mind. If appropriate, include reference notes and bibliography. See our guidelines on how to edit your reference notes and bibliography.

  • Video work should be submitted in mp4 or m4v (MPEG-4) format (maximum of 300mb). We can accept larger files if justified.
  • Still images should be submitted as jpg, png, tiff files or pdf in case of vector images.
  • Image resolution should be no less than 1920px wide.
  • Minimum quality 720p (1280x720px).
  • File names: Words separated by ‘-’.
  • For video essays and interactive art please include a short description (max 50 words) and a poster image in jpg format.

How to send us your submission

Send your submissions to contact@maifeminism.com  Include the word ‘Submission’ followed by the title of your project  in the subject line.

In the body of your email, restate the title of your project and add your short description (50 words) along with a link to Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer through which we can download a copy.

An attachment to your email should contain a word file with your supporting statement.  Your video poster should be attached as well as a high-resolution jpg file.

All video essay submissions will be peer-reviewed. Please note that we have an open peer review policy which is not anonymous.

Please ensure that you have permissions (copyright) to use all visual and audiovisual materials that come from other sources. Where appropriate, copyright info should be included at the bottom of your supporting statement.

COPYRIGHTS

Do you always need to clear copyright?

In some instances—Fair Dealing (or Fair Use in the USA)—it is agreed that a copyright fee can be waived. Fair Dealing guidelines are not legally binding but are based on a ‘fair trade’ agreement, under which it is generally agreed that no fee will be set for text reproduced for the purposes of criticism, review, non-commercial research, or the reporting of current events, as long as the material is accompanied by an appropriate acknowledgement.

To determine if your use of previously-published material counts as Fair Dealing please consider the following:

  •  Are you truly reviewing or critiquing (i.e. engaging with) the extract, rather than merely quoting it?
  • Is the reproduction of this material genuinely necessary in order to make your point?
  • Would the inclusion of this material make the difference in terms of your publication being a viable alternative purchase for a potential reader?
  • Are you reproducing a significant proportion of the original text? Is the part you are reproducing a particularly important element of the original text?

You should always clear permission for the following:

  • Substantial sections of text for the purpose of criticism, review, or reporting current events (NB: there is no legal definition of what counts as ‘substantial’)
  • Any extract of text that is not for the purpose of criticism, review, or reporting current events (e.g. a short epigraph) or that forms the main argument of the work being quoted
  • Extracts from unpublished work
  • Any extract from a newspaper/journal/magazine
  • Pictures, figures, maps, tables
  • Trademarks (brand images, advertisements, logos)
  • Any extract from poetry/song lyrics (it is unlikely that ‘fair dealing’ will apply in any of these instances)

Screen Grabs

There is no legal precedent for the use of film stills in academic publications. However the Society for Cinema Studies advises (in recommendations that cannot be considered legally binding, but which seem sensible) that frame enlargements (or screen grabs) will most likely fall into the category of fair dealing if published in a scholarly book. As a general rule, if you are in any doubt it is advisable to contact the copyright holder.

PEER REVIEW

We aim at providing positive, inclusive and impartial peer review.

Members of our MAI collective are aware of potential power-wielding that can sometimes manifest at moments of academic peer review. Therefore, we are committed to fully transparent peer review, where all parties are kept aware of the process.

In all instances, MAI peer reviewers provide sensitive, constructive and supportive feedback, with awareness of any systemic access barriers restricting an author’s capacity to meet academic definitions of rigour and significance.

Reviewers are encouraged to provide their contact details to authors to develop a productive dialogue.

What happens after you’ve submitted your work for our consideration? 

  • Our managing editor will first assess your submission to check how it fits our scope and principles.
  • Your work will then be sent to specialist peer reviewers from our Editorial Board, the MAI Collective, and beyond.
  • If your work is accepted, you may still be asked to revise it as we prepare your article for publication.
  • If your submission is not deemed suitable for MAI, peer reviewers will offer constructive feedback to enable you to consider further options for resubmission.
  • Download Submission Guidelines
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WHO SUPPORTS US

The team of MAI supporters and contributors is always expanding. We’re honoured to have a specialist collective of editors, whose enthusiasm & talent gave birth to MAI.

However, to turn our MAI dream into reality, we also relied on assistance from high-quality experts in web design, development and photography. Here we’d like to acknowledge their hard work and commitment to the feminist cause. Our feminist ‘thank you’ goes to:


Dots+Circles – a digital agency determined to make a difference, who’ve designed and built our MAI website. Their continuous support became a digital catalyst to our idealistic project.
Guy Martin – an award-winning and widely published British photographer who’s kindly agreed to share his images with our readers

Chandler Jernigan – a talented young American photographer whose portraits hugely enriched the visuals of MAI website
Matt Gillespie – a gifted professional British photographer who with no hesitation gave us permission to use some of his work
Julia Carbonell – an emerging Spanish photographer whose sharp outlook at contemporary women grasped our feminist attention
Ana Pedreira – a self-taught Portuguese photographer whose imagery from women protests beams with feminist aura
And other photographers whose images have been reproduced here: Cezanne Ali, Les Anderson, Mike Wilson, Annie Spratt, Cristian Newman, Peter Hershey