SUBMIT WORK

We are happy to receive writing, artwork, and suggestions from our readers. Below are guidelines for submitting work to the Indypendent Reader and some information on how our editorial process works.

Editorial Process

Unfortunately we have limited space in the paper itself and therefore cannot print all the material we receive, but we are happy to review your work and notify you of the editorial group’s response.

All submissions are reviewed by the Indypendent Reader editorial group and then rated for the selection process. Please note that meeting deadlines is often a determining factor in the selection process. When we receive an excess of material, we must first consider works that have met posted deadlines.

Once articles and artwork have been rated, they are reviewed by the editorial group for a second time and in some cases returned to their authors with suggestions and a final print deadline.

Our website provides us with the opportunity to publish additional articles on-line with the author’s permission. This additional material can be found in the News section of the home page. Articles for the website can be submitted at any time.

STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING ARTICLES FOR THE INDYDEPENDENT READER

Editorial Policy

The Indypendent Reader is a volunteer-based, non-profit publication. The Indypendent Reader encourages contributions from activists, journalists, and aspiring writers. The editorial group reserves the right to edit articles for length, content, and clarity. The editorial group may also ask authors to rewrite their contributions. We welcome greater participation in the editorial process.

Deadlines

Writers are welcome to submit typescripts to the Indypendent Reader editorial group at any time. The editorial group decides on deadlines for submissions to each issue of the Indypendent Reader. If an author wishes for an article to be published in a particular issue, then she or he should meet the deadlines set. Any changes made by an author after an issue has been sent for publication layout will not be included in that issue. Hence authors should make sure that all copy submitted by the deadline is as complete as they intend.

Copyright

The default position of the Baltimore Indypendent is to be copyright-free. Authors who wish to assert their copyright should do so explicitly at the bottom of their contribution (e.g. “Copyright © Sue Blogs 2007”). It is the duty of contributors to obtain express permission to reproduce materials copyrighted by someone else. The Indypendent Reader editorial group will not knowingly reproduce copyrighted materials without permission. The editorial group reserves the right to ban from future issues any contributor who knowingly submits the copyrighted material of another without obtaining permission or informing the editorial group in advance.

Typescript

All submissions should be made as Microsoft Word documents or text-only (ASCII) files without line breaks. They should be sent as Email attachments or on CD-ROM to the appropriate address above. Accompanying hard copy is appreciated as well. (3.5-inch floppy disks are also accepted.)

All articles should include the title and author’s name, unless a special explanation for the absence of one or the other is given. The editorial group reserves the right to change the provisional title.

Title, author’s name, section headings, and all paragraphs should be separated by a single blank line. Paragraphs should not be indented. Section headings should be in boldface. (These standards do not apply to poetry submissions.)

Authors should make every effort to proofread their own copy for spelling and punctuation and to edit it for sound structure and clarity before submission.

Authors should spell out all abbreviations and acronyms of organizations, institutions, and lesser-known technologies the first time they are used in an article, following this with the abbreviation/acronym in parenthesis, if it is used again in the article.

Authors should avoid endnotes and footnotes. If notes are unavoidable, they should be submitted in a separate MS Word or text-only file.

Figures and Tables

Figures—including photographic plates, drawings, maps, charts, and graphs—should be submitted as separate digital JPEGs or TIFFs of actual size and at a resolution of 300 dpi or greater. Please do not embedded images in documents.

Tables, such as multicolumn lists and cross-referenced data, should submitted as separate MS Word or text-only files (see “Typescript” above).

Contributors should provide captions for figures and tables in the main text, and they should attribute the former to the appropriate creator (e.g. “photograph by author” or “drawing by San Tee Claws”).

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