Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Call for proposals for a themed issue of Parergon
http://www.parergon.arts.uwa.edu.au/

The journal Parergon, in print since 1971, regularly produces one open issue and one themed issue annually.

The most recent themed issues have been:

• 2011, 28.2 Reason of State, Natural Law and Early Modern Statecraft guest-edited by David Martin Jones and Cathy Curtis
• 2012, Early Modern Women and the Apparatus of Authorship, guest-edited by Sarah C.E. Ross, Patricia Pender and Rosalind Smith (in press)
• 2013, Thinking About Magic in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, to be guest-edited by Tracy Adams (forthcoming)

We now call for proposals for future themed issues, most immediately for 2014 (31.2) and 2015 (32.2).

Parergon publishes articles on all aspects of medieval and early modern studies, from early medieval through to the eighteenth century, and including the reception and influence of medieval and early modern culture in the modern world. We are particularly interested in research which takes new approaches and crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Proposals which deal with medieval material, in part or exclusively, will be particularly welcomed in this next round. Themed issues contain up to ten essays, plus the usual reviews section. The guest editor is responsible for setting the theme and drawing up the criteria for the essays.

Proposals should contain the following:

1. A draft title for the issue.
2. A statement outlining the rationale for the issue.
3. Titles and abstracts of all the essays.
4. A short biographical paragraph for the guest editor(s) and for each contributor.
5. An example of a completed essay if available. (This is not essential).

The editorial process:

Once a proposal has been accepted:

1. The guest editor will commission and pre-select the essays before submitting them to the Parergon editor by the agreed date.
2. The Parergon editor will arrange for independent and anonymous peer-review in accordance with the journal’s established criteria.
3. Once the essays have been peer-reviewed, the Parergon editor will communicate the feedback to the guest editor.
4. The guest editor will then be asked to work with the authors to bring the submissions to the required standard where necessary.
5. Occasionally a commissioned essay will be judged not suitable for publication in Parergon. This decision will be taken by the Parergon editor, based on the anonymous expert reviews.
6. Essays which have already been published or accepted for publication elsewhere are not eligible for inclusion in the journal.

Time line:

Proposals for the 2014 issue (31.2) are required by 30 January 2013, and completed essays by 30 January 2014 for publication in late 2014.

Proposals for the 2015 issue (32.2) are required by 30 January 2014, and completed essays by 30 January 2015 for publication in late 2015.

Preliminary expressions of interest are welcome at any time.

Proposals will be considered by a selection panel drawn from members of the Parergon Editorial Board who will be asked to assess and rank the proposals according to the following criteria:

1. Suitability for the journal
2. Originality of contribution to the chosen field
3. Significance/importance of the proposed theme
4. Potential for advancing scholarship in a new and exciting way
5. Range and quality of authors

Parergon, is available in electronic form as part of Project Muse (from 2005), Australian Public Affairs – Full Text (from 1994), and Wilson’s Humanities Full Text (from 2008); it is included in the Thomson Scientific Master Journal List of refereed journals and in the European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH), and is indexed for nine major database services, including ABELL, IMB and Scopus.

Please correspond with Anne M. Scott, Editor Parergon (The University of Western Australia): anne.scott@uwa.edu.au.