Submissions

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Submission Preparation 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.
  • Authors need to be members of the Society for Disability Studies in order to submit a manuscript. SDS memberships are on a sliding scale, starting at $5/month, and cancellable at any time. If you are not currently a member, please sign up here before submitting your manuscript: https://www.patreon.com/SocietyforDisabilityStudies.
  • To ensure the integrity of the peer-reviewed, you must anonymize your document properties (file info) as well as the text of your document. Avoid or minimize self citations (you can reintroduce them after the peer review). When you cannot avoid a self citation, refer to your work in the third person. Also remove any acknowledgments or references to funding sources until after the peer review.

    **In addition, you must remove author info from the file properties of your Word document.**
    Instructions:
    - Microsoft Office: In File Properties, remove author identification.
    - Word for Windows/ Word 365: Go to File > Info > Check for Issue (menu to the left of "Inspect Document").
    Click "Inspect Document," then click "Remove All document properties and Personal Information" if this box is checked.
    - Word for MacOS: go to Tools > Protect Document > Remove personal information for this file on save > click OK,
    and then save the file.
  • To ensure the accessibility of the journal's content, all images or figures must be accompanied by a text description.
  • Article must correctly conform to a standard citation and reference format: APA, ASA, Chicago, or MLA.

    For formatting and style issues not related to citations (indentation, formatting of quotations, punctuation, etc.), consult the Chicago Manual of Style. We may reject submissions with too many errors or that do not adhere to a standard citation style, so proofreading and consultation of the appropriate citations style guide is strongly recommended.

    In keeping with the Chicago Manual of Style, authors should always use double quotation marks (“), not single quotation marks (‘). The only time authors should use single quotation marks is when there is a quote within a quote. This is true for both the text and citations. In addition, commas and periods come before quotation marks whenever there is not a parenthetical citation (APA or MLA) that requires a different order.
  • To comply with the terms of the publisher's Crossref membership, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) must be included with references when they are available. To check for DOIs, you can use the Free DOI Lookup form on the Crossref website. By checking the box, you assert that you have included DOIs where applicable.
  • Make your document accessible. All submissions should:
    - be double-spaced, including abstract, quotations, and citations (single spacing is not accessible)
    - be left-aligned, with indented paragraphs
    - not have extra spaces between paragraphs
    - use 12-point font size or larger
    - use fonts such as Calibri and Times New Roman that are easy to read. Avoid fonts like Garamond that are difficult to read.
    - place quotations in-text unless they are more than one hundred words, in which case they are set off as block
    quotes (specific exceptions can be made for dialogue and other special circumstances --see Chicago Manual of Style for guidance on this and other formatting and style issues).
  • Article submissions must include a one-paragraph abstract and a list of keywords. This may not be necessary for some submissions, such as creative works.
  • Write for a general disability studies audience, not just for people from your own discipline. Most readers outside your field will want to get right to the material that is most interesting and original; they will not want to wade through a lengthy literature review section at the start of your paper. It is better to weave discussions of relevant literature into your paper as you make your arguments. It is also better to minimize jargon and make your writing accessible to a wide disability studies audience.
  • All figures, charts, graphs, and images include alt text.

Author Guidelines

Potential authors are invited to submit manuscripts online via the DSQ website by clicking "Make a Submission" on the sidebar.

The editors invite submission of article-length manuscripts (suggested length 8,000-12,000 words) as well as shorter works of creative writing. DSQ is a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and international journal of interest to social scientists, scholars in the humanities, disability rights advocates, creative writers, and others concerned with the issues of people with disabilities. It represents the full range of methods, epistemologies, perspectives, and content that the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field of disability studies embraces. We thus invite smart, interesting, and ground-breaking submissions engaged in developing theoretical and practical knowledge about disability and promoting the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society.

The DSQ Editors do not make preliminary courtesy decisions about the fit of a potential submission for DSQ. Authors considering DSQ as a potential publication venue should take the critical time and care to peruse the journal for themselves and determine the suitability of their work for DSQ. Reviewing a few recent issues from the journal would be useful. Also use the SEARCH bar and use key terms to find what the journal has already published that relates to your work.

DSQ does not consider manuscripts under review elsewhere or that have been previously published. We also do not accept unsolicited book reviews. All articles and pieces of creative writing published in DSQ are peer reviewed. 

We ask that all authors submitting manuscripts to DSQ:

  • State all sources of funding for research and include this information in either the acknowledgments (if appropriate) or as a footnote/endnote.
  • State in the manuscript, if appropriate, that the research protocol employed was approved by the relevant institutional review boards (IRB) or ethics committees for human or animal experiments and that all human subjects provided appropriate informed consent. Again, this information might appear in the acknowledgments (if appropriate) or as a footnote/endnote.

All submissions must be formatted in Microsoft Word (.docx).  We do not accept pdf files. Documents should be submitted as a single file, including appendices.

Remember that you are writing for an interdisciplinary audience. Assume your reader has a general understanding of disability studies but is not from your discipline. Usually it is best to avoid a separate "literature review" section in the beginning of the article--better to weave that analysis into your paper and not make the reader wait too long before understanding the most significant and original points you are making. (Obviously that does not apply to all submissions, such as literature review essays).

If submissions include images or tables, authors should insert such materials in the body of the articles at the appropriate point. All images must be accompanied by a text description. To comply with the terms of the publisher's Crossref membership, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) must be included with references when they are available. To check for DOIs, you can use the Free DOI Lookup form on the Crossref website.

Alternative text, also called "alt text" must be included for all images, charts, graphs, and figures. Alt text should be limited to 150 characters, and can be added to Word documents easily. Alt text should:

  • Be descriptive and concise: Describe the image clearly but keep it brief. A few words to a short sentence for a simple image or illustration is ideal, and one to two sentences is appropriate for more detailed graphs and charts. See examples below.
  • Add context: Include information that conveys the image's purpose and relevance within the article. Avoid simply describing what the image looks like.
  • Avoid redundancy: Do not start with phrases like "image of" or "picture of." Avoid repeating any information that is used in the figure caption or text. Screen readers will announce the figure as an image, then read the alt text, and then read the figure caption, and the user will ideally be able to gather the information of the whole image from all three elements.
  • Include relevant information: If the image contains relevant text, include it in the alt text.

Examples: We have included two generic cases in which an author would need to provide alt-text.

  • Photograph/illustration: Describe what is shown. (Examples: A woman smiling with short brown hair and glasses from the shoulders up. OR A dog sits on the foreground with a sign that reads “No loitering” with a forest in the background.)
  • Graph/diagram: Say what kind of graph or diagram is being shown (if applicable) and describe what is being measured/compared. Reminder, if the details of the graph/diagram are already described in the figure caption, it doesn’t necessarily have to be repeated in the alt-text. (Examples: A bar graph titled “Average cats per city” comparing the number of cats per household on the y-axis and the names of different cities on the x-axis. The cities include Columbus, Phoenix, Toronto, and Sacramento.)

Peer Review Process

All articles and creative works are reviewed by peers who have the appropriate knowledge and expertise. When we receive a new submission at DSQ we read it first, as editors, and then determine 2-4 peer reviewers for each submission.  We contact those reviewers and begin by requesting a review back in 4 weeks time.  Reviewers don't always respond quickly (or even agree to do the review) and thus, additional reviewers, or nudges for initial reviewers, must often follow.  It is not uncommon for the peer review process to take up to 6 months although we do our best to move a new submission through the process as quickly as possible.  

If you have not heard anything back from the DSQ editors on the status of your submission in 8-12 weeks time, you should always feel free to contact us and we will update you regarding the review process for your submission.

Once we have reviews back, we read those reviews and the original submission once again; we make careful consideration in our regular editorial meetings about the next steps forward. A DSQ Editorial Decision Letter then goes back to the author/s. If it is a Revise & Resubmit, we indicate the extent of those revisions (and include the original peer reviewer comments). We generally ask for a revision in 3 month's time; we also ask that such revisions also include a cover letter from the author/s that details the revisions that were made.

Final publication decisions are made by the Editor/s based on information gathered from the peer reviews and the success and extent of the revision that is re-submitted.

DSQ Special Issue Proposal Guidelines

The editors of Disability Studies Quarterly are happy to consider proposals for a special issue.  Proposals should include: 

  1. A five hundred-word abstract outlining your topic, current research and issues in the field, and the gaps in research your issue hopes to address. You may add additional length to highlight your experience as editors and describe your approach to editing and working with authors and manuscripts.
  2. A short CV for the special issue editor(s). This should also highlight your editing accomplishments.
  3. A one-page Call for Papers.
  4. A plan for soliciting and collecting scholarship from a wide range of academics, activists (if appropriate), and independent scholars.
  5. A plan for soliciting participants in the peer review process. Normally we expect Guest Editors to use DSQ's Online Journal System (OJS) to manage their editorial workflow. 
  6. A narrative project timeline with realistic completion dates for all phases of the project.

It is the responsibility of Guest Editors, once selected, to solicit submissions, arrange for peer reviews, referee the peer review process, make appropriate selections of quality pieces, copyedit selected articles, and work within the DSQ database to manage the editorial workflow and submit publication-ready materials. Please submit full contact details for all contributors.  Guest Editors are expected to update DSQ editors regularly on the progress and process of the special issue.  

Interested parties should send materials to the journal editors' email at: dsqeditors@disstudies.org.

Articles

Full-length manuscripts on research, theory, or reviews of the literature. Keep tables, figures and other images to a minimum; all such material must be accompanied by a brief narrative description. These articles will be sent to appropriate experts for review according to suggested criteria, without identifying the author(s). Suggested length: 8,000-12,000 words, excluding references (with our online format we do have flexibility). Please contact the editors if you have format questions.

Creative Works

The work submitted should be conscious of disability themes and issues and should adhere to the philosophy of DSQ as expressed in paragraph three of the Statement of Principles. Although DSQ has no restrictions as to school or form, work submitted in this area should exhibit an understanding of conventions of fiction and poetics. Work in this area will be peer reviewed by scholars and writers working with disability in the fields of cultural studies, humanities, and/or creative writing. For a poetry example, see "The Things I Forget". For a short story example, see "Window Offices." Regarding poetry and fiction accepted for publication: By agreeing to publish in DSQ, authors grant DSQ first rights to publication of the work(s) and subsequent archival on the DSQ web site. Rights revert to author upon publication. Length: Varies

Copyright Notice

This agreement takes effect upon acceptance of the Submission for publication.

By submitting this agreement, the author hereby grants to The Ohio State University, on behalf of its University Libraries’ Knowledge Bank, 175 W. 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (hereinafter "Publisher") the non-exclusive right to reproduce, translate, display, and/or distribute the Submission (including the abstract) as part of the Society for Disability Studies’s Disability Studies Quarterly (“Journal”), in print and electronic format and in any medium. You also agree that the Publisher may make and retain more than one copy for the purpose of preservation, security, and backup. You represent that you, as sole author and/or on behalf of your co-authors, have the authority to grant the rights contained in this agreement. You also represent that your Submission does not, to the best of your knowledge, infringe upon anyone’s copyright. If the Submission contains material for which you do not hold copyright, you represent that you have obtained the unrestricted permission of the copyright owner to grant the Publisher the rights in this agreement, and that such third party owned material is clearly identified and acknowledged within the text or content of the Submission. Alternatively, you represent that your use of third party material is allowed because the material is in the public domain or you have performed a fair use analysis and reasonably believe your use is permitted.

The author understands that the Publisher may grant these same rights to Journal. Additionally, the author also grants the right to both Journal and Publisher to enter into agreements with third party entities that grant such third party entities any or all of the rights that author has granted to Publisher herein. The aforementioned rights may include the rights necessary to index and abstract the Submission. 

The author agrees that any subsequent publication of the Submission will credit the Journal as the site of first publication and provide a link to the Journal website.

Disability Studies Quarterly is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license, to allow for certain types of reuse without permission. By submitting this agreement, the author agrees to apply a CC BY-NC-ND license to the Submission upon publication. 

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