Submissions
Guidelines (Française)
Requirements for Submission
All submissions to Canadian Literature (CL) must be original, unpublished work. Articles and book reviews should be double-spaced in 12-point font, and available in Rich Text Format (.rtf), or Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx). Poems should be available in Portable Document Format (.pdf) to ensure proper spacing.
Submit online at CanLit Submit.
We do not publish fiction.
We do not accept multiple submissions.
We do not accept previously published work.
Articles
We are interested in articles on all subjects relating to writers and writing in Canada; we do not adhere to one theoretical approach alone. Articles should follow current MLA bibliographic format. Maximum word length for articles is 6500 words which includes notes and works cited. As well, we ask that the authors submit a short bio (50 words) and an abstract (150 words) with their paper. We do not accept e-mail submissions of articles. The peer review process takes approximately three months.
Please submit articles at CanLit Submit and read the help documents for instructions.
Adjudication Process
CL uses a double-blind refereeing process and reserves the right to involve additional readers where required. A re-submission will go to at least one reader, who may or may not be one of the original referees.
Poetry
We accept submissions of original poems from Canadian citizens. Due to limited space in the journal, the length per poem should not exceed two pages. Each submission should be limited to five poems or less. All poetry submissions must include a short bio that lists previous publications, or for as yet unpublished poets, a few lines that give context for your work.
Please submit poems at CanLit Submit and read the help documents for instructions. Accepted poems will be published in the journal and on the website.
Book Reviews
All book reviews are written by contributors contacted by CL's Reviews Editors. We do not accept unsolicited book reviews. CL reviews scholarly works on related subjects such as postcolonialism, ecocriticism, feminism, and race and class studies, alongside discussions of a wide range of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and drama.
If you are interested in reviewing books for CL, please send your resume, including your academic qualifications and research interests, to the Reviews Editor at cl.reviews@ubc.ca.
Publishing Agreements
Until 1995, authors publishing in CL held the copyright to their work. With the advent of electronic publishing, however, this arrangement proved no longer practical. After extensive consultation with UBC's lawyers, CALJ (Canadian Association of Learned Journals), and the Writers' Union of Canada, CL produced two separate Publishing Agreements. The PA for poetry submissions leaves the copyright with the authors, while the PA for scholarly articles signs the copyright over to the journal. The Publishing Agreements may be viewed for either reviews or articles. Please note that authors who relinquish copyright to the journal may still re-publish their work elsewhere provided they obtain permission and acknowledge in print that the work first appears in CL.
Obtaining External Permission on Copyright Materials
It is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission to use any previously copyrighted material, photographs, or artwork that may be included in the Work. The author is responsible for paying permission fees and costs of reproduction. When obtaining permission, emphasize that this journal is a not-for-profit publication. Fees are normally much lower for such educational publications than for commercial publications. Canadian Literature is available on-line through EBSCO and ProQuest Subscription Services. If you are interested in having artwork displayed with your article when it is accessed through these services, be sure to specify both print and electronic format in your request to the publisher or agency; in the absence of explicit permission, visual supplements will not be included in the on-line version of your work.
