Guidelines

Submission Checklist

Include the following information in your submission:

• Author bio (50-100 words)
• Abstract (150-200 words) and keywords (5-7). See below for guidelines
• For special/themed issue submissions: (1) Specify which call for papers you are responding to, and (2) Indicate whether you would like your paper to be considered for a future general issue if it is not accepted into the special/themed issue

Submission length

• Word count: Between 7,000-8,000 words (including endnotes and references)
• Shorter works between 2,000-3,000 words may be submitted for consideration for the Opinions & Notes section (specify upon submission). These are not peer reviewed so they are also not considered scholarly articles.

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Abstracts and Keywords

Every submission to Canadian Literature should be accompanied by an abstract of 150-200 words that summarizes the intervention that the essay makes. A strong abstract helps Canadian Literature find suitable peer-reviewers for an essay. A strong abstract makes a published article more “discoverable” and more likely to be cited because abstracts are “mined” for their metadata by scholarly indexes and algorithmically curated platforms like Google Scholars.

Every submission to Canadian Literature should also be accompanied by 5-7 keywords relevant to the essay. Useful keywords are terms that, if searched for in a specialized academic search engine, for example, Google Scholar, will yield relevant scholarship. Keywords that don’t summon up the scholarly conversation to which you see your work contributing may not be useful keywords.

We ask that abstracts include most (if not all) of the following:

• language written in third-person (e.g., “In this article, Joanne Blow argues that . . .” rather than “In this article, I argue that . . .”)
• an abbreviated version of the essay’s title or perhaps another way to identify it (e.g., “this essay about belonging”)
• the full title(s) of the primary text(s) under discussion, italicized or put in quotation marks as appropriate
• publication years of the primary text(s) under discussion OR the general time-period of the writing of the text (e.g., “early twentieth-century novelist . . .”) Use “evergreen language” rather than language that will go out of date (e.g., refer to a writer’s “2014” novel rather than “latest” novel)
• genres and even subgenres of the primary text(s) under discussion (e.g., “novel,” “fantasy novel”)
• author(s)’s name(s) of text(s) under discussion and any additional biographical/positional details about the author(s), especially if these authors identify themselves in these ways and/or these are details relevant to their work (e.g., “Trinidadian Canadian author,” “Cree author”)
• terms identified as keywords. If your article uses a theoretical term as an heuristic, you could put that term in quotation marks to signal its distinction as a coined term (e.g., see “refugeetude” in the example below)
• a summary of the essay’s argument, ideally indicating methodology or approach

Below are sample abstracts and keywords for articles from back issues of Canadian Literature. They have been slightly revised with authors’ permission to include missing/valuable elements for the purposes of providing examples.

Example 1 (from “‘The Sea is History'” by Nicole Flores):

Abstract:
This essay examines water mythologies and relationships in Haisla writer Eden Robinson’s 2000 novel Monkey Beach and Trinidadian Canadian writer Dionne Brand’s 2001 work of creative nonfiction A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging. It considers Robinson’s novel and Brand’s hybrid genre memoir-essay together because they both consider how the water offers anticolonial alternatives for place-making and comparably write water as a site of belonging but not claiming. When Brand dips her hands in the water to pay respect to Yemayá and Robinson’s protagonist Lisamarie dips her hands in the Kitlope River, both distance the practice of place-making from the confines of a colonial claiming. This essay argues, then, that considering how water fosters place-making in these texts can generate thinking that surpasses colonial creations and capturings of space and highlights forms of belonging that exist outside these restrictions.

Keywords: Water methodologies; belonging; wayfinding; resistance; literary mapping; Eden Robinson; Monkey Beach; Dionne Brand; A Map to the Door of No Return

Example 2 (from “‘Work Hard’ to find ‘Home'” by Basmah Rahman):

Abstract:
This essay applies Vinh Nguyen’s seminal concept of “refugeetude” to Laotian Canadian author Souvankham Thammavongsa’s 2020 collection How to Pronounce Knife: Stories. Focusing on the stories “A Far Distant Thing,” “Edge of the World,” and “How to Pronounce Knife,” Rahman argues that homemaking is complicated by refugee subjecthood as it is shaped by imposed narratives of gratitude, thus uniquely implicating them in Canada’s multicultural discourse. Even though refugeetude is an achieved consciousness, Rahman notes that it still leads to prolonged states of loneliness, particularly among second-generation refugees. Despite this loneliness, Thammavongsa’s collection refuses “refugee narratives to be subsumed into a national fabric.” Indeed, refugee claims to anger, joy, silence and living beyond survival are necessary to finding home in the nation-state.

Keywords: Souvankham Thammavongsa; How to Pronounce Knife; refugee subjectivity; refugeetude, Vinh Nguyen; gratitude

Example 3 (from “Métis Futurist Research Creation” by Tianne Jensen-DesJardins):

Abstract:
This essay provides a reading of two stories, “Buffalo Bird” and “Unsettled,” to better understand how peoplehood and transformative potential figure into Vowel’s conception of Métis futurisms. This essay uses peoplehood as an approach that privileges the connections between Métis people rather than understanding Métis identity on purely racial terms. Similarly, the power of transformation in Vowel’s collection is rendered ordinary, and exceptional acts of transformation are recognized as transformative acts that create an impact. Transformation is also analyzed beyond the literature in Vowel’s innovative use of footnotes within her collection, and how footnotes can function as a form of methodology. Understood as research creation, Vowel’s creative-scholarly stories model Métis ways of knowing and producing knowledge, which creates space for Métis research practices within the academy.

Keywords: Chelsea Vowel; Buffalo is the New Buffalo; Métis knowledge production; Indigenous futurisms; identity formation; Land Back

Document formatting

• Font: 12 pt., Times New Roman (or another default font such as Calibri or Arial)
• Spacing: Double-spaced
• Page layout: Standard, with 1-inch margins on each side and 8.5 x 11-inch dimensions
• File format: Word document (.doc or .docx)
• Citations: Formatted according to the latest edition of MLA style

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Anonymizing your submission

Canadian Literature uses a double-anonymized peer review process where the author(s) and peer reviewers are anonymous to each other. To ensure the integrity of this process, please ensure that you have taken the following steps prior to submission.

If necessary, please include an anonymized version of your article and abstract, in addition to the original file, in your submission. Examples of identifying information that should be removed in the anonymized version include:

• Author names, affiliations
• Dedications and acknowledgements
• First-person references to sources created by the submission author(s).
  • In text: E.g., Change “In my book on Canadian literature” to “In [your name]’s book on Canadian literature”; change “As we have shown in our previous study” to “As Cornell and Nguyen have shown in their previous study.”
  • Works cited: You may keep your name(s) in the works cited, as redacting for anonymity will actually draw attention to them and make it more obvious who the author(s) are if the peer reviewer has access to the source.
• Author information in the file properties (sometimes Microsoft Word saves identifying information such as usernames in the file).
  • To check on Windows/PC:
    • Go to “File” on the toolbar menu
    • Click Info > Check for issues > Inspect document
    • Navigate to the section titled “Document Properties and Personal Information”
    • Click “Remove All”
    • Save the file
  • To check on Mac:
    • Go to “File” on the toolbar menu
    • Click “Properties”
    • Go to the “Summary” tab
    • Delete your name (if applicable) from the “Author” field, then click “OK”
    • Save the file
  • If you are not using Microsoft Word, navigate to your word processing software or application’s file settings to determine if there are equivalent sections where you can edit document properties. If in doubt, please let us know and we can do our best to locate and remove identifying information from your submission file as needed

Notifying us of potential conflict of interest in peer review

If you are aware of any potential peer reviewers who might pose a conflict of interest if they are asked to peer review your submission, please let us know in the submission process. Examples of people who might pose a conflict of interest include research supervisors, thesis and dissertation committee members, instructors, or others who might have read your submission before or would be able to identify you as the author of the submission.

We understand that some identifying information (for example, Indigenous affiliations and kinship ties) can be integral to the submission’s context in such ways that even temporarily redacting them for the peer review process would negatively impact understanding of the work. In those cases, simply anonymize your submission to the best of your ability and we will also do our best to check that enough identifiable information is

If you have questions about what is considered identifying information, or would like support anonymizing your document, feel free to contact us.

About the peer review process

Canadian Literature uses a double-anonymous refereeing process. Submissions go through up to two rounds of peer review, with at least two reviewers per round. For the article to be accepted, there must be at least two favourable recommendations (ie. Accept and/or Accept with Revisions) in total: either two in the first round (meaning a second round of peer review is not necessary), one in each round (if the first round decision is Revise & Resubmit), or two in the second round. We do not allow a third round of revisions.

A reviewer for the second round may be one of the original referees or may be a new reviewer. Canadian Literature reserves the right to involve additional readers where required.

The editor can make exceptions to the peer reviewers’ decisions, based on the quality of the review, the expertise of the reviewer, and the quality of the submission. However, we usually follow the advice of our expert peer reviewers. The full procedure takes approximately three months or more. We appreciate your patience in the process.

Opinions & Notes

Occasionally, Canadian Literature publishes shorter opinion pieces and notes. Pieces may be submitted for consideration (specify upon submission that you are submitting to the Opinions & Notes section). While these submissions are not peer-reviewed (and are therefore not considered scholarly articles), they are subject to editorial review. Recent submissions have been between 2,000-3,000 words and have included personal reminiscences, responses to content published by the journal, notes about pedagogy, and bibliographies.

We accept scholarly interviews of writers working in the creative, literary, and/or academic landscapes of Canadian literature. These interviews fall under the same guidelines as articles (i.e., they are also peer-reviewed and about 7,000-9,000 words in length). Each interview submitted should include an abstract, a brief introduction (framing the interview), the interview itself, and any relevant works cited and/or notes.

Given that interview subjects are identified, peer-reviews are not “double-anonymized,” but the interviewer will be anonymized. Peer-reviewers will be asked to assess the interviewer’s initial framing of the interview and the scope, reach, and value of their questions as well as their editing of the interview subjects’ responses.

We accept submissions of original poems from Canadian citizens and permanent residents. All poetry submissions must include a short biography that lists previous publications or, for as yet unpublished poets, a few lines that give context for your work.

Due to space considerations, poems of 1-2 pages in length are preferred. Please do not include more than 5 poems per submission. Files must also be in Portable Document Format (.pdf) to ensure proper spacing and formatting.

Accepted poems will be published in the journal and on the website. Note that your Social Insurance Number will be required for a small honorarium. Separate arrangements for payment will be made if your poem has been accepted for publication.

Structure and Format

The forums we publish are usually structured as either a cluster of short, individual contributions (each with their own titles, works cited, etc.) OR as a roundtable (where the contributors publish their conversation with each other). You are welcome to experiment with these formats or propose alternate forum formats to us.

Forums can be peer-reviewed or not, depending on the forum contributors’ preferences.

Non-peer-reviewed forums are not sent out for peer review but are still rigorously edited and undergo copy-edits and revisions. In addition to being published in print and digitally available through ProQuest and other aggregators, they are published as open-access content on the canlit.ca website once the issue, to which they are assigned, is launched.

Peer-reviewed forums go through a double-anonymous refereeing process and can go through up to two rounds of peer review, with at least two reviewers per round. For the forum to be accepted, there must be at least two favourable recommendations (i.e., Accept and/or Accept with Revisions) in total: either two in the first round (meaning a second round of peer review is not necessary), one in each round (if the first round decision is Revise and Resubmit), or two in the second round. We do not allow a third round of revisions. The peer review process may add approximately 3-6 months onto the overall timeline, depending on the amount of revisions needed. In addition to being published in print and digitally available through ProQuest and other aggregators, peer-reviewed forums will be made open-access on our website after the one-year embargo is lifted.

You can view examples of recent non-peer-reviewed forums we’ve published online to get a sense of formatting and structure for yours (scroll down to “Forums”):

• Issue 249 (Pasts, Presents, and Futures of Canadian Comics)
• Issue 251 (Poetics and Extraction)
• Issue 254 (Feminist Critique Here and Now)
• Issue 255 (General issue)
• Issue 257 (General issue)

Forum Coordinator and Contributor Responsibilities

The Forum Coordinator is responsible for:

• Soliciting contributions (typically anywhere between 5-10 pieces, as long as total word count length does not exceed ~12,000 words)
• Coordinating the framing and brief introduction for the forum
• Overseeing the revisions process (whether peer-reviewed or not)
• Collecting authors’ names, bios, and emails and providing them to the journal
• Submitting the forum file (and any other applicable materials, e.g., copyright permission forms)
• Writing an abstract for the forum that follows guidelines aimed as improving discoverability
• Providing keywords for the forum

Forum contributors are responsible for:

• Reviewing editorial feedback and making revisions to their forum contributions
• Providing an author name, bio, ORCID, and email address for the Forum Contributor to send to the journal
• Signing a publication agreement (which the journal will send to each contributor directly during the copy-editing stage)

You are welcome to have more than one forum coordinator or delegate tasks among the group.

Forum Submission Checklist

☐	Length: 6,000-12,000 words total
☐	Title (for forum as a whole, and for individual contributions)
☐	Abstract (100-150 words) and Keywords, for forum as a whole
☐	Brief introduction to the forum to contextualize its significance and summarize its contributions (Forum Coordinator is responsible for this, but can collaborate with other contributors)
☐	For individual contribution clusters: a title, Works Cited section (if applicable), and author bio for each individual contribution For roundtable format: Works Cited section or footnotes indicating works referenced in conversation, and author bios from each contributor
☐	If images or other quoted material requiring copyright permissions are included, the forum coordinator(s)/contributors are responsible for: obtaining permission to include the material using our form (which will be provided for you if applicable), meeting the terms and conditions of use (e.g., paying permission fees and costs, providing a copy of the journal to the copyright holder, including citations as requested by the creators of the material, and otherwise ensuring you are obtaining permission and citing the material ethically)
☐	All the above emailed to the Journal Assistant (can.lit@ubc.ca)

We do NOT currently accept unsolicited reviews. All book reviews are written by contributors contacted by our editorial staff. As of summer 2023, we are only publishing new reviews of scholarly works on literatures in Canada (broadly defined), especially in relation to approaches such as postcolonialism, ecocriticism, feminism, and critical race and class studies, as well as literary and cultural history.

Reviews FAQs

• Is the book review process anonymous?

No, but reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest such as being an author, editor, or otherwise contributor of the book, or being commissioned by a third party to publish a review.

• How long should my review be?

Reviews are typically 1,000–2,000 words in length. For longer reviews, please consider submitting a review essay.

• What is a Review Essay?

Review essays examine 2-3 (or more) texts on a particular topic and show how they each contribute to their field(s). Unlike reviews, review essays can sometimes go through a round of author revisions with feedback from the Reviews Editor, if they are accepted for publication. Review essays are typically 2,000-3,500 words in length.

• Where will my review be published?

Reviews and review essays are published on our website in our Book Reviews section. At their discretion, the editorial team may also assign reviews to be published in the “Books in Review” section of our print issues.

• Are reviews paid?

Unfortunately, we do not currently offer payment or honoraria for reviews. In advance of your review, CanLit will arrange for a copy of the book(s) under review to be mailed to you by the publisher. Electronic copies may also be available. If your review is selected for publication in a print issue, we will mail you a complimentary copy of the issue in which your review appears.

• I am a book reviewer and see that you do not accept unsolicited reviews, but I think you might be interested in my book review or idea for a book review. Can I still submit one?

Although we do not accept unsolicited book reviews and only publish reviews on scholarly texts, we do welcome statements of interest from potential reviewers. If you are interested in reviewing books for us, please reach out on our Contact Us page. Be prepared to send the following:

1. A CV or Resumé, including your academic qualifications and research interests
2. A 500-word sample of your writing (or a sample review)
3. A short statement of interest outlining which book(s) you are interested in reviewing

• I am an author / publisher / distributor with a forthcoming publication. Would you consider our catalogues or books for review?

If you are interested in sending books to us for review, please use the Contact Us page to coordinate review copies and catalogues. Please do not send copies before contacting the journal.

Before submitting a proposal to guest-edit a special issue, please check with the Editor-in-Chief (canlit.editor@ubc.ca) and/or Managing Editor (cl.manager@ubc.ca) first. Canadian Literature often has issues planned 2-3 years in advance and may have upcoming issues on themes that overlap with your idea. We ask that you consult sample calls for papers (CFPs) for Canadian Literature and let us know whether or not you have possible contributors (former panelists, etc.) in mind or plan to solicit submissions through a conference or event. Please also make sure to include the following in your proposal:

• the issue focus and title,
• proposed submission deadline,
• acceptable length of submissions,
• brief bios & contact information for all guest editors, and
• anything that might impact your capacity or availability as guest editor(s) within the roughly 18-month production timeline.

General Considerations

• Special issues usually take ~18 months to produce from CFP deadline to publication.
• Typical page count for an issue of Canadian Literature is 196 pages (~285 pages for double issues).
• Approx. 140 pages (for double issues, ~230 pages) are devoted to special issue content, including the editorial, 5-6 peer-reviewed articles, and (if desired) a peer-reviewed or non-peer reviewed forum.
• Beginning January 2027, the journal will appear only in digital format.
• Guest editors may submit articles to their own special issue. Published special issues may include a maximum of 1 article by a guest editor of that special issue.

Guest Editors will:

• prepare the CFP for the special issue,
• respond to specific queries about the issue theme and direction,
• review and select incoming article submissions for peer review,
• provide a list of potential peer reviewers for each article,
• select at least 5-6 articles (10-12 articles for double issues) to include in the issue, once peer reviews are completed,
• correspond with the authors about submissions,
• synthesize recommendations for revisions from both reviewers and guest editors, and clearly outline expectations and deadlines for final manuscript submission,
• review and select incoming Forum submissions (if applicable),
• write the editorial introducing the issue (~2,000-4,000 words),
• verify that final manuscripts of articles and Forum contributions conform with journal expectations,
• devise the Table of Contents (putting the articles and other content in desired order), and
• review copy-edits, printer proofs, and digital proofs for major concerns.

Canadian Literature will:

• handle general queries about submissions (and forward specific queries to guest editors),
• process incoming submissions via our submissions platform (OJS), moving them through production,
• provide editors with regular updates about incoming submissions,
• facilitate all peer review correspondence,
• liaise with authors of accepted content regarding publishing agreements,
• handle final copy-editing of essays and abstracts after guest editors have given all contents a thorough read-through,
• ensure that house style and MLA formatting have been followed, and
• select book reviews (with advice from guest editors) and poetry for the issue.

If you would like to guest edit a special/themed issue of our journal or are interested in more information, please send queries and proposals using our Contact Us page.

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 (PAs).

You may view examples of our Publishing Agreement here:

• Poetry
• Articles
• Reviews

Poetry Submissions: PAs leave the copyright with the authors

Scholarly articles and reviews: PAs sign the copyright over to the journal. However, 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.

Authors are required to sign PAs before their work can be published in print. If your work has been accepted for publication, we will send you a personalized PA. We do not accept signed PAs that have been edited by the author.