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.
  • The submission adheres to the requirements outlined in the Submission Guidelines.
  • All identifying information (name, affiliation, etc.) is removed from texts, metadata, and associated media.
  • Scholarly texts are single-spaced, 12-point font, and adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The author accepts responsibility for obtaining permission to publish any media submitted per the Submission Guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
  • The author grants to the Journal the authority to publish the article as an Open Access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution, NonCommercial, NoDerivatives license (CC BY-NC-ND).

Submission Instructions

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: 

If your proposal was accepted and you are submitting your final materials, please submit your work using the Open Journal System (OJS). Click here to submit your materials.

You will first be prompted to either register for an ORCID ID account (if you do not already have one) or authorize Columbia University Libraries Journals to access your existing ORCID record. For detailed instructions on how to register for an ORCID ID account and link your account to Columbia University Library click here.

Submissions should include the following:

Articles and Interviews

  • A scholarly abstract​ (no references) is required. The abstract should serve as a brief summary of your article. It must include the aims and outcomes of your research and make mention of any major personalities, collections, or locations discussed. This should be no more than 250 words. Please include a list of 5-6 keywords.
  • The full text file ​for your submission. Texts should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document with a .doc or .docx extension. All identifying information must removed.
  • Illustrations and media, in addition to appearing within the text, must be uploaded separately. Uploaded files cannot exceed 100mb. If upload limits are exceeded, a PDF may be uploaded that contains clearly labeled links to file hosting sites like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. Make sure that all links are publicly accessible and will remain active during the peer review process. All identifying information must removed from the titles and metadata of any uploaded files.
  • Full art preparation guidelines can be found here.   
  • Any necessary copyright permissions, in PDF file format. Permission instructions can be found here; a template for requesting permissions is available here.

Artworks

  • An abstract​ (no references) is required for all submissions. The abstract should serve as a brief description of the work and should include the artist's aims, details about the creative process, and other information relevant to the work and how it dialogues with the issue's themes. This should be no more than 250 words. Please also include a list of 5-6 keywords. All identifying information must be removed.
  • For Music: The audio file ​for your submission in mp3 file format.
  • For Poetry: The text as a Microsoft Word document with a .doc or .docx extension.
  • For Video: The video file for your submission in mp4 format. 
  • For Still Images: The file ​for your submission in PNG, JPEG or TIFF format, and of a suitable standard to reproduce, at least 300 dpi.  Full art preparation guidelines can be found here.   
  • The submission cannot exceed 100mb. If upload limits are exceeded, a PDF may be uploaded that contains clearly labeled links to file hosting sites like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. Make sure that all links are publicly accessible and will remain active during the peer review process. All identifying information must removed from the titles and metadata of any uploaded files.
  • Any necessary copyright permissions associated with your piece, in pdf file format. Permission instructions can be found here; a template for requesting permissions is available here.

ARTICLE SPECIFIC PREPARATION GUIDELINES

All texts should be original. Neither previously published work, nor work under consideration for publication elsewhere, will be accepted. Texts must be submitted in English.

Formatting

  • For articles, figure references should be included in the text (in parentheses, e.g. ‘(fig. 1)’) and the images labelled numerically (not descriptively). For more information on media and captioning, please see “Illustrations and Media”.
  • Ensure that references are provided in the endnotes for all quotations.
  • Please do not use headers and footers.
  • Please paginate all submissions.

House Style

Please use Chicago (author-date) style for in-text citations (cf. The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition);  ​Refer to the manual for guidance on internal style and crafting reference citations. 

Please adhere to the following house style preferences:

  • All texts should be single spaced 
  • Paragraphs should be indicated by a line-space, not indented.
  • Bold type and underlining should not be used.
  • In the main text, italicize titles of books and journals (please do not use underlining).
  • Put titles of articles, doctoral theses and exhibitions in single inverted commas.
  • Illustrations should be referred to in text as: (fig. 2) etc.
  • Notes should be formatted as endnotes, with Arabic numerals.

Spelling

Follow American English usage e.g. color, center, recognize, etc.

Quotations​

Set within double inverted commas; quotations within quotations in single inverted commas. Quotations more than six lines long should start on the next line and should be indented.

Illustrations and media

If your article includes figures or illustrations, please upload them as PNG, JPEG or TIFF files, and of a suitable standard to reproduce, at least 300 dpi. If files exceed the 100mb uploading limit, upload a PDF with links to Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. Full art preparation guidelines can be found here.

If the images are not the work of the author, please begin acquiring images and clearing rights as soon as your article or review has been accepted. Permission instructions can be found here; a template for requesting permissions is available here.

All images must have been cleared for copyright purposes and all costs and permissions to reproduce are the responsibility of the contributor, who must provide correct credit lines for the image as well as the digital files. Online rights must be obtained from the rights-holder. Openwork illustrates its digital publication in full color, although grayscale images may be accepted  depending on the source material.

The Journal encourages multimedia additions to its articles. Please submit a short comment to the editors describing any plans for incorporating media if not already clear from submitted matierals.

Copyright clearance and any associated costs for permissions for audio and video recordings, or other varieties of digital media, are the sole responsibility of the author.

Captions

  • Please number figures in order and make sure that image files can be clearly identified from their file-names.
  • All images must have a catalogue-style caption supplied as a separate list. Captions should include:
    • Maker
    • Title (in italics)
    • Date
    • Medium
    • Measurements (in centimeters or meters)
    • Location (Institution, Geographic Location)
    • Copyright statement
    • Courtesy line and/or photo credit

Example:

Fig 1.​ Yinka Shonibare, ​The Swing (after Fragonard),​ 2001, mannequin, cotton costume, 2 slippers, swing seat, 2 ropes, oak twig and artificial foliage, 3.3 x 3.5 x 2.2 m (Tate, London) © Yinka Shonibare; image courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

SELECTION FOR PUBLICATION

  • Authors and artists will be alerted by an editor as to whether their submission has been accepted, declined, or if a revision is requested.
  • If a revision is requested, authors or artists must carefully consider and respond to the referee comments, and resubmit, adhering to editorial deadlines.
  • After the first round of peer reviewer, where peer reviewers and authors / artists remain anonymous, authors / artists will be given the option to engage in an open dialogue with peer-reviewers, and to co-curate and integrate (in collaboration with the openwork editorial committee) selections of these exchanges into published issues.
  • Authors of accepted papers will receive proofs of their article after the decision is sent. Timely attention to proofs will ensure the article is prepared in time for publication of the next issue.

RESUBMISSIONS

Submissions not accepted for publication because they did not fit the scope of the issue’s themes, may be resubmitted for future issues. If you would like to resubmit, please include a cover letter detailing when you originally made your submission and the comments you were provided.

Articles

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