Guidelines for Submissions
Literature and Modern China 《文学与现代中国》(LMC) is an open-access, international, peer-reviewed journal devoted to all aspects of Chinese literature and literary culture. We welcome submissions written in English on any aspect of literature and its study in the Chinese-speaking world from earliest times to today. We are open to all academic approaches—including literary history, criticism, theory, translation studies, etc.—and all theoretical perspectives. Although we are considering devoting future special issues to original translations of Chinese literature, at present, we only accept translations as part of broader scholarly research.
All submissions must be original work that has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by any other journal or publisher. Additionally, the corresponding author warrants that any additional authors have agreed to the publication of your work in LMC, that your research and work meets LMC’s ethical standards, and that you have disclosed any conflicts of interest to the editor and as an endnote in your submission.
We accept submissions through our online portal. LMC is a double-blind, peer-reviewed journal, so please make sure there is no identifying information (your name, institutional affiliation, etc.) in any of the materials you submit—including in the Word file’s metadata. To check for this, click on “Properties…” under the file menu in Word and delete your name if it is listed in “Author” under the “Summary” tab. Don’t worry, the online submission system will ensure that your submission remains connected to your name.
Formatting
To simplify the submission process and ease the burden on our editorial staff, we ask that you submit your work using this Word template. This will ensure that you are following our style and layout guidelines. All articles must be submitted as Word documents (.docx or .doc). We are unable to accept PDFs or other file types. The manuscript should be formatted as U.S. Letter size (8.5x11 inches) with one-inch margins on all sides. For English, please use 12-point Times New Roman font. For Asian characters, we accept any font and will alter it as necessary before publication.
Quotes that take up two or more lines of text should be formatted as block quotes indented from the left margin and single-spaced (see the examples in this document). Shorter quotes should remain in-line with the rest of the text.
Spelling and Punctuation
LMC uses American English spelling and punctuation rules—e.g., “globalization” not “globalisation,” the use of “double-quotes” not ‘single quotes,’ and the placing punctuation inside end quotes “as seen here.” If you are uncertain, please consult a dictionary or style guide for American English.
Names and Terms in Languages Other than English
Names in languages which use the Roman alphabet should be written in the original languages. Important terms translated into English from such languages should be followed, on first mention, by the source-language term italicized in parentheses. The source language may be indicated if necessary for comprehension, e.g., “black bile (Latin, melancholia).”
Chinese names should be transcribed in pinyin with the Chinese characters following in parentheses on first mention, e.g., “Su Shi (苏轼, 1037-1101).” Important Chinese terms should be translated into English and followed, on first mention, in parentheses by pinyin transcription in italics and the original Chinese characters, e.g., “the ancient prose style (guwen 古文).” LMC uses complex characters (fantizi 繁體字) for Chinese. If you have a strong reason for using simplified characters (jiantizi 简体字) in your article, please leave a note explaining your reasons during the submission process.
For other languages, follow the patterns above. Japanese should be Romanized using Revised Hepburn, Korean using the Revised Romanization of Korean, and Tibetan using the Wylie system. Sanskrit should be transliterated according to the IAST scheme.
Citations
LMC follows the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook except as noted below. Citations should follow the MLA in-text citation style. Works quoted from or drawn upon should be noted in the prose of the manuscript or in parentheses immediately following the cited material. E.g.,
Williams argues that the story, “Xiao Hua’s Birthday (Xiaohua de shengri 小花的生日),” is Wu Zuxiang’s first work of naturalism (45).
or
“Xiao Hua’s Birthday (Xiaohua de shengri 小花的生日),” is arguably Wu Zuxiang’s first work of naturalism (Williams 45).
When citing sources by two authors, both authors should be cited by name. E.g.,
As West and Idema have shown, the ideology of Northern plays reflects the urban background in which they were composed (xi).
or
Ideologically, the urban background of Northern plays is clear (West and Idema, xi).
If the source has three or more authors, the first author’s name is used for citation. E.g.,
Damrosch and colleagues note the dominance of poststructuralism in comparative literature studies of the 1980s (xiv).
or
The 1980s witnessed the rise of poststructuralist theory among comparativists concerned with power relations and issues of social inequality (Damrosch et al. xiv)
If two authors share the same surname, use their first initial to distinguish them in parenthetical citations, e.g., (P. Williams 45). If authors share both surname and first initial, use their full first names in parenthetical citations, e.g., (Philip Williams 45). If their surname and first names are identical, use middle initials. If there is no other way to distinguish them, lowercase letters may be added after their names in both parenthetical citations and the works cited list, e.g., (Chen Hao a 112). If you are citing more than one text by the same author, include the title of the work or a shortened version of that title in citations. E.g.,
In his introduction to World Literature in Theory, Damrosch suggests that world literature and national literatures exhibit a “figure-ground reversal” (9).
or
The relationship of world literature and national literatures has been characterized as a figure-ground reversal (Damrosch, World Literature 9)
When citing works in that do not use the Roman alphabet, cite the author’s name (and work title if required) in English transcription (the original will be included in the works cited list, see below). For situations not discussed here, please consult the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook.
Endnotes should be used sparingly and only to clarify or expand on issues that are important but would interfere in the flow of the argument if included in the main text. Do not use endnotes for citations. LMC does not use footnotes.
Works Cited
The works cited list should be placed after the end of the article. It should be labeled “Works Cited,” organized alphabetically by author, and formatted single-spaced. It should include only works actually cited in the manuscript and should be formatted following MLA style. It is important to correctly cite every source used to avoid accusations of plagiarism. The following are samples of common types of works cited entries. For situations not illustrated here, please consult the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook.
Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of digital Communication Media,” PMLA, vol. 128 no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
Philip F. Williams. Village Echoes: The Fiction of Wu Zuxiang. Westview Press, 1993.
West, Stephen H. and Wilt L. Idema. Monks, Bandits, Lovers, and Immortals: Eleven Early Chinese Plays. Hackett Publishing, 2010.
David Damrosch et al., editors. The Princeton Sourcebook in Comparative Literature: From the European Enlightenment to the Global Present. Princeton UP, 2009.
Yang Yi 杨义. 2005. Zhongguo xiandai xiaoshuo shi 中国现代小说史 (A History of Modern Chinese Fiction). 3 vols. Beijing: Zhongguo chuban jituan.
Wang Meng 王蒙. 1992. “Zhongguo de xianfeng xiaoshuo yu xin xieshizhuyi 中国的先锋小说与新写实主义(Chinese avant-garde fiction and new realism).” Dangdai zuojia pinglun 《当代作家评论》 vol. 54 no. 6, 4–5.
Note that for sources that are not in English a translation in parentheses follows the title in the original language. For sources in languages that do not use the latin alphabet, the transcribed title should precede the title in the original characters.
