Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Complutense Journal of English Studies (CJES) welcomes contributions in the form of articles, reviews and interviews written in English. Submissions should represent original research, not published elsewhere or under review in another journal. It should also be related to one of the areas covered by the journal. Authors may send their manuscripts throughout the whole year.

Types of Submission

The journal publishes the following types of contribution: research articles, reviews of books not more than five years old and interviews. These contributions will be dealing with all areas of English Studies, i.e. linguistics (both theoretical and applied), translation, literatures in English (and comparative literature), critical theory and cultural studies.

Considering the research lines of this journal, proposals belonging to the field of English didactics / teaching English as a foreign language are generally considered outside the main lines of the journal. Proposals in this field will only be considered for publication as long as they prove that the study presents solid and innovative research in their field, offering a high degree of interest for the wider scientific-academic community in English linguistics. Otherwise, we invite authors to send their manuscript to a journal whose main domain is language teaching and learning.   

Submission Process

This journal only accepts electronic submissions. Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts using the OJS (Open Journal System) web site (https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CJES/login). The Publisher and Editors regret that they are not able to consider submissions that do not follow this process. Should authors encounter difficulties with the online system, please contact the journal editors.

Submissions must contain the following two files:

a) Anonymous version of the manuscript

b) Cover Sheet (see details below)

Length of Articles and Reviews

Complutense Journal of English Studies (CJES) welcomes articles between 6000 and 9000 words (excluding References and Appendices), and reviews of books (published within the last five years) between 2000 and 6000 words (excluding References).

Stylesheet

All contributions, both articles and reviews, should follow these guidelines: 1,5 spacing, 12pt type size, Times New Roman, including Abstracts (see below), end notes and References. No contribution should exceed 2,600 characters (letters + spaces) per page. Margins should be as follows: upper margin 2 cms; lower margin 1,75 cms.; left and right margins, 2 cms. Text should be justified.

Cover Sheet

1. Title (in both English and Spanish)
2. Author’s name, professional affiliation (university and department), ORCID identity number, email address and a short biodata (100-150 words) 
3. Abstract (Maximum 200 words) followed by keywords (max. 5) in both English and Spanish
4. Contents List (see Article Structure below)

Article Structure

a. Subdivisions - numbered sections:

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (Note that the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

b. Letter types for section and subsection headings:

Main section: in bold (excluding section number), e.g. 1. Introduction

Sub-section: In bold and capitalise only first word (and words which require capitalisation according to the spelling rules of the language in question), as 1.1. Aims and scope of the study

Sub-subsection: as in sub-section, in bold, e.g. 2.2.1. The sociolinguistic perspective

Quotations: Short quotations (of up to about 40 words) should be incorporated into the text using inverted commas. Longer quotations should be in 10pt type size, Times New Roman and indented 1,5 cm left without quotation marks.

Single and double quotation marks: Use double quotation marks around a word or quotation from another author. Use single quotation marks to indicate the translation of single words and phrases, words intended to indicate a meaning, and quotations within quotations.

Examples: They should be numbered with Arabic numerals between parentheses and set apart from the main body of the text by leaving spaces before and after. Examples in a language other than English should be accompanied by a translation or gloss as appropriate.

Italics: Use italics for titles of books and journals, to emphasise particular words or phrases under discussion, and cited linguistic forms.

Notes and References: Footnotes should be kept to a minimum. There should also be a References section at the end of the manuscript. Please do not number this heading.

Citation style for references

- CJES follows Chicago Author-Date Citation Style.

- DOIs should be added and linked at the end of each reference entry, whenever this is possible.

- Contributors are requested to observe these norms rigorously. Failure to do so can cause postponement of an article to a later issue.

A few examples of the reference format in Chicago Author-Date are as follows:

Auer, Peter, Martin Hilpert, Anja Stukenbrock and Benedikt Szmrecsanyi, eds. 2013. Space in Language and Linguistics: Geographical, Interactional, and Cognitive Perspectives. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110312027

Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman Grammar of Written and Spoken English. London: Longman.

Brontë, Charlotte. 1999. Shirley. Translated by Gema Moral Bartolomé. Barcelona: Alba Editorial.

Kerswill, Paul. 2013. "Identity, ethnicity and place: the construction of youth language in London". In Space in Language and Linguistics: Geographical, Interactional, and Cognitive Perspectives, edited by Auer, Peter, Martin Hilpert, Anja Stukenbrock and Benedikt Szmrecsanyi, 128-164. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110312027.128

McHale, Brian. 1987. Postmodernist Fiction. London and New York: Routledge.

Palacios Martínez, Ignacio. 2011. "The Expression of Negation in British Teenagers’ Language. A Preliminary Study". Journal of English Linguistics 39, (1): 4-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0075424210366905

In-text citations

a) within a sentence: ...according to Leech (1983, 18); Fillmore’s (1975, 1982) analysis of bachelor is well-known; ...the expression used by MLE speakers also denotes a high degree of innovation... (Cheshire et al. 2011; Kerswill 2013; Palacios Martínez 2016).

b) after a quotation: “…” (Brontë 1999, 87)

Capitalisation: In book titles, capitalise each word except for grammatical words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.) unless in initial position of title or subtitle. In titles of articles and book chapters, only the first word of the title should be capitalised. Titles in languages other than English should be capitalised according to the orthographic conventions of that language.

Language Guidelines and Gender Policy: To reduce bias in language, authors are encouraged to follow the Guidelines of the Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). These guidelines relate to the level of specificity, labels, participation, gender, sexual orientation, racial and ethnic identity, disabilities and age. Authors should also be sensitive to issues of social class, religion and culture. The language in your manuscript should be inclusive and avoid expressions that might be deemed sexist, racist and/or discriminatory. All submissions should avoid the use of pejorative terms and insensitive or demeaning language. Submissions that use unacceptable language will be returned by the editor. This guidance can be reviewed here: APA guidelines on Bias Free Language

Further, CJES recommends these two other guides on the use of inclusive language:

Basic guidelines for non-sexist language by UCM (Spanish)

Manual "El género en la investigación" by CSIC (Spanish)

Finally, authors are encouraged to specify whether the research data used in their articles take sex and/or gender into account with the purpose of identifying any differences that may result from it.

Editorial policy: Most papers are evaluated by at least two, and sometimes three, experts in the relevant field(s) in addition to our editors-in-chief. CJES employs a doubly anonymous review system, meaning that the identities of the referees are not revealed to the author, and papers are forwarded to the referees without any identification of authorship. Please do not include any personally identifying features (name, university affiliation) in the main manuscript of your initial submission.

As soon as a publication decision is taken, authors will be notified. Authors of accepted manuscripts will be sent page proofs for correction and a .pdf version of their published article. For those interested in a hard copy of the issue, please contact the UCM publishers’ service (info.ediciones@ucm.es).

The contributors have sole responsibility for the contents of their text. It is also their responsibility to seek permission for the reproduction of any copyright material used in their contributions. According to International copyright legislation, complete texts such as poems and short stories cannot be reproduced without permission from the author or publisher. Acceptance of a piece of work for publication involves the transfer of all copyright, in whatever medium and by whatever means, to the publisher.