Author Guidelines
Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
This page provides information on how to prepare your manuscript for submission to the Journal of Black Military Studies. See the Submission tab for additional information and step-by-step instructions for beginning the submission process.
JBMS considers manuscripts not formally published before (i.e., not peer reviewed) and not under consideration for publication in any other journal.
Fee-Free Submission and Publishing
There are no fees or membership requirements to submit to, or publish an accepted article, in JBMS.
JBMS is a diamond open access journal that is published digitally on a rolling basis.
See the Copyright Statement and Author Agreement Form for information on licensing and author’s rights. Authors retain copyright of all material published in JBMS under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which allows sharing and access, in unadapted form, with attribution, but does not allow republication or distribution.
Language Requirements
JBMS accepts manuscripts written in English and publishes accepted work in English. Translation services are not available. If your first language is one other than English, we recommend that you work with a translator or a native English-speaking colleague prior to submitting your manuscript.
Article Types
JBMS considers submissions in these sections. All word counts exclude the abstract, notes, bibliographies, figures, tables, and charts.
Scholarly Articles
Scholarly articles (around 8,000 words) may include cultural, social, archeological, geospatial, and memory studies, as well as economic, political, environmental, material, and literary studies, and their intersections with military studies. This submission type includes:
Original research papers. Original research that represents any paradigm or methodology. These submissions should include an abstract, an introduction that details the hypothesis/thesis (or exploratory design if inductive research), methodology, results, and conclusion.
Research case studies. Detailed descriptions of events, situations, or cultural products that demonstrate the application of a theory or concept in a specific context. These submissions usually describe a single case or a small number of cases.
All scholarly articles are peer reviewed. Manuscripts must be rigorously researched, analytical, and well-sourced. Authors should showcase and generously cite primary and secondary sources.
Essays
Essays (maximum 5,000 words) undergo editorial or peer review depending on their content. They must use cited sources to support the author’s commentary. Examples of essays include, but are not limited to, these types:
Op-Eds that take a critical-thinking approach to a topic and are usually written in response to a JBMS-published article.
Opinion pieces that posit or discuss theory, offer critique, provide a military perspective on a topic, or express a personal opinion or experience.
Personal reflections on war, military-based violence, and their impacts on society.
Contributed biographies, not to exceed 2,000 words, that highlight influential figures in global Black military studies. Intended as resources for students, educators, and scholars, they are well-sourced, cited, and annotated.
Interviews
Interviews should be original and conducted by the author; they will be cataloged in JBMS as primary sources and evidence of Black presence. Interview submissions (transcriptions/audio) should include narrative sections that introduce the interviewed subject(s) and give context to the discussion, provide information necessary for the reader to understand portions of the discussion that may not be immediately clear, and summarize the impact that the interview makes on the field of Black military studies. Submissions can be direct transcripts of the original interviews; however, they should allow the reader to leave the piece feeling they have learned more about a topic through a distinct, individual voice. All interviews must be annotated and appropriately cited. These submissions undergo editorial review to ensure their suitability for publishing. Please contact the editor for more specifics about submitting an interview.
Other Submissions
Other submissions undergo editorial review to ensure their suitability for publishing. These submissions are not peer reviewed; they are still expected to be rigorously researched, cited, and sourced. Please contact the editor for more specifics about any of these submission types or to propose a topic.
Letters to the Editor (200 – 400 words) allow readers to respond to JBMS-published work.
Roundtable discussions provide a forum for authors and readers to engage in dialogue and share perspectives on an issue. They may include topics such as new publications, seminal works, methodological questions, preservation topics, using military records in genealogical searches, and so on.
Archivable ephemera/collections, such as diaries, photographs, and collections of correspondence, may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Solicited reviews offer constructive criticism and evaluation of a written work in a scholarly context or in the context of the reviewer’s genre. They provide readers with an overview of the content and arguments of the work, as well as an evaluation of the work’s strengths and weaknesses. Review essays are included here.
Solicited subject-area reviews are comprehensive literature reviews of the published scholarship on a Black military studies topic. These submissions provide an overview of the subject, help to synthesize the existing body of research, and guide future research.
Creative Work: Special Calls
Special calls for creative work may include photo or art essays, poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama. Visual content should be in a high resolution for the digital format. The journal may consider short stories (with or without author annotations), photography and visual art, creative nonfiction, poetry and verse, mixed forms, and excerpted longer forms (including, but not limited to, novels and memoirs). Creative work undergoes peer review or editorial review depending upon the call.
Note: JBMS article types were adapted from those provided in the OA Journals Toolkit, which is made available under CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License).
Required Documents
Each submission must include the upload of these three documents:
Signed Author Agreement Form (fillable PDF)
The Author Agreement Form must be completed and signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all authors. A digital signature is acceptable.
JBMS content is published under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which allows sharing and access, in unadapted form, with attribution, but does not allow republication or distribution.
We encourage authors to promote published research to colleagues via email, personal blogs, newsletters, and social media. Share articles directly to Facebook, X, or LinkedIn using the sharing icons that appear in the article’s banner. Articles may also be uploaded to the author’s institutional repository or a subject repository. All of these actions impact the discoverability of research by indexes like OpenAlex and Google Scholar.
Cover Letter (Microsoft Word document, .doc or .docx)
The cover letter must:
- Explain how the work meets the journal’s Aims and Scope.
- Provide the name, institutional affiliation, email address, and ORCID iD for each author. An ORCID iD is a free, unique, persistent identifier (PID) that allows an individual to keep a record of published research and scholarship. If you don’t already have an ORCID iD, please register with ORCID prior to submission.
- If applicable, disclose any conflicts of interest or restrictions on the ability to share raw data, materials, or other information.
- Confirm that the author agrees not to submit the material to another journal while it is under consideration by JBMS.
- Suggest a minimum of three possible peer reviews, including name, institutional affiliation, email address, and relationship to the author(s). We are not obligated to use these suggestions.
Manuscript (Microsoft Word document, .doc or .docx)
The manuscript must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx). Do not convert a PDF document to a Microsoft Word file: This can cause formatting problems.
See the Citation Style Requirements and Manuscript Format Requirements sections below for full information on proper manuscript preparation.
Citation Style Requirements
JBMS uses the Chicago Manual of Style Notes and Bibliography system, 18th Edition, for all citations. The CMS Citation Quick Guide provides basic information on and samples of common citation types in this system. While we will consider submissions prepared using another style, accepted manuscripts must be revised to use the CMS Notes and Bibliography system prior to publication.
Manuscripts must cite all sources, both within the text as notes and in a complete bibliography, according to the Chicago Manual of Style Notes and Bibliography system.
Authors must ensure that:
- References are complete, accurate, and up to date. (Reference lists generated by citation managers are prone to error and must always be checked by the author prior to submission.)
- Functioning DOIs or URLs are provided for all online references. These links should not lead to password-protected resources.
- If authors use any manuscript reference software (such as Zotero or EndNote) to prepare the manuscript, they must unlink the end references from in-text citations prior to submission.
- Tables, figures, and charts appear in the text after first mention. Each should include a caption that attributes its source. Sources of tables, figures, and charts should also appear in the bibliography.
Manuscript Format Requirements
Document Setup
Document type: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) file
Page size: U.S. letter (8.5 in. X 11 in.) page size
Page orientation: Portrait only
Margins: All margins at 1 inch (figures and tables must fit within these margins)
Font: Black only, Times New Roman or the closest comparable font, 14 point for headings and subheadings, 12 point for body, 10 point for footnotes
Line spacing: Double (body) and single (notes)
Columns: One column
Justification: Left justified
Hyphenation: None
Letter spacing: One space after end punctuation; no text kerning/tracking
Links: Hyperlink all URLs and DOIs; ensure that links function and do not lead to password-protected resources
Page numbers: None
Line numbers: None
Headers and footers: None
Page breaks: Avoid unless required to keep a figure or table from splitting two pages
Section or column breaks: None
Tracked changes and comments: Accept/resolve and turn off prior to submission
Manuscript Content
The manuscript file must contain no identifying information, be digitally anonymized, and have any comments/tracked changes turned off prior to submission.
Title page: None
Abstract: Include in document before introduction.
Abbreviations (e.g., Acronyms): Define in parentheses on first mention, then use abbreviations consistently throughout.
Accessible Images: Use color palettes that are accessible to readers with low vision for all figures, tables, and charts (do not use combinations of red and green).
Captions: Provide descriptive captions for all figures (below the figure), tables (above the table), and charts (below the chart) and include citation information.
Charts: Create in Microsoft Word and place immediately after the paragraph in which the chart is first mentioned.
Copyright: Prior to submission, obtain written approval for reuse of any copyrighted or previously published tables, figures, charts, or other material (remove such material if written approval is not available).
Figures: Place immediately after the paragraph in which the figure is first mentioned; ensure the file has a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at final, printable size and is in .jpg, .png, or .bmp format.
Illustrations/Images: Place immediately after the paragraph in which the item is first mentioned; ensure the image file has a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at final, printable size and is in .jpg, .png, or .bmp format.
Inclusive Language: Use compassionate language that recognizes diversity of all kinds.
Personal Communication: If personal communication is used as a source, cite within the text or in a note, not in the bibliography.
Resizing images: Resize images proportionally to avoid distortion.
Tables: Create in Microsoft Word and place immediately after the paragraph in which the table is first mentioned.
Required Informational Sections
Include these sections, in this order, after the body of the manuscript and before the bibliography.
Acknowledgments: Detail any acknowledgments, including copyright permissions and personal communication sources used in the manuscript.
AI Statement: If AI was used, name the software and explain the circumstances (see the AI Policy for guidance).
Conflict of Interest: State any conflicts or if there is no conflict.
Data Availability Statement: If applicable, explain how and where readers can access key data.
Funding: If applicable, detail any funding sources including funder name and award numbers, or state that no funding was received.
Human Subjects Research: If applicable, list Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval information with protocol number and date.
Related Publication Statement: If applicable, explain how and where the paper has been previously distributed, including links to the material.
Note: JBMS author guidelines are informed by the “Developing Author Guidelines” section of the OA Journals Toolkit, which is made available under CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License).