Manuscript Formatting Guide
This guide describes how to prepare contributions for submission. We recommend that if you are not already familiar with Joint Force Quarterly (or if you have not submitted to JFQ recently), you familiarize yourself with JFQ’s style and content by reading the journal, either in print or online.
Table of contents
1. Formats for JFQ Contributions
2. The Editorial Process
3. Readability
4. Format of Articles
5. Submission
1.1 Articles
Articles must be complete (rather than proposals or sample chapters) and in an electronic format (Microsoft Word). Authors are asked to describe the manuscript in a cover letter and indicate the expected audience. Submissions are evaluated for originality, contribution to a significant national security issue, and appropriateness for the overall publishing program of NDU Press.
Articles submitted to NDU Press must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere or have been published elsewhere.
NDU Press is unable to provide payment or royalty to authors.
When submitting an article, please also provide an abstract, separate from the main text, of up to 200 words. The abstract does not have references and does not contain numbers, abbreviations, or acronyms. It is aimed at readers outside the discipline. The abstract contains a paragraph (2-3 sentences) of basic-level introduction to the field; a brief account of the background and rationale of the work; a statement of the main conclusions; and finally, 2-3 sentences putting the main findings into general context so it is clear how the results described in the article have moved the field forward.
Articles should be 3,000 to 5,000 words in length, not including endnotes.
1.2 Book Reviews
NDU Press publishes reviews of recent and soon-to-be-published books of professional interest to members of the military and national security communities. Topics can include joint and integrated operations; national security policy and strategy; efforts to combat terrorism; homeland security; and developments in training and joint professional military education. Please follow our guidelines when considering a review.
NDU Press will provide reviewers with a complimentary copy of the book selected for review from the list of offerings. If interested in writing a review, email your name; address; a short biography and list of credentials/area of expertise; and choice of title to the book review editor. Also attach a brief, single-authored writing sample (previously published book reviews are preferred) in a Word document. If you have any written work that has been published and is available online, a link that goes directly to your work (NOT to the homepage of the website) will suffice. Unsolicited reviews of recent publications also will be considered; please contact the book review editor prior to submission to determine whether the title under consideration is appropriate or is already being reviewed.
Reviews submitted to the journal must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere and must not have been published elsewhere. No payment or royalty can be made to authors. The editor reserves the right to edit and abridge reviews.
Guidelines of basic scholarship apply to book reviews. Reviewers should evaluate the book's contribution (be it positive or negative) to the larger body of scholarship on the topic, using specific examples. Criteria for evaluation include the style, authority, and objectivity of the book. Reviews should be 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. Reviews need to be returned to the editor no later than 90 days after the book is assigned. Please take this requirement into consideration when requesting a book; if you cannot meet it, please do not ask to review a book.
A heading with pertinent information about the book should be included with the text, along with a one-line byline for the reviewer:
Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans: The British Occupation of Germany, 1945–49
By Daniel Cowling
Head of Zeus, 2023
416 pp. $61.00
ISBN: 978-1800243507
Reviewed by Michael C. Davies
1.3 Letters to the Editor
NDU Press also accepts Letters to the Editor.
2. The Editorial Process
See Getting Published in Joint Force Quarterly for an explanation of JFQ's editorial criteria for publication, its peer review policy, and how editors handle papers after submission. Submission is taken by the journal to mean that all the listed authors have agreed.
3. Readability
Write in plain English. "Mil"-speak, "Pentagonese," "security"-speak, etc., are alienating to most readers. Writers who are on "the inside" of a topic must recognize that most readers are not. Writing meant for an extremely limited audience (that is, all of the other "insiders") is not publishable in JFQ. Minimize use of jargon and acronyms/initialisms. For those that must remain, make sure to define and introduce them, respectively.
JFQ's editors often suggest revised titles and rewrite the summaries of articles so the conclusions are clear to a broad readership.
After a manuscript’s acceptance, JFQ's copyeditors ensure that the text and figures are readable and clear to those outside the field, and edit papers into JFQ's house style. They pay particular attention to summary paragraphs, overall clarity, figures, figure legends, and titles.
4. Format of articles
Contributions should be written in English (spellings as on the Merriam-Webster website).
Figures may be either incorporated into the Word document or submitted as a separate file. For the former, figures should be inserted within the text at the appropriate positions or grouped at the end, and each figure legend should be presented together with its figure. Whether figures are included in the Word document or submitted as a separate file, each figure should have a parenthetical callout in the body text of the Word document, e.g., “see figure 1.”
4.1 Text
Articles should be 3,000 to 5,000 words in length, not including endnotes. When submitting a new or revised manuscript, state the word count in the cover letter. Authors of contributions that significantly exceed the limits stated here or specified by the editor will have to shorten their papers before acceptance, inevitably delaying publication.
Our only accepted format for text is Microsoft Word, with the style tags removed. For mathematical symbols, Greek letters, and other special characters, use normal text or Symbol font. Word Equation Editor/MathType should be used only for formulae that cannot be produced using normal text or Symbol font.
Before submitting a manuscript:
- Remove any references to author(s) as well as any institution-identifying disclaimers.
- Format the manuscript as follows:
- Use Times New Roman font, 12-point size.
- Double-space all body text.
- Mark headings with <A> and subheadings with <B>. Do not include <C>-level headings (sub-subheadings).
- Avoid applying MS Word styles from the “Styles Pane” window.
- Insert page numbers using the MS Word function (“Insert” tab, then “Page Number”). Insert page numbers in a footer, centered.
- Use endnotes (rather than footnotes), and:
- Insert endnotes using the MS Word function (“References” tab, then “Insert Endnote”).
- Ensure endnotes are fully formed (not simply URL addresses) and contain all necessary information. Follow the latest version of the Chicago Manual of Style to compose endnotes.
- Do not use parenthetical references.
- Number endnotes using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).
- Do not include bibliographies of any type.
- Avoid lengthy titles and lengthy headings/subheadings.
- Do not include more than one epigraph.
- Ensure all art (figures, tables, maps, etc.) is accompanied by parenthetical callouts in the body text, e.g., “see figure 1.”
4.2 Endnotes
References must be cited in endnotes (not in footnotes or in-text parentheticals). Format for endnotes must follow the current edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (the 18th edition). Use Word’s “Insert Endnote” function (under the References tab) so that endnote marker numbers in the body text are hyperlinked to the endnote content. Endnotes should be used sparingly. Discursive endnotes are strongly discouraged; cite only direct quotations and paraphrases. Do not include a bibliography or list of works cited.
4.3 Tables
Tables should each be presented on a separate page, portrait (not landscape) orientation, and upright on the page, not sideways.
Tables have a short, one-line title in bold text. Tables should be as small as possible. Bear in mind the size of a JFQ page as a limiting factor when compiling a table.
Symbols and abbreviations are defined immediately below the table, followed by essential descriptive material as briefly as possible, all in double-spaced text.
The goal is for figures to be comprehensible to readers in other or related disciplines, and to assist their understanding of the paper. Unnecessary figures and parts (panels) of figures should be avoided. (Data presented in small tables or histograms, for instance, can generally be stated briefly in the text instead.) Avoid unnecessary complexity and excessive detail.
Figures should not contain more than one panel unless the parts are logically connected. Each panel of a multipart figure should be sized so that the whole figure can be reduced by the same amount and reproduced on the printed page at the smallest size at which essential details are visible.
Some brief guidance for figure preparation:
- Lettering in figures (labeling of axes and so on) should be in “sentence case” (first letter of the first word capitalized, followed by lowercase type), with no period at the end.
- Units should have a single space between the number and the unit, and they should follow the nomenclature common to a particular field. Thousands should be separated by commas (1,000). Unusual units or abbreviations should be defined in the legend.
- Scale bars should be used rather than magnification factors.
- Where possible, avoid layering type directly over shaded or textured areas and using reversed type (white lettering on a colored background).
- Where possible, provide text (including keys to symbols) in the legend rather than as part of the figure itself.
Figure quality
At initial submission, figures should be at sufficiently high resolution to be assessed by peer reviewers, ideally as JPEGs if supplied separately, or inserted in the Word doc if the manuscript text and figures are incorporated together in a single file. Authors are advised to follow the guidelines respect to sizing, resolution, and labeling.
5. Submission
Articles must be submitted via Digital Commons. When submitting a manuscript, authors are required to include the:
- Full name of all authors
- Author service and rank (if applicable)
- Current position/prospective assignment of author(s)
- Telephone number of author(s)
- Physical mailing address of author(s)
- Abstract
- Keywords
- Number of words
Submission of a manuscript is taken to mean that all authors have agreed to JFQ's publication policies.