Submission Guidelines

For full guidelines, click here.

a/b: Auto/Biography Studies welcomes submissions of scholarly essays related to all aspects of autobiography and biography studies. We are especially interested in scholarship that crosses disciplinary and genre boundaries, explores new sites and methods of identity construction, and in receiving submissions from the international community of scholars of life narrative. All submitted essays should have a relevant theoretical framework and participate in contemporary conversations within the field of auto/biography studies.
Authors must submit manuscripts electronically and through our online submissions portal, Editorial Manager, at http://www.editorialmanager.com/raut.
Please note that while we do make every effort to respond to submitters in a timely manner, the peer-review process can take between six and eight months. While we do read submissions year round, submissions received over the summer recess may take longer to process.
If your manuscript is accepted by the journal, you will be asked to complete this form and send it to the Editor with your revised or final version.
a/b adheres to a strict policy of double-blind, peer-review to ensure best practices in scholarly research and publication. Our peer reviewers play an integral role in maintaining these high standards by reviewing blinded manuscripts and advising the co-editors on publication of submitted essays.
Click here for information regarding anonymous peer review.

Special Issues

The Editors of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies welcome proposals for special issues. If you are interested in becoming a guest editor and proposing a special issue of a/b, please consult our Special Issue Proposal Guidelines.

Essay Clusters

In order to promote sustained attention to a specific theme within a regular issue, the Editors of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies also welcome proposals for essay clusters consisting of three to four essays that strongly speak to each other through interrelated themes. Guest editors for essay clusters write abbreviated introductory essays of six to ten pages. Interested parties should follow the  Special Issue Proposal Guidelines, clearly noting that the proposal is for an essay cluster.

The Process

This new section of the journal highlights the process of creation or collection behind the life narratives that we engage with. It is our belief that these essays stand to make a unique contribution to the field through their insight into narrative intent and their focus on the intersections of self, life, text, and intermediary, among others. With this objective, it seems fitting to situate essays that focus on narrative analysis alongside those that explore narrative construction and/or collection, as these pieces expand our understanding of the structure and contexts of the auto/biographical narratives we study. The essays published in this new section will be shorter pieces meant to stimulate reflection upon and discussion about craft and methodologies within the larger discourse of the field.

Essays should be a maximum of 6,000 words in length, including notes and the Works Cited pages, and should strictly adhere to the a/b Style Sheet. Authors must also include a fifty-word abstract and two to four keywords with their submissions. Please make sure that your cover letter specifies that you are submitting your essay for consideration in The Process.

Book Reviews

Scholarly books for review may be sent to our Book Review Editor, Tanya Kam. Please note that we do not review autobiographies; our reviews are of critical monographs addressing auto/biography studies. All inquiries may be addressed to: kamt@uww.edu

Tanya Kam, Book Review Editor
a/b: Auto/Biography Studies
Department of Languages and Literatures
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Whitewater, WI 53190-1790

If you would like to be considered as a potential book reviewer for a/b, please email the Book Review Editor a brief description of your research interests and attach a copy of your CV to the email. We do not accept unsolicited reviews.

Recommendations of texts to review and all other inquiries regarding book reviews may also be directed to the Book Review Editor.