Guidelines for authors

NB: The files we have provided in PDF format should be easily readable on screen. Conventional footnotes can be annoying in this context, often requiring a reader to scroll down to view them. We therefore create longer notes as endnotes rather than footnotes, which you can view by clicking on the endnote symbols in the text  (and then return to the main text by clicking). Brief substantiation on the other hand is placed directly in the text (see below for further details). We recommend a style of writing in which discussions and research debates are contained as much as possible in the running text/main body of the text and foot-/endnotes are used sparingly.

  1. Submitting your contribution

We publish contributions in German and English.

Please submit your contribution as a Microsoft Word file (doc, docx), or in RTF (rtf), OpenDocument-Format (odt) or WordPerfect format, either

  • as an attachment to an email to the editors
    (herausgeber@erzaehlforschung.de)
  • or electronically on the homepage of the journal, after registering as the author (see above)

Please mark any special characters not supported by Word in TypoScript and email us an additional PDF file of your contribution.

If your contribution contains diagrams or images, please send an additional PDF file and the images (high resolution) separately (preferably as separate image files). Please only send us images for which you hold copyright, which can be used copyright free or for which you have clarified or obtained the rights. As you retain copyright for the entire contribution, you are responsible for any infringement of third-party copyrights by your contribution.

Deadlines are agreed individually between contributors and publishers. If you are interested in publishing a research paper, essay or special issue in BmE, please get in touch with us. 

The total length of a research paper should be between 15 and 35 pages of 2,700 characters each (including blank spaces and footnotes, plus reference list). Essays are usually shorter and do not include bibliographical references in footnotes (for more details on the formatting of essays, please contact the editors). 

Please also send us an abstract for your contribution in German (approx. 700 characters including blank spaces). You can either enter this in the field provided for this purpose when submitting your contribution online or email it to us in a separate file.

 

  1. General information on TypoScript setup

For German-language texts, please use the new spelling. 

If applicable, number subheadings with Arabic numerals (1., 2., 3., 1.1, 1.2, etc.). Headings should not end with a full stop or footnote. 

Quotations longer than four lines or verses are to be separated from the rest of the text by a blank line before and after the quotation. Do not enclose them in quotation marks. Text in historical language in such separated quotations should not be italicised.  

Please keep formatting in TypoScript to a minimum. Avoid justification and special paragraph or footnote formatting and do not use hyphenation, either manual or automatic.

Italics: Foreign language terms (moralisatio) and quotations from older languages and in Latin should be italicized and without quotation marks (Uns ist in alten mæren).

Highlighting should be used sparingly. If necessary, please highlight terms as follows (font type → expanded → character spacing → expanded).

  1. Quotations and comments

Quotations from secondary literature are enclosed in double quotation marks (“…”), and quotations within a quotation in single quotation marks.

Work titles (‘Nibelungenlied’, Ricœur’s ‘Zeit und Erzählung’), terms (‘focalization’) and translations of an expression are to be placed within single quotation marks.

Single quotation marks are also used for figurative speech.

Ellipses […], [additions] or [comments, A. H.] by the author are enclosed in square brackets. In case of whole lines, the [...] mark should be placed on a separate line.

If possible, please enclose bibliographic references in brackets in the main body of the text according to the model (Müller 2001) or (cf. Müller 2001, p. 88; Worstbrock 1985, p. 11) or: “Müller (2001, p. 88) sees this differently”. References to several works (cf. Müller 2001; Worstbrock 1985; Haug 1990; Bumke 1999) or shorter references to the cited literature (a critical synopsis of the relevant research by Müller 2001, p. 5–20) can also be enclosed in brackets. ‘Normal’ footnotes are reserved for more detailed research discussions and appear in the final sentence as endnotes; they should be used sparingly. Here too, use short references to the research literature, i.e. “This was also seen by Müller (2001, p. 88) and Worstbrock (1985, p. 11)”.

When quoting from primary literature, please use informative and unambiguous short titles at the end of the quotation as follows: (‘Erec’, v. 25–30); or, if both Hartmann’s and Chrétien’s Erec are quoted: (Hartmann: ‘Erec’, v. 25–30); or, possibly: (Ambraser ‘Erec’, v. 25–30), if referring specifically to the Erec text of the Ambras Book of Heroes. If short titles or abbreviations already exist in research, use them. Please give details of pages and verses (p. 30f.; p. 30–32). Avoid the use of ff. und I.c..

Leave quotations from Middle High German untranslated, but please translate quotations from Latin or other languages. In case of shorter quotations which are integrated into the main body of the text, in a following parenthesis, and in the case of longer separated quotations directly below the quotation without brackets.

If they refer to a whole sentence or clause, footnote numbers are to be placed after the punctuation mark. If they only refer to one term, they should appear immediately after it and, if applicable, before the punctuation mark.

Footnotes always start with a capital and end with a full stop.

To denote numerical ranges and periods of time (as well as pages), use an em dash without a blank space in front or after it (p. 30–35, 1200–1220).

References to page numbers within TypoScript should be marked in colour.