NYFS PUBLICATIONS
 Submission Guidelines
Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society.
The New York Folklore Society is a nonprofit,
statewide organization dedicated to furthering
cultural equity and cross-cultural understanding
through programs that nurture folk cultural expressions
within communities where they originate,
share these traditions across cultural boundaries,
and enhance the understanding and appreciation of
folk culture. Through Voices the society communicates
with professional folklorists and members of
related fields, traditional artists, and a general public
interested in folklore.
Voices is dedicated to publishing the content of
folklore in the words and images of its creators and
practitioners. The journal publishes research-based
articles, written in an accessible style, on topics
related to traditional art and life. It also features
stories, interviews, reminiscences, essays, folk poetry
and music, photographs, and artwork drawn from
people in all parts of New York State. Columns
on subjects such as photography, sound and video
recording, legal and ethical issues, and the nature of
traditional art and life appear in each issue.
INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Editorial Policy
Feature articles. Articles published in Voices
represent original contributions to folklore studies.
Although Voices emphasizes the folklore of New
York State, the editor welcomes articles based on
the folklore of any area of the world. Articles on
the theory, methodology, and geography of folklore
are also welcome, as are purely descriptive articles
in the ethnography of folklore. In addition, Voices
provides a home for “orphan” tales, narratives, and
songs, whose contributors are urged to provide
contextual information.
Authors are encouraged to include short personal
reminiscences, anecdotes, isolated tales, narratives,
songs, and other material that relates to and enhances
their main article.
Typically feature articles range from 1,000 to
4,000 words and up to 6,000 words at the editor’s
discretion.
Reviews and review essays. Books, recordings,
films, videos, exhibitions, concerts, and the like are
selected for review in Voices for their relevance to
folklore studies or the folklore of New York State
and their potential interest to a wide audience. Persons
wishing to review recently published material
should contact the editor. Unsolicited reviews and
proposals for reviews will be evaluated by the editor
and by outside referees where appropriate. Follow
the bibliographic style in a current issue of Voices.
Reviews should not exceed 750 words.
Correspondence and commentary. Short but
substantive reactions to or elaborations upon material
appearing in Voices within the previous year are
welcomed. The editor may invite the author of the
materials being addressed to respond; both pieces
may be published together. Any subject may be
addressed or rebutted once by any correspondent.
The principal criteria for publication are whether,
in the opinion of the editor or the editorial board,
the comment constitutes a substantive contribution
to folklore studies, and whether it will interest our
general readers.
Letters should not exceed 500 words.
Style
The journal follows The Chicago Manual of Style. Consult Webster’s Third International Dictionary for questions of spelling, meaning, and usage, and avoid gender-specific terminology.
Footnotes. Endnotes and footnotes should be avoided; incorporate such information into the text. Ancillary information may be submitted as a sidebar.
Bibliographic citations. For citations of text from outside sources, use the author-date style described in The Chicago Manual of Style.
Language. All material must be submitted in English. Foreign-language terms (transliterated, where appropriate, into the Roman alphabet) should be italicized and followed by a concise parenthetical English gloss; the author bears responsibility for the correct spelling and orthographics of non-English words. British spellings should be Americanized.
Publication Process
Unless indicated, The New York Folklore Society
holds copyright to all material published in Voices:
The Journal of New York Folklore. With the submission
of material to the editor, the author acknowledges
that he or she gives Voices sole rights to its publication,
and that permission to publish it elsewhere
must be secured in writing from the editor.
For the initial submission, send an e-mail attachment
or CD (preferably prepared in Microsoft Word
and saved as Rich Text Format).
Copy must be double spaced, with all pages numbered
consecutively. To facilitate anonymous review
of feature articles, the author’s name and biography
should appear only on a separate title page.
Tables, charts, maps, illustrations, photographs,
captions, and credits should follow the main text and
be numbered consecutively. All illustrations should be
clean, sharp, and camera-ready. Photographs should be
prints or duplicate slides (not originals) or scanned at
high resolution (300+ dpi) and e-mailed to the editor
as .jpg or .tiff files. Captions and credits must be
included. Written permission to publish each image
must be obtained by authors from the copyright
holders prior to submission of manuscripts, and the
written permissions must accompany the manuscript
(authors should keep copies).
Materials are acknowledged upon receipt. The
editor and two anonymous readers review manuscripts
submitted as articles. The review process
takes several weeks.
Authors receive two complimentary copies of the
issue in which their contribution appears and may
purchase additional copies at a discount. Authors
of feature articles may purchase offprints; price
information is available upon publication.
Submission deadlines:
| Spring-Summer issue |
November 1 |
| Fall-Winter issue |
May 1 |
Send submissions as Word files to Voices Editor (e-mail preferred):
nyfs@nyfolklore.org or New York Folklore Society, 129 Jay Street, Schenectady, NY 12305
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Send Your Story
to Voices!
Did you know that Voices publishes
creative writing, including creative
fiction (such as short stories), creative
nonfiction (such as memoirs
and life/work stories), and poetry?
We also publish artistic and ethnographic
photography and artwork, in
addition to research-based articles on
New York State folk arts and artists.
If you are one of New York’s many
traditional artists or working in a traditional
occupation—including fishing,
boat building, traditional healing,
instrument making, firefighting,
and nursing, to name a few—please
consider sharing your life or work
story with the readers of Voices: The
Journal of New York Folklore. Check
out our new column heading First
Person, which spotlights folk artists
and folk arts workers, giving creative
people space in each issue to share
their life stories in their own words.
First Person allows people to share
the reasons they have spent a lifetime
supporting or recreating New York’s
diverse traditions, passing them
down through generations—whether
it’s gardening, carving, roots music,
village dancing, egg decorating,
weaving, quilting, fiddling, traditional
singing, basketry, ethnic foodways,
traditional calligraphy, or home altar
building. For more information, see
our submissions guidelines on this
page or contact the
acquisitions editor of Voices, at
nyfs@nyfolklore.org. |
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