The editors of The Robert Graves Review will consider scholarly articles on all aspects of the work and life of Robert Graves, as well as original poetry, and book reviews. Article lengths vary and should be appropriate to the topic. Please consult current and past issues for guidance. The Review will also publish short Notes highlighting some area of interest at the sole discretion of the Editor and are not peer reviewed. Articles and book reviews should conform to the Modern Humanities Research Association Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses.

Please send completed essays by e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word to Michael Joseph at mjoseph@rutgers.edu.

We will not consider work that is under submission elsewhere or that has been published previously. The Robert Graves Review uses a double-anonymous evaluation system: we will not share the identity of the author with the readers, nor the readers’ identities with the author.

We do not charge authors publication fees or article processing charges (APC).

Beginning with the second volume, The Robert Graves Review will publish articles that adhere to the fourth edition of the MHRA Style Guide. Previous issues of The Robert Graves Review followed the Third Edition (2013). The Fourth Edition can be downloaded for free at https://www.mhra.org.uk/style/.

MHRA: Notes on Form and Content

Writers should thoroughly familiarize themselves with the style guide. Here are some of the major points:

Spelling: All spelling and punctuation follow the British style: humour not humor, anthologise, not anthologize, judgement, not judgment, etc. Because British and American styles have influenced each other, some formerly American spellings are now acceptable British spellings. To decide what we accept as British spellings, we use Word for Mac, which follows the decisions made by Microsoft. Microsoft licenses spellcheck dictionaries from Oxford University Press, for U.S. users, the New Oxford American Dictionary; for U.K./Commonwealth users, the Oxford Dictionary of English. These dictionaries are descriptive: they record which spellings are in current usage, hence subject to change Microsoft’s software inherits what Oxford has marked as ‘preferred’, ‘variant’, or ‘archaic’.

Punctuation: A closing quotation mark precedes the endstop, except when the entirety of the quotation is separated from the rest of the sentence by a colon. In a quotation consisting only of standalone, the closing quote will follow the period. In quotations, as with spelling, we retain the punctuation used in the source.

Where the MHRA prescribes an em dash between spaces to set off parenthetical statements, we prefer an en dash set off by spaces. We also use en dashes in number and date spans. Please see MHRA 5.1 for additional specifications.

Within quotations, retain the spelling of the original source.

Endnotes: Endnotes are preferred to footnotes. Endnotes should contain only what is strictly necessary. They are intended primarily for documentation and for the citation of sources relevant to the text. They should not be used to provide additional bibliographical material on the general subject being treated, but which is not directly needed. Nor should they normally include extra expository material. Such material, if apposite and useful, is often better incorporated into the text or added as an appendix. Only after the most careful consideration should it be included in a note.

(new) When giving page numbers and spans for a journal article, p. and pp. are now required.

(new) Abbreviations for BC, BCE, AD, are represented in small caps. If your computer doesn’t produce small caps, please represent these date signifiers in a smaller font size (for 12 pt, use 10 ½).

The Robert Graves Journal

Articles submitted to The Review should also observe the following:

Abstracts and Keywords: An abstract of the article is required as well as keywords. An abstract is a brief, self-contained summary of the article, which we precede with the word Abstract, in boldface. The purpose of an abstract is to provide a condensed overview of the entire paper, giving readers enough clarity to decide whether to read the full article. It also helps to support indexing in databases. An abstract must make sense on its own; a reader should grasp the main idea without having to read the full text. And the abstract should not be reproduced in the text.

Keywords follow the abstract, separated from the body of the abstract by one blank line. They should represent the article’s central concepts or methodology. They should be words that appear in your abstract; they should be as specific as possible and aim for disciplinary specificity. Keywords are preceded by the word Keyword printed in boldface.

Abstract and keywords should be in 12-point Times New Roman.

Paragraphs: The initial paragraph and paragraphs following subdivisions should be flush left. All other paragraphs are indented one half inch.

Long Quotes or Blockquotes: Blockquotes should be indented one inch. They should not be marked in any other way (no change of color or background color), and set off by one space from lines above and below it.

Typeface and Weight Specifications: The Robert Graves Review publishes its print version in Times New Roman. However, beginning with the 2025 issue, the online journal will appear in Cardo, a typeface with notable similarities to Bembo.

Please submit text in 12-point Time Roman

Endnotes appear in 11 point (not 10-point)

Blockquotes appear in 12-point, same as text.

Abstract and keywords appear in 12-point.

Subdivisions should be in boldface and in upper and lower case, unless these are quotations, in which case the subdivision should reflect the original source; Subdivisions should be separated from the previous text by two blank lines and from following text by one blank line

Footer: At the end of an article, the author should supply a footer that contains their name and a short biographical description. These are normally brief for identification purposes.

Quotations: The Robert Graves Review abides by laws and accepted practices governing intellectual property rights. While there is wide variation in the field, here are a few practical guidelines:

The United Kingdom & many Commonwealth countries recognize the concept of ‘Fair Dealing’. Under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, ‘fair dealing’ allows quotes for criticism, review, reporting current events, research or private study, provided:

The amount quoted is proportionate, and

Proper acknowledgement is given (author and source), and

The use is noncommercial, and

It is fair in context (not excessive).

To adhere to this principle, please observe these restrictions. When quoting work in the public domain, there is no restriction on length of quotation. When quoting from other scholarly writing, there is no fixed word count, but small excerpts are allowable. If quoting more than one paragraph, permission is required. When quoting from a commercial work, for example a poem or a monograph, quotations of 250 words or fewer do not require permission. Longer quotations will only be allowed with explicit permission from copyright holder.

For context, Yale University Press warns that while up to 300 words of prose may fall under ‘fair use’, anything over that, or complete units of text, normally requires permission.

The University of Chicago Press offers a ‘rule of thumb’ that short prose extracts (no more than 200–300 words) and poetry lines (3–4 or even fewer) may qualify as fair use, but longer excerpts generally require permission.

UBC Press publishes guidelines indicating authors should seek permission for prose excerpts over 300 words or poetry excerpts exceeding a stanza or 5% of the poem.

Submissions Guidelines for Poetry

Submissions should be emailed as a Word document attachment to the Editor, Michael Joseph, at mjoseph@rutgers.edu. The Editor will forward American submissions to Rachel Hadas, and UK submissions to Sean O’Brien. Allow for two-month (minimum) response.