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Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Where do I submit inquiries or manuscripts for the “Articles” section of Composition Forum?

    Please email editors@compositionforum.com. Include IRB approval if your work includes human subjects research.

  2. Should I submit an inquiry for an article? And if so, what do you look for in an inquiry?

    We do accept inquiries, and you can email them to us at editors@compositionforum.com. Typically, an inquiry is an abstract of an article and specific questions about if the article might be a fit for a journal. We advise readers to look at points 2a-e in the list above, as these are the primary criteria we look for in our initial assessments of articles.

  3. What should I do if I don’t receive an email reply to my first submission within two weeks?

    Please email faithkurtyka@creighton.edu and aholmes@gsu.edu. On occasion our email system will not get messages to us through the editors@compositionforum.com address, but this is rare.

  4. What’s the difference between an article and a Program Profile?

Articles

Program Profiles

Length

6,000-8,000 words

5,000-7,500 words

Topic & Style

Explore the intersections of composition theory and pedagogy, and theorize practice in sophisticated and provocative ways. Articles are typically more theoretically and methodologically robust than program profiles; they may convey research findings from qualitative or quantitative studies.

Discuss and explain an individual program or “writing initiative,” broadly defined, in the specific context of your university or college. Program profiles often follow a common structure of describing the institutional context, providing details and a rationale for the program/initiative, and ending with lessons learned. The profile may or may not involve presentation of programmatic data.

Purpose

To move forward research and thinking in rhetoric and composition

To inspire those working in writing programs, to highlight the good work of writing programs, and to offer concrete and practical ways of innovating writing programs

Anonymous?

Yes. You should anonymize your manuscript before sending it in. Articles also undergo “anonymous review” (see description above)

No. The institutional context is important for understanding the program profile.

Externally Peer-Reviewed

Yes. Articles that pass initial review are sent to two external, anonymous reviewers.

No. Program profiles are reviewed internally by the section editors, who are peer experts on writing programs.

  1. How long does the review process take? What is the timeline from submission to publication?

    If we choose to send out your manuscript for review, you can expect to hear back from us in about 12 weeks. If there are any changes to the anticipated timeline (such as if a reviewer falls through or is delayed, which is rare), the lead editor will communicate these status updates with you.

    If the manuscript is accepted with minor revisions upon first review, the entire process usually takes 9-12 months. If the manuscript receives a revise and resubmit followed by an acceptance the process of submission to publication is typically 1-2 years, though this timeline is driven in part by how long the author takes with revisions.

  2. What if my manuscript is too long?

    Articles published in Composition Forum are typically 6,000 to 8,000 words. As an online publication, we are not limited by the cost of additional print pages. However, articles in this typical length range tend to strike an effective structural balance between concise argumentation and thorough analysis. We have approved, on occasion, articles exceeding the 8,000-word limit, but we typically ask writers to work towards revising and cutting to come closer to achieving that max.

  3. How should I format my manuscript?

    Please see the manuscript preparation guidelines here: ​​https://compositionforum.com/submissions.php.

  4. Do you accept articles with multimedia components?

    Yes! We invite authors to submit articles with images, video, and/or audio as relevant to the content of the article and with explicitly-stated permissions. We will coordinate with our Web Editor to support multimedia components of your article and/or to answer questions you may have about incorporating multimedia. We ask authors to provide captioning and alt text or transcripts for multimedia content.

  5. What is the acceptance rate?

    Historically, the acceptance rate for the journal has been approximately 25%. Many articles undergo multiple revisions before they are accepted for publication. For example, from January 2021-January 2022, 36 articles were submitted with the following outcomes:

    • 1 received an accept with revisions

    • 4 have been revised, resubmitted, and accepted

    • 4 have been revised, resubmitted, and are under review again

    • 8 have received a request to revise and resubmit but have not been resubmitted

    • 17 were rejected (2 of those were rejected after revising)

    • 2 recent submissions are currently still under review

Composition Forum ISSN: 1522-7502.