by Gary Burns, Editor
August 2006

Popular Music and Society is a quarterly academic journal published by Routledge, a division of Taylor & Francis. The journal was founded in 1971 by Professor R. Serge Denisoff, who edited it until his death in 1994.

We publish articles on popular music of any genre, time period, or geographic location. Studies may use any methodology or approach (historical, critical, theoretical, descriptive, etc.). We define "popular" very broadly, but generally manuscripts about classical music would be outside our scope unless they focus somehow on the popularity of classical music. Similarly, because the journal is called Popular Music and Society, manuscripts should say something about society. Again, we define "society" very broadly, so most manuscripts will almost automatically meet our criteria. However, a purely musicological analysis might fall outside our scope.

We are not based in any one traditional academic discipline. Our readership is quite diverse. Please write accordingly. For example, if you are a sociologist, please write so that a musicologist or English professor can understand what you are saying. Please try to avoid the specialized jargon of your own field as much as possible, and provide sufficient explanation of any jargon you do use.

Article manuscripts must be word-processed, in English. Please double-space the entire manuscript, including abstract, end matter, references, and any set-off song lyrics or other quotations. Number your pages. The first page of text counts as page 1. Put the title of the paper at the top of page 1. Also include a detachable title page that includes the title of the paper and your name and address. The title page is the only place where your name should appear, because we follow a policy of blind review. Please include an abstract on page 1 before the beginning of the text of the paper. The abstract should be a 50- to 100-word summary of the paper, including a description of what you did and what conclusions you reached. Put notes at the end of the paper, not at the bottom of pages. Notes should begin on a new page, after the last page of text. The list of Works Cited should begin on a new page, after the last page of Notes. Spell-check your manuscript before you submit it. It is easier for us (and probably you) to proofread or copyedit your work if you use a fairly large typeface and if you do not use proportional spacing. Courier New 12 is recommended.

Please include a word count on your title page. The word count should include your abstract and end matter. We prefer articles of 4,000-10,000 words, although we may occasionally publish longer or shorter works. In Microsoft Word, you can get a word count by clicking on "Tools" and then "Word Count." Be sure to include end matter (click on the box that says "Include footnotes and endnotes").

I give every manuscript an initial screening. If your paper passes this screening, I send it to one or more (usually two) reviewers, with your title page (and therefore your name) removed. The reviewers I most often use are the members of the journal's Editorial Board, a distinguished group of popular-music scholars listed at the front of the journal. I also use other reviewers besides the Editorial Board. I always try to pick reviewers who have expertise in the subject matter of the paper. I ask reviewers to disqualify themselves if they have previously reviewed the paper for another journal, or if they lack sufficient expertise in the subject matter, or if they know who you are and feel that might prevent a fair review.

Usually the review process takes a month or two, but it can take as long as nine months. When I receive the reviews, I read them and your paper and decide whether to accept the paper, reject it, or return it for revision. If we suggest revisions, I strongly recommend that you follow up. It is quite common for us to accept revised drafts. In the event that we do not accept a paper you have submitted, I nonetheless encourage you to submit other work in the future. Even if we turn down your present paper, we may like a future manuscript better.

We will review manuscripts in any standard format (i.e., MLA, Chicago/Turabian, or APA), but for publication we require MLA format with in-text citations and list of Works Cited. If your paper is in another format, you will have to convert it to MLA for publication. The rules to follow are published in: Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 2nd ed. (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1998), pages 149-254. For an example, consult the following: Joe Gow, "Political Themes in Popular Music Videos: MTV's 'Top 200, Ever,'" Popular Music and Society 18.4 (1994): 77-89. Note that the list of Works Cited must include authors' first names. Every written source you cite must be included in the list of Works Cited. This includes newspaper and magazine articles, and for these you must include authors and page numbers. For anonymous works and government publications, follow MLA's instructions on pages 168, 177-79, and 192. For matters not covered in the MLA book, please refer to the latest edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.

For nonprint sources such as films, sound recordings, and music videos, use common sense. Most such works can be sufficiently cited in the text and should not require end matter. Include the date. For films, include country and director if they are important. For sound recordings, include the recording artist and (unless you think they are unnecessary) the format, label, and catalog number. You may, if you wish, include end matter if you think it would be helpful (discography, filmography, songography, videography, etc.).

For websites, cite by author if possible and include a bibligraphy entry with the complete URL and the date you used the site. Please be sure that the reader can tell, somehow, what the site is (or whose). In some cases it may be more elegant to provide the URL in the text and not include a bibliography entry.

Use quotation marks for the titles of articles and songs. Use underlining or italics for the titles of books, plays, periodicals, TV series, videotapes, music videos, films, and record albums (including CDs). Use lower case for articles (a, an, the) and short prepositions within and before band names and song and album titles, for example:

• Mott the Hoople (not Mott The Hoople)
• the Rolling Stones (not The Rolling Stones)
• Between the Buttons (not Between The Buttons)
• "Eight Days a Week" (not "Eight Days A Week")

Use:

• rock and roll (not rock 'n' roll, rock'n'roll, or rock & roll)

Use United States spelling and punctuation. These differ in some respects from those used in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and elsewhere. For example:

• color (not colour)
• neighbor (not neighbour)
• center (not centre)
• defense (not defence)
• program (not programme)
• connection (not connexion)
• recognize (not recognise)
• "California Girls" (not 'California Girls')

Note that we use double quotation marks for titles and quotations, rather than the single mark (apostrophe). In addition, in United States style, commas and periods go inside quotation marks. For example:

• "Drive," he said. (not 'Drive', he said.)

Do not set off quotations unless they are four lines or longer. Do use a comma before the last item in a series. Use disc, not disk. On matters of spelling and hyphenation, please refer to Webster's Third New International Dictionary (or to the abridged version, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).

Quotation of copyrighted song lyrics is often a problem. Here is our rule. You may quote up to four lines per song without permission from the copyright holder. (If you are transcribing lyrics from a sound recording, you may have some flexibility in determining where one line ends and the next begins.) If you wish to quote more than four lines, we need written permission from the copyright holder. Usually the copyright holder will want to know about the journal, so don't talk to the copyright holder until after we have accepted your paper. (The main thing the copyright holder will want to know is our circulation. Check with Routledge for the latest information on that.)

Sometimes it is not immediately obvious who the copyright holder is. If the song has been recorded, the record company may be able to help you with this. Other good sources of information are BMI and ASCAP. Generally make your initial contact with the copyright holder by telephone or e-mail rather than by letter. The company will tell you whether they need something more in writing from you. If you work at a university, your employer may have permission forms that you can use. If you must pay a fee to the copyright holder, your university may be willing to pick up the tab (sorry, but the journal will not). Send me two photocopies of your written permission and keep the original for yourself. While this paragraph is concerned specifically with song lyrics, the same rules would apply to sheet music and the like.

If your study includes photographs, drawings, maps, or other artwork, we will need an electronic file or camera-ready materials after your paper is accepted for publication. Camera-ready photos should be black-and-white glossy. Every piece of artwork should be labeled and should be referenced in the text (consult the MLA book, pages 131-33). We will return hard-copy artwork after the article has been published. If the artwork is copyrighted, we will need written permission from the copyright holder to reprint the material.

Please be careful when quoting from original interviews. As a precaution, you may wish to get written, signed permission from the interviewee to use his or her words in your publication. Routledge may require you to provide such documentation, especially if the quoted material is lengthy or potentially controversial.

We require a diskette or other electronic version of the paper once we have accepted it for publication. The normal delay before an article is published is one to two years from the date I send your manuscript and diskette to the publisher.

To submit an article, send a cover letter and three hard copies to: Gary Burns, Department of Communication, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb IL 60115, USA. Queries are welcome. You can reach me at my DeKalb address, or by telephone (815-753-7108), fax (815-753-7109 or 815-753-5930), or e-mail (gburns@niu.edu). If the work you are submitting has been published elsewhere or is in press or under review elsewhere, you must so state in your cover letter. In most cases we will not be interested in reviewing or publishing such work. In addition, it is our policy that while we are reviewing your work, you may not submit it elsewhere. After we publish the work, you may not have it reprinted elsewhere without permission from Routledge. Such permission is routinely granted in most cases. Like most academic journals, we do not pay authors.

Please consider subscribing to the journal so that we may all support each other's work and so that you will not miss any of the excellent articles we publish. To subscribe, please send an e-mail to tf.enquiries@tfinforma.com or visit the publisher website at www.tandf.co.uk. Also, please encourage your local university library to subscribe if it does not already do so.

We do not return review copies of manuscripts (normally we use two copies for that purpose). If you would like your other third copy returned, please provide a self-addressed, stamped manila envelope, with sufficient postage affixed.

In addition to articles, we publish reviews and discographies. If you would like to submit work of that sort, please contact the appropriate department editor. The Book Review Editor is: Thomas M. Kitts, English/Speech, St. John's University, Bent Hall, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens NY 11439, USA, telephone 718-990-7371, e-mail: kittst@stjohns.edu. The Audio Review Editor is: George H. Lewis, Sociology and Anthropology, University of the Pacific, Stockton CA 95211, USA, telephone 209-946-2925, fax 209-946-2318, e-mail glewis@uop.edu. The Film, Video, and Software Review Editor is: Steve Waksman, Music, Smith College, Northampton MA 01063, USA, telephone 413-585-3161, fax 413-585-3180, e-mail swaksman@email.smith.edu. The Discography Editor is: George M. Plasketes, Communication, Auburn University, Auburn University AL 36849-5211, USA, telephone 334-844-2727, fax 334-844-4665, e-mail plaskgm@mail.auburn.edu.

Popular Music and Society is indexed in ARSC Journal Current Bibliography, Article First, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Book Review Index, Communication Abstracts, Current Contents, Ethnomusicology Current Bibliography, Humanities Abstracts, Index of Book Reviews in the Humanities, International Index to Music Periodicals, Music Index, RILM Abstracts, Humanities International Complete, and Wilson Select Plus.

Our ISSN is 0300-7766.

I maintain a website at http://www.niu.edu/popms/. The Routledge/Taylor & Francis website is http://www.tandf.co.uk.

Popular Music and Society is a member of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.