Discourse at the speed of relevance.

Submission Guidance and Style Guide

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General Style and Tone

• Audience: Small Wars Journal is a publication for policymakers, military analysts, military personnel, and academics. Focus your writing on that audience. However, don’t assume that they have the same level of understanding about a subject as you. 
• Tone: Maintain a formal yet accessible tone. Do not use jargon or overly technical language; explain terms where necessary. Strive for clarity and conciseness.
• Voice: Articles should be authoritative, analytical, and evidence-based. Authors should support their arguments with data, historical context, and citations from reputable sources.
• Spellings and Other Grammar Considerations: Use American English spelling. Use US and UK, not U.S. or U.K. When used as a noun, United States (or United Kingdom) should be spelled out. When used as an adjective or any other form of modification, the acronym can be used. However, if using the acronym, it must be spelled out the first time. When writing dates use the Month-Day-Year model, for example: August 20, 2024. For numbers one through nine, spell them out. For 10 and above, use numerals. Only use capitalization when appropriate in standard American English, and not Army English, or US Government English. Underlining and italics are okay, but only insofar as they do not become distracting. Italics, as a rule, should only be used for non-English phrases or for names of books, or in discrete places to add emphasis. 
• We will accept submissions for review in any citation format as long as you are consistent, HOWEVER, once we have agreed to work with you on your submission you will need to change the citation style to our preferred method of in-text hyperlinks. It’s just better for our readers. If you wish to leave a bibliography or footnotes, please discuss with your editor.
• Do not send us “drafts for comment.” Make sure you believe it is publication ready.

Article Structure

• Title: Titles should be descriptive, succinct, and engaging. They should convey the article’s main argument or topic. Focus on short, punchy titles. 
• Abstract: Provide a brief abstract (2-3 sentences) summarizing the article’s key points.
• Introduction: The introduction should hook the reader by presenting a compelling argument or insight. It should also provide context and outline the main points of the article.
• Body: Organize the body into clear sections with subheadings. Each section should focus on a specific aspect of the topic. Use evidence, examples, and citations to support arguments.
• Conclusion: Summarize the key points made in the article and restate the significance of the argument. Offer final insights or recommendations.
• Citations: Use hyperlinks. Use hyperlinks just as you would an endnote or footnote in another publication. Authors should only hyperlink one, maybe two key words in a sentence that requires a citation. Place your hyperlinks on the verb or adverb in the pertinent sentence, when possible. 

Formatting and Citations

• Headings: Use H1 for the title, H2 for section headings, and H3 for subheadings. All headings are left justified, except the title, which is centered. 
  • H1 headings are 14-point font and bolded. 
  • H2 headings are 12-point font and bolded. 
  • H1 headings are 12-point font, bolded, and italicized. 
  • Any heading H1 that is left-justified, 12-point font, and italicized. 
• Font and Spacing: Use a legible, professional font (e.g., Times New Roman or Arial) in 12-point size. Single-space the text and use one-inch margins on all sides.
• Footnotes: Use sparingly for additional commentary or clarification. Place them at the bottom of the page with superscript numbering. These are only used with exception in Small Wars Journal.

Content Guidelines

• Originality: Articles must be original and unpublished elsewhere. Authors should disclose if the material has been presented in a different format or venue. Small Wars Journal will republish articles, if it fits with the journal’s audience and is approved by the Editor. 
• Accuracy: Ensure that all data, quotes, and references are accurate and verifiable. Authors are responsible for the factual correctness of their content. All hyperlinks will be checked for functionality and accuracy during the editorial process. 
• Balance and Fairness: Present balanced perspectives. If critiquing a policy or strategy, consider the opposing viewpoint and address counterarguments.
• Word Count: Articles may vary in length. Opinion pieces are generally 800-1500 words. Essays and other articles should generally be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. Longer pieces (generally up to 5,000 words) may be accepted for in-depth analyses, but they should be discussed with the editor in advance.
• SWJ collaborates with its sister publication,  Inter Populum: The Journal of Irregular Warfare and Special Operations, to offer authors opportunities for publishing in-depth, peer-reviewed research on irregular warfare and special operations. Submissions exceeding 5,000 words, such as research or policy papers, may be referred to Inter Populum or El Centro if they align with the scope and focus of those outlets. Authors will be notified if their work is referred and can choose whether to pursue publication through Inter Populum.

Visual Elements

• Images and Graphics: Include images, charts, or tables to enhance the article, where appropriate. All visuals must be high-resolution and have proper attribution. Authors must secure permissions for any copyrighted material. If no images are provided, the editorial team will use a non-copyright image from the internet to accompany the article. 
• Captions: Provide brief, descriptive captions for all visuals.
• Infographics: Infographics should be clear, visually appealing, and relevant to the content. Provide sources for any data used in the infographics.

Ethical Considerations

• Conflict of Interest: Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, that could influence their work.
• Plagiarism: All submissions must be the author’s original work. Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, will not be tolerated and may result in a ban from future submissions.
• Confidentiality: Respect confidentiality agreements, especially regarding sensitive military or governmental information. Do not disclose classified information.
• Artificial Intelligence: All submissions will be vetted for the use of AI-generated content. Any manuscript that comes in with a notable percentage of AI-generated content will be rejected for publication. 

Submission Process

• Submission Format: Submit articles in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx). Include the author’s name, title, and a brief bio (2-3 sentences) at the beginning of the document.
• Review Process: Articles will undergo a review process by the editorial team. Authors may be asked to make revisions before publication. The goal is to have an article from review to publication, if it is accepted, within three weeks of publication. Therefore, authors must be willing to work on tight editorial turns if they choose to submit to the journal. It is not enough for us to move at the speed of relevance….you have to help us.
• Publication Rights: By submitting to Small Wars Journal, authors grant the journal the right to publish and distribute their work in any format. Authors retain the rights to their work and may republish it elsewhere with appropriate attribution to Small Wars Journal. See the Rights and permissions section below.
• Submit articles to: [email protected]. 

What to include

• Include the article file (word.doc or .docx)
• Your Bio as you would like it to appear
• Images and graphics. Make sure these images are not proprietary. Hint, if you pulled them off the internet, someone probably owns them. If you made them or pulled them from a site that offers images in the public domain you are good to go.
• Include any social media accounts you’d like us to tag in our promotion of your article

You should hear a decision within 7 days. Please give us that long. But if you do not hear from us, feel free to poke us.

Terms of Use

All content is provided as is without warranty or further representation. No opinion or fact statement may be relied upon without further investigation on your part sufficient to satisfy you in your independent judgment that it is true.

Original SWJ Works are copyrighted by Arizona State University Media Enterprises and licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 license.  All other rights are reserved. You may view a human-readable summary or the Legal Code (full license).

SWJ supports the broader Small Wars community’s legitimate use of original SWJ works through the privileges granted by that license.  That’s the whole reason why we exist and why we grant such a generous license. Please see our Rights & Permissions page for more information on details of use under that license, or permission requests for other usage.

SWJ may make use of others’ works in compliance with their terms of use when published, specific grants of permission, and/or generally accepted fair use.  If you are the copyright owner of material that you feel we are using inappropriately, contact us with your specific concerns so that we may address them.

Some material presented in SWJ may be subject to copyrights of other parties.  We take reasonable care to note it as such, include original source information, or use terms such as “reprinted with permission” that are indicators the work is not an original SWJ work. Re-use of such material is guided by the originator’s terms, not SWJ’s.

For member-generated content, including but not limited to the comments section of articles, you acknowledge that while we monitor and curate these to the best of our ability, we do not vet user and member generated comments proir to posting and that any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content presented or disseminated on any commen section or on any other user or member generated pages are those of their respective authors who are solely liable for their content. From time to time we monitor or review discussions, postings, transmissions, and other user and member generated pages on the site, but are under no obligation to do so.  You may also contact us to report inappropriate material or use the reporting features within the site.  We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to edit, refuse to post or remove any material submitted to or posted on the comment boards or on any other user or member generated pages, and to suspend, ban, or terminate the account of any user. Our failure to exercise that right does not in any way constitute a waiver of that right, or endorsement or approval of any member-generated material.

These terms are subject to change and should be reviewed regularly. They are effective when published, unless otherwise specified.

Rights and Permissions

This page addresses the re-use of original SWJ Works by others. If that’s not your target, you may want to:

• For other general information, look at our Terms of Use
• If you are a copyright owner and fell we are using your material inappropriately, please contact us

If you really are here because you want to find out how to re-use original SWJ Works, keep reading this page. Thanks for your interest in the material and in doing it right with regard to copyrights and such.

Cutting to the chase for commercial publishers — contact us to arrange for paid use and a specific grant of permission. We are willing to work with your reasonable terms and typical fees. Please propose some and let’s make it a simple transaction.

For most other would-be rights seekers — we are big fans of the Small Wars community getting better by freely exchanging information. That’s why we exist in the first place. We practice what we preach by providing a generous Creative Commons license to allow other good folks like us to go forth and do even more great things with original SWJ Works. Original SWJ Works are copyrighted by Small Wars Foundation and licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommerical-Share Alike 3.0 license. All other rights are reserved. You may view a human-readable summary or the Legal Code(full license).

We find that most inquiries we receive are for simple reprint rights we have already granted via that license. Review the license details at the links for the specifics. In general, if your use of the material will be:

• Attributed, and
• Shared Alike, i.e. republished under the same Creative Commons license that we use

….then you are probably well taken care of by that license and just need to wade through its particulars.

Here are the issues we most often encounter, and how to address them:

Attribution

This is generally easy to accomplish. Industry standard attribution is acceptable. To really ace this, we ask that you:

• Prominently credit the works’ authors and its original title.
• Prominently and appropriately cite the works’ appearance in Small Wars Journal
• In print versions, provide the text http://smallwarsjournal.com.
• In online or electronic versions, provide a functioning hyperlink to Small Wars Journal and/or a relevant subordinate page where practicable.
• Do NOT in any way suggest our endorsement of you or your use of the work, unless we have explicitly provided a specific endorsement.
• Do us the extra favor of letting us know where and how you used or will use the material by sending us a note.

A sample citation that helps meet those requirements is:

[Title] by [Author(s)] is reprinted from Small Wars Journal per the Creative Commons license granted upon its <link to individual article page>original publication</link>.

Share Alike

Perhaps you are already publishing everything under a Creative Commons license. Good for you. On behalf of the community, thanks.

If not, or if you are but you are using a different style of CC license, we encourage you to consider broadening up access to your stuff for the community; however, you don’t need to change everything just to use our stuff. It is acceptable to us that  you explicitly add the CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 terms to your particular usage of SWJ works within your other work. That’s easy to do, see the links cited earlier for Creative Commons information. Note this applies to any derivative works as well as verbatim re-use.

Non-commercial

Under the license, you may not use the material for commercial purposes. Usually that’s pretty clear and you know who you are. Here’s what Creative Commons has to say about commercial purposes.

Usage will vary and will depend on the specifics of the situation and the intentions of the user. We cannot and will not provide you a safe harbor statement that your use in non-commercial. We can suggest several situations that we have seen that tend to indicate your use is commercial:

• You typically pay author fees.
• You generate significant revenue through distribution, perhaps by requiring users to pay for prints/access or by significant circulation-based advertising revenue in excess of incidental online banner ads.
• You are primarily in the publishing business rather than in the warfighting & governance business.

Simply put, if you are making money from the use of our work, we expect some of it. The Creative Commons license does not apply. Contact us to arrange for paid use and a specific grant of permission. We are willing to work with your reasonable terms and fees. Please propose some and let’s make it a simple transaction. By the way, we share royalties that we collect with the original authors, but that’s our business and we will take care of them on the back end.

Simply Confused

We get this a lot.

See again the non-commercial terms. If your use is commercial, you probably know it so follow the process for paid rights. We’ll probably know it, too, when we discover the infringement, but we don’t think it’s a violation of that license when a junior officer bundles an SWJ article into a PME reader reproduced on a government copier and freely distributed to their team. Re-read the license at the earlier links, double check the attribution and share alike terms, and press on.

If you are still confused, chances still are you’re an action officer or curriculum developer looking for gold-plated, belt & suspenders top cover to CYA or to satisfy a boss or a functionary gatekeeper somewhere.  Re-read the license terms. We bet you can live by them. Point your boss or publishing clerk at the license, have them read it, and if they still want more documentation, have their credit card handy. To reduce our own paperwork and workload, we only grant explicit permissions to paying customers, who should probably only be paying when the terms of our Creative Commons license do not apply.