Fidelitas: the Journal of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (Canada) - Information for Contributors

Fidelitas:

the journal of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (Canada)

Information for Contributors (adapted from the guidelines used for Historical Studies of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association”

Fidelitas is a semi-annual peer-reviewed publication of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (Canada), which publishes articles on a variety of topics and from a variety of disciplinary perspectives but which have in common their fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and their underlying belief that Catholic scholarship remains, in the words of St Anselm of Canterbury, fides quaerens intellectum, “faith seeking understanding.” The journal welcomes contributions from any field that are rooted in that scholarly orientation and welcomes particularly contributions from new scholars and graduate students.

The journal has a peer-review system, with manuscripts blind-reviewed by two reviewers, along with an initial review by the editor. 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. General Author Guidelines

All unpublished manuscripts are assessed through a blind-review process that ensures confidentiality. Most articles are published in English, but the journal does consider articles submitted in French. 

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically as Word files. Texts should be double-spaced, and while the journal has not imposed strict word limits on manuscripts, it is desirable that submissions should be no longer than 6,500-8,500 words (25 double-spaced pages, including notes).

All manuscripts should be submitted to the editor of Fidelitas at the following e-mail address:

Robert.Berard@msvu.ca

Authors whose manuscripts are selected will be required to provide the editor with a revised version of the manuscript in a timely manner following the application of any changes and corrections required.

Articles accepted for publication must be accompanied by an abstract of approximately 150 words as well as a biographical sketch of the author of from 50 to 75 words.

2. Article Selection and Copyright

Submissions are evaluated by the editor of Fidelitas and by board-selected external readers. The editors decide whether to publish, reject or request a revision of each article. In cases of conditional selection, the editor will communicate with the author to ensure that the conditions for publication are fulfilled. The editor reserves the right to reject articles that, although acceptable in terms of content, will require in his estimation too much revision in order to meet publication deadlines.

Authors whose work has been accepted for publication in Fidelitas assign to the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (Canada) the exclusive copyright for countries as defined in section 3 of the Copyright Act to the contribution in its published form. The Fellowship, in turn, grants the author the right of republication in any book or journal, subject only to the author giving proper credit to the original publication in Fidelitas.

3. Submission Format

We ask contributors to adhere the following conditions to assist the editor and reduce publication costs. We reserve the right to reject manuscripts that are at significant variance from the following formatting rules.

Texts should be formatted for standard dimensions (8.5 x 11) … Long quotations and notes should all be single-spaced within the text. The first page of the manuscript should contain the title of the article followed by the author’s name.

Text should appear, if possible, in Goudy Old Style 12 font, with 10 font in the footnotes.

Titles, Tables, Figures, and Illustrations

All tables, graphics, figures, and illustrations should be referred to in the body of the text. They should be numbered in Arabic numerals and include an appropriate title or key. Notes on the source, if any, should follow immediately. Maps (vector processing software), graphics (e.g., Lotus and Excel spreadsheets) and tables (spreadsheet or word processing software) must all be submitted in electronic format.

Photographs must be submitted as jpeg files, and include captions, credits, and permissions where appropriate.

Abbreviations, Dates and Spacing

Texts should make as little use as possible of abbreviations, but when abbreviations are used, they should be clearly identified at their first use and readers advised that they will be used throughout the manuscript.

Centuries should be indicated in written form (i.e., “nineteenth century”).

In text references and footnotes, dates should be indicated as follows: day, month, and year (i.e., 1 April 1966).

Paragraphs should not be indented, and text should be full justified. The period ending each sentence should be followed by one space.

Italics

Italics should be used for all foreign-language terms. 

Quotations

Authors should endeavour to avoid excessively lengthy quotations (more than twelve lines). Quotations of more than three typed lines should be placed as a separate paragraph with a five-space indent on both the left and the right and without quotation marks. Omissions or cuts within quotations are indicated by bracketed suspension points […].

Notes

Fidelitas generally employs footnotes for the purpose of referencing. Superscript numbers in-text should be offered sequentially in the paper and should be placed immediately following punctuation marks. Notes and references should be single-spaced and appear at the bottom of each page.

Book Reviews

Fidelitas continues to offer book reviews in this journal. If you have read a book that you would like to bring to the attention of other members of the Fellowship, please consider preparing a review of it. Please contact the Editor, Dr Robert Berard, to submit a review or to get further information on writing reviews for Fidelitas:

About the Editor

Robert Nicholas Berard, Ph.D. is the president of the Canadian Chapter of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars/Amicale des savants catholiques. He is an historian and Professor of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. His areas of research include the history of Catholic education, the Catholic Church in Nova Scotia, and the politics of education.