Green Socialist Notes Submission Requirements and Notes for Authors

Educate. Agitate. Organize.

These are the founding principles for Green Socialist Notes, a new periodical publication by the Green Socialist Organizing Project (GSOP). GSOP is made up of members of the Green Party of the United States that wish to see the party, and the global Green movement, take an uncompromising anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, ecological leftist viewpoint on current events and organizing strategy.

Submission Types

Green Socialist Notes (GSN) is organised around five “departments”. The first two, Analysis and Retrospectives, host substantive original works and are blind peer-reviewed (by one academic-oriented and one activist-based). Two others, Conversations and Updates, have a more open and dialogical format and are not peer-reviewed. Finally, we also publish Letters to the Editors which are brief responses on current events or recent GSN publications, and not peer-reviewed. Aside from these, each issue of GSN will always be introduced by a short Editorial written by the GSN issue editors. The sections are:

Analysis / Focus on critical analysis and theory-making for today

MAX 9,000 words per article, including references, excluding pictures

We welcome papers that further develop Green Socialist theory and practice, by turning a Green Socialist lens on current events, public policy proposals, or organizing methods. Papers should aim for developing and expanding Green Socialist theory and practice, rather than summarizing or repeating past works or analysis, although of course brief reviews of existing theory or practice, with references, is extremely helpful. Papers will be subjected to double-blind peer-review.

Retrospectives / Deriving lessons from movements, actions in history

MAX 9,000 words per article, including references, excluding pictures

This section welcomes papers that are oriented toward developing historical accounts of leftist movements, organisations and/or actions, especially in global Green movement history. Papers should aim for historical rigor and depth; brief commentary applying historical lessons to today may also be included. Papers will be subjected to double-blind peer-review.

Conversations / Reflections from the field of action and organization

MAX 6,000 words per article

Debate-like or Interview-like pieces, written collectively between authors and editors, to reflect on specific actions and strategies. We welcome reflection on the challenges of particular organizing approaches and practices.

Updates / Reviews, provocations, updates on actions

MAX 1,500 words per text

We welcome reviews of books, films & more; and updates on current actions and news about local Green Parties.

Letters to the Editors / Brief commentary or political cartoons

MAX 500 words per text, or a cartoon or illustration

We welcome brief letters to the editor on any current event subject, particularly as a timely response to recent GSN publications. Political cartoons or illustrations are also considered.

Submission Guidelines and Tips

Please consider the word limits above before submitting; if you’re having trouble meeting the word count without cutting important content, please contact the Editorial Board for discussion.

We use endnotes for citing references and adding parenthetical information; please insert them directly into the text using the program’s citation function and formatted according to MLA style, i.e. Bookchin, Murray. The Ecology of Freedom. AK Press, 2005.

Please use U.S. spelling conventions, single spacing, no indentation for new paragraphs, a single space after periods, and indented block quotes for direct quotations more than 4 lines in length without quotation marks.

Feel free to use whatever writing style works best for you. However, you might consider mimicking the style of a newspaper if you are providing only a short Update or Letter to the Editor. For longer articles, you might follow a style similar to a leftist magazine or journal, such as Jacobin or Harbinger. Some standard references are the AP (Associated Press) Stylebook and Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

Avoid common mistakes

Use gender-neutral terms whenever possible. For example, use Chair or Chairperson, avoid Chairman.
Avoid “she/he” constructions when possible. For example, not “Each candidate made his or her speech”, but “Candidates made their speeches”.
Use the active rather than passive voice.
Eliminate unnecessary words (and be mindful of suggested limits). Go for simple and clear!
Do not quote yourself in the body of your own article.
Review the AP section on numerals (in general, only spell out the numbers one through nine, and use figures for 10 and above).
Ask several friends for feedback before submitting your article.
Put your article down for at least a few days and read it with fresh eyes. Use only one space after a period or other terminal punctuation.
Put an abbreviation in parentheses following the first use of term; use the abbreviation thereafter in the same article. (See list at end of style sheet for commonly used acronyms.) For example: The Presidential Exploratory Committee (PEC) settled in to its meeting. The PEC is made up of 14 members.
Refer to a person’s full name on first use, and their last name on second use. If due to cultural or linguistic differences it is difficult to tell which name in the full name is the last or family name, write the last name in all capitals. Example: Howie HAWKINS.
Avoid titles such as Mx., Ms., Mr., Mrs., or Miss. Academic or professional titles may be used when appropriate.

Formatting

Written Works: Google Doc (Link), OpenDocument, Microsoft Word Document, PDF.

Cartoons/Illustration: Varying dimensions. 300 dpi, able to be printed in grayscale.

Licensing

We require contributors to license their works under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, which allows others to share and distribute your work, or adapt it to other works (such as adapting a work to a print edition of GSN), for non-commercial purposes as long as the authors are properly attributed and any work it is included in is also distributed under the same license terms. This allows, for example, Green Socialist Notes and activists to easily print and distribute your work, by itself or as part of a collection, to encourage wide-spread viewing, reading, and discussion.

By submitting a work to the GSN Editorial Board, you are agreeing to license your work under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, which allows GSN to easily publish and distribute your work in one or more formats.

Publication Process

Reach out to our Editorial Board with any questions at INSERT EMAIL.
Submit your content to our Editorial Board ABOVE.
The Editorial Board will review your submissions for appropriateness and fit with submission guidelines.
1. If not a good fit for GSN, an Editor will let you know.
2. Otherwise, a member of the Editorial Board will approach you with feedback, suggested edits, etc., either from peer-review, or follow-up questions for a Conversation paper.
Once the piece is ready, it will be submitted to the GSN Editorial Board for approval. Please allow time for the Editorial Board to review your submission.
Once approved, it will be scheduled for posting online, generally within a few days.
Once scheduled, you will be contacted with the time of publication, a link to the piece, and any other relevant information.
Once the piece has been published, please share with your network!
Periodically, articles may be collected into PDF issues that may be printed and distributed.