Contributors' Guidelines

Alternatives is a journal dedicated to in-depth analysis of environmental issues, including ecological, social and economic dimensions. It combines the learned rigour of an academic journal with the accessible style and format of a general-audience magazine. This unique hybrid has proved itself by its staying power: the journal has been publishing continuously in Canada since 1971, making it the oldest environmental policy journal in the country. Alternatives aims to publish the best environmental writing in the country. We seek writing that is engaging and that provides a deeper level of analysis and insight than can be gained from the mainstream press. We invite feature articles, shorter reports, notes, interviews, resource guides, visual images related to article themes, cultural commentary and humour.

Themes
Each issue of Alternatives contains both theme and non-theme material. Recent themes have included Food, Water, Environmental Education and Biodiversity. Upcoming themes are listed in our Call for Submissions. To receive these calls, please sign up for our newsletter or monitor the 'What's New' section of the website.

Procedure for Submissions
We prefer to work with authors from the proposal stage to a finished manuscript. Queries should explain, in less than 300 words, the content and scope of your article, and should convey your intended approach, tone and style.
Please also include a list of people you will interview; potential images or sources for images; and the number of words you propose to write; a very short bio; And if you have not written for Alternatives before, please include other examples of your writing. Articles range from about 500 to 2000 words in length. (While we do not normally accept material that has already appeared in other major publications, we will consider articles that have already received a very limited or regional audience.)

Both proposals and finished manuscripts should be submitted electronically (as an e-mail attachment) to:
Nicola Ross, Editor in chief: editor (at) alternativesjournal (dot) ca
In cases where an author is unable to send attachments by email, please call 1-866-437-2587 to make other arrangements.

Feature Articles (approx 2000 words, including endnotes) cover a topic in-depth. Features may be written in an essay style where the author ruminates on a topic, a journalistic style, where the author tells a story based on interviews with stakeholders and published documents, or an academic style that sets out a logical framework and systematically explores an issue. Feature articles must meet the highest standards of analytical rigour and reliability of the information. They must also be lively, well-written and accessible to a non-expert readership. Authors are encouraged to use illustrative cases for theoretical or general points and to avoid using specialized language (i.e., jargon). Manuscripts are subject to blind review by experts in the field.

Reports (500 -1200 words) are less analytical than features and are usually written to convey a story or inform the reader of new initiatives or recent developments in policy, thought, technology or action. They are usually written in a balanced, news style approach with some analytical content, but other styles will be considered: e.g., case study, research report, recounting a personal experience, etc. Shorter reports normally do not have endnotes.

Notes (up to 500 words) are intended to inform busy readers about interesting topics that can be summarized quickly. They are written in a to-the-point news style.

STYLE GUIDELINES
- Alternatives requires all submissions to be written in a non-sexist manner. Quotes that include sexist terms should be avoided. If a sexist term is unavoidable, it should be followed by "[sic]". For reference see Bobbye D. Sorres, The Nonsexist Communicator (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1983).
- Alternatives follows the Oxford Canadian Dictionary for spelling and the Globe and Mail Style Guides for style.
- At the end of articles, under the subheading "Notes", authors should provide explanatory notes and references, where appropriate. A literary style of documentation should be used, presented as follows:
For a journal:
A.B. Author, "Article Title," Journal Name, 2:3 (1982), pp. 123-25.
For a book:
A.B. Author, Book Title (Place of publication: Publisher, 1982), p. 101.
For a web site:
Name of Organization, "Title of Document or Page" (accessed Date) .
- Figures and tables should appear on separate pages, be numbered and have appropriate titles.
- Accepted submissions will be illustrated with photographs, drawings or other graphics. If possible, please submit illustrative graphic material, or suggest sources of appropriate photos. All original art work supplied will be returned.
- For all articles, authors should supply web addresses where readers can find further information about the topic.

Please Keep in mind that our lead time is several months. Articles should not be so time-bound that they will seem dated once published.

Revisions
Initial acceptance of a proposal or a manuscript, or the assignment of a commission, does not guarantee publication. After initial acceptance, authors are expected to work with an Alternatives editor to revise the manuscript. Authors are asked to respond to requests for revisions within a delay of two weeks. Final copy is sent to authors for approval prior to publication. Although the author's views are taken into account, the title to be used on the article is chosen by Alternatives' editors.
Honoraria
Alternatives has a limited budget of about 10-cents-per-word. This stipend is available to professional and amateur writers and students only. Please indicate your interest in this funding in your submission.

BOOK REVIEWS
Alternatives and our affiliate website GreenBookReviews.ca publish reviews of academic and non-specialist books, films, music and websites for a primarily Canadian environmental audience. We print regular longer reviews (600-750 words) in the journal that offer a critical assessment of the book(s) under consideration. Occasionally, we publish review essays (1200-1500 words) on a collection of recent, related publications. The website runs shorter reviews (usually about 500 words). We rarely review books more than two years old.
Content
Ensure your review addresses these questions: What is this book about? Who should read it? What will they learn? Readers may not ever get to the book themselves, so ensure you succinctly report the book’s main arguments and conclusions. Do not provide a chapter-by-chapter description of its structure, but rather capture the themes of the book as a whole and why it will be useful and/or interesting.
A longer review (600-750 words) should bring a critical eye to the book and discuss how successfully the book achieves its goals: Is the argument well taken? Is the information accurate? Are there things it misses? Will this book impact environmental discussion and practice in Canada or internationally? Should it?
Presentation
Put the book information at the top of the review, in the following format: Title, Author, City: Publisher, Year.
For reviews of videos or films, list the producer, distributor (with address) and length in minutes.
Provide a one-sentence biography at the end of your review, beginning with your name. (e.g., Jane Smith is associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at....)
For office use, please provide your full name and mailing address as well as the word count of your review.

We will decide whether to publish your review according to how interesting we think the topic and review will be to our readers. Please be aware that reviews may be edited for length, style and clarity. We have limited space and we cannot print every review we receive (it helps greatly to stick to the agreed length).