For Authors

Article Types

The mission is to publish scholarly and creative works exploring Italian Americanness from a wide variety of perspectives. Italian Americana today maintains its long tradition of printing innovative articles by historians, social scientists, literary critics, and visual artists, among others, and presenting original works of fiction and poetry.

Beyond scholarly and creative offerings, each issue also features a book review section that introduces readers to the most recent contributions to the interdisciplinary field of Italian American Studies. The journal’s editorial team members are pleased to be able to maintain the legacy of Italian Americana and to continue to print the journal semi-annually, bringing our readership a winter and summer issue.

Italian Americana accepts submissions on a rolling basis throughout the year. We welcome work in various categories, including scholarly articles, fiction (creative nonfiction, memoir, personal essay, and short story), and poetry. By accepting submissions year-round, we aim to provide a flexible and accessible platform for emerging and established writers and scholars to share their work. All submissions are managed through our Scholastica platform, ensuring a smooth and organized review process from start to finish. Please note that you must create an account if you have not previously submitted through Scholastica.

Submission Requirements:

All submissions should be in a Word file attachment (docx. or doc.) following the specific guidelines for each submission category, as indicated below.

Peer Review Policy for Scholarly Articles:

Italian Americana employs a double-blind peer-review process for all scholarly article submissions, ensuring that the author’s and reviewers’ identities remain anonymous. This approach promotes impartiality and upholds the integrity and quality of the journal’s academic content.

Article Submissions:

Submissions must follow Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition [link] (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html)
Italian Americana uses the author-date system for citations with authors’ full names in the Works Cited list (see examples below). Notes may be used for supplemental information.
- (Gravano 2011, 181)
- Gravano, Alan J. 2011. “New York in Don DeLillo’s Novels.” Italian Americana 29 (1): 181-189.
Copy should be single-spaced in Times New Roman, 11-point font, with no line spaces between paragraphs, and justified
Paragraphs should be denoted using the tab key
The title should be Centered in Times New Roman, Italic 14-pt font, upper & lower case (prepositions should NOT be capitalized)
The author’s NAME should be in ALL CAPS, with the flush right margin in bold 11-pt font
The author’s aﬃliation should be in Italics, upper and lower case 11-pt font Flush Right, immediately below the author’s name
Endnotes and/or Works Cited should be in justified bold italics 11-pt font, as done here, and Flush Left margin
Notes and Works themselves should be in 9-pt font justified with no line spaces between items
Extended quotations should be indented at both Left and Right margins
Dashes should be made by hitting the hyphen twice with no space before or after hyphens, and they should be done like this. (The two hyphens become a dash on some programs, such as Word)
Numbers from one to ten should be spelled out
We follow the American, not English, style for quotes so that punctuation should be within the quotation marks, except for semi-colons, which should be placed outside the quotation marks
Do not use apostrophes in dates unless it is a possessive
Begin the document with a short cover letter, including a bio of no more than 65 words, for inclusion in our “Notes on Contributors” section, justified with your name in bold font, uppercase, and lowercase. Please note that we may edit the bio according to space concerns

Creative Writing Submissions:

Creative writers submitting to Italian Americana must be of Italian heritage on one or both sides of their family. Please mention the connection in your cover letter or bio.

Peer Review Policy:

For fiction and poetry, authors are identified. Deadlines: July 1 for the Winter issue, December 1 for the Summer one.

Fiction (creative nonfiction, memoir, personal essay, and short story) Submissions:

Italian Americana accepts previously unpublished submissions in the following fiction categories: creative nonfiction, memoir, personal essay, and short story

Please read our current and past issues to familiarize yourself with our publication and editor’s choices. We prefer creative works that present Italian heritage and/or explicitly reference elements of italianità. We also welcome submissions on other topics. Quality writing is our ultimate selection criterion
Submissions should be no more than 4,000 words
Begin your document submission with a short cover letter, which includes a bio of no more than 65 words and reference your Italian heritage. Bios will be included in the journal’s “Notes on Contributors” section. We may edit the bio according to space allocation
We accept simultaneous submissions and request immediate notification if your work is accepted elsewhere

Poetry Submissions:

Send a single Word document (we cannot accept PDFs). Begin with a cover letter that includes a bio of up to 65 words. Refer to your Italian heritage in your bio if this isn’t in your letter
On the next page, begin your submission of up to five unpublished poems in Times New Roman 11-point font. No poem should exceed two pages
Important: your name, address, email address, and phone number must appear on every page of the file
We welcome poems on any subject and have no special preference for Italian or Italian American themes. We nominate for the Pushcart Prize
We accept simultaneous submissions, but notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere
If your poetry is published in Italian Americana, please wait a year (two issues) before submitting again

View our Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement Link:

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/ethics_statement.html