Editorial Guidelines
1. Editorial Process
Deadlines, submission and correspondence
Authors are invited to send their proposals for contributions (3000 characters) by email to the following address: contributor@noria-research.com. The proposal should include the topic, the analytical perspective, a list of sources used, as well as a draft outline. It should also clearly state what format the author envisions for publication (i.e. intentions for publication). The approval of the project does not guarantee the approval of the article itself. The editorial team reserves the right not to publish the text in the case of substantive divergence of opinion between the author and the editorial team.
Noria commits to answering within fourteen days after receiving the proposal. Once the text is approved, the authors are encouraged to submit a first draft version (v1) within the month following the reception of the approval email. At that stage, Noria will require that authors do not submit the text to other publications.
Proofreading and publication
The process of proofreading and editing is built through constant dialogue. The following steps structure its key stages and clarify the commitments due by each party.
This first step allows proofreaders to verify the alignment of the text with previous recommendations, the consistency of the argument with the sources and data used, and the overall structure of the paper.
Noria commits to sending its edited, assessed version (R1) within three weeks.
The second version (v2) is expected to reflect the suggested changes or to clarify any confusing passages brought to the author’s attention in the previous step.
Authors are encouraged to send this version two weeks after they receive the first edits, at the latest. The editorial team commits to sending their second edited version (R2) within two weeks.
Here changes will be exclusively at the level of style and presentation.
Authors are encouraged to send the third version (v3) one week, at the latest, after they receive the new edits (R2).
At this point:
- Biographies and the methodology box will be provided (see below)
- The illustrations created with Noria’s graphic artists will be approved by the editorial team
- The final productions by the mapping workshop will be delivered
Once the text is approved, a final dialogue will lead to the approval of:
- Proposed pull quotes in the body of the text to enrich the reading experience
- An introductory abstract of 1000 characters maximum, presenting the main contributions of the article and its relation to the major analytical themes Noria focuses on
- Title choices
Once the final draft has been approved, all of the elements (texts, illustrations, maps, infographics, bios) are posted online.
The communication team drafts a newsletter and communicates on social media.
Dissemination
Noria ensures the dissemination and promotion of the article on all of its channels. The authors will be involved in the diffusion and promotion of their work through media platforms who work with Noria.
2. Recommendations
Structure
The article should include an introductory paragraph locating the work in time and space, presenting the main issue of the paper and its analytical perspective. As early as the introduction, the argumentative structure should be clearly expressed to the readers. A short conclusion paragraph should echo or complement the introduction.
The text should be made up of sections (with only one subset of titles) structuring the analysis.
Use of foreign languages
The use of foreign languages (in Latin characters or not) is possible in the body of the text, if it brings additional information: if an expression is hard to translate, or for a reference, a concept, etc. (see below for applicable rules).
Variations on the Latin alphabet that are not used in French, such as the Spanish “ñ” or the Turkish “ğ”, should be used in applicable languages.
Titles
Authors are encouraged to choose a short title, which can be complemented with a subtitle.
Section headings should be visually recognizable, without numbering.
Noria’s editorial team reserves the right to change titles to maintain a consistent editorial line.
References
Noria recommends that authors limit the use of footnotes and that they integrate digital editing tools.
→ Interviews should be quoted in the body of the text.
Example: “The protests started last February” (1) footnote: Interview with Mauricio, anti-speciest activist, Berlin April 24, 2019
Should become:
“Mauricio, an anti-speciesist activist that we met in Berlin in April 2019, recalls that the protests started in February.”
→ Bibliographical references may be cited in two ways. If the document is referred to as a source, then it can be referenced as follows:
That represented less than 14,000 people per year at the time, according to Amnesty International’s report (link) / according to Tom Hook, in his History of the French Islands.
The book will be presented in the bibliography at the end of the article (see below).
→ In order to make sure the text is accessible for non-academic readers, authors should refrain from using footnotes to position the text in an intellectual debate, or to justify borrowing a concept. References may be presented at the end of the text in the bibliography.
→ As for data or sources that are available online, a hyperlink should be inserted into the text itself or in the margins: For the first time, police officers sympathized with protesters at the march.
→ The use of footnotes should be limited to short explanations that cannot be integrated into the body of the text. Their length should not exceed 300 characters.
Pull quotes
Authors are encouraged to propose pull quotes. They may be phrases, bits of sentences or whole sentences that are emphasized to enrich the reading experience. A sentence may be slightly rephrased to achieve a more forceful wording. In order to avoid repetitions, pull quotes should not be taken from the beginning of a paragraph.
Biography
Noria offers two formats for biographies: a) a short version under the article (350 characters maximum); b) a longer version in which authors can specify their affiliation, background, research and publications.
Example of a short version: Sabrina Nour is a PhD candidate in geography at the Université de Tours. She has been researching migration routes around the Black Sea since 2015. She was Program Officer in North Kivu for the NGO Save the Children from 2010 to 2014 and she is the author of European Migrations in the 20th Century (La Découverte, 2019).
Project details
With each publication, Noria gives readers a short description of the dates and places where the field study took place, of the bodies that funded the study and/or the project that led to the article, and of the people who aided the authors (translators, assistants, fixers, etc.) This gives authors an opportunity to disclose their potential conflicts of interest and to present the conditions in which the research was conducted.
Example: This article is based on a field study conducted in Mexico City from January to March 2017, with a team from The University of Texas at Austin. It was financed by the author’s PhD grant from the London School of Economics as well as funding given by the National Research Agency. Names and places have been anonymized for safety reasons.
Documents and illustrations
Noria encourages authors to use appendices to illustrate their text: charts, graphs, archive photos or field photos. Noria’s mapping workshop may also be involved to create original maps and/or infographics in collaboration with the authors to illustrate their work. Moreover, links to downloadable PDF documents and URLs may be inserted into the body of the text.
3. Editorial Rules
Bibliography
Authors may propose a short bibliography which will be placed at the end of the article. The bibliography allows readers to learn more about the main issues developed in the text. It is not compulsory and should be adapted to the anticipated audience.
→ Book: John Doe (year), Title, Publisher
→ Chapter: Jean Dupont (year), “Title of the chapter” in Jane Smith (ed.), Title, Publisher
→ Article: John Doe (year), “Title of the article” in Journal, volume
→ Electronic references should be given in the same format as paper books or journal articles, followed by the word “online” which is itself a hyperlink to the source.
Captions
Any document or media presented (in the body of the text or downloadable via a link) should be named or captioned. A short caption should specify the source and the copyright license.
“Feminist protest on the Place the la République (Paris), February 11, 2022. © Name of the photographer” or “Portrait of Glubb Pasha in 1936. Wikipedia, BY-SA license.” For downloadable documents, the file should be renamed.
“Human Right Watch report on war crimes in Syria, 2018” or “Peruvian Ministry of Plan database, 2014.”
Quotes
Quotes from interviews conducted in the field should be integrated into the narrative flow in the body of the text, to limit the use of footnotes (see above). Use quotation marks (“…”) before and after the quote. Use simple quotation marks (‘…’) for quotations within quotations. If the whole sentence is a quote, then the quotation mark is placed after the period. If the quote is part of a longer sentence, then the quotation mark is placed before the period.
Long quotes (for instance from an interview) should appear as a separate paragraph, with wider margins on both sides.
Acronyms and names of organizations
→ Acronyms et names of organizations must be spelled out when first used, with the acronym or abridged name inside parentheses. In the rest of the text, only the acronym or abridged version is used. United Nations (UN)
→ Acronyms that have a meaning in and of themselves are not capitalized. Hamas (an acronym of the Arabic for “Islamic Resistance Movement”, also meaning “zeal”), not HAMAS.
→ In a foreign language, they should be immediately followed by their translation into French or English, without brackets or quotation marks. Example: le Labour (Parti travailliste) britannique.
→ on-English organization names must be translated inside parentheses when first used. They are not italicized, except if they appear as part of a non-English language quotation. Munazamat Badr (Badr Organization).
