Announcements about Rhetoric Society Quarterly

Announcements about Rhetoric Society Quarterly

RSA members will soon be receiving the fall 2008 issue of RSQ (38:4) by mail. We wanted to alert you to some changes in the journal that are in the works for 2009. These changes are also announced in the Editor's Note in the new issue.

Change in Page Size, Winter Issue 2009

The RSA Board of Directors has agreed with our publisher, Routledge - Taylor & Francis Group, to increase the page size of the journal, from the 6 x 9 inch page that you are familiar with to 7 x 10 inches, starting with the first issue of 2009 (39:1). The page-size increase will not only save paper, but it also will allow us to include more content in each volume of RSQ. In addition to these efficiencies of paper and printing, we will have more flexibility in page layout for figures and footnotes.

This will not be the first such change in appearance for RSQ. Volumes 1 through 20 (1990) were 8 ½ x 11 inches, bound with staples or a plastic comb, and composed with a typewriter. Those who remember the early issues will know that the journal, like rhetoric itself, has a history of both continuity and change.

Change in Citation Style, Summer Issue 2009

RSQ uses the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing as its standard for documentation of sources. The third edition of the manual was published in May 2008; this new edition includes significant changes in documentation style to accommodate and clarify the increased variety of electronic sources and other publication media available to scholars.

RSQ will adopt the third edition of the MLA Style Manual in 2009: manuscripts accepted for publication in the July issue (39:3) or later should use this edition. Manuscripts using the earlier edition will still be accepted for review, but authors will be asked to provide final versions of accepted manuscripts using the new style starting in January 2009. Additional editorial assistance will be available to authors caught in the transition.

A short guide to the major changes in documentation style is available to authors on Manuscript Central (at the Instructions & Forms link at the top of every screen) and in the RSQ section of the  RSA website (at the Submissions link).

Carolyn R. Miller
RSQ Editor