Guidelines for reviewers

The Marx and Philosophy Review of Books attempts to be useful to a wide range of readers. Reviews should be written in a style which corresponds to this aim.

The review should provide an account of the book as a whole, not just of one part or aspect. It should begin with a brief overall characterization of the book so that readers can tell quickly if they are interested in reading the entire review.
The review should situate the book in its field of problems, so that uninitiated readers can find their way about.
It should give an evaluation of at least some key aspects of the book and not merely provide a summary. Give reasons for evaluations, particularly negative ones.
The review should relate the book to the interests of the Marx and Philosophy Review of Books: namely, the area of Marxism and philosophy, interpreted broadly as regards both ‘Marxism’ and ‘philosophy’.
Avoid foreign terms or phrases where possible. Do not use footnotes or endnotes. Ensure that every word earns its space.
The reviewer should bear in mind their responsibility to the authors under review.
If you are a non-native speaker of English we may, due to limited editorial resources, request that you find a native English speaker to edit your text prior to submission.

Format

The Header

The Review should start with a Header specifying details of the book(s) reviewed:

Names of the author(s) or editor(s) as given on the title page.
The title (and subtitle, if any) as on the title page.
Bibliographical details: publisher, place(s) and date of publication, number of pages, and price of paperback or hardback in sterling and/or US dollars.
ISBN-13 of the edition reviewed: numerals only, no spaces or hyphens.
Your name as reviewer as you wish it to appear.

This information should be formatted as in the following examples:

István Mészáros
The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time: Socialism in the Twenty-first Century
Monthly Review Press, New York, 2008. 480pp., $29.95 pb.
ISBN 9781583671696

Andrew Chitty, and Martin Mcivor (eds)
Karl Marx and Contemporary Philosophy
Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009. 288pp., £50 hb.
ISBN 9780230222373

Reviewed by: Your Name

The Text of the Review

Left justify all text. Use single spaces between sentences.
Do not indent first lines of paragraphs.
Do not separate paragraphs with blank lines (use `paragraph spacing’ to add extra space if desired).
Do not use section headings or sub-headings.
Use an n-dash and single spaces to separate clauses ( – ); use a hyphen for joining words or numbers: e.g., other-worldly, 34-5.
Page references from the book under review should be given by themselves in parentheses in the text: e.g., (34-5).
Do not use any footnotes or endnotes.
Avoid references to other works if possible. If you include them use the Harvard (author‐date) system (see the Style Sheet for further details).

References

For more detailed guidance on referencing and other matters of format and style see the Style Sheet.

Biographical paragraph

At the very end of the review (after References, if any) include a brief biographical description (up to 50 words), and your email address if you wish. For example:

John Smith is studying for a PhD on Marx’s Theory of Alienation at Some University (js23@someu.ac.uk).

Joanna Jones is Lecturer in Philosophy at Footlights College, Oxbridge. She works on Marxism and ethics.

If you have previously done a review, please inform the editor if you are updating your details.

Submission

Reviews should be submitted as email attachments in either MS Word (.doc or .docx) or .rtf format, to the editor, Eric-John Russell.
Reviews are normally between 1400 and 2000 words long. Try to keep to the suggested length and deadline. Inform the editor if your review is going to be significantly delayed or much different in length.

Reviews are accepted for the Marx and Philosophy Review of Books on the understanding that the material in them is not also published elsewhere.

Editorial Process

All reviews are subject to editorial scrutiny and are accepted only after they have passed this.
Material appearing in The Marx and Philosophy Review of Books may be reproduced for non-commercial use provided proper credit is given to the author and The Marx and Philosophy Review of Books. See foot of reviews for Creative Commons licence details.