Submissions

Authors are required to certify that their submissions (articles, varia, and book reviews) are entirely their own work, and that the material contained within them is new and has not, either wholly or substantially in part, been previously published elsewhere.

Representing work that you did not produce as your own, including work generated or materially modified by Artificial Intelligence or Large Language Models, constitutes plagiarism and is therefore not permitted by this journal.

All articles and varia are to be submitted to the Editors.

Definition:
Articles are defined as long-form pieces of research which make an original and scholarly contribution to their field. Varia encompass a wide range of offerings which can include, but are not limited to: creative writing, poetry, short notes that do not warrant long-form treatment, multimedia works, longer form review essays, first translations of previously published non-English articles into English, and translations of source texts in pre-modern languages. However, as with articles, they must be original and scholarly.

Submission Process:
Each volume has a theme, and articles and varia and which meet this theme are to be submitted by the CFP deadline each year. Non-themed articles and varia are welcome all year round and will be included in the next volume after the submission has passed peer-review. Both themed and non-themed articles and varia are eligible for the annual Essay Prize for the volume in which they are published. All submissions pass through an internal preliminary review process prior to peer-review, and both articles and varia undergo double-blind peer-review. Prior to publication, authors will also be required to complete and return a copyright form. This form will be sent by the Editors and is necessary for publication.

Word Limit:
The word limit for articles is 5000–8000 words (excluding footnotes, appendices and references) and for varia it is 1000–3000 words (excluding footnotes, appendices and references). If your review is outside of these limits, please contact the Reviews Editors for guidance.

Submission Format:
Articles and varia submissions must be provided as a single document (.doc or .docx, not as a .pdf). This document should be anonymised and contain no mention of the author’s name or other identifying details. You must also include an abstract of 200–300 words which outlines the topics covered in the paper as well as a bibliography. Please note that an abstract is not the same as the introduction. The author(s) of each submission should additionally provide a short academic biographical statement, full name, affiliation, and acknowledge any funding support they received by citing the relevant grant that facilitated their research. The corresponding author(s) will also need to provide a reliable email address. Multimedia content accompanying the article is encouraged where appropriate; however, please refer to the guidelines on copyrighted material below. All articles and varia should be formatted according to the Ceræ Style Sheet – Articles and Varia prior to submission.

All completed book reviews and review requests are to be submitted to the Reviews Editors.

Definition:
Reviews are ordinarily of published books but they can also be reviews of other media such as digital resources, physical or digital games, and films or series. A review is not intended as just a simple summary of the work being reviewed, but is instead also a scholarly assessment of the work and author. Please read the Reviews Style Guide for further guidelines on what constitutes a scholarly review.

Selection & Allocation Process:
Books for review are selected by the Reviews Editors each year in accordance with the thematic focus of the volume. The list of selected titles is circulated to Friends of Ceræ subscribers. The Review Editors also welcome direct proposals for recently published works, provided they have appeared within the previous two years and (ideally) are relevant to the volume’s theme (for example, for a 2026 volume, books published no earlier than 2024). Following allocation of a title, the Reviews Editors will request a copy from the publisher and arrange for it to be sent directly to the reviewer. If a print copy is supplied, reviewers will be asked to provide their full name, postal address, and telephone number for delivery purposes. Once a title has been received, whether electronically or as a physical copy, the allocated reviewer must contact the Reviews Editors to provide confirmation the book has been received. In return, the timeframe for return of the completed book review will be provided.

Submission Process:
Reviewers are kindly asked to submit their review within the agreed timeframe following receipt of the book (which will be communicated via email). All submissions pass through an editorial process. Prior to publication, reviewers will also be required to complete and return a copyright form. This form will be sent by the Review Editors and is necessary for publication.

Word Limit:
The word limit is 800–1200 words (excluding footnotes, appendices and references). If your review is outside of these limits, please contact the Reviews Editors for guidance.

Submission Format:
Reviews submissions must be provided as a single document (.doc or .docx, not as a .pdf). The corresponding author(s) will also need to provide a reliable email address. All reviews must be submitted in English, irrespective of the langugage of the title under review. All reviews should be formatted according to the Ceræ Style Sheet – Reviews prior to submission.

The primary language of the journal is English, however, reviews of non-English works and translations into English of both primary source material and secondary scholarship are welcomed following consultation with the editors.

The Ceræ style sheet is based on a modified version of the MHRA Style Guide (Fourth Edition). A full version of this style guide is available online at: http://www.mhra.org.uk/style.

All submissions must be formatted according to the relevant Ceræ Style Sheet.

Authors are required to certify that their submissions (articles, varia, and book reviews) are entirely their own work, and that the material contained within them is new and has not, either wholly or substantially in part, been previously published elsewhere.

Authors are responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions from relevant copyright holders to reproduce or quote any material from other copyright sources contained in this work, including illustrations and audio-visual material. These permissions must cover the electronic distribution of the work, and the relevant documentation must be provided to Ceræ.

Any images created by the author(s) (eg, photographs or artwork) will be credited to the author(s), except where that image is itself a reproduction of copyrighted material.

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission’s compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines:

• I warrant that this article is entirely my own, original work, and that it contains no plagiarised material.
• I warrant that this article is not AI-generated, either in whole or in part.
• I warrant that it is not before another journal for consideration, and that it has not been published (in whole or in significant part), elsewhere.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the relevant Ceræ Style Sheet.
• I warrant that I have obtained, or will obtain, all necessary permissions from relevant copyright holders to reproduce or quote any material from other copyright sources contained in this work, including illustrations and audio-visual material. These permissions must cover the electronic distribution of the work, and the relevant documentation must be provided to Ceræ. In the case of publication, I hereby indemnify Cerae: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies against any claims for breach of this warranty.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

• Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
• Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
• Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. However, we ask that any such pre-publication versions clearly state that publication is forthcoming in Ceræ (noting the planned volume number), contain a direct link to our website, and that after publication, the pre-publication version is replaced with a link to the final published version.