Guidelines for Contributors

Short articles and blog posts 

We welcome articles written in clear English which make stimulating and rigorous perspectives available to a wide readership. Please bear in mind that writing for an online audience is very different to writing for print publication: try to keep sentences and paragraphs to a sensible length and avoid jargon and complicated terminology. 

  • Articles should be between 500 – 1500 words in length, unless agreed in advance with the Associate Editor.
  • Article titles should be roughly 6 or 7 words long.
  • Articles should be accompanied by at least one appropriately sized and accredited image, whether this is creative interpretation of the content or an ‘official’ image (for example, a book cover or exhibition poster) – see below for further advice on images.
  • Hyperlinks should be embedded.
  • Multimedia content should be freely accessible and author/creator permission(s) must be included or a CC license needs to be noted for original content.
  • A 1-2 sentence bio, linking to a professional profile, should be included for each contributing author, as well as the author’s (or authors’) Twitter handle(s), if they have one.
  • Referencing should be done consistently and accurately in Chicago (author-date) style.
  • Readers should be referred to further information or resources if appropriate.


Reviews

The Polyphony regularly posts reviews of books, conferences, exhibitions and workshops that fall within the broad remit of the medical humanities, and we are always on the lookout for new reviewers and recommendations.

No special qualification is required to review for The Polyphony, though it is important that reviewers have a broad awareness of the medical humanities and the context in which the event has been produced.

Anyone who wishes to contribute a review for The Polyphony should contact our Reviews Editor

  • We typically ask for reviews to be completed within eight weeks and to be c. 1000–1500 (2000 max) words in length. 
  • The guidance for short articles and blog posts relating to author bios, hyperlinks, images, referencing and multi-media also applies in the case of reviews (see above and below for details). 

Images 

Each article and review should be accompanied by at least one image: this will be used to accompany your article on The Polyphony’s website and to promote your article on Twitter.
 

  • Please use JPEGs for photographs and PNGs for graphics, screenshots, and anything that needs a transparent background. 
  • Images must be free to use (e.g. out of copyright, in the creative commons, own work) 
    1. There are several websites where you can find high-quality free images, notably Unsplash and Pixabay.   
    2. If the image isn’t royalty free, then you must gain permission to use it before posting, and you should always check with the creator regarding preferred credit captions. 
  • Your Associate Editor or Reviews Editor will be able to provide further advice about images at the editing stage.