submission guidelines

Hypatia welcomes original papers on all topics in feminist philosophy. The Hypatia mission statement(opens in new tab) emphasizes a commitment to pluralism, diversity, and accessibility. We cannot consider manuscripts that are published, in press, or submitted elsewhere.

• • Special issue submissions: If you are interested in contributing to a special issue, please check the calls for papers currently open for special issues: Special issue calls for papers and on Hypatia at Cambridge Core.
  • Manuscript submission: Please submit your original manuscript electronically through the Cambridge University Press online submission and review system ScholarOne.

 Before you submit a manuscript for review, please see the Manuscript Preparation Guidelines(opens in new tab) for formatting and style directions.

General Guidelines 

Articles

Manuscripts intended for review as Original Articles must be prepared for anonymous review. The body of an Original Article (that is, excluding abstract, footnotes, and bibliography) should not exceed 10,000 words. In addition, footnotes should not exceed 2,000 words. Please note that our word limits are strict.  If a manuscript is over either of these word limits, it will be returned to you so that it can be made to comply with our word limits before it can be considered for publication. More information may be found in the Manuscript Preparations Guidelines. Supplementary material may be published online to enhance the article. Please see more information below.

Book Reviews

Hypatia reviews of individual books are published electronically, though some may also be included in journal issues where relevant. Reviews are invited by the Book Review Editors, and we do not accept unsolicited book reviews, although we welcome recommendations of books to review and expressions of interest in reviewing books  (please email hypatia@cambridge.org). Book Reviews should not exceed 1,500 words (including footnotes but excluding bibliography).

Review Essays

Essays reviewing two or three books on a similar theme together are, on occasion, published in regular issues of the journal, on an invited basis. The same submission guidelines apply as for Original Article manuscripts, but review essays are limited to a maximum of 2,500 words (including footnotes but excluding bibliography). They will be sent out for external review. 

Musings

We welcome submissions of under 4000 words for our special and long-standing category of "Musings". Musings are not merely short research articles; they are often more personal and/or more concerned with current issues than full-fledged academic articles, and they are typically less rooted in particular bodies of literature. However they are approached, Musings should seek to catalyse philosophical reflection on important issues in feminist philosophy.

Musings are subject to double-anonymous peer review, in the same manner as Original Articles. Sometimes the author of a Musing may wish to retain some identifying information due to the personal nature of the essay. However, any other identifying information (such as acknowledgments) that is not vital to the philosophical contribution of the Musing should be withheld. If a Musing cannot be fully anonymized, please indicate this in your cover letter which can be seen by the Editorial Team. The word limit for Musings is 4,000 words (including any footnotes, but excluding bibliography). Please note that our word limits are strict. If a manuscript is over our word limits, it will be returned back to you so that it can be shortened to comply with our word limits before it can be considered for publication.

Feminism in Translation

Hypatia has a “Feminism in Translation” feature, enabling publication of English translations of original research already published in another language. This feature exists because it is clear that while works written in English that gain some traction with a significant audience are often translated into other languages, it is much less common for translations to go the other way, meanings that those who work primarily in English (or for whom English is the language of communication across geographic regions) may remain unaware of significant developments in feminist theory that take place in other languages. Very important developments in feminist thought, and the thinkers who are doing that work, may be unknown in language-contexts other than their own. Alternative genealogies of the work and its reception history may also be unknown, especially if they emerge from or develop counterhegemonic perspectives. These barriers in the discipline are something Hypatia aims to address with “Feminism in Translation”.

“Feminism in Translation” accepts proposals from prospective translators for research (usually by another person, though self-translations are permitted) that they would like to translate into English for publication in the journal. The proposal is meant to enable the editorial team to assess whether the original article is a suitable candidate for the “Feminism in Translation” feature prior to the translation work actually being undertaken. If you are interested in contributing to the “Feminism in Translation” feature, please submit:

• A translation proposal of 1000-2000 words outlining, in English, the content of the original article you would like to translate and commenting on its suitability for the Feminism in Translation feature, e.g. its significance; and
• The original article in the original language.

There is no word limit on the original article, but the body of a translation (that is, excluding abstract, footnotes, and bibliography) should not exceed 10,000 words. The proposal should not include the identity of the translator to ensure the anonymity   of the peer-review process. Proposals will be reviewed by the editorial team. Those that appear to meet the aims of the initiative will be sent, together with the original article, to a reviewer fluent in the relevant language for further assessment.

 

Please ensure that the following is true prior to submitting the proposal:

• I have secured, or been reasonably assured that I will secure, by time of publication, permission from the publisher of the original language text for Hypatia/Cambridge University Press to publish my English translation.
• I have secured, or been reasonably assured that I will secure, by time of publication, permission from the living author of the text, or the non-living author’s estate where relevant, for Hypatia/Cambridge University Press to publish my English language translation.

Proposals should be made by the prospective translator via our online system at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hypa. Please select 'Proposal for Feminism in Translation' as the manuscript type of submission and designate the proposal as the 'Main Document'.

 

Successful proposals will then receive an invitation to submit the actual translation.The translation will be reviewed by the editorial team and by one external reviewer who is fluent in the language of the original article. It may also be reviewed by a translation specialist.

 

Before submitting the translation, please ensure that the following is true:

 

• I have included a short introduction to the essay which provides context for English language readers and describes the importance and impact of the essay in its original language. The introduction should also describe specific translation challenges and the solutions chosen, translation strategy (if appropriate), and any terms that are left in the original language with an explanation of the term and the reason for not translating it.
• Citations used in the original text have been provided in English, using recognised English translations of those texts, with explanatory notes indicating which English language version of the cited text has been used.
• The most difficult to translate passages are provided in the original language in a footnote, with an explanation of the translation difficulty and the translator’s choices, in order to preserve the nuances or ambiguities in the original text.
• Technical terms, including philosophical terms, that have a history in the source language, or have been translated from previous languages into the source language, have been rendered in their standard or accepted English versions. If not, there should be an explanation of why the standard or accepted English translation of the term has not been used. (For example: Simone de Beauvoir uses the term “réalité humaine” in Le Deuxième Sexe, an accepted French translation for the German term Dasein, which has been translated into English as “existence,” or “Being-in-the-world”. It would be inappropriate to translate this term into English as “human reality” thus obscuring the philosophical history and meaning of the term.)
• Before you submit the final version of your translation (that is, after the peer-review process and acceptance): Where possible, and where desired by the living author of this text, I have secured the author’s approval of the finished translation.

Some funds are available to support the “Feminism in Translation” feature. Where a prospective translator would need financial compensation in order to be able to carry out the translation work (e.g. they are not employed in an academic role that would include their translation work as a relevant task), they should note this in their cover letter and give the figure in GBP that they would need in order to be able to carry out the work. This information will be kept separate from the peer-review process and will not inform the evaluation of translation proposals; if the funds for a given year cannot cover the suggested figure, the editors will contact the prospective translator to discuss options.

Special Issues and Clusters

Hypatia has a long history of publishing ground-breaking thematic special issues; we typically schedule one or two of these each year and welcome proposals for special issues. We also periodically publish smaller scale thematic clusters:

• Guidelines for proposing special issues and clusters
• Examples of successful special issue proposals

Manuscripts submitted to Hypatia should not be under simultaneous consideration by any other journal, nor should they have been published elsewhere. You are welcome, however, to post your manuscript online in the form in which it has been submitted. For details please check:  

• Hypatia editorial office website: Rights and Permissions
• Cambridge University Press: Journal Permissions and Reprints

Interviews

In the broader field, published interviews with canonical, nonfeminist philosophers often become important and highly cited parts of secondary work on these thinkers. As a major source of feminist philosophical scholarship, Hypatia can contribute to deeper scholarly engagement with influential feminist scholars through this form.

We invite interview submissions at this time, through our regular submissions portal. In recognition of the anonymity challenges that interviews pose, submitted manuscripts will be subject only to editorial review, but will be evaluated by several editors. This process will be highly selective; successful interviews will significantly clarify advanced readers’ understanding of an author’s thought or of a movement or organization’s principles or methods. To reduce bias, if an interview is beyond the co-editors’ expertise, we will reach out to one or more of the Hypatia Associate Editors for input.

As with other manuscripts, interviews cannot exceed 10,000 words, but there is no minimum word count to be met. Interviews should be submitted to ScholarOne by the interviewer (not the interviewee) and should only list the interviewer as the author.

Review and Production Processes

To add yourself as a potential reviewer for Hypatia manuscripts, please follow this link and create an account through ScholarOne Manuscripts.

Review Policy and Procedures 

A detailed overview of Hypatia’s review process, including an explanation of the decision categories used by the editors, can be found here.

Submission and Review Statistics

For a summary of current acceptance and rejection rates, average time to decision, and circulation data, please follow these links on the editorial office website: 

• Hypatia statistics
• Annual reports

Acceptance and Production

When your manuscript is accepted it will immediately be sent into production. Outlined below are the stages of the production process. As soon as production is complete, your manuscript will be published electronically through Cambridge's First View system, before it appears in a print issue of the journal. If you have questions about what stage of production your article is in you may contact the Managing Editor at hypatia@cambridge.org 

• • • For questions about deadlines and the submission process for supporting material, please contact the Managing Editor: Aness Webster at hypatia@cambridge.org
      • Copyediting: When your manuscript has been accepted in its final (correctly formatted) form, it will be sent to copyediting.
      • Typesetting: When you have reviewed and approved the copyedits, your manuscript will be sent to Cambridge University Press for typesetting and final production.
      • Proofreading: When the proofs of your article are ready, CUP's staff will contact you directly with a request for you to review and approve the proofs. It is crucial that you check your proofs carefully at this stage, even if you were satisfied with the copyedited version of your paper. Errors can arise in the process of typesetting your manuscript.
      • First View publication: When you have approved the proofs, your article will be published in its final form online.

      Note that electronic publication on First View is the publication of record; once an article has appeared on First View it cannot be further edited or amended, even if it has not yet appeared in, or been scheduled for, a print issue of the journal. 

      Online Supporting Information

      Cambridge hosts an online repository of “supporting information” linked to Hypatia articles. Supporting information can include virtually anything that an author thinks would be a valuable supplement to an article, review essay, or Musing that has been accepted for publication in Hypatia. We encourage authors to include supplementary material that might enhance the pedagogical uses of an article. The range of formats that can be supported includes PowerPoint presentations, graphics, text, links, audio podcasts, and video clips.

      Consider creating a virtual gallery with illustrations we could not ordinarily include in the print edition of Hypatia or providing notes and background material to which you would like readers to have access for published articles. Supporting information must be submitted in final form at the same time that your manuscript is uploaded to Cambridge for production.

• Illustrations, Images, and Graphics
  If a Hypatia manuscript includes figures, artwork, or graphics of any kind, these images must be high resolution and uploaded at the time of submission. Authors must have permission to use any images submitted. Please note that images will appear in color when viewed online through Cambridge's First View, but they will appear in black and white in the print publication. Authors may choose to pay a fee to print images in color, and color images may also be hosted by Cambridge online as supporting material (see above), with a link inserted into the text of the author’s published article.
  • For advice about illustrations, contact the Managing Editor: Aness Webster at hypatia@cambridge.org.