Book Reviews
Slavic Review receives annually about twice as many books for review as can be accommodated in the journal. Selection of books for review is the result of a careful editorial process of evaluation of the scholarly qualities of books received for review, with attention paid to geographical and disciplinary balance. Since not all of the books we receive can be reviewed, we generally favor research monographs that reflect high scholarly standards and coherent collections of essays, although we will review occasional works of synthesis and primary accounts of special scholarly value. It is normally our policy to seek reviewers who have already published one monograph or the equivalent in refereed articles. Slavic Review does not ordinarily accept unsolicited book reviews. Books not selected for review are listed at the end of the book review section as “Other Books of Interest.”
Books for review may be sent to:
Editor
Slavic Review
1207 W. Oregon Street
Urbana, IL 61801-3716
USA
Guidelines for Book Reviewers
TIMELINE
Please return your review as soon as you can, within the limits imposed by a careful and discriminating reading; the need for a fair and serious reading is fundamental.
LENGTH
Unless otherwise stipulated, please confine your review to approximately 750 words (1,000 words for edited collections), including a brief summary of the book’s contents.
Content
State as clearly as possible the book’s interpretation, methodology, style, and its strengths and weaknesses. If possible, please recommend a specific readership.
Formatting
Style of composition should be governed by the Chicago Manual of Style.
Transliteration should follow the Library of Congress system.
Please use italics rather than underlining.
Please include the first and last name of any person the first time mentioned.
FOOTNOTES AND Citations
Do not include footnotes (except for featured reviews and review essays). If you must cite another work, do so by including a reference (author, title, and year of publication) in parentheses.
Quotations
Quotations from the book under review should include a page number.
AUTHORSHIP
Your name and affiliation should appear at the end of the review.
Review Essays
Review essays are typically 3,000 to 4,000 words, not including notes. Review essays should have a title and discuss two or more recently published books of interest to a wide range of our readers across geographic and disciplinary boundaries. These might be books seen to have particular theoretical, methodological, or comparative importance. These could be scholarly books that are stimulating interest and argument outside academia by engaging controversial questions of public concern. The fundamental point of departure for a review essay is that discussing these works together provides a richer array of approaches and a greater diversity of issues on the subject than discussing each work separately.
Review Essay Style Points
a. Include the title, in upper and lower case, with maximum capitalization.
b. List the books reviewed under the title, including ALL the following information for each: title; author; place of publication; publisher; date published; number of pages.
c. Include, if desired, sub-sections marked by subtitles.
d. If desired, footnotes may be used in the usual way. In writing review essays, it is acceptable to give page citations in brackets within the text (instead of footnotes) where there is extensive discussion of a particular book.
Featured Reviews
Along with review essays on multiple related books, featured reviews highlight books that the editor, in consultation with the editorial board, has identified as likely to be of interest to a wide range of our readers across geographic and disciplinary boundaries. These might be books seen to have particular theoretical, methodological, or comparative importance or scholarly books that are stimulating interest and argument outside academia by engaging controversial questions of public concern. At approximately 1,500 words, featured reviews are longer than our regular reviews of monographs, which are normally about 750 words. We welcome readers’ responses, including from the authors whose work is the subject of the essay. Authors’ responses will be printed in the journal. Readers’ discussions will appear in the discussion section of this website. We accept footnotes for featured reviews, unlike our policy for regular book reviews.
Submitting Reviews and Review Essays
Reviews and Review Essays are submitted electronically to ScholarOne. Please direct any questions about the submission process to slavrev@illinois.edu. We are happy to assist you with the submission process.
You will be contacted by the Managing Editor when your review is being copyedited only if there are outstanding questions. Cambridge University Press will send you a pdf proof that you will be able to review and correct (only typographical errors) prior to publication. You will then be sent a link to Cambridge Core from which you will be able to download your review once it has been published. Please keep in mind that your review will appear no earlier than 6-12 months after your submission.
Please adapt the following model to the book you are reviewing:
A History of Private Life. Ed. (or By) Philippe Ariès and Georges Duby. Vol. 5, Riddles of Identity in Modern Times, eds. Antoine Prost and Gérard Vincent, trans. Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1991. vi, 630 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Chronology. Glossary. Index. Illustrations. Plates. Photographs. Figures. Tables. Maps. $39.95, hard bound.
(If there is no price, capitalize the binding: Paper.)
Submission information
Submissions from all disciplines and perspectives are welcomed. A primary purpose of the journal is to encourage dialogue among different scholarly approaches. Articles are peer-reviewed and editorial policy is guided by an international editorial board.
Subscribe to Slavic Review
Subscribe to Slavic Review by becoming a member of ASEEES. Institutional subscriptions are available through Cambridge University Press.