May 2005 through February 2006 Book Notice list
Book requests should be made by submitting the following online form:
Book notice request and comment/question form
Other communication with the Language Book Review office may be
addressed as follows:
Postal mail:Authors of Book Notices and Reviews must sign and return a Copyright Agreement form in order for their submission to be considered as "received". This form should be printed out, signed, and returned by mail to the Language Reviews address (above) or faxed to Greg Stump at 859-323-1072 (be certain to use a cover sheet with the recipient's name on it). Please send this form at the same time that you submit your notice/review, if possible. Do not send it in advance of your contribution, as we have no means of storing them apart from the notices/reviews themselves.
Language Reviews, c/o Greg Stump
Department of English
University of Kentucky
1215 Patterson Tower
Lexington, KY 40506-0027
Phone:
859-257-1184
Fax:
859-323-1072
E-mail:
language-revs-l@lsv.uky.edu
1. Definitions:
A.Book notices are short descriptions of a book's content, and are typically about 500 words. These are written by individuals who volunteer to do so by submitting a request for the book to the Review Editor. Language typically publishes about 200 book notices each year. Unsolicited book notices are allowed, but in sending an unsolicited notice, the author of such is taking the risk that the book in question may have already been assigned to someone else.2. Editing: For any book notice or review accepted for publication in Language, the editors reserve the right to make alterations in punctuation, phrasing, and wording, as well as to make minor cuts, in order that the item be in keeping with the journal's requirements regarding style and usage. Authors are asked to proofread their submissions thoroughly before submission.
Sample book notice of edited volume: Battistella notice on Mugglestone 2000B.Book reviews are 1200-2000 word pieces that summarize the content of the volume, assess its quality, and note its contribution to the field. Book reviews are not usually assigned to volunteers, but instead are commissioned by the Review Editor in consultation with the Editor and Associate Editors of the journal. The journal typically publishes about 50 reviews each year. Unsolicited reviews are discouraged. However, Language will entertain requests, suggestions, or proposals from potential reviewers and consider these on a case-by-case basis. Such individuals should first contact the Review Editor, Greg Stump.
Sample book notice of authored volume: Battistella notice on Crystal 2001
C.Review articles are longer pieces that are called for by some "event", such as the publication of a particularly important book or a series of books that are related, or by a need to provide a summation over some topic of crucial interest. These are commissioned by the Journal Editor (rather than the Review Editor) and are subject to the peer review process. Review articles are rather infrequent, and unsolicited review articles are generally not accepted. Individuals wishing to propose a review article should first contact the Journal Editor, Brian Joseph.
3. Formatting
The cover page: Each book notice or review should have a cover sheet on each copy, providing the following information:
(i) the title and author(s)/editor(s) of the book,
(ii) whether it is a notice or a review,
(iii) complete contact information for the review/notice author (postal address, fax number, phone number, and e-mail address),
(iv) (for student authors) the name of the faculty supervisor who has reviewed and approved it (see #7 below), and
(v) an accurate word-count for the book notice or review (in MS Word "word count" utility is found in the "Tools" menu; in Wordperfect, "word count" is found in the "File" menu, by selecting "Properties" and then the "Information" tab).The first page of the review/notice should contain a header with the citation information arranged into a single paragraph and punctuated as follows:
[title]. Edited by/By [full name of author(s)]. [series title (if any)]. [publication city/state (country)]: [publisher], [publication year]. Pp. [no. of pages]. [ISBN]. [price].
Examples:
The mind doesn't work that way: The scope and limits of computational psychology. By Jerry Fodor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. Pp. 126. ISBN: 0-262-06212-7. $25 US.
The handbook of linguistics. Ed. by Mark Aronoff and Janie Rees-Miller. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. Pp. xvi, 824. ISBN: 0-631-20497-0. $132 US.
Format for price information: Use the dollar amount unless none is available. In such a case, provide the price listed by the publisher in local currency (i.e., do not try to convert currencies). The price should be listed in only one currency. If there is a choice between listing paperback or hardbound prices, please provide the paperback price (this is the default). If the book is hardbound, please indicate do with the abbreviation "(Hb)" after the price. Prices should be given in whole units, without decimal points, if possible (e.g. $109 and not $109.00).The name and affiliation of the reviewer is handled differently depending upon whether it is a review or a book notice. For full reviews, this information is inserted on a single line following the header paragraph and preceding the body of the review (separated by spaces), as follows:
Reviewed by NAME, AFFILIATION.
For book notices, this information follows the text of the notice on a separate line, in square brackets:
[NAME, AFFILIATION]The body of the review/notice should be double-spaced throughout, and should provide full first names of all scholars mentioned (except for people who publish under initials only). Please use a type size no smaller than 12 characters per inch. For further information, refer to the Style Sheet .Submitting your review/notice: Two copies of each submission should be sent to the Book Review office. Alternatively, the submission may be e-mailed as a Word, Wordperfect, rtf, or pdf attachment to Language-Revs-L@Lsv.uky.edu (caution!: for reviews and book notices that contain phonetic fonts and/or special symbols, it is advisable to send along a hard-copy so that the characters in the e-version can be checked).
4. Timing: Book reviews should be completed within six months of receiving the book, and book notices within three months. Requests for additional books will not be considered if the individual making the request has outstanding book notices or reviews that have not been submitted to and accepted by the Book Review Editor.
5. Numbers: The number of singly authored reviews and book notices by any one reviewer may not exceed 10 per year. Also, a single reviewer may appear as the (co-)author on as many as 15 submissions in one year. This means that in addition to 10 singly-authored reviews/notices, a reviewer may additionally have 5 co-authored reviews/notices in one year. (n.b., these limits are subject to change, and reviewers would be advised to check with the review editor if they approach these limits.)
6. Duplication: Undertaking to write a book review or notice for Language entails a commitment on the part of the reviewer not to publish a review or notice of the same book elsewhere without the express permission of the editors of Language .
7. Student authors: Academic advisors for students writing notices should be versed in academic reviewing for journals like Language and able to offer students counsel about the content, tone, and style of their notices. The student author of a book notice should include in their cover letter the name of the faculty supervisor who has reviewed and approved it.
8. Conflicts of interest: Who should not review whose book Individuals should not undertake to review or write a notice for a book to which they have contributed, which they have refereed for a publisher, or for which they have written publicity statements that appear on dust jackets or promotional literature. Further, the writer of a book notice or review ought not to be the mentor, mentee, or close associate of the author/editor. In addition to these obvious conflicts of interest, Language cautions prospective reviewers against taking on a project that would cause the objectivity of the notice/review to be questioned (e.g. don't review your brother-in-law's book).
9. Negative reviews: Occasionally, a reviewer finds it necessary to express a negative opinion about a book in his/her notice or review. When this is the case, it is important for the reviewer to maintain a professional tone and to avoid gratuitously offensive comments. The author of a negative review or notice is also encouraged to send a copy of it to the author of the book when it is submitted to Language for publication. This is done in order that book authors not be surprised, and infuriated needlessly, when a (deservedly) negative review appears. This also gives authors a chance to inform the reviewer of any factual errors in their review or notice. It should be noted here that the journal rarely publishes replies to negative reviews, and only when the reply is likely to advance some useful scholarly dialogue. In such instances, the review and its rejoinder are usually published in the same issue. (See the FAQ: Are responses to reviews published? )
10. Returns: Individuals who have volunteered or been asked to contribute a notice or review should not hesitate to return the book, if it should turn out to be "not what was expected". The Language Reviews office does not have a "no return policy". In fact, it would be preferable, if you feel uncomfortable pursuing the notice or review, that you return the book to us within a couple of months. In this way, it can be put back on the next book notice list or another review can be commissioned for it.
11. Information for Authors and Book Publishers: Language official policy regarding the receipt of publications is published in the journal in the Recent Publications section and is as follows:
"This list acknowledges recent works (except offprints of single articles) that appear to bear on the scientific study of language. The receipt of individual books cannot be separately acknowledged, and no book can be returned to the publisher. Note especially that, by accepting a book, the Editor implies no promise that it will be reviewed in this journal."What this means is that we will publish in the journal, the bibliographical information for works received. Some items on this list are selected by the editorial board of the journal for full review (and these reviews are commissioned by the Book Review Editor). The other items on the list are published as a "list of books currently available for 500-word Book Notices" (the Book Notice List) and posted here on the Language Book Reviews website. Individuals in the discipline are invited to request these books in exchange for writing 500-word book notices. Books that are not assigned for review or for book notices cannot be returned. In selecting books to send to the journal, publishers are advised to consult the most recent Book Notice List (see above) which is usually representative of the type of publications that are sent out for reviews and notices. It may also be helpful to consult the tables of contents on the Language website http://www.lsadc.org/language/toc.html , where one may see a full list of those books that have been reviewed and noticed in the journal.
What Language cannot do, as a matter of policy:
1. Language will not solicit individual books from publishers for review. Authors concerned about getting their works into the Recent Publications and the Book Notice lists should make certain that their publisher's marketing department has sent a copy to the Language Book Review office. Publishers who wish their linguistics selections to be noted in Language should make certain to send relevant books to us.
2. Language does not send copies of book notices and reviews to publishers or authors (see policy #12 below). The Book Review office simply does not have the staff or resources to clip out copies of the some 300 reviews and notices published each year, and send these to publishers or authors.
12. Offprints and copies of the journal: Language does not provide provide gratis offprints of anything published in the journal (including articles), nor do we provide free copies of the journal to review and notice authors. There is simply no way to do this, and to keep the cost of the journal reasonable for the membership of the LSA, for whom the journal is primarily intended. If you join the LSA, you will receive a subscription to Language free with your membership. The cost of LSA membership including the annual subscription to the journal ($65.00/yr regular membership and $25.00/yr for students) is less than the cost of a subscription alone to most journals. So you might consider this. Membership information can be found at: http://www.lsadc.org/web2/membershipfr.htm Alternatively, it might be helpful to know that electronic access to Language is available through via JSTOR and Project Muse. If one has access to these electronic resources (usually through a university library), you can get a nice copy of your contribution that way.