JAEMA publishes reviews of recent publications in early medieval and medieval studies. Reviewers must be members of AEMA unless the review is commissioned by JAEMA. Unsolicited reviews are not normally accepted, however JAEMA welcomes members’ suggestions as to titles they feel should be reviewed in JAEMA.
- Reviews are to be 800 to 1000 and Short Notices 300 to 400 words in length (not including opening bibliographic data and closing biographical note).
- They should be submitted in electronic form via email to reviews@aema.net.au as an attachment.
- Where possible, the text should be in 12-point Times New Roman font and must be in the same font and size throughout. New paragraphs should be distinguished by a single tab stop and not by multiple returns. There should be no hyphenation at line endings.
- Reviews are to conclude with the reviewer’s name and institutional affiliation.
- Footnotes are not to be used in reviews. Where bibliographical references are necessary they are to be included in the text of the review.
- Quotations should be included within sentences and kept as short as possible.
Style
Each review should include a balanced, accurate description of the book’s content as well as an assessment, positive and negative. In preparing your review, assume that your readers will not have the book, so state clearly what the book is about. Please avoid vague references to the content. Write so that you yourself could decide whether or not to buy the book from reading your review. If appropriate, perhaps include a direct quotation from the book to make a telling point or give it flavour. Indicate when you express a view whether it is yours or the author’s.
Indicate if the book is intended for specialists or a broader audience. Please evaluate its use in early medieval or medieval studies or courses and/or its value to professionals working in the field of medieval history. Select those features of the book that will best characterise a book and most require evaluation for readers in the field of medieval history. If the book is a collection of articles or papers, please do not give a list of each chapter and each author; instead, look for the most significant, emerging themes and discuss diverging/unifying perspectives within the book.
The assessment may include any of the following:
- the author’s expertise and present position
- how well the case is argued and data presented
- style
- relation to other works (if mentioned, give name of author, title, and publication date)
- quality of a translation
- value of a reprinting or new edition
- details on a series of which the volume is a part
There is, however, no guarantee that a review, once submitted, will be published.
Spelling
The JAEMA is published in British English. For word usage and word division, please refer to the Oxford Concise English Dictionary.
Abbreviations should follow the Oxford Classical Dictionary.
Submission
Reviews and short notices should be submitted by email to reviews@aema.net.au as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file.