Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in Syracuse University Press. If you wish to propose a new book project to us, first review the subject areas in which we publish. Should your topic fall within these areas, kindly complete a New Book Proposal Form (MS Word) and email to the appropriate acquisitions editor, along with your current curriculum vitae and a preliminary table of contents. Note that we do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or unrevised dissertations. We are not currently considering memoirs, and consider fiction and poetry only very selectively.

If the acquisitions editor—often in cooperation with a series editor—determines that your project is an appropriate fit to our list, you may be invited to submit a complete manuscript for confidential external peer review. Your manuscript will be sent to two expert readers simultaneously for evaluation. Once we agree to begin the peer review process, we will only review the manuscript on an exclusive basis. Please note that the peer review process can take several months, according to the availability and schedules of external readers.

Once we receive evaluations from the external readers, copies of these reports will be shared with you, and you will be invited to write a formal, detailed response to them. If the revisions called for by the readers are substantive, you may be asked to revise and resubmit your manuscript for a confirming review.

If the reader reports call for relatively minor revisions, and if both readers and the series editor recommend publication, the acquisitions editor will prepare a formal proposal for review by the Syracuse University Press faculty editorial board. This proposal will include the reader reports and author response, as well as salient excerpts of the manuscript, a project description, justification for publishing, likely market, possibilities for course adoption, and sources of publication subvention. The editorial board has the final decision-making authority to grant a contract.

If your proposal carries the vote, the acquisitions editor in conjunction with the Press director will extend a publishing contract, delineating your responsibilities as an author (such as obtaining permissions, paying for and obtaining illustrations, and preparing the manuscript and illustrative matter according to SUP specifications) and the Press’s responsibilities (payment of royalties, registration of copyright, etc.). You will also receive a packet of manuscript preparation instructions detailing Syracuse University Press’s specifications for submission of final materials. The acquisitions editor will oversee the author’s preparation of these materials for transmittal to the editorial and production department, where final copyediting of the manuscript begins.

Related resources

New Book Proposal Form (PDF)

Manuscript Preparation Instructions (PDF)

Artwork Specifications (PDF)

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