Article Submission Guide

General

Military Review provides venues for research, reporting, and discussion on a broad range of topics related to military affairs, especially regarding what is widely termed the operational level of war. It also provides venues for unconventional creative thought and speculation related to military topics. In all cases, the journal strives to provide its readers with articles that express clear and provocative thinking by knowledgeable writers on important issues; products that can be read with ease and pleasure by both the community of military professionals as well as a broad general audience.

Essential article submission requirements with which authors must comply. Articles not submitted in conformity with the requirements below will not be considered and will be returned to authors:

• Formatting Style: Word document, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font size, endnotes not automated that are listed in the main text using numerical order with one note per sentence. (refrain from use of Roman numerals).
• Writing Style: Chicago Manual of Style, especially for endnotes and headings (do not use outline style)
• Artwork: Sources need to be clearly identified; if permission is required, written evidence that permission has been granted must be provided.
• Once accepted, photos need to be minimum 300 dpi and jpg format, and original artwork files (e.g., PowerPoint for figures) must be submitted; authors must ensure all graphics for use from other publications are cleared.
• *Articles from serving military personnel or government employees who are writing on topics related to their jobs must provide a security review statement and public affairs release.

How to Submit a Manuscript

Manuscripts should be submitted as an attachment via email to usarmy.leavenworth.tradoc.mbx.armyu-aup-military-review-public@army.mil. The document should be saved in Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 version) or some compatible file format. Owing to our system of article review that attempts to support an unbiased article selection system, articles should not be submitted directly to any named editor on the Military Review staff.

Do Not FAX articles or submissions via portable media to Military Review.

For clarity, the only medium through which Military Review accepts submissions is via email at the public address posted above. It does not accept typed submissions via post mail or faxed documents. Moreover, DOD Military Review can no longer accept manuscripts loaded onto CDs or other portable media.

Single Primary Point of Contact for Each Submission

• Authorship clearly denoted. Authors should carefully edit their text before submission; include their name, address, daytime phone number, and email address; and specify which word processing program is used.
• When a manuscript has multiple authors, a single point of contact needs to be clearly designated with the initial submission to avoid confusion that results from multiple authors providing independent modifications of a manuscript to the assigned Military Review editor without consultation among them. The primary point of contact will be responsible for resolving with coauthors any issues related to manuscript revision as coordinated with Military Review.

Protocol concerning simultaneous submission to separate publications

As a matter of professional courtesy, authors should not submit a manuscript to Military Review if it is being considered in a different venue elsewhere; nor should manuscripts be submitted that have been previously published or that are already available on the internet.

Evidence that an article has been submitted elsewhere concurrent with submission to Military Review, or that it has already been published or will soon be, are grounds for both rejecting the submission out of hand as well as denying author of such a submission future consideration for publication in Military Review.

Responsibility for accuracy, reliability of research, and originality

Authors are responsible for their manuscript's accuracy, originality, and integrity of source documentation. Submissions will be checked for plagiarism as defined in the Army University Press Plagiarism Policy (https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/army-university-press-plagiarism-policy.pdf)

Military Review regards plagiary as egregious unprofessionalism and views it as grounds for rejecting future submissions for consideration of publication by the offending author. Articles found to contain plagiarized material will be immediately rejected and the author will be prohibited from submitting work to Military Review in the future.

Acknowledgement of Receipt and Subsequent Notifications

Military Review will send immediate acknowledgment to the author upon receipt of manuscript and a publication decision or notification of status generally within sixty days after receipt. For submissions sent to our referees, the review process can take six to eight weeks from date of receipt.

Military Review Writing Venues

Military Review provides several publication options for aspiring authors:

• Articles published in the hard-copy version of the journal. The hard copy is published bimonthly (every other month) and articles are also posted online coincident with physical publication.
• Online Exclusive (OLE) articles that are published only online to support discussion of time-sensitive issues in a timely manner.
• Articles considered for both the hard copy and OLE venues generally fall into three categories:
• Primary research articles that are developed from original research and supported by credible research sources detailed in endnotes. Military Review places highest priority on publishing articles based on original research from primary sources. Military Review has a predilection for articles of a practical nature as opposed to abstract discussions lacking evidence of practical insights acquired through concrete experience in application.
• Secondary research articles that provide new insights derived from existing research supported by credible sources detailed in endnotes.
• Insight articles that provide information and perspectives derived mainly from personal experience and observation providing verifiable lessons learned via firsthand experience that are supported by additional research as demonstrated in source notes.
• All article submissions falling in one of these three categories should be generally from three to six thousand words in length (excluding endnotes).
• Book reviews are also published exclusively online on a separate page of the Army University Press website at https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/MR-Book-Reviews/.
• Articles and book review essays published exclusively online will be permanently archived with hard-copy articles on the Army University Press website and by the U.S. Government Publishing Office.
• Links to each site are included on the Military Review home page at https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Military-Review/.
• The Future Warfare Writing Program (FWWP) provides authors with a chance to use their imaginations in fiction or nonfiction pieces to consider potential future warfare scenarios.
• The Creative Kiosk provides a more informal venue for providing insight through polemical pieces, poetry, and other diverse creative works.

Consideration of Submitted Articles

Military Review seriously considers all submissions regardless of topic if they deal with some subject relevant to security or the military. However, it places highest priority on publishing "tip of the spear" articles that provide new, previously unpublished information, introduce new concepts, or provide fresh and unique perspectives. One result is that well-researched, well-written persuasive articles rejected elsewhere for publication that espouse a view that differs from orthodox views may find an outlet at Military Review.

All unsolicited manuscripts received at Military Review are reviewed "in the blind" by an editorial board that evaluates them without being apprised of who the author is. This promotes the goal of objectivity in the evaluation process.

Military Review makes no final commitments to accepting a manuscript for publication until it has been thoroughly reviewed by an editorial board and as required, until revisions are made that satisfy Military Review concerns for accuracy and clarity, or that make the article conform to Military Review editing and publication conventions.

Overview of the Review process

Military Review's generally accepted traditional focus is on the operational level of war (i.e., between the strategic and tactical levels of war). Therefore, the journal seeks mainly articles that address issues of concern to personnel who serve in either a command or staff capacity that deal with the planning and execution of campaigns to achieve operational objectives in support of campaigns or overall strategy, or related supporting topics. This provides for a broad spectrum of possible subjects for examination including dealing with leadership and management issues related to command of units above battalion level, interface with interagency and coalition partners, training and education, innovation, and policy or doctrine formulation, among many others.

Approach to Evaluation and Selection

• Both hard-copy and OLE articles will be evaluated using the same the criteria.
• Those selected for either publication venue will be published under the imprimatur of the Army University Press and Military Review.
• The editorial staff retains the prerogative of deciding to publish online versus hard copy, but author preferences are considered as much as possible.

Evaluation criteria

Evaluation is an unavoidably subjective process. However, to promote a common approach among board referees to evaluate manuscripts for suitability of publication at Military Review, the below questions guide consideration:

1. Does the article contribute anything new to the literature of military affairs or security issues?
2. Does the author of the article appear to know what he or she is talking about? Does the article accurately represent background facts and provide a credible examination of issues based on the facts presented?
3. Is the article a product of original thinking, offering well-thought-out and well-researched alternate proposals, alternate viewpoints, or dissenting opinions with regard to issues of contemporary importance?
4. Is the article well written? Does it move logically from a clear thesis through a well-developed argument using supporting evidence to yield persuasive conclusions?
5. Does the use of obscure or arcane language, or overly ornate sentence and paragraph structure, make the article difficult for the average reader to follow or understand?
6. Does the article use acronyms? Are they defined for the reader?
7. Is the article written in a straightforward manner or does it give the impression that it has been written to impress colleagues rather inform and persuade readers?
8. Does the article show evidence of significant research using accepted academic standards?
9. Is the article the product of original research?
10. If the article is not a product of original research, is it an effective synthesis of existing research, and has it yielded significant insight?
11. Does the article offer plausible solutions to a problem or issue?
12. Is research backed up by careful citations in the endnotes?
13. Does the manuscript show significant reliance on questionable or spurious sources in its endnotes?
14. If the manuscript is a historical article, do the issues associated with the historical events evaluated have any direct relevance to current events or the conditions of the current security environment?

Byline Attribution Protocol

As a matter of policy, Military Review will list byline authors in the order as follows: in the event byline authors include both civilian and military authors, military authors will be placed in the lead in rank order, from highest rank to lowest rank and in alphabetic order followed by civilian authors who will be listed in alphabetic order after uniformed military authors. The biographies at the end the manuscripts will list the authors in the same order.

Articles that have multiple civilian authors only will be listed in alphabetical order.

For articles with multiple authors, at the request of authors, Military Review will designate in the byline who the principal author(s) is.

Writing Style and Required Formatting Features

Military Review seeks articles that can be clearly understood by the reader, articles characterized by precise, concise, and direct language written in active voice. The thesis of the proposed article should be clear, logically developed, and supported by sound reasoning and evidence.

Authors should limit the use of acronyms. As a rule, acronyms should be spelled out on first reference, and where necessary, be defined. Additionally, authors should avoid the use of arcane or extremely technical language unfamiliar to the average reader that would be more appropriate for specialized technical journals.

Authors should take special care to avoid military and bureaucratic jargon not accessible to a general reader.

Artwork, illustrations, and photographs. Art is a powerful means of helping to tell the story of an article. Authors wanting to submit original photographs need to do so in JPEG format with a resolution of 300 DPI or higher. Submitted photos must be accompanied by a cutline (citation) identifying the date, location, unit or personnel and description of the action, and specifying who took the photo. The usual length of such supporting cutlines is between twenty-five and fifty words.

The origin of any art, illustrations, or photographs must be identified. If artwork is copyrighted, the author must obtain copyright approvals and submit them to Military Review along with proposed manuscripts. As a general policy, Military Review will not use artwork or photo images it cannot attribute.

Article formatting. Manuscripts should conform to the formatting as found in this Manuscript Sample. Text should be in Times New Roman font, size 12, double spaced. Authors should ensure there are no embedded macros in the document and no footnotes. Manuscripts that are submitted with macros, especially footnote or endnote macros, will be returned to the author to have them removed before resubmitting. The default settings in Microsoft Word are suitable.

Length of manuscripts. The preferred length for feature articles is three to six thousand words. Book review essays are generally two to three thousand words. Military Review reserves the right to edit submitted manuscripts to conform to overall space requirements.

Editing style guide. Military Review follows the professional writing and citation guidance outlined in The Chicago Manual of Style. For writing and citation guidance not addressed in Chicago, Military Review consults the Associated Press Stylebook and the Department of Defense's Manual for Written Material, especially regarding military acronyms and definitions.

Use of endnotes as opposed to footnotes. For scholarly articles, Military Review requires manuscripts that are clearly the product of conscientious research as demonstrated by comprehensive and accurate endnotes. Authors should not use footnotes. Authors should strive to minimize the number of endnotes to consistent with honest acknowledgment of indebtedness, consolidating notes where possible. Only one note should be used per sentence, placed at the end of the sentence (multiple sources can be listed in the note itself). Lengthy explanatory endnotes are discouraged and will generally be edited out. Arabic numbering and not Roman numerals should be used for notes.

Refrain from using Automatic Endnote Feature. Authors should not use the automatic endnote feature of Microsoft Word, or any separate automatic endnote program, in the submitted manuscript. Authors should highlight in yellow the superscripted endnote numbers within the text. The manuscript sample provides the correct format for various endnotes. Articles submitted using the automatic endnote feature will normally be returned for reformatting.

Biographical information. Authors must enclose a brief personal biography. Such biographies should include significant positions or assignments, notes on civilian and military education together with degrees attained, and brief allusions to other qualifications that establish the credibility of the author with regard to the subject discussed in the article. The manuscript sample provides an example biography

Security Review and Publication Agreement of Manuscript Submissions

Military Review functions under the public affairs principle of "security review at source." Accepted submissions by U.S. military personnel on active duty or civilian employees of the Department of Defense or service departments are subject to the official clearance requirements of Army Regulation 380-5, Army Information Security Program, and require a memorandum for record verifying a security review.

For authors who are writing on subjects related to their areas of government expertise or work, it is the responsibility of authors who are in government service, and whose article may derive from government information accessed from a government work source, to ensure that manuscripts submitted for consideration receive the proper security review from appropriate government authorities at their places of work. This review should be done prior to the manuscript arriving at Military Review. In most cases, such a review should include a vetting by both the organization's security officer and public affairs officer.

This requirement applies mainly to documents that treat the activities or capabilities of specific military organizations; established tactics, techniques, and procedures; or technical subjects, open discussion of which has significant potential for exposing information that should be regarded as controlled.

Current Army policy stipulates that such manuscripts submitted for publication that discuss military subjects of a technical nature or a current organization, which are written by personnel working for the U.S. government as an employee or contractor, must arrive at Military Review with a memorandum for record verifying security review by the writer's organization of assignment. This memorandum should contain the words "This manuscript has been cleared for open publication and unrestricted distribution" and be signed either physically or electronically by the reviewing security authorities. It may be sent in hard copy accompanying a manuscript, it may be sent electronically as an Adobe PDF file with appropriate signatures and accompanying electronic versions of the manuscripts, or it may be sent as an endorsement to a manuscript as part of a verifiable email chain that is electronically signed.

On acceptance by Military Review, manuscripts requiring memorandums for record may be subject to further review and clearance by the Department of the Army in accordance with current regulatory requirements. A decision concerning additional clearance will be made on a case-by-case basis by the Military Review staff.

Manuscripts that are characterized as opinion pieces, historical pieces, or pieces that do not discuss or deal with the specific current capabilities or tactics, techniques, or procedures of military units or organizations need not submit such a memorandum for record.

Articles submitted by non-U.S. government personnel

Documents submitted by non-U.S. government personnel or contractors, or by non-American authors who are not associated with or in the employ of the U.S. government, do not usually require a memorandum for record verifying a security review. For authors who are not employees of the U.S. government, a security review of a manuscript is usually not necessary unless the source material appears to be from a source inside the government that could represent an unauthorized breach of confidentiality or appears to be proprietary information of a private organization. It is incumbent on authors of such manuscripts to resolve any legal issues associated with such manuscripts prior to publication in Military Review. Notwithstanding, such submissions may be subject to security review and public affairs review by the appropriate Combined Arms Center staff elements as determined by the Editor in Chief of Military Review or his/her designated representative.

Manuscripts that are characterized as opinion pieces, historical pieces, or pieces that do not discuss or deal with the specific current capabilities or tactics, techniques, or procedures of military units or organizations need not submit such a memorandum for record. Prudence and sensitivity to the need to restrict information will dictate when such a memorandum is required. Publication agreement on acceptance.

Along with the security review, a publication agreement is required by Military Review after an article has been accepted. Under our publication agreement, Military Review retains first publication rights for its English, Spanish, Portuguese, and any other editions of Military Review, including online editions. As an official Army publication, Military Review is not copyrighted; however, publication by Military Review gives the Combined Arms Center (Military Review's higher headquarters) the right to reproduce and use the article for training and other official purposes.

Except for time-sensitive articles, the normal time from acceptance to publication is six to eight months.

Editors' prerogatives regarding accepted for publication. In the interests of length, security, clarity, and conformity with the stylistic standards of Military Review, the editor reserves the right to edit all manuscripts; however, editors will send substantive changes to the author for approval. When a manuscript is accepted and published, three copies of the journal, which features the article, will be sent to all authors.