Thank you for considering Gallaudet University Press as the potential publisher for your book project. We publish scholarly and general interest books that advance the understanding of deaf and signing communities, signed languages, and deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind people, and we welcome the submission of book proposals for the fields in which we publish.
Before submitting a proposal, please review our subject areas in order to determine if your project would be suitable for our list. Our current areas of focus include:
• African American Studies
• Anthropology
• Art and Performance
• Deaf, DeafBlind, and Coda authored biography and memoir
• Bilingual or Multilingual Deaf Education
• Deaf History
• Deaf or DeafBlind Studies
• Disability Studies
• LGBTQ Studies
• Linguistics
• Deaf, DeafBlind, and Coda authored creative nonfiction and poetry
• Translation and Interpreting Studies
• Women’s and Gender Studies
We are also accepting submissions for the following series:
• Currents (Note that while manuscripts submitted for our Currents series follow the same general review and production processes, they are on an expedited schedule. Please see the series page for more information.)
• Deaf Education
• Deaf Lives
• Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies
• Interpreter Education
• Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities
• Studies in Interpretation
Please note that while we are not actively acquiring works of fiction, you or your literary agent are welcome to send our acquisitions editor a brief query via email. We are also no longer actively acquiring books for children or young adults.
SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
In order for us to consider your book project, please send a proposal that includes the following:
• A brief cover letter (in the body of an email is acceptable)
• Our proposal submission form (download the form here)
• Your current CV or résumé (and those of your coauthors or coeditors, if applicable)
• If the work is an edited volume, please provide a list of contributors and their affiliations (a CV or résumé is not required for contributors)
• In addition, you may also include 2–3 sample chapters, such as an introductory chapter and 1–2 substantive chapters. Please note that sample chapters are optional; we do not need them in order to consider your project.
You don't need to have a completed manuscript to submit a proposal, but even if your manuscript is complete, we still need to evaluate the project as a proposal first, so please do not send full manuscripts unless you’ve been explicitly invited to do so.
Send all proposal materials in an editable file format (such as .docx) to:
Katie Lee
Acquisitions Editor
katie.lee@gallaudet.edu
Note that we are only accepting book proposals electronically.
THE REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESS
Internal Proposal Review
After submitting a completed proposal, please allow up to two weeks for an initial response. It usually takes us around four to eight weeks to review proposals internally, after which you will receive an email of interest or rejection. If we determine the proposed project is a potentially good fit for our publication program, we will invite you to submit the full-length manuscript for external review.
Please note that while we accept simultaneous submissions of proposals, we ask for exclusive review of the complete manuscript once you’ve submitted it to us. This is due to the significant time and resources needed to provide a comprehensive review. While your manuscript is under review, you are granting Gallaudet University Press the first right of choice for publication.
Peer Review
Submitting the First Draft:
When you are ready to submit the first complete draft of your manuscript, please send it as a single, fully paginated Word document that contains a title page, table of contents, all chapters, notes and bibliography (or references), and low-resolution embedded images (and corresponding captions) approximately where you'd like them to appear in the book.
Please set the page size as 8.5 x 11 inches. The text should be set in 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced, with one inch margins on all sides. Insert page breaks at the end of the table of contents and at the end of each chapter. The notes and bibliography should follow the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition), unless you’ve discussed otherwise with our acquisitions editor.
The Peer Review Process:
Once we receive the first draft we will review it internally, which may take up to six weeks. If we have feedback or revisions for you to consider, we will ask you to address those before sending the project out for peer review.
If the manuscript is to our satisfaction, we will begin contacting potential readers based on your recommendations and drawing from our own network of qualified readers. A minimum of two outside specialists will be evaluating your manuscript, though often we will send it to additional readers as a backup in case someone is unable to complete their review. Note that both scholarly works and works intended for a general (trade) audience will undergo the same review process.
While peer review is central to our work as a university press, we must also recognize that it has been used for gatekeeping, reproducing dominant modes of thought, and reinforcing the status quo, all the while depending on the unrecognized time and labor of scholars and community stakeholders. With this in mind, we approach the peer review process intentionally with an aim toward transparency, flexibility, and inclusivity, and follow the best practices recommended in Best Practices for Peer Review of Scholarly Books and the Anti-Racist Scholarly Reviewing Practices.
Note that it may take up to three months to find qualified readers who have the time to read and evaluate a complete manuscript. While our goal is to move projects forward in a timely fashion, we also recognize that many of the scholars and community stakeholders who review our work are often multiply marginalized and overburdened with service commitments and other responsibilities; therefore, we allow readers up to three months (or longer, depending on the length and complexity of the manuscript) to complete their evaluations. We also want to ensure that the peer review process is conducted ethically and involves relevant stakeholders, which may add time to the process. We strive for transparency throughout the entire process, so if you have any questions regarding the review process or the status of your manuscript, please get in touch with our acquisitions editor.
Since it is nearly impossible to mask the identities of authors, the review process is partially anonymous, in that the readers will know your identity, but you won’t know who the readers are unless they waive anonymity. However, we do ask readers to make a statement that they are able to review the manuscript objectively and have no real or perceived conflicts of interest. We also give them the option to withdraw from the review process should they at any point feel they are no longer able to provide impartial feedback.
Readers will assess the manuscript for its quality, its potential contribution to the literature, and its potential marketability. In addition, they will make a recommendation on whether we should publish the work by choosing the following:
(1) Recommend publication (with suggested revisions);
(2) Publish only after revisions have been made (i.e., a revise and resubmit); or
(3) Do not recommend publication.
After receiving the reviews, our acquiring editor will review them carefully before sharing them with you. Based on the readers’ recommendations, these are the typical courses of action:
• If the reviews are not in support of publication, the press will decline to publish the manuscript.
• If the reviews are mixed (e.g., one reader recommends a revise and resubmit and the other does not recommend publication), we will ask you to write a response to the reviews, to include a revision plan. Once you and your editor agree on how best to proceed, you would revise the manuscript and resubmit it to us. At this point the manuscript will be reviewed again internally and sent out for another round of peer review.
At this point if you are unwilling or unable to revise and resubmit your manuscript, you may withdraw your project from consideration.
• If the reviews are in full support of publishing the work, we would ask you to write a response to the reviews, and then possibly revise the manuscript based on suggested revisions. Your response, the peer reviews, and a sample of the manuscript will be presented to the Gallaudet University Press Editorial Board.
Editorial Board Approval
The Gallaudet University Press Editorial Board is made up of scholars who represent a broad spectrum of expertise in fields related to deaf people and deafness. They typically meet twice during the academic year to review projects. When reviewing projects, the board considers the reader reports, your response to the reports, a sample of the manuscript, along with a project description prepared by our acquiring editor.
A majority vote in favor of the project is needed in order for it to be approved. After your project is approved, we will then offer you a contract to publish the book.
If you have any questions regarding the submission process, please contact Katie Lee, our acquisitions editor, at katie.lee@gallaudet.edu.
We look forward to receiving your book proposal.
Final Manuscript Preparation
The following resources are for authors who have had their book projects approved by the editorial board and are preparing their final manuscript for the editorial, design, and production stage of the publication process.
Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
Art Guidelines
Art Log
Permission Form
Author Questionnaire (trade)
Author Questionnaire (scholarly)
Cover Ideas Form
Editorial, Design, and Production
After you submit the final manuscript files, our acquiring editor will prepare them to be turned over to our managing editor, who will begin the production process by assigning a freelance copyeditor to your project. During this time we will also begin the cover design process, which is managed by our acquiring editor. We will solicit cover ideas from you before the design process begins, and ask for feedback once we receive the design(s).
When the copyediting is complete, our managing editor will send you the edited manuscript file(s), and you will have an opportunity to review and approve the changes before the edited manuscript is cleaned up and typeset. You will also have the chance to review the page proofs, but note that at this stage, changes are limited to correcting typos or egregious (e.g., factual) errors.
While you are reviewing the typeset pages, the book will be professionally proofread, and if applicable, indexed. Note that during indexing, we can’t allow any changes to be made that will alter the book’s pagination.
Sales and marketing efforts will be underway both during production and after your book is published. For more information, visit our Marketing and Sales Activities page.
