Modern Language Association
Prepare your manuscript for PMLA.
Review the checklist, choose your article type, and turn your draft into a cleaner submission package.
Checked 2026-10-23
Article types
Lectio
Letter
Editorial
Perspective
Review
Book Review
Viewpoint
Readiness requirements
Review the key details below, or download the complete checklist with every stored source-backed requirement.
Abstract length
- Provide an author-written abstract of no more than 100 words.
Reference style
- Articlo formats your supplied references to the journal's stored style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
- Author anonymity Authors should not refer to themselves in the first person in the submitted text or notes if such references would identify them; any necessary references to the author’s previous work, for example, should be in the third person.
Competing interests
- Include or confirm the competing interests required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.
Article structure and word limits
- Word length Articles must be between 6,000 and 9,000 words.
- In addition, a 1,000-word sample of the translation should be submitted (as a Word file).
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- Submission Procedures MLA style Manuscripts should follow MLA style as set out in the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook.
- Please submit manuscripts (as Word files) through PMLA 's ScholarOne site.
- Proposals for special issues should describe the focus and goals of the envisioned topic and be submitted by an MLA member (or members) willing to coordinate the issue.
- Because the special issue is largely shaped by essays that are submitted for peer review, proposals should not list potential contributors.
- The proposer may either serve as translator of the essay or designate a translator (who must also be an MLA member).
- The proposer may either serve as translator of the document or designate a translator (who must also be an MLA member).
- Review: How to Submit Proposals should be sent to pmlasubmissions@mla.org by the deadline noted above, for review by the editorial board at one of its meetings.
- Letter: Letters should be emailed to pmlaforum@mla.org.
- Cover sheet Authors’ names should not appear on manuscripts; instead, a cover sheet, with the author’s name and address and the title of the article, should accompany each manuscript.
- Questions it might address include but are not limited to the following: What are the most pressing questions in the field of Indigenous literature?
- Simultaneous submission Articles cannot be under consideration by other journals or publishers.
- Review: Review Process Each article submitted and eligible for peer review is sent to at least two reviewers.
- Review: Works that demonstrate egregious signs of poor quality (e.g., lack of scholarly apparatus when relevant, evidence of extreme carelessness in preparation) cannot be sent for review.
- Contributors will need to be (or become) MLA members upon acceptance, unless they work outside academia or in disciplines outside MLA fields, in which case a membership waiver will be requested.
Preprints and prior publication
- Include or confirm the preprints and prior publication required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.
Artificial-intelligence disclosure
- Originality Articles cannot have been previously published in any language, and revised versions of manuscripts previously submitted to PMLA will not be considered. (Uploading the submitted version of the article to an institutional repository does not count as previous publication.) Authors must fully cite in the manuscript, at submission, their use of all content (whether text, images, data, or other) created by an AI tool.
- Review: Eligibility To be eligible for review, manuscripts must meet the following requirements: MLA Membership Authors must be members of the MLA. (For a collaboratively written essay to be eligible for review, all coauthors must be members of the MLA.) Following the guidelines established by the journal's publishing partner, Cambridge University Press, AI tools cannot be considered authors of works submitted to the journal.
Language and text style
- In addition, if the document is not in English, the proposal should include a 1,000-word sample of the translation.
- Language Manuscripts in languages other than English must be accompanied by a detailed summary in English (generally of 1,000–1,500 words) and must be translated into English if they are recommended to the editorial board.
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- Translations should accompany all quotations in languages other than English.
- Submissions should be broadly of interest to those concerned with the study of language and literature.
- A member who wishes to make a proposal should first ascertain that no previous English translation exists.
- The proposer should then submit the following materials through PMLA 's ScholarOne site: (1) a photocopy of the original essay, (2) an extended summary of the entire essay in English, (3) an introductory statement of approximately 2,500 words, prepared in accordance with MLA style and submitted as a Word file, that will be published with the essay if the essay is accepted, (4) information on the copyright status of the original (if the translation is accepted for publication, the proposer will be responsible for obtaining permission to print it).
- A member who wishes to make a proposal should submit the following material through PMLA 's ScholarOne site: (1) a photocopy of the document, (2) an extended summary of the document in English, (3) an introductory statement of approximately 2,500 words, prepared in accordance with MLA style and submitted as a Word file, that will be published with the document if it is accepted, (4) information on the copyright status of the original (if the document is accepted for publication, the proposer will be responsible for obtaining permission to print it).
Figures, tables, and media
- Permissions If the contribution includes any materials (e.g., quotations that exceed fair use, illustrations, charts, other graphics) that have been taken from another source, the author must obtain written permission to reproduce them in print and electronic formats.
Article type and manuscript length
- The translated essays should normally not exceed PMLA’ s 9,000-word limit.
- Consideration will be given to archival data from any period and in any language that do not exceed PMLA’ s 9,000-word limit.
Title page and author information
- Submission Requirements Proposals should include three items: a detailed description of the cluster and a rationale for the contributors included (2–3 pages); a list of contributors’ names, affiliations, and preliminary paper titles; and abstracts of their proposed contributions (not to exceed 100 words).
Manuscript structure
- Contributions should be new and unpublished and not exceed 3,500 words, including discursive endnotes but not translations or the list of works cited.
What your package checks
Abstract: 100 words
Paper: 9,000 words
Source transparency
This preparation guide uses published journal-specific author requirements. Journal instructions can change, so authors should complete a final review before submission.
Open official guideline source