The Mid-Atlantic Almanack, the annual refereed journal of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/ American Culture Association, issues an open call for submissions for its 2006 edition. The Almanack, an annual journal, uses a rolling deadline system. Sometime during the late Spring, after the 2006 edition is finished, submissions received will be considered for the following year’s volume. The preferred method of delivery is to e-mail materials as Microsoft Word attachments to rdonald@siue.edu. If you must, the snail mail address is Ralph Donald, Editor, The Mid-Atlantic Almanack, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Department of Mass Communications, Box 1775, Edwardsville, IL 62026. Phone is (618) 650-2236. However, it should be noted that e-mailed submissions result in much faster turnaround time.

If you mail your submission, please enclose three double-spaced copies. Pease also include a short (one paragraph), "About the Author" biography and a manuscript abstract of about the same length. Initial query e-mails are encouraged. Photos or other illustrations may accompany the final version of the article. Authors are responsible for obtaining written reproduction permission from illustration copyright holders. Send pictures or artwork via e-mail as separate files in either .tiff, .jpeg or .eps. If you cannot send large picture files via e-mail, copy the digital files to CD or DVD and mail them separately to the address above. So more articles can be published in each annual edition, manuscript length should be limited to no more than 20 pages, including notes and bibliography. Documentation may be in the form appropriate for the discipline of the writer. Otherwise, either MLA or APA style is preferred. IMPORTANT NOTE: When using Word, DO NOT EMBED NOTES in the copy. Certain versions of Word do not typeset properly, even after notes are removed. Also, the Almanack does not print footnotes. Use non-embedded end notes. After initial review by the Almanack’s editorial staff, promising articles will be sent to two associate editors for peer review and publish/no publish recommendations. At the time of publication, contributing authors must be members of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association. Annual membership only, which still includes a subscription to the Almanack, is only $38. Mail your check to the treasurer, Analisa Castaldo, Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association, Widener University, 135 Lexington Ave., East Landsdowne, PA 19050 Visit the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association’s website with a link to the Almanack’s web pages at:
http://www.siue.edu/~rdonald/mapaca/mapaca.html

What kinds of articles does the Mid-Atlantic Almanack publish?
Among the considerations are whether the author’s work is of potential interest to MAP/ACA’s multi-disciplinary membership. If it is only appropriate for a journal in the scholar’s own academic specialty, the editor will make that suggestion. Articles published in the Almanack don’t deal with close readings of a single motion picture, TV show episode, book or poem. Film, TV, literary and other print and online disciplinary journals provide an adequate forum for publishing these kinds of studies. Criticism that puts popular cultural phenomena in some social context typically requires more than one instance before it can be dubbed “popular.” Media hype creates passing fads, but popular acceptance of additional imitations and variations on the original premise create genres. Editorial preference will be given to articles that communicate their ideas clearly to diverse academic audiences, avoiding undefined or unnecessary disciplinary jargon. The Almanack will also attempt to provide as much diversity in subject matter and critical/historical approaches as submissions permit.