Books publishing editor guidelines

If you are acting as an editor for an edited collection please read our book editor guidelines for details on what we need from you and your contributors

If you are an author please read our book author guidelines for details.

1 Manuscript checklist

This is a list of everything we will need you to submit with your final manuscript. Some items are optional and are marked as such.

  • Title page 
  • Dedication (optional)
  • Table of contents
  • List of tables and figures (this is only required if there are more than 5 figures/tables)
  • Abbreviations (if needed)
  • List of contributors
  • Foreword (optional)
  • Preface (optional)
  • Acknowledgements (optional)
  • Individual chapters (as Word documents) – (chapters in edited collections should also include keywords and abstracts
  • PDF version of your manuscript (if your book contains complex symbols/formulas)
  • Illustrations/figures/tables clearly labelled
  • List of 50–100 index terms (Emerald will compile an index for your book)
  • Additional required forms:
    • Back cover copy form
    • Editorial and production form
    • Signed permissions forms (If third party material included)Interview release forms (if identifiable/named interviewees are mentioned)
    • Case study consent forms (if company or organisation explored in-depth without anonymisation)
    • License forms (Edited collections only) 
    • Proof of peer review (edited collections only

2 Emerald contacts

Commissioning Editor

Your Commissioning Editor is your main contact for your book, from prior to contract, to after your book publishes. They will have already worked with you to guide you through the proposal peer-review process and in agreeing contract terms. They will continue to champion your book within Emerald throughout production and publication. If you have queries regarding manuscript delivery extensions, manuscript length, ordering bulk copies, or conference collateral please contact your Commissioning Editor.

Commissioning Assistant

Your Commissioning Assistant works closely with the Commissioning Editor and will issue your countersigned contract. They will also be able to help with royalty payments.

Book Project Editor

The Book Project Editor supports your Commissioning Editor and will be the person you will hear from most from when your book is contracted to your book being submitted to our Production team. During this time, your Book Project Editor will check in regularly with you to see how the manuscript is progressing. They will be able to handle many queries you may have whilst writing your manuscript, including permissions issues, figures, tables and illustrations, style and formatting, and supporting documents. The Book Project Editor is responsible for preparing the manuscript for production; ensuring that it is complete, clean and that all editorial requirements are communicated clearly to the Production team. As above, please contact your Commissioning Editor to discuss manuscript delivery extensions or changes to the manuscript length.

You will be notified by your Book Project Editor when your manuscript is handed over to our Production team, at which time they will confirm the expected publication date and the estimated date at which first proofs will be delivered.

Finally, the Book Project Editor handles the post-publication process so if you have queries about your complimentary copies please contact your Book Project Editor.

Content Development Editor

Your Content Development Editor manages and oversees the Book Project Editor. They act as a point of escalation for any issues pertaining to rights and permissions. You may never directly communicate with the Content Development Editor with regards to these issues, but they will ensure that the book runs smoothly whilst with Emerald. The Content Development Editor is also responsible for cover design, blurb and any possible endorsements.

Production Controller

The Production team is responsible for typesetting the final manuscript and ensuring that it is printed by the publication date to the highest standard. During the typesetting and proofing process, the Production team will make sure that the outlined schedule is adhered to. Any queries relating to typesetting, proofing, scheduling, or printing should be directed towards the Production team, who will endeavour to resolve any queries or problems quickly and efficiently.

2.1 Who to contact table:

Query Who to contact
Discuss or extend submission date Commissioning Editor
Discuss content of chapters, changes to TOC, title or contributors Commissioning Editor
Advice on permissions Book Project Editor
My book cover design Content Development Editor
Advice on formatting Book Project Editor
Questions about proofing Book Project Editor or Production Controller once proofs are received
Obtaining my copies of my book Book Project Editor
Marketing and promotion of my book Commissioning Editor

3 What we need from you & your contributors

3.1 License forms

When the contributors submit their chapter to you, they will also need to provide a signed License Form (usually an Exclusive license or Copyright Transfer Agreement, the Book Project Editor will send the correct forms depending on the contractual arrangements). This grants us permission to publish their chapter in the book and we cannot publish their contribution without it. Gathering these forms at the time of final chapter submission ensures there are no delays whilst the initial editorial checks are carried out.

The corresponding author of the chapter must sign the license form on behalf of their chapter team. As Editor, please check all License Forms and Continuation Forms are correctly completed by all of the chapter contributors and that the corresponding author’s signature is either hand-written or electronic (we cannot accept type-written signatures).

  • Emerald strives to publish original research. Therefore, we would do not generally wish to include republished works in our books. If you want to reuse an existing work, please flag this as soon as possible to the Commissioning Editor so that we can discuss our options.

3.2 List of contributors

A List of Contributors will appear in the front matter of the volume, so please ensure that you submit a list of your contributors’ names along with their affiliations. This should be organised by alphabetical order of surname. For example:

  • Stefan Dawling, University of Leeds, UK
  • Joanna Nibble, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
  • Alexandria Robertson, University of Warwick, UK
  • Andy Scarfe, University of York, UK

3.3 Abstracts & keywords

Please provide short abstracts (250 words maximum) and at least 6 keywords for each chapter. These will be hosted alongside the digital version of each chapter and greatly aid online discoverability.

Abstracts can either be structured or unstructured; however, it is important that the entire volume is consistent with this. As Editor, please check that the abstracts are uniform in layout and length throughout.

The keywords provided for each chapter can also help to inform your final list of index terms

Read Make your content easy to find with SEO to help you choose your keywords.

3.4 Proof of peer review process

It is vital that when the manuscript is submitted, you also confirm that the volume and its chapters have been peer reviewed. This ensures we are abiding by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, of which Emerald is a member. Proof of peer review can take the form of:

  • a peer review audit trail for each chapter, consisting of the final message of an email chain between the author and reviewer(s), with their comments about the paper included

OR

  • a statement describing the peer-review process through which all chapters have passed.

3.5 Figures, tables & illustrations

If you are planning to include any tables, figures or illustrations in your book there are some important points that you will need to note:

  • All tables, figures and/or illustrations must be clearly labelled and must be numbered consecutively e.g. Fig.1, Fig.2, Table 1, Table 2
  • All figures and illustrations should be submitted electronically
  • Your tables and figures should be clear to read and of the highest resolution possible
  • If any table or figure has sub-parts please label as: Fig. 1a, Fig.1b, Table 1a, Table 1b
  • Tables/figures/illustrations will be printed in black and white on text paper. Please refrain from using multiple images throughout your work. Images and figures may be supplied in colour to facilitate their appearance in colour if hosted online but they will be grey-scaled for print
  • All tables, figures, and illustrations should be cited in the text.
  • Please provide guidance for the typesetters on where the tables, figures, and illustrations should be placed. For example:

3.6 List of tables & figures

If you have included any tables, figures or illustrations in your manuscript and there are more than 5 of each, then these should be listed in the preliminary matter of your book. If there are more than 20 tables/figures in your book these need to be listed separately (e.g. “List of Tables” AND “List of Figures”). If there are less than 20 you can compile them into 1 list (e.g. “List of Tables and Figures”).

 

3.7 Cover design and/or back cover copy form

As part of our sales and marketing efforts for your book, we begin to promote your book well in advance of publication. Therefore, it is important to gather accurate information at an early stage, three months prior to your delivery date. This form provides a space for you to:

  • Write a description of the book which will aid us in the writing of the back cover copy
  • Have an active input into the cover design briefing for your book (NB if your book is part of the Emerald Points collection or an existing series with a set cover design then your options will be limited to choices within the existing design)
  • Include an up-to-date biography which will be included on the back cover and/or in the preliminary pages of the book. Your institutional affiliation should be your place of work at the time the book was written. Your biography is also displayed on our website and on our aggregator’s (e.g. Amazon) pages

Please assist us by completing and returning this form three months prior to your delivery date. This will greatly aid the marketing and promotion of your book.

3.8 Editorial & production form

In order to ensure a smooth handover process from Editorial checks to Production, it is vital that you complete the Editorial and Production form and submit it alongside your manuscript. It gives our typesetters specific instructions about the following:

  • The way and order (if multiple Editors) in which your name/s should appear on the cover/title page
    • Note: The affiliation provided at the time of manuscript submission will be the affiliation that appears in the book
  • Your availability throughout the production process. This will allow our production team to organise a schedule around your existing commitments (should there be any) from post-submission to publication. This is particularly crucial for the proof stages of your book which will occur 2 months after M/S delivery.
  • Notes on permissions issues that the typesetter may need to be made aware of
  • General Manuscript information (total word count, number of tables/ figures etc)
  • Any style conventions specific to your book that you may wish to retain
  • The referencing style used throughout your book
  • Your delivery address for complimentary copies of the book to be sent to after publication

4 Referencing

Our preferred referencing style is APA 7th Edition, however you are free to use whichever style suits the conventions of your subject area. You will need to state your referencing style on the Editorial and Production form which is to be submitted alongside your manuscript so that our typesetter can standardise this throughout the book. If the referencing style is not specified, we will instruct our typesetters to follow APA 7th Edition. Below is a brief overview of the APA 7th Edition referencing style.

4.1 In-text references

  • For multiple names, “and” should be used in the running text; “&” should be used inside parenthesis
    • e.g. Ford and Scaife (2019) suggest …
    • e.g. This suggests …… (Ford & Scaife, 2019).
  • For references with two authors, cite both names at every citation in the text
    • e.g. (Mathers & Scaife, 2019, p.34)
  • For references with three to five-authors, cite all authors at the first citation and at subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by et al.
    • First citation: (Darling, Ford, & Wolterman, 2019)
    • Subsequent citations: (Darling, et al., 2019)
  • For six or more authors, include the surname of the first author followed by et al. for all the citations.
  • When referencing multiple works by a single author, follow this format:
    • (Smith, 2015a, 2015b, 2018)
  • All parenthetical citations should be in alphabetical order as per the reference list.
  • Any directly quoted text should have a page number in the reference
    • e.g. ‘Morley describes this as “criminal negligence” (2011, p.9)’

4.2 Reference list

  • The reference list should go at the end of your book, not at the end of individual chapters. This will avoid any duplicate references.
  • Please ensure that all listed references are cited, and all cited references are listed.
  • All authors’ names should be written as “Surname”, “Initials” (i.e. Scaife, A.).
  • If the number of authors exceeds seven, please include the first six authors’ names, then insert three ellipsis points, and add the last author’s name: i.e. Scaife, A., Mathers, K., Darling, S., Ward, R., Wilson, C., Wolterman, N. … , Boardman, C.
  • Do not include personal communications, such as letters, memoranda, and informal electronic communications, in the reference list. These should be in-text references only.
  • Use Arabic numerals even if some volume numbers of books and journals are given in roman numerals (e.g. Vol. 3 not Vol. III).
  • Please ensure that all references are complete - including publisher and geographical location (i.e. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press) for books, page numbers, and ensure that journal references include volume and issue number and DOI.

If necessary for your book, it is perfectly acceptable to include explanatory footnotes and end-notes. You can specify this on the Editorial and Production form.

4.3 APA 7th Edition reference list examples

Book 

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books

Journal article 

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

Book chapter 

Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345–359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016

Webpage 

Bologna, C. (2019, October 31). Why some people with anxiety love watching horror movies. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e

Note: if there is no individual author, use the group author (organisation), e.g. British Broadcasting Corporation. If neither is available, move the title to the author position, before a full stop and the date of publication.

Further examples can be found here: Reference examples (apa.org)

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5 Editorial policy & originality guidelines

We are committed to promoting new research that has real impact and so expect that all work submitted to us is original and expressed in your own words. Please see our editorial policy and originality guidelines for further information about what we consider best practice and what we consider to be unacceptable. [https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/our-services/authors/author-policies/editorial-policy-originality-guidelines]

We publish in a number of cutting-edge areas and are not averse to tackling difficult topics. However, we want to uphold the highest standards in our publishing and do ask that all authors consider the following questions before submitting their work:

  • Does my work include any unsubstantiated statements (particularly opinions) or statements presented as fact without reference?
  • Have I fact-checked my work?
  • Does my work include anything that may have required ethical clearance, or a protocol to be followed (i.e. testing on human or animal subjects)?
  • Does my work include any graphic material (including photographs) that could be considered controversial or upsetting?
  • Does my work contain anything libellous or anything that could be perceived as inciting hatred against an individual or group of people?

We would consider libel to be any written statements that may:

  • Disparage someone in their office, profession, calling, trade or business;
  • Lower someone’s reputation in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally;
  • Cause someone to be shunned or avoided.
  • Expose them to hatred, contempt, or ridicule.

If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then please do not submit your manuscript without consulting with your Commissioning Editor.

6 Permissions guidance

Prior to manuscript submission, you should clear permission to include any content you have not created yourself (or that has been published previously). It is a legal requirement to clear permission from the copyright holder of the content. It is your responsibility to clear permission for any copyrighted work you wish to include in your manuscript. Failure to do so will lead to lengthy delays in publication or removal of content from the book. Emerald is unable to begin production on or publish any work which has permission pending.

6.1 Why do I need to clear permission?

Clearing permission is a legal requirement. If you are republishing material within your work that you or your co-authors have not created (or has been published previously), you will need to clear permission to reuse this content from the copyright holder. We ask that this process is completed prior to the submission of your work. Permissions clearance can take months, so the earlier you start, the better. Full referencing of material is expected as per academic standards. If permission is not cleared, Emerald will be unable to publish that particular material. If you need any help or advice on how to clear permission/if something needs permissions clearance, please contact your Content Development Editor.

6.2 Who is responsible for clearing permission?

Authors are responsible for clearing permissions and for any costs incurred.

7: What do I need to clear permission for?

As a rule, you will need to clear permissions to reproduce any material you have not created yourself (or that has been published previously).

Note: Emerald is a member of the STM Permissions Guidelines; this means that there are certain amounts of content published by other STM members that can be republished free of charge. For further information about the guidelines, please consult the STM Permissions guidelines section.

This can be in the form of:

7.1 Figures/tables/illustrations

If you are republishing a table, figure or illustration verbatim, with no adaptations, you must clear permission via the copyright holder.

7.2 Photos

For photos, you must clear permission from:

  • The photographer
  • The subject of the photo;
    Note: Be especially careful if the photo includes a child; you will need to get their legal guardian’s signature.
  • If the image is taken from an image bank, such as Getty, you will need to obtain a license through the image bank for commercial distribution. If this or a similar term is not stated on the license, Emerald will be unable to include it in the publication.

7.3 Quotations (over 250 words)

  • You are required to clear permission for extracts from academic books, textbooks and/or websites if the extract is more than 250 words;
  • If the extract is from a song or poem and is copyrighted, you must always clear permission regardless of word count. Please see song lyrics & poetry below.
  • If you are reproducing an extract from a novel, you will need permission if the material is the ‘essence’ of the work, or involves the first and/or end lines of the book.
  • Works are only in the public domain if = the year of author’s death + 70 years, i.e. Rudyard Kipling died in 1936, and his works came into the public domain in 2006.
  • If you wrote the original quote, but it has been previously published, you will need to check your author agreement with your previous publisher.

7.4 Epigraphs (e.g. quotations used at the start of a chapter or manuscript that are not discussed within the body of the text)

  • Unless in the public domain, permission must be sought for the reuse of content in an epigraph. Epigraphs can be problematic from a permissions point of view because they stand alone from the text and are not subject to critique, often capturing the ‘essence’ of the work. Therefore, we generally advise against incorporating these.

7.5 Song lyrics & poetry

  • Any poetry or song lyrics that are not in the public domain must have permission cleared; even if you have only taken one line from the poem.
  • This is because this may contain the ‘essence’ of the work and therefore may ‘damage’ the market value of the original work.
  • Record labels are especially protective of lyrics and will generally charge for permissions.
  • Some publishers currently charge upwards of £60 GBP per line to reproduce a poem, therefore you must decide whether it brings any value to your manuscript.

7.6 Screenshots

  • Despite the content being freely available, content within websites is copyrighted. Therefore, you may need to clear permissions (if for example, you wish to reproduce a featured figure, or an extract longer than 250 words). The license terms on websites will dictate whether you will need to clear permissions or not. For example, ‘© JoeBloggsWorld 2012. All Rights Reserved’- as all rights have been reserved, you will need to contact JoeBloggsWorld to clear permission.
  • If the website says ‘Unless stated otherwise, the information posted on this web site is in the public domain and may be used or reproduced without specific permission.’, you do not need to clear permission for this content. However, be careful and verify that the website is the copyright holder; if they are not, you will need to clear permissions the usual way.
  • If the website and its content is published under a Creative Commons License, this will be a different matter. For further information, please consult the Open access content/ Creative Commons section.

7.7 Software screenshots

  • When you install a programme on your computer or use a web-based service, you will agree to terms & conditions. These terms & conditions will usually determine whether or not you can reuse that content. This will not usually include commercial distribution; as Emerald is a commercial publisher, you will be unable to use any screenshots or surrounds of programmes without clearing permissions first.

7.8 Social media

  • If you wish to reproduce a tweet or Facebook post (or any other kind of social media post), we draw a distinction between and private individuals and public figures. For private individuals, we would consider their posts copyrighted materials and permission must be sought from the user who has created the post. If you cannot clear permission from the individual user, you may include the material, but must ensure that their profile picture/username are not visible (they can be pixelated) and their post is not easily identified (via a Search engine, etc.).
  • For public figures (for instance, accounts with the blue verified badge on Twitter - the blue tick) their username does not need to be blurred out and you do not need permission, providing that the material is not being used in a subjective way or the account is not being misrepresented.

7.9 Logos/trademarks

  • Permission must always be cleared to reuse a logo in an article. This is because companies are often very protective of their brand and fear negative associations.
  • Logos are often added to a work to ‘spice it up’ and attract interest; however, they rarely add any value. If you have included any logos or trademarks within your work and consider them a ‘must have’, make sure you allow a long waiting period to clear permissions.
  • Many companies do not necessarily have a specific department to deal with permissions requests such as these, and this could lead to even more of a delay in receiving a reply.

7.10 Case studies/named organisations (if not based on publicly available & referenced information)

  • If you have written about a company in great detail and have spent time within that organisation, or named/interviewed employees, you will need to clear permission from that organisation using the case study consent form;
  • It is only acceptable to anonymise the company/employee names provided that they cannot be easily identified from the rest of the article;
  • If you have compiled your case study from publicly accessible documents such as newspaper or journal articles, you do not need to clear permission.
  • If you have to clear permission with the organisation, consent must be given either by a board member or a member of the company’s HR department.

7.11 Interviews (where the interviewee is identifiable)

  • If you’re attributing a quote to a named person which has not been published previously, you will need to get written permission from the interviewee. Please ask the Book Project Editor for our Interview Release Form.

7.12 Maps

  • If the copyright has not expired, permission must always be cleared before republication- there can be no exceptions. Please note that Ordnance Survey maps are prepared by a third party company and require permission.
  • Google maps do not require permission (providing that copyright statements are displayed), however, Google Earth and Google Street View require permission as they are prepared by third parties and are subject to privacy laws.

​​​​​​​7.13 Artwork

  • Permission must be sought for any kind of artwork that you have not created yourself.
  • If using artwork from a gallery, you will need to clear permission from the artist (who may or may not be the copyright owner), the gallery that the painting is held by, and the photographer of the image (if you have not taken it yourself) or the gallery doesn’t hold the photographic rights.

7.14 Your own previously published works where you do not hold copyright (e.g. in a previously published journal article)

  • You may need to clear permission to use or adapt any part of your own previous work published by other publishers. To do this, you will need to consult the licence you signed with that publisher; this will dictate whether or not you may use the material without clearing permission.
  • Please ensure that any material previously published is properly referenced and gives attribution to where the material first appeared. To not do so, may run the risk of self-plagiarism.

7.15 How do I clear permission?

Once you have signed a contract with Emerald, you will be provided with a Permissions Tracker and a permissions request form by your Book Project Editor. The Permissions Tracker is for you to record all of your items requiring permissions clearance, your attempts to clear permission and any permissions granted. In addition to using the Permissions Tracker, please keep a record of all correspondence and permissions granted. If you can’t find the copyright holder, please keep a record of all attempts you have made at finding out who it is/contacting them.

Please keep this document up to date as it will ensure there are no delays once the work is submitted to Emerald.

To clear permission, you will need to first identify the copyright holder of the material you wish to reuse. Most publishers use a permissions clearance platforms such as Copyright Clearance Center or PLS to handle permissions requests for their content. Search for the material directly on the Copyright Clearance Center/Rightslink or PLS sites, or click on the ‘Reprints and Permissions’ button next to the work you want to reuse on the publisher’s website:

Or if the rightsholder is a company or an individual, you will need to send an email to the appropriate address (these details can usually be found under the ‘Contact us’ or ‘Legal’ sections).

What rights should you request?

In order to include the third-party material in your work, you must clear the following rights from the copyright owner:

  • Non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material
  • Print and electronic rights
  • Worldwide English language rights
  • To use the material for the life of the work. This means there should be no time restrictions on the reuse, for example a one-year licence.

Permission granted should be either:

  • A licence provided through a permission clearance organisation such as Copyright Clearance Center or PLS
  • A signed permission request form (where there is a copyright holder)
  • A signed case study consent form (where a specific company or institution is discussed in great detail, and information not available in the public domain is included in the work)
  • A signed interview release form (where an interviewee is identifiable)
  • An email from the copyright holder/interviewee/organisation confirming permission is granted

You should forward this correspondence or documentation to your Content Development Editor and Book Project Editor when submitting your work. If you are unsure that the rights you have been granted will be sufficient, please contact your Content Development Editor, or alternatively [email protected].

Note: If you would like to clear permission through sites such as Getty or Shutterstock, please inform your Content Development Editor contact before clearing permission so we can advise.

7.16 ​​​​​​​Adaptations

Adaptations fall under ‘derivative’ works in the UK copyright law and so are subject to copyright rules. There are no stated rules for what level of original thought and effort would result in an item being considered new.

  • If the item has been significantly adapted, then you will only need to inform the original author/ creator (not to clear permission, but as an academic courtesy). If the item has not been significantly adapted, you will need clear permissions with the original copyright holder.
  • An example of what we consider an adaptation:

Figure 1. Original work

If this were to be republished verbatim, then permission would be needed

Figure 2. Adaptation

Because this adaptation demonstrates sufficient labour, skill or judgement and is presented differently, permission does not need to be cleared via the copyright holder.

7.17 Is there any third-party material I don’t have to clear permission for?

Yes. Emerald is a signatory of the STM Permissions Guidelines and there is a reciprocal agreement whereby certain amounts of content published by other STM signatories can be republished free of charge. Many publishers are signatories and you can find the full list of signatories here. These allowances include:

Use of up to three figures/tables/ images from an individual journal article or book chapter, subject to the following limits:

  • Not more than 5 figures/tables/images from a single book or journal issue/edition
  • Not more than 6 figures/tables/images from an annual journal volume
  • Not more than 3 figures/tables/images from works published by a single publisher for use in any given journal article or book chapter.
  • Not more than 30 figures/tables/images from a single publisher for use in any given book, no matter how many authors, chapters contributors or volumes it has.
  • Use of a maximum of 400 (four hundred) words from an individual journal article or book chapter, but: not more than a total of 800 words from a single book or journal issue/edition

The full list of participating publishers and the full details of this agreement are here.

Note: If, according to the guidelines, “notification is not required”, you don’t need to clear permission at all, subject to full referencing.

If notification is required, you will need to contact the publisher, either via Rightslink or email, but you can still submit your work to Emerald, as permission will be granted.

  • Content in the public domain
  • Creative Commons/Open Access content
  • Other Emerald content. Providing that Emerald is the copyright holder in the work and there is nothing by the figure or content that attributes copyright to anyone else, then you may reuse an extract or a maximum of 3 figures from another Emerald publication free of charge (subject to full referencing and attribution).

7.18 What does public domain mean?

Under UK Copyright Law (The UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988), copyright exists for the life of the author + 70 years. After that date it enters the public domain and can be used without needing to clear permission.

  • For example, if you wished to use an excerpt from Bleak House by Charles Dickens: Charles Dickens died on 9th June 1870. 1870 +70 years = his work entered the public domain on the 1st January 1940; therefore permissions clearance isn’t required, subject to full referencing.
  • There is common misconception that because something is freely available online, it is free to re-use. This is rarely the case! Similarly, ‘free to access’ content is not the same as ‘Open Access’ (see above).

7.19 What is fair dealing?

As a publisher headquartered in the UK, we are subject to UK copyright laws which do not feature the same definition of fair dealing as other countries (e.g. the US). In accordance with UK copyright law, there is no statutory definition of fair dealing - it will always be a matter of fact, degree and impression in each case. Considerations include the commercial impact on the original work and whether or not the amount reproduced is appropriate and necessary.

  • Therefore, we require that you request permission for all third-party and copyrighted material that does not explicitly permit commercial reuse. However, typically, reusing an extract of less than 250 words from an academic book, textbook and/or websites can be regarded as ‘fair’ but if in doubt, request permission.​​​​​​​

7.20 Do I need to request permission to reuse open access content?

  • There are various types of Open Access/Creative Commons licences - some you will need to clear permissions for; please note that we cannot use any content published under a non-commercial licence, as Emerald is a commercial organisation. However, if you contact the copyright holder, you may be able to negotiate new terms for a one-off reuse.
  • Inclusion of any Creative Commons content should be highlighted upon submission and clearly labelled within your manuscript.
  • A summary of open access permission requirements can be found below:
Emerald can accept (without permissions clearance) Emerald can’t accept (unless permission has been cleared with the copyright holder)
Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) Non-Commercial
Licence (CC BY-NC) Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike
Licence (CC BY-SA) Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial
Commercial-Sharealike (CC BY-NC-SA) Creative Commons Attribution- No Derivatives
(CC BY-ND); please note that we will be unable to publish any adaptations of this material without permission from the copyright holder. Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Non-Derivative (CC BY-NC-ND)

7.21 ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Can I include third party content in my open access work?

It is possible to include third-party images in your open access (OA) work.

Whilst we encourage authors to submit original content or to reuse material licensed under the same terms as your OA work, we recognise that not all content can be published under the terms of a CC BY license.

When requesting permission to reuse third-party content in your open access book, it is important to be explicit that the forthcoming work will be available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY). (Please see ‘Permissions Request Form’).

If the copyright holder of the content will not provide permission for it to be licensed open access but will allow it to feature on a non-exclusive basis, you may include the content subject to full attribution and with a statement clearly detailing that this content is not open access and has a different licence type.

Note: If content is published under a separate license, this will be indicated on the copyright page of the work and where the content is used within the work.

8 Appendices

Appendices will be placed at the end of the book, after the references. The numbering of the figures and tables in the Appendix should be named as A1, A2, A3, etc., even if there is only one Appendix. If a chapter contains 2 appendices, the first appendix should be named as Appendix A and the second appendix should be named as Appendix B. Further, if Appendix A has 3 equations, the equations should be named as A.1, A.2 and A.3.

Please ensure that the Appendix is cited within the text.

9 Post-submission & the typesetting process

Once we have received the final manuscript and accompanying documentation, our Editorial team will check the submission for any issues and ensure it is ready to start production. You will be contacted by your Book Project Editor to confirm your print publication date and information regarding proofs.

9.1 ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Copyediting

Once the final manuscript and accompanying documentation have been sent to the production team, they will contact you with an introductory email outlining the projected schedule and guidelines on how to electronically mark up your corrections using Adobe Reader. If you do not have access to Adobe, please let the project manager know.

All books undergo a light copyedit which will check grammar, punctuation, spelling and consistency.

In order for our copyeditors and compositors to typeset the book to your requirements, please ensure that:

  • For any acronym, the first instance should use the full form followed by the acronym in parenthesis
    • e.g. “The National Health Service (NHS) was founded in Britain in…”
  • Headings are labelled according to hierarchy – e.g. H1, H2, H3 for sections, sub-sections, listed sections, and so on. This will ensure that the titles and subtitles are formatted in the correct font size with the correct margin alignment.

9.2 Author proofs

Once the final manuscript has been copyedited and typeset and the editorial team have completed their checks, your proofs will be sent out. Please confirm receipt of the email containing your proofs, so we know that you have received it and we are using the correct email address.

You will be asked to answer any queries the copyeditor has raised, and to check any typos, grammatical errors and should amend no more than 10% of the text. Please mark up your corrections electronically, using the highlight and comment tools in Adobe Reader. Please see the below screenshot for an example of what this will look like in practice:

The table below displays the timeframe for returning author corrections, depending on the length of schedule of publication for the book. This will be your only chance to check over and correct the proofs before they are sent to print. If you are unsure of the production schedule for your book, please ask your Book Project Editor.

  3-month schedule 4-month schedule 6-month schedule
Turnaround time for author proofs 1 week 2 weeks 5 weeks
Turnaround time for revised proofs 1 week 2 weeks 2 weeks

9.3 ​​​​​​​Index

Using the 50-100 key terms you have submitted, our typesetter will create your index and send it to you for approval, so please check over the entries for relevance. The index will have a string of numbers after each entry, using the indexing programme; these will then become the page number.

9.4 ​​​​​​​Full cover proof

During the proofing stage, your full cover proof (including full cover design and back cover copy) will be sent from the Content Development Editor. No design changes can be made at this stage (you will have previously approved the design), so we ask that you please only make changes to spelling/grammar and approve the cover within 2 weeks.

9.5 ​​​​​​​Final checks & publication

Once your corrections have been incorporated, the Production team will complete a check in-house before the book is sent to our printers and published on our website www.emerald.com/insight

You can also find a helpful infographic guide to this production process on our website here.

Should you have any questions or concerns during the production process which cannot be resolved with our production team, or after publication, please do contact your Commissioning Editor and/or Book Project Editor.

10 FAQs

Q1) If I have interviewed someone and quoted what they have said without naming/identifying them, do I need them to complete an interview release form?

No, if the interviewee is not identifiable or has been anonymised they will not need to complete an interview release form.

Q2) At what stage do you need endorsements by?

Once you have delivered your manuscript, you should let the Book Project Editor know whether you would like to collect endorsements for your book. If this is the case, please ensure that you have submitted your endorsements at least 2 months before your estimated publication date.

Q3) If I have included a figure/table/illustration that I have created myself but this has appeared previously in a separate publication, do I still need to acquire permission?

If you are not the copyright holder (i.e. copyright belongs to the publisher) then you will be required to obtain permission for the figure/table/illustration.

Q4) The third-party material I have included in my manuscript is openly available online, why do I have to clear permission for this?

Although you may be able to access some third-party material freely, this does not mean we can print it without permission. Material hosted online falls under different licenses depending on the copyright, and some of these licenses do not allow for commercial use. We always recommend checking the Terms and Conditions on the copyright holder’s website to better understand their terms of use.

Q5) What key terms should I include in the index?

As previously mentioned, you will need to provide a list of 50 – 100 index terms so that our typesetters can compile an index for the book. Two key questions to think about when selecting your terms are:

  • Would anyone look or search for this entry?
  • Would they find anything useful if they did?

11 Useful links

These guidelines will provide you with a succinct guide for everything you need to know about the books process here at Emerald. However, if you are looking for more detail on anything that these guidelines have addressed, please see the below links for a more detailed explanation of the topics covered: