INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
(Revised November 2015)
Catholic Insight seeks to enlighten hearts and minds by proclaiming the splendour of truth and the sanctity of life. It endeavours to foster the culture of life by reporting truthfully, critically, contextually, and comparatively with a view to history and guided by a cultural vision inspired by Catholic doctrine and the classical liberal arts. In a climate of moral and cultural relativism it unequivocally upholds the existence of moral absolutes as a source of hope.
Catholic Insight does sometimes publish previously printed material, within the rules of copyright.
TYPES OF ARTICLES
Catholic Insight accepts letters, short communications, commentaries, book and film reviews, articles, research articles, and columns. Please send submissions as a Word document attached to your email, to editor@catholicinsight.com. Please include a three to five sentence bio with your submission.
Letters (100–500 words). Letters to the editor should address an article that has appeared in Catholic Insight or a subject of general interest to readers. Preference will be given to letters relating to recent issues.
Short communication (250 words). Short communications are brief summaries of global news and events.
Commentary (750 words). Commentaries are short articles or essays (e.g. the essays of Addison and Steele) of general interest to readers. Suitable topics include pro-life, politics, music, liturgy, education, art, and architecture. See past issues of Catholic Insight for examples.
Articles (1000–3000 words). Articles are in-depth treatises on subjects meriting such treatment. Articles should be well researched, substantiated, and footnoted if necessary. For examples, see Fr. Neil Roy’s and Dr. Ryan Topping’s articles in the September 2012 issue.
Rates. Please contact the editor at editor@catholicinsight.com.
STYLE GUIDE
Format. Submit articles as Word documents. Use a single space after periods, and indent the first line of each paragraph.
Titles. Capitalize the first word only.
Headings. For major headings, capitalize the first letter and centre the heading on its own line. For minor headings, capitalize the first letter but place at the beginning of the paragraph and indent.
Spelling and grammar. Use Canadian spelling as identified in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, unless the article necessitates otherwise. For grammar, follow Fowler’s Book of English Usage, editions prior to the 1965 printing, and the Government of Canada style guide available here.
Foreign words and phrases. All foreign words are to be italicized, unless these have effectively become part of common English language usage: e.g., ad hoc, per capita, ibid, i.e.; or are a name, for example: Mater Dei High School, contrasted with Our Lady is reverenced as the mater Dei. See this site for examples. Italicise unfamiliar foreign words, and follow by an English translation in parenthesis if the meaning is not generally known.
Gender. “Gender” is a linguistic term that has been misused as a replacement of biological sex, and as such is to be avoided. Refer to the biological sex of a person as such.
Pronouns. Divine pronouns and relative pronouns referring to God are to be upper case. Capitalize Mass, Catholic when referring to the Catholic Church or the Catholic Faith, and Pope when referring to a specific pope.
Quotations. Depending on the length of the quotation, quotation marks may be used (for shorter quotations) or the text may be set off from and placed in italics. The editor may use some discretion here.
Units of weight and measure. Units of weight and measure may be Imperial (acres, gallons, miles, pounds) or SI (metric). If American English units are used and the distinction is required, they should be distinguished as such; for example, gallons (American).
SUBMISSION SCHEDULE
Submissions will be reviewed by the editor for suitability and decisions will be made within a brief time frame.
Please send submissions as a Word document attached to your email, to editor@catholicinsight.com.
An honorarium will be offered for accepted submissions.