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Taylor & Francis

Prepare your manuscript for Visual Studies.

Review the checklist, choose your article type, and turn your draft into a cleaner submission package.

Checked 2026-08-02
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Article types

Review
Book Review
Original Article
Editorial
Letter
Lectio
Clinical Trial
Protocol
Systematic Review

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 200 words.
  • Use a unstructured abstract.
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  • A typical paper for this journal should be between 5000 and 8000 words, inclusive of the abstract.
  • Should contain an unstructured abstract of 200 words.
  • Your abstract should focus on what your research is about, what methods have been used, and what you found out.
  • The instructions for authors for each journal will give specific guidelines on what’s required here, including whether it should be a structured abstract or graphical abstract, and any word limits.

Keywords

  • Do not include keywords.

Reference style

  • Articlo formats your supplied references in Vancouver style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
  • need not include footnotes or references, unless they are required by the narrative intent of the project.
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  • Bibliographic references, if required, should be kept to a minimum.
  • Readers should be able to interpret the table without reference to the text.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Confirmation the authors take full responsibility for the integrity of the whole content, including accuracy of references.

Figure and table rules

  • Keep every figure and table numbered, captioned, and cited in the manuscript. Keep figures embedded; Articlo also extracts numbered source files for the package.
  • Group figures at the end of the manuscript.
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  • Group tables at the end of the manuscript.
  • All figures must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the manuscript (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2).
  • In multi-part figures, each part should be labelled (e.g. Figure 1(a), Figure 1(b)).
  • Figures should be high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for colour, at the correct size).
  • Tables and figures Show clearly in your article text where the tables and figures should appear, for example, by writing [Table 1 near here].
  • Indicate the location where an illustration should be placed in the text with a figure number – for example, 'Insert figure 2 about here' – or in separate written instructions.
  • Please provide the highest quality figure format possible.
  • When a manuscript is accepted for publication, reproduction quality image files (or original artwork) will be required.
  • You must ensure appropriate acknowledgement is given to the permission granted to you for reuse by the copyright holder in each figure or table caption.
  • Figures should be saved separately from the text.
  • Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text.
  • It’s very important that you have been given permission to use any tables or figures you are reproducing from another source before you submit.
  • Please provide captions for the images.
  • Figures must be saved separate to text.
  • Figures should be supplied in one of our preferred file formats: PS, JPEG, TIFF, or Microsoft Word (DOC or DOCX) files are acceptable for figures that have been drawn in Word.
  • Check the instructions for authors to see how you should supply tables and figures, whether at the end of the text or in separate files, and follow any guidance given on the submission system.
  • Please do not embed figures in the manuscript file.

Funding statement

  • You should declare only the acquired funds and grants that are directly relevant to the work reported in your article; for example, This work was supported by the [Funding Agency #1] under Grant [number xxxx]; [Funding Agency #2] under Grant [number xxxx]; and [Funding Agency #3] under Grant [number xxxx].

Competing interests

  • Include or confirm the competing interests required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Data availability statement

  • Include or confirm the data availability statement required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Ethics statement

  • Include or confirm the ethics statement required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Blinded manuscript

  • The PDF should be uploaded as the “Manuscript - with author details”/”Manuscript - anonymous” file.

Cover letter

  • You must have copyright permission for Visual Studies to reproduce your image(s).
  • Using Third-Party Material in your Paper You must obtain the necessary permission to reuse third-party material in your article.
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  • The use of short extracts of text and some other types of material is usually permitted, on a limited basis, for the purposes of criticism and review without securing formal permission.
  • If you wish to include any material in your paper for which you do not hold copyright, and which is not covered by this informal agreement, you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to submission.

Title page and author information

  • All authors of a manuscript should include their full name and affiliation on the cover page of the manuscript.
  • One author will need to be identified as the corresponding author, with their email address normally displayed in the article PDF (depending on the journal) and the online article.

Article structure and word limits

  • A typical visual essay for this journal should be no more than 2000 words.
  • contain no more than 10 images, which should be the primary focus and therefore should drive the narrative rather than being merely illustrative.
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  • The text should be no less than 200 words, and no more than 600.
  • All image files should be high resolution (at least 300dpi, and preferably 600dpi).
  • The filename for a graphic should be descriptive of the graphic, e.g. Figure1, Figure2a.
  • This could be adapted from your departmental website or academic networking profile and should be relatively brief (e.g. no more than 200 words).
  • Margins Margins should be at least 2.5cm (1 inch).
  • Numbers: Numbers in text should take the forms 30, 300, 3000, 30 000 and so on, with numbers under 10 spelled out unless used with a unit of measure (for example, nine pupils but 9mm).
  • These instructions will ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly.
  • Your research funder or your institution may require you to publish your article open access.
  • Use our APC finder to view the APC for this journal.
  • Dates should be in the following format: 1 January 2014.
  • These submissions should be primarily visual and should combine image and text in a coherent form.
  • Interviews can include images and ideally should have some images related to the person or people interviewed.
  • Review: Generally speaking, these reviews should explore what is going on in the world of new media, whether on or off the web.
  • Prospective authors should contact John Grady at jgrady@wheatonma.edu with a brief proposal.
  • The proposal should be no more than one double-spaced page in length.
  • Image Specifications • For Cover Images, images should be portrait orientation only.
  • Visual Studies prefers to reproduce from originals or professional quality digital images or scans. (At this stage images should be submitted individually).
  • Authors should prepare and upload two versions of their manuscript.
  • Book Review: Submission: Please also note that book reviews for Visual Studies should be submitted, as any other manuscript, into the ScholarOne system.
  • Book Review: If you do not have an account, you will need to create one to submit the review (select the category « book review » in the submission process).
  • You will also need to upload your LaTeX source files, which should be uploaded as a single zip file alongside your submission and marked as “LaTeX Source Files”.
  • Queries Should you have any queries, please visit our Author Services website or contact us here.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Originality and accuracy of content has been confirmed by the authors.
  • Authors must provide full methodological details and adhere to relevant reporting guidelines where applicable.
  • Authors must retain the original and revised versions which must be shared upon request.
  • The PLSP guidelines for authors must be followed at all times.
  • Before you submit your article, make sure you’ve checked the instructions for authors for your chosen journal, so you are aware of everything required.
  • Most journals create image descriptions during the production process, but a minority may require authors to provide image descriptions.
  • Review: Running heads and received dates These aren’t required when submitting a manuscript for review.
  • contextualize the images/project within the text, addressing the who, when, where, what and why of the project, and should also establish the scholarly/intellectual significance of the project.
  • The Cover Image Cover images for Visual Studies should be accompanied by a short text that informs the viewer about the image’s resonance to the one who made it, or chose to display it.
  • These articles should be well reasoned and have a strong takeaway that could illuminate the journal’s aims, whether their primary focus is empirical or theoretical, historical or present day, examining the visual in general or images in particular.
  • These can include television serials; fiction or non-fiction films; exhibitions of the fine and popular arts; installations; graphic novels of one kind or another; books that explore various aspects of applied visual reasoning and communication; new technologies of visual representation, and so on: anything for which an author can make a compelling case that it communicates information that an informed public should take seriously.
  • Review: A New Media Review should succinctly describe the material being discussed in the essay, how readers of Visual Studies might use them, and evaluate their broader cultural, social, political and, if appropriate, educational significance.
  • One should be a complete text, while in the second all document information identifying the author should be removed from the files to allow them to be sent anonymously to reviewers.
  • Please use SI units (non-italicized).
  • Special characters If you are preparing your manuscript in Microsoft Word and your article contains special characters, accents, or diacritics, we recommend you follow these steps: European accents (Greek, Hebrew, or Cyrillic letters, or phonetic symbols): choose Times New Roman font from the dropdown menu in the “Insert symbol” window and insert the character you require.
  • Special characters If you are preparing your manuscript in Microsoft Word and your article contains special characters, accents, or diacritics, we recommend you follow these steps: Asian languages (such as Sanskrit, Korean, Chinese, or Japanese): choose Arial Unicode font from the dropdown menu in the “Insert symbol” window and insert the character you require.
  • If you are at the early stage of your research, you may also need to read how to start writing a journal manuscript.
  • Image descriptions are typically used by systems such as pronouncing screen readers to make images accessible to people that cannot read or see the object due to a visual disability.

Reporting guidelines

  • Include or confirm the reporting guidelines required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Preprints and prior publication

  • If you have shared an earlier version of your Author’s Original Manuscript on a preprint server, please be aware that anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

Artificial intelligence disclosure

  • Add or confirm the author-written Artificial intelligence statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Please include a statement disclosing whether and how generative AI has been used in the research and manuscript preparation process.
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  • Use of AI tools as part of ethical research studies is permitted.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: The name and version number of the AI tool used.
  • Systematic Review: Use of AI tools as part of ethically conducted literature reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analysis and bibliometrics studies is permitted.
  • Use of AI tool assisted plain language summaries (PLS) of authors own work is permitted.
  • Please read our guidance on using AI tools in your research and manuscript preparation to understand scenarios where their use may be permissible, and the required information that must be disclosed.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Confirmation the authors have checked terms of use for the specific AI tool used, and therefore confirm suitability for publication.

Article type and manuscript length

  • Preparing Your Paper Structure Your paper should be compiled in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list).
  • Please make sure you select ‘Conversation’ from the Manuscript Type drop-down menu in the Author Centre on Manuscript Central before you upload your piece.

Language and text style

  • Please use British (-ise) spelling style consistently throughout your manuscript.
  • Please use single quotation marks, except where ‘a quotation is “within” a quotation’.
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  • Please note that long quotations should be indented without quotation marks.
  • Headings This will show you the different levels of the heading section in your article: Fourth-level headings should be in bold italics, at the beginning of a paragraph.
  • Headings This will show you the different levels of the heading section in your article: Fifth-level headings should be in italics, at the beginning of a paragraph.
  • Headings This will show you the different levels of the heading section in your article: Second-level headings should be in bold italics, with an initial capital letter for any proper nouns.
  • Headings This will show you the different levels of the heading section in your article: Third-level headings should be in italics, with an initial capital letter for any proper nouns.

Manuscript structure

  • Endnotes: Endnotes should be numbered and indicated by a superscript number placed after punctuation.
  • Whether they have been published in the past months or ten years ago, they should contribute to what makes Visual Studies a forum for exchanging ideas, discussing methods and theories, and exploring creative approaches to the visual.
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  • Authors must retain full records of the methods undertaken, including full descriptions and records of the prompts used, which must be shared with the journal upon request.
  • Headings This will show you the different levels of the heading section in your article: First-level headings (e.g. Introduction, Conclusion) should be in bold, with an initial capital letter for any proper nouns.

Study reporting guidelines

  • Authors must provide full methodological details and adhere to relevant reporting guidelines where applicable (e.g. CONSORT-AI, STARD-AI, GAMER, TRIPOD-AI, etc).
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What your package checks

Abstract: 200 words
Paper: 8,000 words
References: Vancouver
Declarations: Acknowledgements, Artificial intelligence
Format: Times New Roman, double spacing

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