Prepare your
manuscript

In this section you'll find detailed guidance on how to prepare your manuscript, including all the information you'll need throughout the process.

Please do read the following in detail, in particular the information regarding the required forms and materials.

You can navigate this content by using the 'On this page' and 'In the books hub' menus, or by following the links at the bottom of each page.

Key points

Formatting

Please send us your final manuscript as a Word document. For edited books please provide separate files for each chapter. Your manuscript should contain clear markers, indicating to the typesetter where each figure/illustration or table should be placed. They should be submitted separately, in individual clearly marked files (eg Fig 2.4) with data source included. If your manuscript includes complex symbols or mathematics, please submit in LaTeX and include a single PDF of the manuscript.

Referencing

As a general note, please be aware, and unless otherwise advised by your Publisher, that you will need to provide academic-style citations throughout for copyrighted material as well as to non-copyrighted material. Please ensure your citations include: author(s), full title, page reference, publisher, date of publication, other source. Our house style is APA 7th, so please let us know if you prefer a different style.

Third party materials

It is important to think carefully about how much third party material you will include in your manuscript. You will need to clear permission for any third party material you have used that is in copyright, by final draft stage. Please see the permissions guidelines for more detail on what to look for and why.

Please note that content in the public domain normally still requires clearance. Requesting permission for third party material can be time-consuming and costly so we would recommend you only include it if absolutely necessary and that you request and log permissions as you work. We are not able to accept a manuscript until all permissions are cleared.

Checking your tables & figures

Our books are published in black, white and greyscale. Please ensure all tables and figures are created in black and white so you know exactly how they will reproduce on paper. Please also ensure they are clear and legible on half a page of A4 paper. Please include a list of tables and figures for the prelims. 

Contracted word count

Keep a check on your word count as the writing process ensues and do note that each illustration or figure taking up half a page in the typeset work counts as 250 words towards the total.

Indexing

Emerald’s typesetters will compile an index at Emerald’s expense, so please submit a list of index terms to inform this process.

Please keep in touch throughout the writing process and do not hesitate to get in contact should you have any questions.

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

Frequently asked questions

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.

At what stage do you need endorsements by?

Once you have delivered your manuscript, you should let the Publishing Assistant 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.

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.

If I want specific details about permissions, where can I find these?

You will be sent the Emerald Permissions Guidelines once your book is contracted with us. This contains information on the type of permissions we require and how to get permission for different elements. You can also access our Author Hub for more information at: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/authors/writing/permissions.htm.

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

Yes – As Emerald is a member of the STM Association, there are certain amounts of content published by other STM members that can be republished free of charge. These allowances include:

  • Use of up to 3 figures (including tables) from a journal article or book chapter, but:
    • not more than 5 figures from a whole book or journal issue/edition;
    • not more than 6 figures from an annual journal volume; and
    • not more than 3 figures from works published by a single publisher for an article, and not more than 3 figures from works published by a single publisher for a book chapter (and in total not more than 30 figures from a single publisher for re-publication in a book, including a multi-volume book with different authors per chapter)
  • Use of single text extracts of less than 400 words from a journal article or book chapter, but:
    • not more than a total of 800 words from a whole book or journal issue/edition
    • Content in the public domain
    • Creative Commons/Open Access content (dependent on the specific licence).

See the STM Permissions Guidelines and Signatories for full details on this agreement.

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.

Why do I have to request permission to use third-party material in my manuscript, does this not fall under fair use?

As a Publisher headquartered in the UK, we are subject to UK copyright laws which do not feature the same definition of fair use as other countries (e.g. the US). Furthermore, fair use is very subjective and often unreliable. Therefore, we require that you request permission for all third-party and copyrighted material. Further information can be found in the Emerald Permissions Guidelines which will be sent to you with this document.

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?
I have used a quote as an epigraph at the beginning of my chapter. Do I need to clear permission for this?

If the quote or excerpt is not available in the public domain then yes, you will need to clear permission for this. 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.

The team was incredibly supportive, dynamic and truly interested in the substance of the works published.

Professor Amy C. Edmondson, Harvard Business School