Article Submission

Overview

We invite submissions from anyone who has done fieldwork and has a personal story of their own to tell of this fieldwork. These may include stories from ethnographic fieldwork - that in our cases involved honeybees, winding streets and skulking leopards - laboratory experiments and broken test tubes, recce missions to create a photo essay or assimilate background context for a book of fiction, trips to forests to gather tiger scat, medical field visits to collect anthropometric data for the state, robots gone rogue, and of unwelcome, creeping hands that follow many of us everywhere.

We are looking for experiences: stories that have shaped our projects and moved with us long after we have left the field. We are not looking for theoretical insights, analytical arguments and well-rounded conclusions; we hope to address the questions that arise from fieldwork separately.

We privilege diversity in form, style and theme.

We understand that many aspiring contributors may be new writers. Understory is a learning and sharing space. If you have an interesting story to tell, we would be happy to work with you.

In addition to written material, we encourage authors when possible, to include self-created, original photographs, sketches and any other artwork that pertains to the contribution.

Review Process

We will respond to submissions as soon as we can. All contributions will be separately reviewed by 2 editors. We intend to be expansive in our treatment of contributions, and engage substantially with all writers, though we cannot promise that each story will be published.

Submission Guidelines

  1. Contributions may be 800-1500 words long.
  2. Text must be in 12 point Times New Roman font, single spaced.
  3. At present, contributions are accepted in English. If you are able and willing to provide a translated/transliterated version in any language of your choosing, we would be happy to post that alongside the English version. Please indicate the name of the person who has translated the contribution in your email.
  4. We encourage authors to submit original photos, sketches or any other kind of artwork that may accompany their writing.
  5. Though not necessary, after stories have been accepted and finalised, we also encourage authors to send English language audio recordings of their written pieces to make them accessible to a wide audience. These recordings will be posted along with the article. If preferred, authors may enlist others to audio record the contribution. Audio files must be in mp3 or wav format. Please indicate the name of the person lending their voice in the appropriate space on the submission portal.

Licensing and Copyright Policy

You, the author, will hold copyright to your story. You agree that it is an original work produced by you (and if applicable, your co-authors), has not been published elsewhere, or under consideration for publication elsewhere, and publishing your story on Understory will not give rise to any breach of copyright or agreement. You agree that wherever possible, you have taken adequate steps to minimize harm to participants, to avoid coercion or exploitation and to protect confidentiality. You also agree that any third-party inclusions have been given credit appropriately. Understory will publish, distribute and archive the story in accordance with the Creative Commons Licence (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0). If you share this story elsewhere (we encourage you to!), please attribute Understory as the first publisher.  

Submit

Please click here to create an account and submit your story. If you have any questions about the submission process, write to us at author@understory.in.