Before Submission

Submission Guidelines

  • Eligibility & Originality
    • Authorship: Your essay must be solely your own work.
    • Prior Publication: Your essay may not have been previously published outside your school.
    • Concurrent Submissions: Your essay may not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
    • Personal Submission: You must submit your essay using your own account. Third-party submissions on your behalf are prohibited.
  • Subject Matter
    • Essays must address topics within philosophy, history, art history, literature, public policy, or sociology. Further information on the relevant disciplines and topics is available in the FAQ.
  • Submission Options
    • Submit: Accept the copyright transfer agreement, upload the essay, and pay the non-refundable submission fee.
    • Subscribe & Submit: This option includes all elements of Submit. Additionally, it allows you to email your essay anytime within a year of your subscription. To submit later, email your essay to editorial@theschola.org.
  • Manuscript Formatting Requirements
    • Cover Page: Your essay must include a cover page formatted according to our official template.
    • Word Count: The main body of your essay should be approximately 5,000 words, excluding the abstract, footnotes, and bibliography. While some fields (e.g., analytical philosophy) may permit shorter manuscripts, most successful submissions range from 5,500 to 6,500 words.
    • Abstract: Include an abstract of approximately 220 words.
    • Title: The essay title must be 100 characters or fewer (including spaces).
    • Content: Essays must be text-only. Do not include graphics (e.g., charts, graphs, tables).
    • Acknowledgments: Do not include acknowledgments for research assistance.
    • File Format: Submit your essay as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx).
    • Font: Use a standard, legible font. Times New Roman, 12-point, is preferred.
    • File Naming: Name your essay file using your first and last name. Upon successful upload, the file will be automatically renamed with an encrypted code, but your original file name remains stored.
  • Referencing Style: the Chicago Manual of Style, comprising:
    • Footnotes: Generate footnotes using Word’s built-in “Insert Footnote” feature (under the “References” tab), with superscript numbers in the text corresponding to detailed citations at the bottom of each page.
    • Bibliography: Provide a comprehensive list of all cited sources at the end of the essay, alphabetized by the author’s last name.
    • Critical Footnote Requirement: To ensure proper footnote functionality and automatic tracking (essential for our reference verification), manuscripts must be created directly in Microsoft Word using the “Insert Footnote” function (found under the “References” tab). Documents created in other word processors (e.g., Google Docs, Apple Pages) and then converted to Word often result in incompatible footnote formatting (e.g., static images instead of dynamic, trackable footnotes). Such formatting issues can hinder our evaluation and may lead to rejection.

Submission Portal Instructions

  • Single Session: Be prepared to finalize your submission in a single, uninterrupted session. Do not initiate the checkout process until you are ready to complete it.
  • Prohibited Actions: Actions such as adding items to the cart and returning later, exiting and re-entering the checkout page, or attempting test file uploads are strictly prohibited. Our system logs all submission attempts, including those via encrypted connections, and immediately flags abandoned checkouts. Any checkout abandonment associated with your submission will result in its rejection.
  • Accepted Payment Methods: We accept a variety of global payment methods, including:
    • Major credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover
    • Debit cards
    • Express checkout options: Shop Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay – Note: PayPal is limited in some Asian countries, such as China and South Korea.
    • Bank transfers and local payment options (region-dependent)
  • After Payment: Do not revisit the submission to duplicate file upload or checkout. A confirmation email will follow successful payment.
  • Post-Submission: Information on what to expect after submission is available here.

The FAQ provides additional guidance on manuscript preparation.