Author Guidelines

Authors may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support their work, but all artificially generated or derived text and media must be explicitly labeled, along with the model used (for example, “ChatGPT 3.5”).

All materials must be submitted through the RUBIX Google Form. Text, images, sound, video, and other media types must all be submitted separately. Specific details are below.

All contributions must include an abstract and keywords.

Abstract

The submission abstract should be concise, between 5–7 sentences, around 250 words and no more than 300 words. It should provide a clear overview of the content of the submission. Please consider that the first few lines of the abstract will appear as snippets in Google search results.

Keywords

Please suggest 5–10 keywords that can be used for describing the content of the submission and metadata tagging, as this will ensure your work is searchable and discoverable online. Keywords are equivalent to terms in an index in a printed work. Keywords should meet the following criteria:

• Keywords should be one word whenever possible, though two‐ and three‐word specialist terms are acceptable when necessary. 
• Keywords should not be too generalized. 
• Each keyword should appear in the accompanying abstract. 
• Keywords may be drawn from the submission title as long as they appear in the text of the related abstract.

Naming Conventions

All files must follow RUBIX’s naming conventions with the title of the work, the type of submission, and order of presentation. For example, an article submission with additional media files would be named:

• Title – Article
• Title – Image 1
• Title – Image 2
• Table 1
• Title – Video 1

Image-, sound,- or video-based contributions use similar file naming conventions:

• Title – Image 1
• Title – Image 2
• Title – Image 3
• Title – Video 1
• Title – Creative Text 1
• Title – Artist Statement

Uploading Files

From the drop-down menu in the Google Form, for each file specify if it is your primary media type for the “body” of your contribution (text [article or creative work], image, sound, or video). 

For videos and sound based works, you will need to upload the work on your own to a platform such as YouTube or Vimeo and provide the link to the work in the form. Ensure the work is either unlisted on YouTube or set to private for platforms such as Vimeo and provide the password if required in the Google Form as well.

File Requirements

• Provide each image, sound work, or video as an individual file or link, not multiples merged together.
• Do not embed files (except for tables or charts, which may be embedded) in a Word document.
• Hyperlinks to external websites are welcome for works that reference other works or platforms.
• Acceptable file formats are:
  • Text: Word files in .doc or .docx.
  • Images: .png or .jpeg/jpg
    • Tables or charts can be .doc, .docx, .xls, or .xlsx.
• Files should not be larger than:
  • Text: 5mb
  • Images:  5mb

Papers should be between 4,000-6,000 words excluding citations. Final submissions must be double‐spaced, letter‐sized (8.5” x 11”), typed in Times New Roman 12 point, with no manual page or section breaks. Also, please turn off the automatic hyphenation function. If you wish to include images with your paper, do not embed them in the document; send them as separate files according to the submission guidelines below. Do indicate the preferred placement of the images in your manuscript using highlighted passages and image numbers that correspond to the name of the image file (e.g., Fig. 1, Fig. 2). 

All non-text media files require captions, which are submitted in a single Word document and uploaded through the Google Form. Basic caption information includes: 1) media type and order number; 2) a brief explanatory sentence; and 3) credit information. For example, an image caption in an article would read:

Fig. 1: Performance still of Annie and Gordon sitting on either side of the residential school reliquary that Gordon carries on his back and later sets aflame. Photo: Samanta Katz.

Captions are also important for accessibility. When writing your captions, consider what kinds of information a reader might need if they use a screen reader. Consult this Guide to Image Descriptions (external link, opens in new window) , and if you have questions or need additional guidance, contact the Managing Editor at rubix.journal@torontomu.ca. 

To support accessibility for video submissions, we encourage closed captioning wherever possible. You may also provide any descriptive text and/or audio you wish to introduce or accompany the submission in the Google Form to support multiple and accessible forms of engagement with your submission. 

If materials you are using require permissions, we strongly urge you to request permissions as soon as you know which images, sound, text, or video you will include in your contribution. Securing permissions can take many months, and if a copyright holder refuses to grant all the rights requested by the Contributor, then we will not be able to include the material in your publication. Crediting the source of copyrighted material is not an acceptable substitute for securing written permission to reprint previously published materials. 

Note that using portions of previously published or exhibited material may also require permissions to reprint.

When using copyrighted images, sound, video, or text, it is the author’s responsibility to:

• Secure nonexclusive worldwide rights to reproduce the material in electronic form.
• Pay any permission fees.
• Complete the RUBIX Permissions Form for each image, sound, video, or text used that requires permission.

To ensure anonymized review, contributors must ensure that their work omits all identifying headers, footers, watermarks, and referential content (e.g., “in my course, THF 200…”). Contributors should also remove identifying information in the submitted file properties.  

In the Google Form, contributors are also invited to provide the information below to help promote their work:

• Name (as you would like it to appear)
• Two-sentence biography (50 words max; can include a hyperlink to a personal or professional website)
• Email address 
• Social media handles (LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Facebook)
• ORCID ID (for academic articles; will not appear online with your work)

In order to maintain consistency across RUBIX, changes regarding capitalization may be made by the copyeditor. Please check for consistency in your own article before you submit the final version for review. If you have a strong preference for capitalization of specific terms, please state in a comment bubble in your document.

Non-English common nouns and phrases can be italic, depending on the context in which they appear. However, a single word should not be both italicized and surrounded by quotation marks. Non-English personal titles and proper nouns should be in italics. Non-English sentences and long phrases should be in italics and surrounded by quotation marks. Any specific preferences you have regarding italics treatment of specific terms or contexts should be noted in a comment bubble in your document.

No text should be bolded except for section headings (see below) or image placeholders. Underlined text should also not appear. 

Extracts or quoted materials of 100 words or less should be run in with text and enclosed within quotation marks. Both quoted extracts and quotes that are run into text should be cited with a source and page number. Quotes should not be used to repeat factual statements that could just as easily be paraphrased.

All but the most common of these are generally defined on their first use followed by the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses (e.g., Canadian Association of Dance Artists (CADA)). Specify in comment bubbles within your document any abbreviations or acronyms that should not be defined on their first use.

• In general, spell out numbers zero through one hundred, as well as round numbers that end in hundred. 
• Do not begin a sentence with a numeral; recast the sentence. 
• Use numerals with numbers as numbers (“the number 6”), percentages, physical measurements (“59 square miles”) manipulated numbers, the ages of people, when numbers “cluster thickly,” and when numbers are mixed (“9 and 135,” not “nine and 135”). 
• When dealing with percentages in running text, use numerals for the amounts and spell out the word “percent” (e.g., while 75 percent of NGOs…). 
• Write out numbers when discussing centuries (e.g., “the ninth century,” not “9th century”) and hyphenate compound modifiers (e.g., early nineteenth-century paintings).

All boxes, tables, and images must have a callout in the text that refers to that item by number (image 7.2, table 15.3, see box 6-12, etc.). Every such item must also have a placeholder and must be consistently numbered, have a title, and include a caption that begins with the image, table, or box number. 

Colour/shading in boxes/tables should not denote meaning and mentions of this should not be included in the text of your article.

Images include photos, line drawings (including written music examples), artworks, maps, x‐rays, brain images, vector graphics, and illustrations. If you are unsure if your material constitutes an image, contact rubix.journal@torontomu.ca. For academic articles, images should be used sparingly. Consider the following criteria for inclusion: 

• Is the image important enough to justify the space? 
• Is describing the image in words inadequate? 
• Is the image substantively appropriate to draw attention to the point being made? 
• Is the image current, accurate, and easy to understand? 
• Does the image enhance the information in the text without being redundant? 
• Is the image easily reproducible? 

If you do decide to include images, we strongly suggest choosing non‐copyrighted materials. For copyrighted materials, please secure permissions using the permissions form. 

Indicate the preferred placement of the images in your text using bolded placeholders that correspond to the name of the image file:

[IMAGE 1]

Also indicate if an image is floating or anchored to a specific place in the text by using a comment bubble in the document. Captions are required for all images but are submitted through the Google Form separate from the text file.

As with images, indicate the preferred placement of the table or chart using bolded placeholders, and indicate if the table or chart is floating or anchored to a specific place:

[TABLE 1]

Colour/shading in tables or charts should not denote meaning. Mentions of this should be removed. 

Tables and charts may also be submitted separately from the text file.

RUBIX follows MLA style guidelines. All notes, references, and bibliographic entries must follow this style, and will be checked at copy editing for consistency.