Review Guidelines

Book reviews for East of the Elbe must offer a thorough, clear and accessible review of the main argument/s of the text, its position within relevant scholarly traditions, literature, or phenomena, and provide insight into its contribution to the field. The review should also offer critical consideration of how the text meets its stated aims.

East of the Elbe invites reviews of scholarly texts that relate to the journal aims and scope, as well as fictional texts, films/documentaries, exhibitions and poetry. 

One aim of East of the Elbe book reviews is to increase exposure to and engagement with the social sciences and the humanities. As such, please write your review with a wide audience in mind. Your audience should encompass students at various levels of study, academics, policymakers, journalists and members of the public.

Authors have 60 days to complete their review upon receipt of the book or text. Should this timeframe be unachievable, please contact the book review editors at your earliest convenience.

General guidelines for review include:

  1. Book review length should be in the range of 1000–1500. Reviews exceeding this length will be reviewed and returned to the author for editing or revision
  2. Use direct quotes from the book sparingly with a focus on passages that highlight key arguments. Try to avoid quotes from sources other than the book being reviewed unless absolutely necessary
  3. Style and formatting of your review should adhere to the author guidelines for East of the Elbe, with a preference for MS Word documents for ease of editing
  4. Provide a reference list for any cited material (included in the word count) in line with the standard author guidelines for submissions to East of the Elbe

Submissions of reviews should include a biographical note of no more than 2–3 sentences, with your title and affiliation.

Please feel free to contact the reviews editors.