Submission guidelines

Prospective writers are urged to concentrate on carefully marshalling the facts, perceptively analysing their significance and dispassionately presenting the arguments in a clear and logical manner. Polemics per se have no place in this journal. If there are obvious objections to any stage of the argument being presented, consideration should be given to taking these seriously and confronting them, rather than simply ignoring them. Technical jargon should be avoided and if technical concepts are needed for the reader to understand a particular argument then they should be explained in straightforward terms in the text.

This is not to say that passion has no place in the Australian Rationalist, but it should be passion informed by intellectually rigorous analysis, not a raw reflex reaction.

Contributors are encouraged to write in a robust transparent style with a minimum of rhetorical flourishes – the kind of clear English espoused by such writers as George Orwell, EB White and Sir Ernest Gowers. Capitalisation should be kept to a minimum. References should also be kept to a minimum and if possible fully cited in the text. If references to a number of secondary texts are necessary, full details should be listed in alphabetical order of authors as ‘References’ at the end of the article. They should be cited in the text in parenthesis by author, date of publication and page number, e.g. (Smith, 1996, P 213).

Contributions should generally be 3,000 to 7,000 words long. Longer pieces may be accepted after negotiation with the Editor. Shorter pieces (1,000-2,500 words) are sought for the ‘Opinions’ section of the journal. We also accept ‘Letters to the Editor’ (500 words or less), and book, film and play reviews.

Illustrations / graphics / diagrams must be scanned at 300 dpi at the size at which they will be printed – any lower resolution will not be accepted. Alternatively, a good quality hard copy can be provided.

Writers are paid $50 for their first 500-1,000 words and two cents per word thereafter, 'Letters to the Editor' excluded.

Contributions can be submitted in the following ways:

1. Attached to an email to kevin.childs@bigpond.com*.
2. [ Important: This email address is for contributions to the journal only – other Rationalist matters should be directed through the Secretary at rationalist@bigpond.com or on the phone number below.]
3. On a CD or DVD sent to the address below, preferably formatted for IBM in a recent version of Microsoft OfficeWord. If this is not possible then it should be formatted as a text only file.*
4. Posted as hard copy to