A popular meaning of ‘palimpsest’ denotes a very old text or document in which writing has been
removed and covered or replaced by new writing. It has been recently used to suggest any literary and
visual artwork that has many levels of meaning and interpretation that build on each other. Apart from
its architectural, archaeological, and geomorphological applications, palimpsestuous indicia are widely
referred to in psychological studies, especially in the Freudian unconscious, to mean the backstage
dynamics affected by emotional repressions that dominate an individual’s responses in social and
interpersonal behaviors. However, the broad connotation is germane to literary and philological
researches which generate and regenerate critical insights on a particular text. Hence, Palimpsest – East
Delta University Journal of English Studies is the journal published by the Department of English at East
Delta University, Bangladesh, that brings out articles and book reviews on literary and linguistic studies.
Palimpsest (p-ISSN: 2307-4094, e-ISSN: 2709-2771) is a blind peer-reviewed journal published annually
(primarily), starting from 2013 and, after a hiatus of 7 years, restarting from 2020. We encourage
qualitative, theoretical, empirical, and exploratory research on creative and intellectual works spanning
the broad fields of literature, culture, and linguistics. Subjects of examinations and arguments will
encompass the socio-historical facets of current academic investigations. Since literary studies overlap
with interdisciplinary studies, Palimpsest includes the scholarship of adaptation studies that deals with
the theoretical edges of cinematic translation of literature. In view of this, review articles on books,
novels, plays, and film adaptation will be featured in the volumes.
Submission
a. The journal accepts submission only in MS Word (.docx) format.
b. Although there is a specific template, initial submissions can be made following the below-mentioned
fundamental guidelines. The editorial office will use the template if the manuscript is selected for
publication.
c. Manuscripts should have 5000 to 8000 words including references, be typed in Times New Roman
(size 12) font with a margin of 1 inch all around, and have double space (auto in both before and after)
for the manuscript and single space (auto in both before and after) for other sections.
d. Each manuscript should have the following sections to be uploaded separately.
i. Title page
A single page should be provided mentioning the full title of the manuscript, author’s details (name,
affiliation with designation, correspondence address, contact number, statement of contribution in the
study), abstract, and keywords.
The title should be informative, short, precise, and directly address the topic. Do not use a running title,
and the use of vague or non-standard abbreviations in the title is strictly prohibited.
The abstract (250 words maximum) must not be a synopsis or summary of the introduction or a chunk of
the actual essay. Instead, it should be a standalone paragraph focusing on the study’s key argument,
method, and conclusion.
Please provide a maximum of 6 keywords after the abstract. All the keywords must be separated by
commas and not be capitalized unless proper nouns, widely recognized abbreviations, or generally
capitalized words are used. Author(s) should avoid conflating ideas, conjugating general terms, retaining
plural forms, or presenting commonly accepted concepts as keywords. For appropriate indexing,
keywords should be directly connected to the study.
ii. Blind manuscript
For peer review, this part should only contain the title, abstract, keywords, main text, and references.
The author has to be completely anonymous .
The metadata from the MS Word file properties and identifiable information (like funding
acknowledgement, institution’s name where the study was conducted, and regional information) from
the manuscript must be removed before submission.
Any manuscript containing such information will be returned to the author(s) for correction.
iii. Acknowledgement and declaration (if any)
If any specific organization/grant funds the study, details must be included in a separate section titled
“Acknowledgement”.
The same goes for anyone who has aided in developing the manuscript without directly participating in
conducting the study, e.g., any colleague who did proofreading, a lab technician, and anyone providing
feedback before submission.
Statements of ethical practice and conflict of interests also fall into this category.
e. References
APA citation manual (latest and official edition available at www.apastyle.apa.org) to be used
throughout the document.
Please make sure that your manuscript conforms to the style.
Using DOI is a must unless unobtainable.
Please include only the items directly cited in the article in the list of references.
It is advised not to cite unpublished documents, unverifiable websites, personal communications, or
information originating from doubtful or unofficial sources. For internet sources, full URL and access
date are mandatory.
If you are using any reference management software (e.g., Endnote, Mendeley), make sure that you
untag the field codes or referent values and only paste the textual information in the manuscript.
If you are listing more than one in-text citation together, the names should appear alphabetically. Use
identifiers like ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, and so on, when citing two or more studies by the same author(s) published in
the same year.
Lifespans of canonical figures/theorists should be mentioned only for the first time.
Titles of books, films, long poems, poetry books, novels, dramas, newspapers, documentaries, movies,
and journals are to be italicized and titles of essays, book chapters, poems, short stories, and articles to
be put into inverted commas.
Organization and Structure
i. Paragraph and Indentation
The article should be organized using clearly demarcated headings and subheadings.
Headings should be numbered and the subheadings should be categorized under the same integer using
representative decimal values, e.g., “Literature Review” marked as number 2 denotes a heading and all
the subheadings (if any) should be numbered consecutively like 2.1, 2.2, etc.
Correlation must be maintained between various subjections of the manuscript by linking sentences and
ideas.
Indentation or numbering is not to be used for any paragraph/subheading containing 40 words or less.
ii. Numbering of Pages
Page numbers should be used only for the blind copy.
Respective page number in plain 10-size Times New Roman font should be put at the bottom right
corner without adding any effect, accent bar, or additional header (like the word ‘page’ itself or ‘page x
of x’).
iii. Spelling and Punctuation
British spelling is to be used thoroughly.
While using quotes (except for quotation within a quotation) double inverted commas should be used.
Inverted commas should not be used indented quotes.
All superscripts are to be typed after punctuation marks except for dashes (–).
iv. Citing and Quoting
Over-use of quotes, discussing one particular source excessively, employing passive voice or
contractions unnecessarily, and repetition of terms/words/content is not desired.
To avoid regurgitation, it is expected that the author(s) organizes the essay by employing synonyms and
categorizing the ideas based on similarity.
Instead of an unsparing reference to quotes, a more prominent focus on author’s own voice will be
appreciated. It is also expected that no quotes are left without commenting.
v. Footnotes and Endnotes
Use of footnotes is not allowed. If utterly necessary, endnotes can be inserted. All the numbers should
be ordered correctly in superscript, and the list should appear before the references.
vi. Abbreviations
All abbreviations are to be defined when used for the first time.
Non-standard abbreviations must be used with a plausible explanation.
Consistency in using abbreviations is highly expected.
vii. Tables and Figures
Authors are requested to use illustrations sparingly. Blurry or indecipherable images must not be
attached.
All tables should be typed inside the document without placing an image. Tables need to be plain and
intelligible without any vertical typing or superfluous shading unless essential.
Please number the figures and tables sequentially (like Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Tab. 1, Tab. 2) and place captions
below, not on the figure or table itself, using 10-size Times New Roman font and central alignment.
If you are presenting data or findings through tables, do not replicate the same information in body
paragraphs to avoid redundancy. It is desired that you focus more on your critical interpretation rather
than describing the already visible data.
viii. Development of Argument
Standard academic writing conventions should be followed while designing the essay.
An author should consider concentrating on some carefully selected relevant issues and logically address
them without being unclear and vague.
Using redundant information or stretching too far away from the argument is to be avoided.
Unreasonably long paragraphs should not be used.
A variety of sentences should be incorporated other than relying mostly on simple/short expressions.
