Journal

The Reading Period is open from June 1 to November 15 at 5:00pm EST.

Ploughshares is published four times a year: blended poetry and prose issues in the winter and spring, a prose issue in the summer, and a special longform issue in the fall. Our spring and summer issues are guest-edited by different writers of prominence. Guest editors are invited to solicit up to half of their issues, with the other half selected from manuscripts submitted to the journal and screened for them by staff editors. This guest editor policy, which we have used since our founding in 1971, is designed to introduce readers to different literary tastes, and to offer a fuller representation of the range and diversity of contemporary letters than would be possible with a single editorship.

Guidelines

Manuscript Guidelines

For our open reading period, please submit one prose piece up to 6,500 words or 3-5 pages of poetry, with each poem starting on a new page. Simultaneous submissions to other journals are welcome as long as they are identified as such and we are notified immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, writers may submit only once per reading period (June 1-November 15).

The editors are particularly interested in translation submissions, as long as permission has been granted by the original author, or, in the case of deceased poets and writers, from the copyright holder or estate. Translators must have written permission from the original writer and/or the writer’s estate to translate the work, and must share this permission upon acceptance.

If you are submitting to our Fall Longform issue, we accept prose submissions up to 15,000 words and poetry submissions between 6-10 pages. Please note that longform prose should be a submission of a single, contained piece up to 15,000 words. We define longform poetry as a single long poem, variations on the epic poem, or a sequential poem such as a crown of sonnets or numbered series. Longform poetry does not include a series of poems with related themes or titles; rather, we are looking for cohesive sequences that do not stand alone. We welcome narrative, lyric, formally inventive, and hybrid work. Please note that we cannot print in color at this time.

Past contributors should wait one year after their most recent publication in Ploughshares before they submit again. Please note that past Longform issue contributors may not be published again in a future Longform issue.

When formatting your manuscript, we prefer the following:

• Typed, double-spaced pages (single-spacing is welcome for poetry).
• Numbered pages with the author’s name and email address at the top of each page.

We do not consider:

• Previously published work. If your submission is part of a forthcoming book, let us know in your cover letter and include the expected publication date.
• Work written by individuals currently affiliated with Ploughshares or Emerson College as a volunteer reader, intern, student, staff member, or faculty member. Graduates of the Emerson MFA program should wait two years after their graduation date before submitting.
• Manuscripts that utilize generative AI tools. At Ploughshares, we value the power of language to enrich human dialogue. All writing and translation must be human-authored. All editorial practices are human; our staff members read all submissions carefully. Writers and translators must affirm their authorship and that they did not use AI tools to draft, generate, or fact-check the work. Accessibility matters; tools built into word processors such as spell check and grammar check are acceptable, as is the use of AI tools for accessibility reasons (such as dictation).

We cannot accommodate revisions after a manuscript has been submitted. If your work is accepted, you will have the opportunity to provide a revision before it is published.

Contributor Honorarium

Payment is upon publication:

• $45/printed page, $90 minimum per title, $450 maximum per author.
• Two contributor copies of the issue.
• A discounted rate for additional contributor copies.
• A one-year print + digital subscription.

Submitting

Submit Writing Online

Submit your writing via our online submission manager. 

If this is your first time submitting, please fill out the submission form first, then click “Add to Cart.” You will then be prompted to create an account on our website. If you already have an account with us, we recommend logging in before filling out the submission form.

• There is a $3.75 service fee for online submissions. Subscribers may submit online free of charge.
• Upload your submission as a Word .docx or PDF.
• Upload only one manuscript file.
• Type or paste your cover letter into the provided “Cover Letter” field.
• From the drop-down genre menu, be sure to select the appropriate genre of the work you are submitting.

Mailed Submissions

Please note that we cannot consider mailed submissions unless they are from incarcerated writers or writers with accessibility needs that require them to submit via mail. Incarcerated writers or writers with accessibility needs may mail submissions to:

Ploughshares
Emerson College
120 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02116-4624

• Mail your manuscript in an envelope with your full name and address written on the outside (at least an inch down from the top, to account for USPS barcodes).
• Identify the genre of your manuscript on the outside of the envelope.
• You must include your email address in your cover letter.  All manuscript replies will be sent via email, and we cannot process a mailed submission without a corresponding email address.
• If you are an incarcerated writer and do not have access to an email address, please provide the email address of a trusted individual who can receive emails on your behalf.
• Please note that we cannot return manuscripts by mail, and any manuscripts postmarked outside of our open reading period (June 1 to November 15) will be recycled.
• There is no service charge for mailed submissions.

Accessing Your Submissions

You can view the status of your current submission as well as a list of your past submissions at any time by logging in to your account and clicking “My Submissions.”

Decision Notifications

Expect three to five months to receive a decision via email. We receive well over a thousand manuscripts a month, so please be patient.