Submitting a Paper for Publication on the Napoleon Series
Welcome to the Napoleon Series! Since 1995 the Napoleon Series has grown from a small website into the largest Napoleonic website on the itnernet. We have over 120,000 items on the site and all of them have been contributed by our readers. We are always looking for new material to add to the site. While most of our contributors are native speakers of English, many are not. Although we encourage our contributors to submit their papers in English we also accept papers in other languages. In the past years we have published papers in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
What kind of papers will we publish?
The one question I am often asked is what kind of papers are we looking for? .Although the majority of papers that we have published are of military topics, we also have a large number which are not. In addition to the many military papers we have published many on governments of the various nations of the world, not just Europe, biographies, foreign and domestic policy, society, social issues, art, and music. Our only criteria for us accepting a paper is that it must be related to the period 1789 to 1821. . . and even then we are fairly loose on this. . . we recently published a paper on Baron von Steuben and his instituting a system of drill for the fledgling American Army in 1777. Ninety percent of the paper had nothing to do with the era, but the author tied it together by showing how this drill was still in use during the War of 1812. Another paper was on how different dyes for uniforms were made in the 18th and 19th Century. What drives the topics is the interest of the author. We rarely ever ask an individual to write on a specific topic. Occasionally someone will ask us what we think he should write and we will give him ideas based on areas that we do not have much information on. However the choice is his. Please note that we do not pay for papers.
Once a paper is accepted for publication one of our editors will work with you to ensure that it is ready to be placed on the site. This help ranges from assistance in finding appropriate illustrations, correction of spelling and grammar, and the format of the paper, among other things. Fortunately most papers require little or no assistance other than the final formatting. We have developed a style guide for our writers to help them. It can be seen at:
Copyright
The Napoleon Series makes every effort to ensure that it follows both American and international copyright laws. Our server is in the United States, so regardless of what other countries’ laws are, the U.S. law must be followed. Currently almost any book or magazine published after 1923 is protected by copyright. Please read the articles on the following links about copyright:
So what does all this mean?
Fair Use Doctrine: American copyright law has a Fair Use Doctine. This permits a user to use a small amount of copyrighted material as long as it does not constitute more than 5% of your article. This allows you to quote from a book that is protected by copyright. However you must cite the source that you took the quote from.
Use of Images: It is not clear if the Fair Use Doctrine allows you to use images that are still protected by copyright. We always err on the side of caution. The key date is 1923. If the image you want to use is from a source that was published before 1923 it is no longer protected by copyright. If you have a problem finding an image that is not protected by copyright, please let us know. We have thousands of images on the Napoleon Series that you can use, plus access to thousands of others. We also have a good relationship with the four largest publishers of Napoleonic books in English. If there is an inage you would like to use, we might be able to get permission from them. They should be the last resort though. Please note that any image that is copyright free must be from a source that was published before 1923. You can not use the copy of an image published in a book after 1923. Their copy is protected by copyright. However if you can find a copy of the same image in a book that was published prior to 1923 you can use that version.
What are the Rights of the Author Who Contributes a Paper to the Napoleon Series?
The Napoleon Series owns the paper once we have agreed to publish it. This is a limited ownership that is designed to protect both the Napoleon Series’ and the author’s rights to the paper. These are:
1. The Napoleon Series has the right to keep it on its website as long as it wants. An author has no right to revoke this. The author may ask us to do so, but it is our decision whether we do it..
2. The Napoleon Series does not have the right to change the article without the permission of the author once it has been published. Should a change be needed (usually because new information has come available) the Napoleon Series will contact the author and let him make the changes.
3. The Napoleon Series has the right to remove an article from the website if necessay. This rarely happens, but it does it usually involves copyright issues. We will always try to work with the author to resolve the issue and to keep the article on the site. However the Napoleon Series has the final decision.
4. The Napoleon Series has no right to allow another website or publisher to use any article or item that it has published. Only the author of the article may do so. Should we be asked by another website or publisher, we will always ask the author for his permission.
5. The author has the right to give his paper to other websites, books, magazines, etc. Because the Napoleon Series staff has often spent many hours working with him to prepare the paper for publication, we ask to be notified in advance and that the Napoleon Series is acknowledged by the other publlishers. For example: this article first appeared on the Napoleon Series website.
If you have any questions please contact me by clicking on my name below. We look forward to publishing your paper!
Paul Chamberlain
Editor in Chief
The Napoleon Series
Updated on the Napoleon Series: March 2020