Submissions

Guidelines to authors

(updated as of December 2025)

General Requirements

Colloquia Comparativa Litterarum publishes articles and reviews of scholarly books in the field of Comparative Literature and Balkan Studies. The eligible texts should be original unpublished works in either Bulgarian, French, or English comprising no more than 27,000 characters with spaces (including the references, the notes, and the abstracts). The submissions undergo a double-blind peer review by two independent experts. Manuscripts that do not fall within the scope of the Journal’s scholarly areas, or have not been formatted in accordance with the below stated requirements, are sent back to their authors, and are not subjected to reviewing. We kindly ask you to send the manuscripts as Microsoft Word attachments, formatted in Times New Roman font, to the following email addresses of the Journal:

colloquiacl@gmail.com

colloquiacl@slav.uni-sofia.bg

 

Formatting of the Academic Articles

Front Page Layout

Please, follow this order:

  1. Author / Title / Abstract with Keywords in the language of the article / Short author’s bio in English

First name FAMILY NAME: Times New Roman 14, Bold, Centred (Ctrl + E).

Article’s Title: Times New Roman 14, Bold, Centred (Ctrl + E).

Abstract: Times New Roman 11. The heading Abstract should be Bold and Centred (Ctrl + E). The text of the abstract should not exceed 600 characters. Alignment: Justified; Line Spacing: Single.

Keywords: On a new line immediately following the abstract. The heading Keywords should be Bold, followed by 5–6 keywords separated by semi-colons.

Author’s bio: Times New Roman 10, Justified, no longer than 10 lines, in English. It should contain First name and FAMILY NAME in Bold, the respective affiliation, the academic status, areas of scholarly expertise, key works, ORCID ID and an institutional email address.

  1. Abstract, title in English, an abstract with keywords in English.

The word Abstract: Bold, Times New Roman 11 font, Justified, Single Line Spacing.

Title of the article in English: Times New Roman 11, Bold, Justified, Single Line Spacing.

The translation of the abstract in English should be placed below the title: Times New Roman 11, Jusitified, Single Line Spacing.

After the abstract, on a new line, the heading Keywords: should be in Bold, and all the keywords are given in English, separated from one another by semi-colons.  

NB The abstract in English is compulsory. The other Резюме (Résumé) could be either in Bulgarian, or in French.

 

Article Layout

Times New Roman, 12, Normal, Justified, new line indentation at 1.2 cm, Line Spacing: 1.5.

No need for page numbers.

Do not underline, unless for URL addresses. Any highlighting within the text (for example, terms in a foreign language) should be in Italic.

Please, keep to the APA style for quotes, following the template given below.

Sources are quoted within the text under the following template: (Family name, year, p. ).

Examples: (Wilson, 1979, p. 158);  (Wilson, 1979, as quoted by Smith, 2025, p. 245).

Expanded template for in-text quotes:

(Author’s family name or first words from the title (when no author is quoted), initial of first name when quoting authors with the same family name, year of publication, pages; Author’s family name or title of second publication, year of publication, pages).

◊ If you quote more than one work by the same author, but published in the same year, you distinguish among the works by assigning letters from the English alphabet to them – a, b, c…

Examples: (Wilson, 2020а); (Wilson, 2020b)

◊  When quoting authors with the same family name, you should place the first name initial after the family name.

Examples: (Wilson, A., 1944); (Wilson, B., 1920)

◊ When quoting works with more than one author, you should quote in the text the names of all the authors separated from one another by a comma. However, you should write “and” or place “&” before the name of the last author.

Examples: (Wilson, A. and Smith, J., 2023); (Wilson and Smith, 2005)

◊ When quoting works in languages that use the Latin alphabet, you should use „et al.“. However, in the References List you should give the names of all the authors (if their number does not exceed 20).

Examples: (Read et al., 2022)

◊ When quoting works without an author, you should cite the title of the work in the text.

Examples: (Oxford English Dictionary, 2002); (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998)

The sources should be quoted in the text in the language in which they have been consulted. As a footnote you should give a translation in the language of the article stating “My translation”, if there is no authorised official translation of the quoted work.

Footnotes should be inserted using Insert Footnote on the respective page, and they should be numbered consecutively. Footnotes usually provide precisions to the text. If they refer to a scholarly publication, you should follow the template for in-text quotes (Family name, year, p. ).  Font: Times New Roman, 10, Normal, Justified, Single Line Spacing. If you refer to the same text in consecutive footnotes, use Ibidem. If you refer to a different page within the same publication, you should give its number after Ibidem with a comma: Ibidem, p. 24.

For brief quotes in English you should use inverted commas: “xxx”. If quotes exceed three lines or if you quote poetry, you should lay them in a new paragraph without inverted commas, and you should leave an empty line before and after the quote. Font: Times New Roman, 11, Indentation left 1.2 / right 0, Line Spacing 1 / single.

All illustrations, figures, and tables (that ought to be kept to a minimum) should be placed in their respective places within the text as an image in a .jpeg format. The author of the article has to be authorised to use the respective illustration, and should include it in the References List providing the required data about its author, source, place of storage, etc.

After the article in English you should write References in Bold, Aligned Left, Times New Roman 12. If you have sources both in the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabet, you place the sources in the Cyrillic first. The reference quoted in Cyrillic ought to be written first in its original language, followed by a transliterated version in brackets: [ ]. If possible, state the references’ URLs.

For each new reference: Aligned Left, Times New Roman 11, Line Spacing 1 / Single. You ought to leave a blank line between each reference. References should be given in alphabetical order of the authors’ family names. Each item of the References ends with a full stop.

◊ References for publications in Bulgarian ought to be transliterated in accordance with the Transliteration Act https://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2135623667  For your convenience, you could use the following tool: https://slovored.com/transliteration/

For automatic transliteration you could use this website: https://2cyr.com/?7

◊ When formatting references in the Latin alphabet, you should transliterate any publication in the Cyrillic alphabet, or in any other system of writing.

 

References are arranged in accordance with the APA Standard:

◊ For a book with a single author

Family name (Capitalise first letter only), First name initial. (Year). Title. (Order of the edition – 1st, 2nd, etc.). Place: Publisher.

Examples: 

Коларов, Р. (2009). Повторение и сътворение: поетика на автотекстуалността. София: Просвета. [Kolarov, R. (2009). Povtorenie i satvorenie: poetika na avtotekstualnostta. Sofia: Prosveta.]

Hutcheon, L. (2006). A Theory of Adaptation. NY and London: Routledge.

◊ For a book with more than one author

Family name, First name initial, Family name, First name initial(s) [&] Family name, First name initial(s). (Year). Title. (Order of the edition – 1st, 2nd, etc.). Place: Publisher.

Example:

Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (1972). Capitalisme et schizophrénie. L’anti-Œdipe. Paris : Minuit.

◊ For a translated book

Family name (Sentence case), First name initial. (Year). Title. (First name, Family name, Translator). Place: Publisher.

Example:

Джойс, Дж. (2004). Одисей. (Иглика Василева, Преводач). София: Фама. [Joyce, J. (2004). Odisey. (Iglika Vasileva, Prevodach). Sofia: Fama.]

◊ For articles in journals

Family name (Sentence case), First name initial. (Year). Title. Title of the journal, Volume (issue), pages.

Examples:

Escarpit, R. (1966). De la littérature comparée aux problèmes de la littérature de masse. Études françaises, 2 (3), 349-358.

◊ For a chapter / portion of a book

Family name, First name initial. (Year). Chapter title. В/In/Dans names of editor(s) ed(s), Book title (pages). Place: Publisher.

Examples:

Hutcheon, L. (1994). Incredulity toward Metanarrative: Negotiating Postmodernism and Feminisms. In Godard, B. (ed.), Collaboration in the Feminine: Writings on Women and Culture from Tessera. (186–192). Toronto: Second Story.

Jenny, L. (1996). Fictions du moi et figurations du moi. Dans Rabaté, D. (dir.) Figures du sujet lyrique. (99–111). Paris : Presses Universitaires de France.

◊ For online sources

◊ Articles in journals

Family (sentence case), First name initial. (Year). Title. Journal’s title, Volume (issue), pages. Прегледан на/ Retrieved on/ Récupéré le date, available от/ from/ de DOI or URL.

Example:

Franco, B. (2023). Foreword. Revue de littérature comparée, 388(4), 387–389. Retrieved on…, available from https://doi.org/10.3917/rlc.388.0005.

◊ For a chapter / portion of a book

Family name, First name initial. (Year). Chapter title. В/In/Dans names of editor(s) ed(s), Book title (pages). Place: Publisher.

Фамилия, Инициал на лично име. (Година). Заглавие на главата. В/In/ Dans имена на редактор(и) (ред.), Заглавие на книгата (страници). Град: Издател. Retrieved on date, available from DOI or URL.

Example:

Montandon, A. (2018). VI. Poète prend ta plume pour décrire les saisons. Dans A. Montandon (dir.) Écrire les saisons : Cultures, Arts et Lettres (141-159). Paris : Hermann. Retrieved on 14 July 2021, available from https://doi.org/10.3917/herm.monta.2018.01.0141

◊ Other types of sources

◊ Audiovisual

Example:

Hitchcock, A. (Director). (1954). Rear Window [Feature film]. Patron Inc. 

◊ Images and figures

Example:

Sutherland, G. (1941). Devastation 1941: City, twisted girders [Painting]. In Mellor, L. Reading the ruins: Modernism, bombsites and British culture (2011). Cambridge University Press, p. 119.

 

Additional quote resources in accordance with the APA style APA:

American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples 

 

Formatting of the Book Reviews

The reviews of newly published scholarly books should be no less than 5,000 characters and no more than 10,000 characters long. Bibliographical data, and the name of the reviewer (with their academic affiliation) must be provided in the original language and in English. If possible, it is recommended that an image of the book cover is sent in a JPG format.

Front Page Layout

Please, follow this order:

  1. Book Review: Aligned Left, Times New Roman 14, Single Line Spacing.
  2. The bibliographical description of the reviewed book follows the APA Standard. You should add the author’s name in the Latin alphabet and give a translation of the title, as well as the bibliographical data in [   ]: Bold, Aligned Left, Times New Roman 14, Single Line Spacing.        
  3. The reviewer’s names in the language of the review, backslash, and transliteration, reviewer’s affiliation in both languages.
  4. Reviewer’s ORCID ID.

Example:

Book Review:

Budakov, V., Avramova, G., Jetchev, G. and Speed, T. (eds). (2023). Cross-Disciplinary and Cross-Cultural Awareness: Essays in Honor of Madeleine Danova. Academic Editor: Prof. Valery Stefanov, D. Litt. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 720 p. ISBN: 978-954-07-5861-9 (Print) [Будаков, В., Аврамова, Г., Жечев, Г. и Спийд, Т. (съст.). (2023). Междудисциплинарни и междукултурни изследвания в чест на проф. д-р Мадлен Данова. Науч. ред. проф. д.ф.н. Валери Стефанов. София: Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“]

 

Atanas Manchorov / Атанас Манчоров

Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski” / Пловдивски университет „Паисий Хилендарски“

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5689-5045

 

Review Layout

Justify, Times New Roman 12, 1.5 Line Spacing. With parameters the same as those for an article.