Submissions Policy

QLRS is pleased to receive submissions of previously unpublished writing or other material at any time. While previously published material may also be considered at the editors' discretion, our present practice with regard to these is to seek permissions directly for principally non-creative material that we find especially relevant to our mission. We do not accept previously published poetry or short stories, and we do not accept simultaneous submissions.

QLRS accepts submissions from Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans alike. As one of our focus areas is developing Singaporean writing, we would be especially keen on writing with Singapore relevance.

We accept submissions by email at editors@qlrs.com.

Please ensure that your subject line includes the words "Submission to QLRS" so that it will not be mistaken for spam. We ask that poetry be sent in the body of the email and not as an attachment. Longer prose pieces and non-text material may be sent as attachments (.rtf and .doc preferred). Please do not send more than six poems or three short stories per issue; submissions in excess of these limits will not be read.

We can accept submissions by post with SASE or adequate international reply coupons but please email us with an enquiry first.

Please include your full name. We do not publish articles of writing or other material under a nom de plume, unless the editors deem it necessary for the safety or dignity of the contributor or unless the contributor is well-known by that name (e.g. Bono). We do not publish material that contravenes the laws of Singapore, including material that exhibits partisan politics, or is likely to cause offence on grounds of race, religion or gross indecency.

We would advise all potential contributors to review the site thoroughly, especially the section(s) that you feel to be most relevant to your submission, before sending any material in. For non-creative work, please note that we are not an academic journal, and do not publish bibliographies.

We try to respond to submissions within a reasonable time. Different editors have different policies - some choose to review submissions all at one go right after the deadline passes, while others read submissions as they come in. Since Vol. 9, our average response time has been 60 days. We endeavour to reply to all submissions, but do not warrant that we can always reply (or that our email replies won't go astray). As a rule of thumb, any submissions received before the submission deadline that isn't printed in the new issue can be considered to have not been accepted; however, if you wish, you're welcome to enquire on the status of your submission.

For accepted unpublished work, the author's permission to publish as demonstrated by submission and QLRS's publication of the work implies conferment of irrevocable first electronic rights to QLRS, but we do not take copyright of the work, which remains with the author. We are unfortunately unable to pay our contributors, but we're always happy to buy any contributor a coffee (in Singapore!).

Our release date for each issue is the first month of each quarter, i.e. Jan, Apr, Jul and Oct. As such, our deadlines for submission are the last days of each quarter, i.e. 31 Dec, 31 Mar, 30 Jun and 30 Sep). Contributions received after the deadline will be rolled over to the next issue.

We review applications for volunteer editors to co-ordinate specific sections of the journal on an ongoing basis. Please email us if you would like to apply. We would love to hear from individuals with critical intelligence, experience in the arts or publishing, a sense of humour and the drive to make this journal work. Applicants are advised that they will have to make their own case for an editorship with energy and persistence.