Submission Preflight (amanthro-submission)

The last check before submitting on Research Exchange (AA's platform since 15 April 2025). AA review is anonymous, so the most common avoidable failure is an under-anonymized file. AA accepts free-format submissions (you need not perfectly style-conform up front), but ethics, anonymization, permissions, and section fit must be right. Verify volatile specifics on the official page before relying on them.

When to trigger

• "Submitting tomorrow" — last pass before upload
• Unsure which files/metadata Research Exchange expects
• Confirming the chosen section's caps are met and the manuscript is anonymized
• Finalizing the ethics statement and figure permissions

Process facts (checked 2026-06-20; verify live portal prompts)

• Owner / publisher: American Anthropological Association (AAA) / Wiley.
• Portal: Research Exchange for new manuscripts since 15 April 2025.
• Review model: anonymous / double anonymized — anonymize the manuscript and file name; supply a separate title page with author details.
• Sections & caps: Research Article ≤ 8,000 words (incl. figures, tables, references, notes; excl. transcriptions + abstract; extendable to ~10,500 on acceptance); Essay 2,000–3,000; Commentary ≤ 1,500; Interview ~2,000; Review Essay ≤ 5,000 (2–5 books); Book Review ≤ 1,000.
• Abstract: 200 words.
• Style: Chicago Manual of Style author-date (final accepted files); free-format accepted at submission; references alphabetical (not embedded in endnotes); include DOIs where available.
• Manuscript prep: Word document; 12-pt Times New Roman; double-spaced; left-justified; endnotes (not footnotes); no tracked changes/macros/fields in the final file. Figures as TIF at ≥ 300 dpi; tables as Word with title, description, and alt text.
• Special sections: AA is currently NOT accepting proposals for special sections or Vital Topics Forums (verify live — section availability changes).
• Preprints / sharing: the Wiley record for AA reads "Does Not Accept Preprints"; however AA lets authors deposit the submitted version in AAA's Open Anthropology Research Repository before peer review. Do not assume a generic preprint server is allowed — use the AA repository route.
• ORCID: required for AAA journals (corresponding author).
• Fee: no submission or publication fee (verified 2026-06-22); OnlineOpen (open access) is optional and only after acceptance. APC ~USD 3,570 (per source map; verify the current Wiley OnlineOpen amount before paying); license choice is CC BY, CC BY-NC, or CC BY-NC-ND.

Preflight checklist

Section & length

• Section chosen and its word cap met (Research Article ≤ 8,000; shorter sections per their caps)
• Abstract = 200 words, states question + approach + contribution
• Transcriptions excluded from the count are clearly delimited

Anonymity (anonymous review)

• No author names/affiliations/acknowledgments in the manuscript
• File name carries no author info
• Self-references neutralized ("as the author showed…") and omitted from the reference list at this stage
• Identifying file metadata stripped (document properties, comments)
• Separate (non-anonymous) title page prepared as a distinct file

Format & metadata

• Chicago author-date; one consistent style; DOIs included where available
• Corresponding-author ORCID ready
• Figures self-contained with alt text and permissions/credits (see amanthro-tables-figures)

Ethics & files

• Ethics statement: informed consent, IRB/ethics approval where applicable, anonymization
• Heritage/repatriation and vulnerable-community obligations addressed (see amanthro-transparency-and-data)
• Image/media consent and permissions secured; sensitive material withheld appropriately
• Original work, not under review elsewhere; for a preprint, use AAA's Open Anthropology Research Repository (no generic preprint server)
• If targeting a special section / Vital Topics Forum, confirm it is open (currently paused — verify live)

Anti-patterns

• Leaving author identifiers in the text, acknowledgments, or file name/metadata (breaks anonymity)
• Abstract over 200 words; mis-sized piece sent to the wrong section
• Missing figure permissions or alt text; publishing images without consent
• No ethics statement, or one that ignores consent/heritage/vulnerability
• Budgeting for a submission fee that AA does not charge (verify OnlineOpen APC only if going OA)

Output format

【Section】Research Article / Essay / Commentary / Review Essay / etc. (cap met? Y/N)
【Anonymized】text + self-refs + file name + metadata clean? [Y/N]
【Abstract】word count (= 200)
【Chicago author-date + DOIs + ORCID】[Y/N]
【Ethics statement】consent / IRB / heritage / anonymization present? [Y/N]
【Figures】alt text + permissions + consent? [Y/N]
【Next】await decision → amanthro-rebuttal on R&R

Supplementary resources

• templates/checklist.md — full pre-submission checklist for AA
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — official AA / AAA / Wiley URLs behind every fact in this pack