Authors warrant that works they submit to MacQueen’s Quinterly (aka MacQ) are original and have not been previously curated* elsewhere, whether in print or in electronic venues (such as anthologies, books, journals, magazines, newspapers, etc.), and that no one else has reserved the rights of first curation* that MacQ publisher and curator, Clare MacQueen, is asking for.

In addition, Authors and Artists warrant that all portions of works submitted to MacQ, unless specifically identified as satire or humor (and/or used in critical essays), have not been generated by Artificial Intelligence technology such as ChatGPT, and/or by image-synthesis generators such as Stable Diffusion, Dall-E 2, and MidJourney.

Contributors also warrant to the best of their knowledge that submitted works do not infringe on anyone else’s copyrights, and that they do not include libelous content.

The MacQueen’s Quinterly publication terms include the following rights:

1. Exclusive First Worldwide Electronic Rights for up to 90 days from date of acceptance. Clare asks that accepted work(s) not be published during that time frame in other curated venues, whether print or electronic, such as anthologies, books, journals, magazines, newspapers, etc.
   
   This covers the period of time from acceptance to publication in MacQ (i.e., the launch date of the Issue in which the work appears), plus the one-day period after accepted works first appear at the MacQ website.
   
   Rights to reprint works revert to contributing authors 24 hours (one day) after initial date of publication/curation* at this website. When reprinting works first curated in MacQueen’s Quinterly, publishers are asked to obtain permission from the author and to credit this journal as first Curator. In addition, we ask that citations and attributions include the full title of the work as it appears in MacQueen’s Quinterly.
   
   
2. Non-Exclusive Internet Archival Rights for an indefinite time, in order to include published/curated works in our online archives.
   
   The publisher, Clare MacQueen, agrees to “stand by the work,” meaning that works in general will not be removed from the MacQ Archives, but will remain there as elements of Authors’ and Artists’ publication portfolios. Publisher agrees not to “un-publish” Works, unless they are later determined to be libelous, plagiarized, or otherwise in breach of this agreement.
   
   
3. Non-Exclusive World Anthology Rights to reprint, in electronic and/or hardcopy forms, any original works first curated here. Rights are retained for an indefinite time for potential ebook and hardcopy anthologies, and for promotional materials.
   
   Non-exclusive anthology rights also mean that contributors may publish the works in other anthology markets (whether printed or electronic) beginning 24 hours (one day) after the initial date of curation* in MacQ online.
   
   
4. Rights to nominate works for awards and prizes:
   
   Clare MacQueen asks for non-exclusive rights to feature in future issues of MacQueen’s Quinterly any works first curated therein which also win awards such as the Pushcart Prize, Best Microfiction, Best of the Net, The Best Small Fictions, BIFFY50, Best Spiritual Literature (formerly The Orison Anthology), the Contemporary Haibun Anthology, The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku, and The Touchstone Awards for Individual Haibun.
   
   Although MacQueen’s Quinterly does not guarantee to nominate works for such prizes and awards, contributors grant permission upfront for such nominations at our publisher’s discretion.
   
   (Lists of our nominations back to 2014)
   
   

*Publisher’s Note:

For more information about curation, please see the essay Uncurated: The Case for a New Term of Art by Rattle editor and curator Timothy Green.

Replacing the term “previously unpublished” with “previously uncurated,” as Green proposes, “leaves open the ability to self-publish on social media or blogs or message boards. It allows the work to be shared on podcasts and open mics. Tweet your poems and flash fiction. Tag the person it was written for on Facebook. Workshop stories online. Blog chapters from your novel-in-progress. This is how a literary culture thrives” (Lit Mag News, 16 March 2023).