Excursus

Once upon a time, authors would send their manuscripts to their publisher where a copy editor would mark up the manuscript with instructions for the typesetter. (The origin, by the way, of the modern conception of a markup language such as HTML, LaTeX, or Markdown—if, indeed, it is one). This was only feasible if the submitted manuscript was double spaced, thus allowing adequate space for the instructions for the typesetter. This was before electronic submissions of manuscripts and before computer typesetting.

Some conventions persist beyond their utility, and the dead continue to walk the earth.

Academics, at least, are familiar with this species of the undead. Journals regularly require that paper submissions be double spaced. Just to be clear, these are submissions for consideration for publication that are sent to internal or external referees. The referees read the submission and pass on their comments to the editor who renders a judgment as to whether the submission is publishable in such an estimable journal. Referees do not write their comments on the manuscript the way copy editors used to mark up manuscripts—so why the required double spacing?

Not only does this practice lack utility, it has positive disutility. Typesetting is not, or at least not merely, an aesthetic concern; it has genuine cognitive import. Good typesetting allows the reader to better understand the text. Double spaced manuscripts are harder to read than single spaced texts. Since the manuscript is being read by a referee whose opinion the editor is relying upon in passing judgment, shouldn’t the submitted manuscript be as easy to read as possible?

And yet the dead continue to haunt the living. Like the practice of typing two spaces after a period, some conventions just won’t die. I have tried passive aggression (submitting single spaced manuscripts), I have tried active aggression (complaining about senseless anachronistic publishing practices), but when all else fails, you just have to pony up the double spaced manuscript.

If your manuscript is written in LaTeX, it may be unobvious how to achieve this. Fortunately, the setspace package can help. It is smart enough to double space the main body of text but not, say, the footnotes. Look within the package file, setpsace.sty, for instructions.

Submit your double spaced manuscript, if you must. But do so under protest. Life is for the living.