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Policies

Contents

Philosophy of Eleventh Hour Literary

For more information, please see Eleventh Hour Literary Aims and Scope page.

Who Can Submit?

We invite participants to send us your highest-quality short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poems, and art. We accept submissions from current Binghamton University students, faculty, staff, or alumni. We accept international submissions, but they are ineligible for any honoraria or prize.

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General Submission Rules

Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere. Please submit a cover letter, including a short but detailed description of the rejections you have received from other journals. This letter should include (at minimum) a list of journal names and the approximate date you received it.

Prose

Creative nonfiction, essays, or fiction submissions should be no longer than 7,000 words. Diverse voices and hybrid or experimental forms are encouraged. Accepted stories will be well-worn and well-loved. We’re looking for narrative-driven tales that engage and grab us, whether edgy, fanciful or immersive. Most of all, they should be memorable. As long as it’s high-quality, genre and speculative work is always invited.

Poetry

Please submit 1-5 poems in a single document. We read both free verse and traditional forms. International submissions are accepted, so long as the piece is written primarily in English. We’re looking for poems with the grit to grow in the face of each rejection. Why does this specific piece have the heart for perseverance? What is it saying that needs to be heard? Feel free to use the cover letter to tell us what revisions have been made throughout the poem’s life.

Art and Photography

We are happy to accept art and photography to serve as cover art or “installations” in our e-phēmeros project. These should somehow reflect, A) the theme of perseverance, or B) the written work it is being submitted alongside. However, we cannot currently offer honoraria to this type of published work.

If you have concerns about the submission terms for Eleventh Hour Literary, please contact the editors.

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Formatting Requirements

Prose pieces should be no more than 7,000 words, in 12-point, Times New Roman or Calibri font, with no author information on the manuscript itself. In the cover letter, please include your contact information, word count, prose genre (if applicable) and a list of the publications and dates of at least ten other journals or magazines that have rejected the story you are submitting to us. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, as long as you let us know immediately if the work is accepted elsewhere.

Rights for Authors and The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB)

All rights to works published by Eleventh Hour Literary revert to the author upon publication.

As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) all copyright in the article, subject to the expansive personal--use exceptions described below.

Attribution and Usage Policies

Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a personal-use exemption or by written agreement of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB), requires credit to The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) as copyright holder (e.g., The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) © 2025).

Personal-use Exceptions

The following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

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General Terms and Conditions of Use

Users of the The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) website and/or software agree not to misuse the The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) service or software in any way.

The failure of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.

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