Reviews of Peer-Reviewed Journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences
We give you the scuttlebutt on academic journals—aiding you in selecting the right journal for publication—in reviews that are sometimes snarky, sometimes lengthy, always helpful. Written by Princeton University graduate students and Wendy Laura Belcher.
Cultural Anthropology
For those interested in publishing theoretically rigorous and critically engaged articles with an attention both to a re/articulation of the anthropological tradition and pushing the boundaries of the discipline forward, especially privileging work on the present. It publishes primarily professors, many of whom are Sr. scholars, and is a flagship journal. Quite a few articles are on the United States, but the majority are not. The focus is commentary on the discipline at large, not ethnographies; if ethnographic data is used, it is often part of a larger conversation.
HP
For those interested in publishing articles that mesh ethnographic writing with theoretical interventions into both established and new ethnographic debates. The journal also welcomes essays that explore various aspects of ethnographic method and research design in historical perspective, and with essays that offer cultural analysis for broader public audiences and interests.
BH
This journal welcomes submissions on a wide range of topics related to ethnography and anthropological theory with an emphasis on work grounded in ethnographic experience. The journal has an emphasis on theoretical contribution to anthropology, privileging pieces that stake claims in on-going theoretical discussions in the discipline, challenge existing theoretical positions, and invite new inquiries that can be answered through ethnography. In addition, the journal also opens itself to scholars examining questions around ethnographic method and on occasion welcome scholarship that pursues these questions through historical analysis. While one of the leading anthropology journals, cultural anthropology appears to stake itself as on the theoretical cutting edge, serving as a space for some of the more ground breaking shifts in the discipline over the last several years.
More recent journal editions have featured work on new materiality with the most recent special edition released at the end of 2016 focused on sound and vision in anthropology. Aside from the current debates in anthropology, the journal appears to welcome perspectives and research from across the world and across the topical field, with articles featured on law, economics, development, health, and labor, among other typical areas covered by anthropologists.
BH
Useful for Submission
Word Count: no more than 9,000 words
Issues per year: 4
Current volume number: 31.
Articles per year: 25 – 30
Citation style: Chicago Manual of Style
Abstract length (if required): no length is specified but an abstract and “key words” are required.
Any Other Requirements: This journal requires that those who submit must either be a member of the Society of Cultural Anthropologists or pay a $21 article processing fee when submitting their manuscript.
Relevant Editors: The editorial team is concentrated at Rice University.
About Wendy Belcher
