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.

Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race

For scholars interested in publishing social science research and criticism on race, with a special focus on African Americans.

Launched in the spring of 2004, Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race (DBR) provides a space for discussion and increased understanding of race and society from a range of disciplines, including but not limited to economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, law, communications, public policy, psychology, and history. Each issue of DBR opens with remarks from the editors concerning the three subsequent and substantive sections: State of the Discipline, where broad-gauge essays and provocative think-pieces appear; State of the Art, dedicated to observations and analyses of empirical research; State of the Discourse, featuring expansive book reviews, special feature essays, and occasionally, debates.

The journal doesn’t shy away from theory, but it also emphasizes the practical implications of research. And although it is heavy in social science, it regularly publishes scholars in the humanities. They publish a mix of quantitative and qualitative work, which is unique for a social science journal. The word “Race” appears in many of the article titles. There are themed sections in some issues (ex: “Race and Environmental Equity”). Articles often seem to be co-authored pieces between someone well-known in the discipline and a graduate student, but they do often publish big names in political science and sociology.

Useful for submission in 2019

 Word Count: 5-10,000 words, excluding endnotes

Issues per year: 2

Current volume number: 15

Articles per year: 8-10 articles; around 16-20 articles a year

Citation style: Chicago Author-date

Abstract length: up to 300 words; up to 8 keywords

Relevant Editors: Lawrence Bobo, Harvard University; Tommie Shelby, Harvard University; Cathy Cohen, University of Chicago; Dianne Pinderhughes, University of Notre Dame

Open access?: No

Online: Yes

About Wendy Belcher

Associate Professor, Princeton University, Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for African American Studies. Author of Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success. Instructor of Deep Reading Journals as Publishing Praxis.