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.
Category Archives: Humanities Journals
Music and the Moving Image
For those interested in publishing articles that explore the relationship between music and visual media (film, TV, computer, mobile phone, multimedia). Summary: Music and the … Continue reading
L’Esprit Createur
For those interested in publishing articles in a prestigious international journal (and whose work aligns with the journal’s specific topic-based issues!). In order to be … Continue reading
Latino Studies
For those interested in publishing articles about Latino/a/x experience, culture, history, and theory within a national, transnational, hemispheric context. Latino Studies is an interdisciplinary journal … Continue reading
Modern & Contemporary France
For those interested in publishing articles about the politics, culture (books, film, cuisine…), and history of 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century France This international journal claims … Continue reading
Ramus: Critical Studies in Greek and Roman Literature
For those interested in publishing articles that offer innovative interpretations or analyses of ancient Greek or Roman literature, especially if defined by a theoretical approach. … Continue reading
The Black Scholar
For those interested in publishing articles in Black Studies that are also in conversation with modern topics such as new media studies, popular culture, and … Continue reading
Journal of Popular Music Studies
For those interested in publishing articles that deal very broadly with popular music. The Journal of Popular Music Studies (JPMS), which is published by the … Continue reading
Music and the Moving Image
For those interested in publishing articles that explore the relationship between music and visual media (i.e., film, TV, computer, mobile phone, multimedia). Music and the … Continue reading
The French Review
For those interested in publishing articles on French and Francophone literature, cinema, culture, linguistics, and pedagogy (e.g., original lesson plan ideas). The official journal of … Continue reading
Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies
For those interested in publishing articles about Chicano/a/x, Latino/a/x, and Indigenous communities, culture, art, history, and experience in the US and transnationally. Aztlán: A Journal … Continue reading
American Journal of Philology
For those interested in publishing articles that offer philological interpretations of texts from Greco-Roman antiquity, in fields ranging from literature to history to philosophy, and … Continue reading
MLN (Modern Language Notes)
For those interested in publishing articles that explore French, German, Hispanic, or Italian literature, film, theory and pedagogy. MLN may not be quite as well-known … Continue reading
PMLA (Publications of the Modern Language Association)
For those interested publishing articles that discuss timely and culturally relevant literature and archival materials. For those looking to make broad connections (not close reading) … Continue reading
Journal of Moral Theology
For those interested in publishing articles that address a wide range of contemporary issues from the standpoint of Catholic moral theology, be it in a … Continue reading
Art History Journals
Some scholars have created a Google Sheet for art history journals. This site lists over 150 journals, with information on whether they are open access, article length, … Continue reading
Classics Journals
Some scholars have created a Google Sheet for classics journals. This site lists over 75 journals, with information on submission, article length, journal type, issues per year … Continue reading
Medieval Studies Journals
Some scholars have created a Google Sheet for medieval studies journals. This site lists over 100 journals, with information on submission, article length, journal type, … Continue reading
Music and Letters
For those interested in publishing musicology articles for an international audience. Music and Letters is published four times a year by Oxford University Press. Though most … Continue reading
Journal of the Society for American Music
For those interested in publishing articles about the music of the Americas. The Journal of the Society for American Music (JSAM) is published four times … Continue reading
Essays in French Literature and Culture
For those interested in publishing articles in special issues on French and Francophone keywords. Essays in French Literature and Culture is a peer-reviewed journal published … Continue reading
Romance Notes
For those interested in publishing short articles on Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian (and other romance) language literatures. Published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, … Continue reading
Journal of Black Studies
For those interested in publishing articles on the Black experience. Founded in 1970 by Afrocentric scholar Molefi Kete Asante, the Journal of Black Studies is … Continue reading
Modernist Cultures
For those interested in publishing articles examining modernism, especially from an interdisciplinary or international perspective. Founded in 2005, Modernist Cultures is a relatively new journal, … Continue reading
Women in French Studies
For those interested in publishing articles that concern feminist studies and the study of women in French and Francophone cultures. WIF Studies publishes articles that … Continue reading
Music Theory Spectrum
For those interested in publishing articles about or relating to music theory and analysis, including aesthetics, critical theory and hermeneutics, history of theory, post-tonal theory, … Continue reading
SubStance
For those interested in publishing articles that deal with recent and emerging critical theories, particularly those that are material or object oriented and have a … Continue reading
Journal of Modern Literature
For those interested in publishing articles that deal with literature from any language or tradition, 1900-present. Ranked 19 out of all literature journals by Google … Continue reading
Journal of The American Musicological Society
For those interested in publishing articles on canonical European music. Arguably, most scholars aspire to publish in the Journal of the American Musicological Society (JAMS), … Continue reading
French Forum
For those interested in publishing articles on French and Francophone Literature and films of all periods but preferably post-1900. Founded by Virginia and Raymond La … Continue reading
Eighteenth-Century Fiction
For those interested in publishing articles that discuss, in its broadest sense, prose “fiction” (covering genres far beyond the novel, including theater, broadsides and satirical … Continue reading
Essays in Romanticism
For those interested in publishing articles that engage some aspect of Romantic literature (mainly British or, in a few instances, German)—often complicating or developing a … Continue reading
Comparative Literature Studies
For those interested in publishing articles of a comparative nature on literary history, the history of ideas, critical theory, studies between authors, and literary relations … Continue reading
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, … Continue reading
Camera Obscura
For those interested in publishing articles in visual studies with a feminist approach. Camera Obscura is one of the premier journals on visual/media culture and … Continue reading
Journal of Women’s History
For those interested in publishing articles that focus on women’s history and historical constructions of gender. The Journal of Women’s History is published by The … Continue reading
Theology and Sexuality
For those interested in publishing articles that use theological methods to study gender and sexuality. Theology and Sexuality is a leading international journal among theologians … Continue reading
The Journal of Japanese Studies
For those interested in publishing articles especially in pre-modern studies that contribute to the field of Japanese studies (in the humanities and social sciences) in … Continue reading
Modernism/modernity
For those interested in publishing articles that, as the journal’s name suggest, deal with either Modernism or the more broadly defined concept of modernity. As … Continue reading
Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism
For those interested in publishing articles that are concerned with the renewal of practices of intellectual and cultural criticism in the Caribbean and in the … Continue reading
Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society
For social-justice-minded African Americanists and black studies scholars interested in publishing articles that address the intellectual debates of scholars and activists within the modern African … Continue reading
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
For those interested in publishing articles that engage gender at the intersections of race, sexuality, class, nation, and/or culture. Gets hundreds of submissions each year, so … Continue reading
Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture
For those interested in publishing articles that explore all areas of the history of Christianity in all time periods, locations, and contexts, although it used … Continue reading
The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation
For those interested in publishing articles on literature of the eighteenth century, mainly British (but articles can have New World or colonial connections), often with … Continue reading
Journal of African American History
For historians (or scholars analyzing primary sources) interested in publishing articles that address African American life, culture, religion, politics and movements against state violence. This is … Continue reading
Nineteenth-Century French Studies
For those who would like to publish scholarly articles on nineteenth-century French literature, culture, and social/political issues. NCFS is independent journal that purports to publish … Continue reading
American Quarterly
For those interested in publishing articles with a broad, humanistic understanding of American culture, particularly if it engages in cross-disciplinary work. American Quarterly is the official … Continue reading
Philosophy and Literature
For those who wish to publish articles in which they address an aesthetic object (usually literature) with an attitude explicitly attuned to formal concerns and … Continue reading
Journal of Africana Religions
For those interested in publishing interdisciplinary articles that address the religious traditions of African and African Diaspora peoples from ancient to contemporary periods. Narrow studies … Continue reading
Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief
For those interested in publishing articles that are interested in writing about the intersection of images, objects, spaces, practice with belief. An innovative, relatively new … Continue reading
The Black Scholar
For those interested in publishing articles that address black life, black culture, black suffering, black death, black sexual politics, black religion, black liberation and all … Continue reading
French Studies
For those interested in publishing articles that concern a broad range of topics in French and Francophone literature, film, culture, and theory from the medieval … Continue reading
Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation
For those interested in publishing articles that explore the connections between religion and other spheres of American culture. It is in the discipline of history … Continue reading
Modern Philology
For those interested in publishing articles that speak to an aesthetic problem in a canonical text written before 1900 by a Western author, that deeply … Continue reading
Narrative
For those interested in publishing very formal articles that directly take up narrative theory and narratology and who are ready to subordinate their politics and … Continue reading
Yale French Studies
For those who are senior scholars with Ivy connections, as this is a closed journal that does not publish “unsolicited articles” on French literature and … Continue reading
Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR)
For those interested in publishing articles that speak to other scholars of religion and to the state of the field of religious studies as a … Continue reading
ITYOPIS Northeast African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (NEAJ)
For those interested in publishing original research in the humanities and social sciences on the Horn of Africa. This new, annual, peer-reviewed journal is published … Continue reading
PMLA (Publications of the Modern Language Association)
For those interested publishing articles that discuss timely and culturally relevant literature and archival materials. For those looking to make broad connections (not close reading) … Continue reading
GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies
For those interested in publishing articles that have a fun, funky, and compelling perspective to add to Queer Theory, especially if you’re interested in the body … Continue reading
Disability Studies Quarterly (stub)
For those interested in publishing articles with interdisciplinary approaches to both theoretical and practical debates in disability studies.
boundary 2: an international journal of literature and culture
Ironically, this journal dedicated to analyzing “the tyrannies of thought” doesn’t accept unsolicited submissions. So, for those who know the editorial board and have something … Continue reading
diacritics: a review of contemporary criticism
For those with articles that freewheel through philosophy and history, particularly the uses that we can make of generally accepted precepts in each of those … Continue reading
Representations
For those with articles that engage with cultural studies, reading practices, and debates about interpretation (especially if you have something to say about surface reading … Continue reading
Cultural Critique
For those interested in publishing transnational, transdisciplinary research with a strong theoretical component (especially Marxist) on cultural production as it appears in words, images, and sounds, … Continue reading
Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory
For those with articles that put multiple texts or authors in conversation with each other or addressing non-canonical texts using cultural studies perspectives. … Continue reading
Critical Inquiry
For those with a presentist article that puts theories in conversation and has a catchy and/or scandalous title (e.g., Ardent Masturbation, Big Criticism). 2015 review: It is best … Continue reading
Oxford Literary Review
For those interested in publishing articles on Derrida and deconstruction. Don’t submit your work here if you are writing about anything else.
MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States)
For those with articles that provincialize or problematize the idea of the U.S. and its literary output. MELUS is a quarterly journal, and one of … Continue reading
African American Review
For those with articles that have something substantial and innovative to say about canonical and non-canonical African American Literary texts; this journal is an especially … Continue reading
Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters
For those interested in publishing articles that creatively and/or critically engage with the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. … Continue reading
Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies
For those interested in publishing articles on the problematic of difference in literary, social, political, and social texts from a combined Continental philosophy and American … Continue reading
Social Text
For those interested in publishing theoretically and critically rigorous articles with an attention to creativity and poetics while pushing the boundaries of work on race, … Continue reading
Public Culture
For those interested in publishing theoretically rigorous articles with an attention to critically engaging inequality and difference (social, cultural) as it manifests in various ways … Continue reading
Victorian Literature and Culture (stub)
Submit here if you have a really interesting, interdisciplinary article about Science, Race/Imperialism, Gender (mostly women), Death, Religion, Sympathy, Victorian institutions (museums, pawnshops, libraries, etc), … Continue reading
Victorians Institute Journal (stub)
For those interested in publishing close readings of a single work of a popular Victorian author, especially Hardy or Dickens.
Victorian Review (stub)
For those interested in publishing an article on a lesser known Victorian author or text, or one on an obscure topic in relation to a … Continue reading
Nineteenth Century Literature (stub)
For those interested in publishing articles with very broad claims about an author, discourse, or text.
Dickens Studies Annual (stub)
For those interested in publishing articles with close readings of any of Dickens’s novels or short stories or of his life and legacy.
Eighteenth-Century Life
Submit here if you’re writing about a canonical British author, have a historical (not theoretical) perspective, and want to talk about the author’s journals and … Continue reading
Eighteenth-Century Studies
Submit here if you have a substantial amount of historical or contemporary (aka 18th century) theoretical background or if you’re writing about something global (not … Continue reading
Victorian Studies (stub)
For those interested in publishing articles with broader, interdisciplinary, and cutting-edge approaches to Victorian cultural history.
Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History
For those interested in publishing articles in any discipline that focus on the Holocaust (which the journal defines as “the Nazi persecution and mass murder of the … Continue reading
Journal of Postcolonial Writing
For those interested in publishing on texts written in English after 1950, particularly on an individual postcolonial author or text; a critique of contemporary postcolonial … Continue reading
Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies (stub)
For those interested in publishing a close reading of disability in a single text or, more generally, in a group of texts by one author or … Continue reading
Comparative Literature
For those interested in publishing theoretically rigorous articles with large claims on different national or linguistic literatures and with a focus on transmission or circulation. … Continue reading
SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Submit here if you don’t mind waiting for the annual issue on your time period; if you’re working in the 19th century, submit if you have … Continue reading
Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature
Submit here if you’re writing about women (especially multiple works by a single author) and talk really explicitly about the larger implications of your argument. … Continue reading
ELH (English Literary History)
For those interested in publishing a traditionally structured article (historical/ theoretical background followed by close reading); if you’re working in the 19th century, write about … Continue reading