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.

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

June 5, 2024 · Leave a Comment

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

December 7, 2022

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

December 7, 2022

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

November 28, 2022

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

November 28, 2022

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

November 9, 2022

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

November 9, 2022

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

November 2, 2022

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

September 26, 2022

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

September 20, 2022

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

September 19, 2022

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

September 19, 2022

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

September 19, 2022

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

September 17, 2022

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

June 18, 2020

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

June 18, 2020

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

June 18, 2020

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

May 20, 2019

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

May 20, 2019

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

April 19, 2019

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

April 19, 2019

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

April 19, 2019

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

April 19, 2019

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

March 20, 2019

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

March 20, 2019

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

March 20, 2019

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

March 20, 2019

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

February 14, 2019

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

May 21, 2017

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

April 27, 2017

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

April 11, 2017

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

April 11, 2017

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

April 11, 2017

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

April 5, 2017

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

April 5, 2017

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

April 4, 2017

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

April 4, 2017

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

April 3, 2017

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

April 3, 2017

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

April 3, 2017

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

March 8, 2017

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

March 8, 2017

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

March 8, 2017

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

March 8, 2017

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

March 1, 2017

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

March 1, 2017

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

February 28, 2017

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

February 28, 2017

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

February 28, 2017

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

February 23, 2017

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

February 23, 2017

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

February 23, 2017

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

February 23, 2017

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

February 23, 2017

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

February 14, 2017

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

February 14, 2017

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

June 12, 2016

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

June 15, 2015

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

June 15, 2015

Disability Studies Quarterly (stub)

For those interested in publishing articles with interdisciplinary approaches to both theoretical and practical debates in disability studies.

June 15, 2015

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

June 14, 2015

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

June 14, 2015

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

June 14, 2015

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

June 14, 2015

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

June 14, 2015

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

June 14, 2015

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.

June 14, 2015

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

June 13, 2015

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

June 13, 2015

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

June 13, 2015

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

June 12, 2015

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

June 12, 2015

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

June 12, 2015

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

June 11, 2015

Victorians Institute Journal (stub)

For those interested in publishing close readings of a single work of a popular Victorian author, especially Hardy or Dickens.

June 11, 2015

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

June 11, 2015

Nineteenth Century Literature (stub)

For those interested in publishing articles with very broad claims about an author, discourse, or text.

June 11, 2015

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.

June 11, 2015

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

June 11, 2015

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

June 11, 2015

Victorian Studies (stub)

For those interested in publishing articles with broader, interdisciplinary, and cutting-edge approaches to Victorian cultural history.

June 11, 2015

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

June 10, 2015

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

June 10, 2015

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

June 9, 2015

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

June 8, 2015

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

May 15, 2015

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

May 15, 2015

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

May 15, 2015