Research Articles

SUBMIT A RESEARCH ARTICLE TO JCMS

To submit a manuscript to JCMS, please read the following guidelines and check out our editorial wiki before proceeding to our submissions portal.

To be considered for review, manuscripts should be at least 8,000 words long and no longer than 10,000 words. Word count includes notes.

Submissions must include an abstract of approximately 100 words and approximately six key words or terms (such as African Cinema, audience, Adorno) that will help us to ensure they are reviewed by an expert in the appropriate area. JCMS can publish up to six illustrations or tables per research article.

Submissions should follow the format specified by the Chicago Manual of Style (17th Edition). All bibliographic information should be in endnotes, and submissions should not include an additional bibliography. Please read the JCMS Style Guide for more specific guidelines.

As JCMS seeks to publish critical inquiry into the global, national, and local circulation of a wide variety of media, we look for articles that foreground original interventions in current conversations within film and media studies. Articles that focus on the formal or textual analysis of a single or small number of case studies should clearly articulate what larger questions they ask and answer.

JCMS receives a high volume of submissions. Submissions that comply with the stated submission guidelines and fit the current needs and goals of the journal will be sent out for anonymous peer review by experts in the relevant subfields. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate requests to accelerate publication for job market or promotion cases. However, the editors are happy to write a letter for authors affirming that the article is accepted and is in queue or in press.

JCMS only accepts electronic submissions through our submissions portal. If for some reason you cannot submit electronically, please contact the editor directly. Please note that JCMS does NOT accept manuscripts in PDF format.

JCMS does not accept simultaneous submissions.

For questions regarding manuscripts submitted to JCMS for review, please consult the information in the JCMS editorial wiki.

In Focus Dossiers

In Focus dossiers are collections of short essays on specific, timely topics relevant to media studies, broadly defined. They should make a clear intervention in the field and/or offer an important new area of consideration for media studies scholars. In Focus essays and dossiers may be more polemical or exploratory than traditional academic articles. However, they should still meet the same standards of writing and argumentation as other material published in JCMS.

In Focus dossiers include an introduction (maximum 2,000 words) and approximately six short articles (maximum 2,500 words each). In Focus essays follow the JCMS Style Guide. The dossiers are edited by guest editors in the manner of a special issue. Guest editors work closely with the authors contributing to the dossier while also being guided through the larger editorial and publishing process by the JCMS team.

To help ensure their accessibility and impact, In Focus dossiers are published as part of JCMS' quarterly print issues and made available open access online. Though In Focus articles are not anonymously peer-reviewed, they nonetheless undergo a rigorous editing process led by media studies experts. A list of recent In Focus dossiers can be found on the JCMS website.

If you are interested in editing an In Focus dossier, please consult the "Proposing an In Focus dossier FAQ" page. This page describes the process for submitting an initial query and a formal proposal. If you have any questions regarding In Focus dossiers, please contact the In Focus Editor Cait McKinney ([email protected]).

Book Review Proposals

JCMS welcomes book review and review essay proposals from scholars. Only books published in the last 3 years will be considered for review. Please email the reviews editor Tupur Chatterjee ([email protected]).

Reviews should move beyond a summary of the book to locating the book within the broader field. Reviewers should be able to locate and discuss the book in relation to other recent books on similar topics, highlighting the book’s interventions and conceptual contributions as they speak to the field at large or specific sub-fields of media and film studies. We especially welcome review essays covering 2-3 books that can effectively do the work of comparative analysis.

All reviews must be assigned, commissioned, and deadlines discussed before reviewers begin work. All reviews must follow the JCMS Style Guide. Those that do not follow the guidelines or have citations missing will be sent back to the author for corrections before they can be considered for publication. More information about JCMS book reviews is available here.

JCMS prefers to receive books for review in electronic form. If you strongly prefer to send a print copy of a book for possible review, please send it to:

JCMS Review Editor
c/o Elizabeth Ellcessor
PO Box 400866
115 Ruppel Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4866

New Research Submissions

The JCMS feature formerly known as Professional Notes is entering a new and exciting chapter. Find out more information about the New Research feature and nominate or self-submit listings for our current theme here. You can also email your submissions to Editor of New Research Aviva Dove-Viebahn at [email protected].

Archival News Submissions

Archival News encourages self-submissions. If you would like to contribute to this quarterly feature, please send your submissions to editors Kit Hughes ([email protected]) and Kathryn Brewster ([email protected]).

Teaching Media Submissions

Every issue of the JCMS Teaching Dossier is assembled by a guest editor (or guest editors) around a particular theme. The Teaching Media Editorial Team welcomes proposals for issues from potential guest editors. To submit a proposal, please email Alenda Chang.